Four months after the events of the showdown between Sylar and Peter, new Heroes emerge. These include Blackie, an Irish mobster who is 1,000 years old. Hiro remains in the past, but what will come of this? Someone dies and someone isn't dead. Claire has a boyfriend. New heroes are introduced.

Well the new season is off and running to a great start. Just as much excitement and wonder as it was last year with what will happen.

The new ones...Maya's power will be interesting to find out exactly what it was. I was not sure I would be interested in them until I saw their last scene and it intrigued me.

So Claire's new guy pal has a power, very similar to her daddy's. Interesting. Poor Claire having to act all normal and not stand out at all. And her dad, not being able to put up with that total dork-wad boss, I can't say I blame him.

My yummy looking Suresh with the plague thing is a new twist for this season along with the "organization" he is in now and that Mr. Bennett is in with him on it.

It was nice to see Matt get a job with the NYPD. Molly's scary drawings and this symbol becoming more and more significant this season. So hopefully we will get an answer as to what that really is this season. Who is this horrible man/thing that haunts her?

Nathan, wow what happened to him? He looks like hell and his vision of himself all scared is freaky. Is it all in his mind or what? But I liked that he confronted his mom and told her she was evil.

But now her and Hiro's dad are targets for these assassins of some sort. Is Hiro's dad really dead now? I liked that Ando was helping him out.

Hiro, I love him. He is so funny. And I really like David Anders' character, he is not the hero Hiro expected and is rude and curt and it is interesting. I wonder where that is going but I like it.

And last but not least, seeing Peter at the end...in Ireland, locked up in some storage unit, not knowing where or who he is. And that weird power he had. I do not recall that one from before.

Next week looks exciting.

Loved the epi, need to watch again before commenting. Glad to actually have something to discuss on this board again.

As one would expect, the season premiere is all about establishment of a new status quo. The familiar characters have come to a new equilibrium, which inevitably includes new associations. The cast itself continues to expand exponentially, at least in terms of the recurring guest characters, and this helps to provide scope to the “Heroes” world. If nothing else, the producers remain ambitious in their storytelling.

This episode is all about the introductory phase of this second volume, an arc that will cover the first half of the second season (roughly 11 episodes). Several plot threads are introduced, many of them overlapping, and most of them are worth the wait. Mohinder, Matt, and Mr. Bennett have been executing a plan to infiltrate the Company. Meanwhile, Mohinder and Matt have been taking care of Molly, the little girl with the ability to find other powered individuals. How these two aspects of the plot might further intersect remains to be seen.

Mr. Bennett’s plan is in direct contradiction to his stated goal of “hiding in plain sight”. Both Noah and Claire seem to be struggling with the idea of being normal. Mr. Bennett may not have an ability per se, but he’s lived in a world where abilities are a matter of course. He was also a man of some influence with untold resources. The transition from apparent villain to apparent hero continues to be a highlight of the series.

Claire’s travails are more metaphorical. Fitting in as a teenager, especially in a new school, is never easy. Being an individual places a target on your back; fitting in with the crowd undermines your self-identity. It’s perfectly fitting that the boy pushing Claire to be herself is, in fact, powered himself. The metaphor is rather obvious in the end, but that makes it no less satisfying.

Hiro’s journey is also one of the more enduring metaphors on the show. Hiro’s current character arc appears to be deconstructive. He has glorified the legend of Kensei since the very beginning of the series; it has been a touchstone for his own sense of heroism. Just as Hiro had to learn that his power and confidence was independent of Kensei’s sword, he must dissociate his ideal of heroism from the legend. In essence, Hiro will need to define what it means to be a “hero” from within himself. My early prediction is that he will take on the Kensei role himself, thus becoming the legend of his own childhood. Gotta love time travel!

Nathan appears to have lost that self-confidence, descending into alcoholism after the apparent death of his brother Peter and separation from his family. He also knows more about the truth behind Linderman’s plans and the previous generation of “heroes” than most outside of the Company, and he is not pleased. His journey to restoration should be intriguing.

Speaking of the previous generation, one of the old guard is apparently killing off his or her old friends. Perhaps this is in response to Linderman’s failure, given the timing; it’s still too early to tell. It doesn’t seem like the killer is using his or her abilities, but it’s too early to tell. Killing off Hiro’s father eliminates the problem of keeping George Takei on the books, and it quickly raises the stakes. One possibility is that the killer is the same threat that keeps giving Molly nightmares, though that connection is never made in the episode itself. (My guess is that one or both point to Mrs. Petrelli.)

Two other subplots were introduced as well (illustrating just how packed this premiere was). Peter returned, but the circumstances of that return remain unknown. He appears to be more in control of his abilities, particularly Ted’s nuclear-based power. His loss of memory and necklace both point to the Haitian in some form (even Peter taking on his ability). Perhaps Mrs. Petrelli might have known Peter was alive and attempted to get him out of the picture? One also gets the sense that the Irish mobsters will also factor into future plot elements.

The second subplot, and the most extensive, introduced Maya and Alejandro, two powered individuals from Honduras. Maya’s ability is unusual; she appears to cause hemorrhaging within a localized space around her. It could also be some kind of plague. Alejandro could have the ability to inhibit Maya’s ability, given his insistence on staying close to her and how quickly things went badly after he was separated from her. Their eventual intersection with familiar characters will certainly become important.

With so many characters to reintroduce and so many plot threads to cover, this premiere may have been a bit too loaded. While there were some great character moments along the way, particularly in the Claire and Hiro plot threads, I was left with the feeling that there was far too much to absorb at once. Granted, that’s nothing new with “Heroes”, so perhaps it’s just the effect of coming back from a long hiatus. Whatever the case, there’s more than enough material in this premiere to keep the writers busy for the rest of the season.