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Heroes doesn't soar
HEROES is back on BBC2, and dull scientist Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is already banging on about destiny, the fate of humanity and a search for meaning in the world.
"The sun rises on a new dawn, yet few of us realise the debt we owe to those responsible for this," he pompously narrates at the start.
This cod-philosophical twaddle is always the first hurdle when it comes to Heroes. But once you're past that, the superpowered US show remains good solid fun.
And series two, which started on Thursday at 9pm, was business as normal - perhaps a bit too normal.
It began four months after the Petrelli brothers exploded in a nuclear blast, murderous Sylar's apparently dead body vanished, and Hiro (Masi Oka) warped into feudal era Japan.
Things have quietened down, as the other characters settle into new lives. But a slow burning hint of menace has ignited, much as it did in the early days of season one.
Thursday's episode set up new webs of intrigue, and peeling back yet more secrets of the onion layered conspiracy. But it needs to be careful - as Lost proved, too much of that will leave viewers tangled in bored confusion, their eyes watering with frustration.
Creator Tim Kring has acknowledged this series dragged at the start, and says he'll try harder for season three. Good news.
This episode was sadly light on shock moments, something the last series excelled at, what with one character waking up during her own autopsy, or Sylar turning some victim's head into a brainless egg cup.
Thursday's cliffhanger was that Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) had survived the nuclear explosion and was suffering from amnesia. Hardly a shock, as we already knew his brother, former politician Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), got away with it.
We know Nathan is more tortured than he used to be, by the way, because he's grown a scraggly beard and is hitting the bottle.
But although the show needed a kick up the backside, it was still pretty entertaining stuff.
The sinister "Company", now bizarrely headed by actor Stephen Tobolowsky - best known as the annoying old pal Bill Murray repeatedly punches in Groundhog Day - approached Suresh to help track the superpowers.
This was part of Mohinder's scheme, though, now that he's working in league with the shifty Mr Bennett (Jack Coleman) to bring the Company down.
Bennett also got the best scene of the show, as he beat up his power-tripping printing shop boss for interrupting a coffee break.
We've all wanted to do it, haven't we?
And Hiro discovered his lifelong hero, Takezo Kensei, is not the great Japanese warrior he was supposed to be. In fact, he's a drunken Brit who can't be bothered with this courage lark. Poor Hiro is in for a tougher time yet, though - back in modern day New York his dad (George Takei - Mr Sulu from Star Trek) was beamed up permanently by a mystery assassin.
The new series may not have had a flying start, but there's still plenty to keep the programme ticking over for now.
But if only someone had the power to stop Mohinder wittering on about the meaning of life, I'd be a lot happier.
9:19am Tuesday 29th April 2008
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