“Heroes” made its fourth season debut last week with a greatly anticipated, and widely watched, 2-hour opener. In keeping with tradition, the new season starts off with a strong message that is meant to bind subsequent episodes into a cohesive collection of stories. This year’s theme is redemption, and it’s a new crop of super humans moonlighting in a strange and melancholic circus act that will set everyone free in ways as yet not fully known. Why these new characters have been introduced when a multitude of others have vanished without their storylines first being resolved is a mystery.
In a Buffy-like storyline, Claire (Hayden Panettiere) enters college and battles an annoying OCD roommate and a nosey new BFF. Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) continue to bungle their way through time and space, while Angela (Cristine Rose) struggles to keep Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) under control now that he is possessed by Sylar (Zachary Quito). Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) and Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman) team up to solve a horrific crime. And Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), who struggles to use his abilities for good, looks like he’s going to get sucked into another hair-brained scheme that will, predictably, go apocalyptically wrong.
In a world coping with a global recession, famine, disease, racism and nuclear weapons proliferation, shows like “Heroes,” which explore a dystopic future by narrowly focusing on whether a person can handle his powers, seems rather trite. Still, 6.2 million viewers tuned in to watch, according to TV by the Numbers, so apparently NBC is doing something right.