Heroes - Season 4 Begins

Last night was the premier of "Heroes" Season 4. Two hours of fantastic fiction which I had been anticipating greatly, but which had received zero advertising (as far as I know -- maybe I don't watch NBC anymore?)

I've written about "Heroes" since Season 1. I am still of the opinion that season 1 of "Heroes" was the single best season of TV, ever. But I know that the strike-shortened second season was not well received (I still liked it; it couldn't possibly have lived up to the first) and though I was super excited for Season 3, I found the first volume (first half season) far more immediately captivating than I found the second half.

Well, last night they did it right again. They introduced some new mysterious characters, they set up a murky conflict, they touched on most of our best-loved heroes, and our best-hated one as well. [Zachary Quinto has such a great part, and plays it so well. Sylar is slightly different when appearing as a piece of Matt Parkman's psyche, but he's still Sylar, he's still evil, and he's still awesome.] I know they left some of the cast out completely, but I suspect that's because they've realized that including too many stories in one episode can be very confusing during the initial plot development.

Here's hoping that Tim Kring stays very involved, and keeps to the parts of the formula that have worked so well. Mystery, powers, conflicted motives and souls, true danger, and true heroes.