Heroes - Second Season Thoughts

After watching last night's episode of Heroes, there were quite a few things that both impressed and irked me. I feel I must start this post off with this thought:

Matt Parkman is a tool.

Yes, I said it. I really can't stand Parkman's character this season and after last night he has fully cemented his tool status. I was pissed at him last week for selfishly putting Molly in danger and this week he walked right into an obvious trap. I understood his urgency to find his father if he was in danger, but he knew his father was the one threatening Molly and he deliberately put her in harms way. He's supposed to be a father figure to this girl but he's blowing it big time. I suppose he has no real role models to work from, seeing as his father is the boogie man, but he's got to try harder than this. Parkman better get his act together soon.

My other concern is the sheer number of characters being thrown at us thus far. I think Kristen Bell's character has a lot of promise but I hope this is the last new character we see for a while. They still need to flesh out the situation with Maya and her brother, we have no idea what HRG is up to, Niki has had very little screen time and I still sense there is something fishy going on with D.L. I also feel Monica is a bit unnecessary right now, with her only real purpose being to give Mikah someone to relate too while Niki deals with her powers. With a cast this big it'll take a while to get to know each character and then figure out where they fit in the big picture. Which leads me to my next issue...

We don't really know what the over-riding theme for this season is yet. By this point last season it was pretty clear where our Heroes were headed , all the characters were beginning to become aware of the impending disaster and had started their journey. So far this season there is nothing to link the entire group together. You could argue that the threat on the original group of twelve is what will rally our Heroes this season, but only a few are even aware this plot. There could also be a focus on the Company and the effort to bring it down, but again only a small subgroup of Heroes is working against them. Our characters are much too fractured right now and although I believe they will eventually get back together at the end of the season to bring down the mystery killer, I think it's going to be too late in the season and this ending will be rushed. I really hope we see the story coalesce very soon.

Oh, and I'll throw my theory out there for the mystery killer now. I think it's Takezo Kensei. Also think that Whitebeard will turn out to be his father, who is also Linderman in the past. Both of these characters have the potential to live incredible lifespans, with Kensei's regeneration abilities and Linderman's healing power. I think that Kensei is killing the original group of heroes because they violated some kind of pact they had together, and he is coming to fulfill the oath. I could be completely wrong and I probably am, but this sounds like a fun turn of the story to me!