Heroes Season Three Debuts!

Thank God for superheroes. There appear to be two kinds of people in the world: those who love superheroes and those who do not. I have a very good friend who does not love superheroes. He grew up confident and good at sports and can snap his fingers like Fonzie and have women all around him. To him, the idea of hiding all of that under a mask would seem ridiculous. So, to me, he doesn't get the allure of having super powers.

For me, a kid routinely picked on and whose shirt was written on by kids sitting behind him, the idea of super powers is all-encompassing. How awesome would it have been to be in the high school library and silencing the jeers by extending an arm with a resounding "snikt" sound as three claws popped out. Or to be able to throw a library table though a window and down the block with one hand and thus quench the jeering mobs around. To me, being a superhero was the greatest thing in the world.

NBC debuted their show "Heroes" two seasons ago. I admit, I did not have high hopes for it. I saw the commercials, but worried that they were trying to hard to create some kind of "Lost" story heavy with mythology and too many characters. I feared that they would slight the idea of superheroes and they would be also-ran X-Men. I was delighted when the first season became one of my many television addictions.

When season two started, I had high hopes. Sadly, the show took many mis-steps. Sending Hiro back in time went nowhere and his romance storyline was a snooze. The south American characters were not compelling and their story got tedious fast. What we wanted were superheroes facing off against super villains. Having Syler powerless and trying to cross the American border illegally was not going to cut the mustard. Before any damage control could be done, the writer's strike hit and the season ended.

Now season three has started. What will the creators do to bring back the fans? Will they come leaping out of the starting gate, or limp up to the starting line and stagger drunkenly around the track?

I am happy to say they have done the first of those two options.

Season three debuted with a whopping, edge-of-your-seat two-hour premier on September 22 and if the writers can keep up the pace, those of you who were fans of "Heroes" during its first season need to make a B-line back for this show and pronto.

The show likes to play around with time a lot. This can be a big risk, but one the show seems willing to tackle. I have real problems with the time traveling issues evident in shows like "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" but "Heroes" seems to be trying to deal with the potential paradox here.

The premier wasted no time. There were no extraneous characters. This premier jumped feet-first into its new story line and did not let up for a second during the entire two hours. All of the favorite characters are back, including the evil Syler, and the new characters are bad guys and they look truly bad. When the flame throwing guy is first really seen in action he is slowly roasting a poor woman lying on the ground. These are not nice dudes.

I hate to give away too much for those of you who live in TiVo land. Suffice it to say that another problem threatens to destroy the world. Someone travels back in time to stop it, but inadvertently sets into motion another set of events that may also destroy the world.

At the same time, Claire discovers more about her indestructibility. There is a big revelation at the end about Syler. Nathan Petrelli looks to be headed for the Senate. The horn-rimmed-glasses guy is finally let loose. Kristin Bell is back and that's all that needs to be said about her because any show with her is one I want to watch.

Then there are the Level 5 bad guys. These are all guys just as bad, if not worse, than Syler. Of course, they get out, as you have seen in the commercials leading up to the start of the season. We don't get to see much of them, but they look to be rather intriguing and interesting baddies.

Hiro is on another adventure and Mohinder may have isolated the way in which these seemingly ordinary people get their super powers. Even Nikki is back, but for some reason she's calling herself Tracey now.

All of it was there and all of it was a lot of fun. No foot-dragging this time around. The plot sped along like a train, almost breathless, until the ending and you suddenly realized two hours had flown by faster than the Concorde.

So, if you were a fan of "Heroes" for the first season and left it during the second, then I suggest you catch the first episodes where you can. Then come back and give this show another chance. If the writers can keep this pace up, this should be one heck of a season.