This season of “Heroes” has been an interesting lesson in network interference. Setting aside the massive interference caused by the studios’ lack of good faith and dismissive attitude towards writers in general, the network gave Tim Kring a short list of items they wanted to see to “improve the show”. Most of these requirements were mentioned by Kring shortly before production began on the second season.

One such directive was the retention of as many first season characters as possible. In some cases, this made sense, but in others, it has been a burden on the story (for instance, the still-annoying Niki). The writers have managed to bring the season arc back under control recently, but there are still aspects of the story that felt needlessly inflated to account for so many lingering cast members.

Another directive was the inclusion of more romance, because according to the network, everyone loves a good romance. Of course, not everyone is good at writing romance, and this season has been a rather good example of romance writing gone bad. Most of the annoying clichés have been part of one of the three primary relationships. With Hiro and Yaeko, Yaeko was often superficial in her desires and treated as an object to be won. With West and Claire, Claire was reduced to a spoiled brat with no sense of self-preservation. With Peter and Caitlin, Caitlin became the victim that Peter couldn’t save. None of these relationships were remotely interesting; there was more support for a pairing between Mohinder and Matt, for that matter!

The writers have done better with creepy pseudo-romance. Sylar’s manipulation of Maya has been an intriguing twist, and now there’s Elle and her fascination with Peter. That dynamic is not working as well, thanks to some poor characterization for Elle. Kristen Bell is doing her best with the role, but the writers aren’t quite selling the idea. Elle is obviously meant to be socially and morally stunted, a product of being raised by the Company, but she comes across as too childish. Perhaps the writers were trying to deviate from the “Candice” mold, but at the end of the day, that might have been a better way to go.

Peter’s history with the Company also serves to expand on the role of Adam and his connections to the Twelve. Previous episodes seemed to imply that Adam was one of the Twelve, but that is now contradictory. Instead, Adam was imprisoned by the Company for 30 years, roughly translating to the time of the initial Shanti virus, the formation of the Company, and the dissolution of the Twelve. The implication is that Adam went rogue, created the virus, and was forced into taking a early version of the inhibitor.

To follow that line of thinking further, the threat posed by Adam and his plans could have been the catalyst for the Company’s mandate to control those with abilities. It could have started as a directive to find a way to eliminate abilities completely, but over time, the methods were corrupted. In fact, it’s possible that the Twelve initially tried to use a contagion to eliminate Adam’s ability, but the result was the Shanti virus itself. Right now, there’s only enough information to see that a connection exists.

The explanation for Nathan’s previous visions of a burned face makes sense, and also lends credence to the idea that Claire could similarly cure others with her blood. This is more satisfying than the idea that Nathan was seeing a reflection of his own guilt. Less successful is the exploration of Maya and Alejandro’s past history. Frankly, the writers have yet to give us a reason to care about them, other than their current connection to Sylar.

Speaking of Sylar, this episode did nothing to explain what happened to him during the intervening four months, and that is a definite disappointment, considering how much of the promotion centered on that very question. There’s also nothing about the arrangement between Mohinder, Matt, and Mr. Bennett, which has been one of the core subplots since the beginning of the season. Instead, an inordinate amount of time was spent on the Niki/DL subplot, which served only to resolve a minor discrepancy that could have been easily set aside in favor of bigger and better things.

With only three episodes left, it’s easy to look at an episode like this and wonder if it managed to cover enough ground. What the writers chose to explore, they explored rather well (with the glaring exception of the Niki/DL debacle). The real issue is the scope of the season arc thus far and the enormous amount of ground that needs to be covered. Some of the subplots may have been intended for the second half of the season, meaning they will have to wait for a third season to be resolved, and that could leave the audience dissatisfied. Still, this was one of the better episodes of the season.