Heroes Report on "The Line"

Now that's the Heroes that I know and love.

Don't get me wrong, I don't need the show to revert back to past themes, like the whole "New York is in Danger" thing that we apparently got a glimpse of this episode. But what I do need is for the characters to act in character and the tone to resemble that of the first season.

And the tone of this episode was fantastic. HRG's interrogation scenes with Ivan didn't just say you should feel tension, you felt it. Mohinder's scenes didn't just tell you he was conflicted, you felt it. And Sylar didn't just tell you he is evil, you knew it (even if I do still think Sylar undergoing a change of heart would be interesting).

And most important to this re-established tone was a veil of mystery, something that was missing from the first five episodes of the year. Sure, there was the whole "Nightmare Man" mystery, but we knew that was coming. And there was the whole "what does Maya do?" mystery, but who gives a damn about her?

Plenty of new mysteries were all lumped on to us in this episode:
- A new mystery of New York's perilous future (again). And while I'm not sure that endangering New York is the right way to go once again, I am interested in going down this path again.
- A new mystery of who Adam Monroe is, and how does he know Peter?
- A new mystery revolving around Nikki and what role she will play with the company as Mohinder's partner/babysitter.
- A new mystery with Hiro saying he "fractured time" by kissing the Japanese girl -- how will that come into play, especially now that Kensei has turned to the darkside?
- A subtle little mystery when Ivan mentioned a "liquid man" to HRG. Who is this man? Oh, and was I the only one who wanted Ivan to ask HRG where the rent was? You know, from Spider-man?

These mysteries made this episode the best of the young second season. I haven't been this interested since last season. I really cannot think of any complaints this week, only positives:
- HRG and the Haitian have never seemed more imposing, even now that we know they have soft caramel centers.
- Claire was reckless with her cover again, but this time in a fun-loving and adventurous way, not simply poorly written... only shouldn't there have been blood on those steps?
- Mohinder stayed a pure-hearted character, despite my lack of faith in the writers to do so.
- Hiro was FINALLY the Hiro we know and love, a mixture of geek and lovable goofball.
- and finally, Maya was FINALLY INTERESTING, being tainted by Sylar.

Heck, even that goofy framing device with Ando reading Hiro's story didn't bother me as much this week.

I have no complaints, for the first time this year. Which is nice, since I have plenty of complaints for my fantasy football team, watching this Packers/Broncos game. You said Deshawn Wynn was going to carry the load, Mike McCarthy!