When a television series becomes a globate l mega hit the cast and crew naturally rejoice. It is rare that a new show is able to grab an audience and hold them right from the start. One such series was NBC’s 2006 flagship series, ‘Heroes’. Then, the exuberating thrill of success starts to fade as the second season production looms near. As difficult as is it to create a hit show it is even harder to maintain that first season success in the sophomore year. The second season of ‘Heroes’ was one of the most anticipated in recent history. The series creator Tim King and his talented cast and crew gave it a good try but this season was a bit of a let down. There were some factors that were beyond the control of the producers but the shortcomings of this season were for a large part due to plain old fashion mistakes. Even with that said this show remained one of the better ones on, especially in the growing trend of so called reality series. It pushed the character development, furthered the story lines and introduced new characters and challenges. It was just not presented in the same gripping way as the first season. One of the most important external negative influences on the second season was the highly publicized Writer’s Guild strike that resulted on fewer episodes that originally planned. Season one had a full 23 episodes to play out and resolve the story; season two had to make due with only a mere eleven. All of this seemed to have conspired against the legion of fans but most have stuck it out and are now anxiously awaiting the start of season three. TO help you get ready for this television event Universal has been releasing interim web episodes always as the second season on DVD and Blu-ray. Even if you have seen this season the extras alone make this a must have part of your collection.

Although the first season seemed to resolve most of the dilemmas of the current story lines it left a lot up in the air. The success of season one was due to how it followed a comic book in its presentation. There were episodes that were mostly exposition followed by an all action episode. The various sets of characters and their individual stories all were slowly being drawn together setting up the final climatic conclusion. Season two seems to have forgotten this formula. The separate stories are kept apart for too long. It may have been scheduled differently with a more gradual melding of the stories before the strike forced a rapid conclusion. When we last saw them the group of heroes was gathered together on Kirby Plaza to keep Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) from detonating like a nuclear bomb and wiping out New York City. His special ability is absorbing any power he comes in contact with. He is the most powerful of the enhanced humans with powers that include flight, rapid healing, invisibility, stopping time and teleportation through time and space. At the last second his brother, Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) used his power of flight to pull Peter into the upper atmosphere where he exploded harmlessly. As it turns out Nathan was badly injured and scared but he survived. Season two opens four months after that faithful night. Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) has teleported himself to Japan in the year 1671 where he meets his childhood hero, Takezo Kensei (David Anders) who turns out to be a white man looking to make his fortune in Japan. Hiro has to talk him into being the hero of the legends and to this end covertly uses his ability to teleport and stop time to make the lazy grafter succeed. In Central America two new characters are introduced; Maya (Dania Ramirez) and her brother Alejandro Herrera (Shalim Ortiz). Whenever she is emotionally upset her eyes go black and she emanates a poison killing everyone around. If her brother is able to get there in time he can stop her and possibly save her victims.

Clair Bennett (Hayden Panettiere) is on the run with her adopted parents Sandra (Ashley Crow), brother Lyle (Randall Bentley) and father Noah (Jack Coleman). He is best known to fans as HRG, for the horned rimmed glasses he wears. They are on the run from the Company, an organization that manipulates and destroys enhanced humans. HGR has quit the organization and is hiding his family from them. Claire is under strict orders not to stand out but teen rebellion being what it is she disobeys and joins the cheerleaders. She also gets a boyfriend, West (Nick D'Agosto) who has the power of flight. Peter winds up in Ireland with no memories. He joins up with a local criminal crew and falls in love. He is tracked there by the Company which then sends Elle (Kristen Bell) a deeply disturbed, sadistic young woman with the power to generate electricity. In New York mind reading police officer Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) is taking care of a little girl, Molly Walker (Adair Tishler) who has the ability to locate any enhanced human. Helping him is the doctor whose father discovered some people have powers, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy). He goes undercover in the Company to help bring it down. Last there is the villain of the group, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) who can gain anyone’s power by ripping out their brain. He has lost his abilities but joins up with Maya and her brother to find Mohinder in order to get them back. The main story line here is the release of a virus that will kill off 99% of the world’s population.

For having only 11 episodes to work with the cast and crew did their level best. The stories where too disjointed and the abrupt ending felt forced and contrived. The first season was beautifully planned out with each story line organically pulling the characters together for the showdown in New York. Here there was a lot going on and some of the newer characters appear to be disposable; not allowed to reach their full potential. For example there is Monica Dawson (Dana Davis) who has the ability to physical emulate any action she sees. She can become a ninja, a cat bugler or anything else she witnesses. She is introduced and given a small role in one of the ancillary arcs but is never allowed to come into her own as a character. In the first season there were well defined villains like Sylar and Ted the radioactive man. It gave a better focus to the stories and made for a clear cut distinction between the good guys and bad guys. The good news here is that this season did set things up for a rip roaring third. The pieces are all in place and hopefully season three will return this show to its glory days. Tim King is a smart and talented man who realizes the importance of his fan base. He has been known to monitor the many blogs and comment boards on the net and use the input from his fans to make the show better. This may have been a weak second act but even in the comics and graphic novels some stories fall short. Considering the alternative is watching people desperate for a moment of fame eat disgusting animal parts it kept its core audience. It is difficult to make lightening strike twice and this second season didn’t come up to the expectations but it is still a worth while show to watch.