When Tim Kring apologized to viewers for all the flaws of the last season, I scoffed. It was obvious that the rookie-year magic was lost, and it would take more than the same “people with powers” shtick to keep viewers. Apparently Kring and his writers have realized this too, and the two-part season premiere marks a significant change in pace and tone as the show embarks on what promises to be a dark and edgy third volume.

The premiere opens with a standoff between a murderous, eerily cold future Claire and future Peter. While this moment is rather anticlimactic, it leads into answering the biggest question of last year: Who shot Nathan Petrelli?

Revealing that future Peter has removed his present timeline counterpart from the picture fits well within the context of the story, as having the same actor play two parts back to back would get very confusing. Although I enjoyed seeing future Peter make a mess of everything he touched, the best aspect of this character is definitely his interactions with Angela Petrelli, his loving mother.

Angela’s character gains a fresh, compelling motive when we see that Angela dreams the future originally felt like a letdown and that every time she sleeps she finds out how much trouble her son’s presence in the past is causing.

One ripple of future Peter urges Claire to remain in California rather than visit the dying Nathan. While insignificant at the time, it leads to Claire being at home when Sylar comes knocking. After an eerie set of scenes leading up to Sylar finally gaining Claire’s powers, I realized how different things were going to be this season. Watching Sylar poke and prod Claire’s brains while she remained awake was a dark image, but the dialog remained fresh and even kitschy. This gave me a glimpse that while Kring wants a darker Heroes, he isn’t going overboard. Yet.

We found out that Claire couldn’t die last season when similiarly-powered Adam Monroe accomplished the same feat, but it took on a whole new importance when it flashed across Claire’s face. With the exception of odd sexual tension between her and her on-screen uncle, off-screen boyfriend Milo Ventmiglia, Hayden Panettiere shined in this role for the rest of the episode. Watching her deal with the loss of pain and thus questioning her own humanity invites a new level of introspection to what these powers do to people and their souls. Kring is attempting to bring the show back to its roots, but this time the fate of the world will not rest on the survival of the cheerleader, but on the fortitude of her soul.

If you thought Claire’s spiritual struggle was new territory, Kring one-ups his own storylines by turning the dead, then revived Nathan into a seemingly crazy born again Christian. While I love seeing Malcom McDowell return as Mr. Linderman, the fact that he can only be seen by the character experiencing heavy religious overtones makes me worry that the essence of the character could be diluted under a faith-based message.

This wraps up the show’s main plot and leads to my biggest doubt for this season. In the first season, there could be such a large ensemble because they were gradually introduced along the way. Now that they are all established, finding time to give them all their due development seems cumbersome, and as a viewer I frequently forget certain characters are even alive as they take on separate paths.

Nonetheless, the peripheral storylines do appear to have hope.

For Hiro and Ando, we again have a season starting with these comedic characters starting off completely unrelated to everyone else. The introduction of Hiro’s “nemesis” Daphne is cute, and a fantastic feat by the improving visual effects department (remember how you cringed whenever Claire’s tweeny boyfriend stood in front of a green screen, uh, I mean flew last season?). I sense a possible romance between these two “enemies.”

When Hiro jumped into the future, leaving Ando behind, I almost turned off the TV in fury that the writers would create the exact same conditions as when the last season started, but the pay-off for the brief foray, showing a purple-lightning toting Ando kill Hiro, made it worth it. Ando and Hiro’s buddy relationship in the first season was endearing and lent much of the charm that is now singularily associated with Hiro. Watching as naïve Hiro begins to deal with trusting his future murderer but current best friend is enough to keep their relationship vibrant without being unnatural. It also promises that Ando will begin to do more than fetch coffee and read scrolls.

After watching Suresh vacillate between the forces of good and evil last year, I admit I was tired of a purposeless character in a show filled with extraordinary people. While his acquisition of powers was rushed, I am curious about his burgeoning powers and their possible consequences. While I was originally interested in the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde scenario hints, it appears the writers are going even further, and in one of the more gruesome scenes a post-coital Suresh removes flakes of his own skin.

The introduction of Ali Larter’s new character Tracy had a mixed effect on me. The actress is phenomenal for portraying different characters with depth. While this is no exception, seeing her play an ice-queen only made me long for the loving Niki of past seasons. While it appears that Tracy is an individual separate from Niki, her presence makes me question what happened to Monica and the newly orphaned Micah, who saw great pushes to inherit roles as superheroes last season.

Although I have mentioned a lot of praise for these two episodes, the complete overhaul from season two has left not a perfect replacement. Watching the episode, I immediately asked when these events were occurring. Sylar was last seen in an alley regaining his powers, but now he suddenly shows up in California. I could assume more time had passed than I imagined if it weren’t for Maya’s terror that he would show up at her doorstep when she and Mohinder were introduced. Also, Hiro was last seen fighting to save the human population, but while that fight leaves one friend dying in the hospital, he seems completely at home and unconcerned in a new office. I am happy to see Kring willing to go in new directions, but to blatantly and illogically ignoring the past season is a let-down. I want a show that redeems itself, not a show that reinvents itself in order to hide its flaws.

Also, the criminally under-used Greg Grunberg is brushed to the side this season. His character was the most villainous last season, but it appears that his drama would be too much for the States, so off to the African desert he goes.

Overall, this season opener gives much more hope than disappointment, and that’s all you can ask for a show that fell so much last year. While some retcons and leaps of logic are glaring, for the most part it looks like the writers are going to focus on characterization. That can’t hurt when the show’s tag-line references the fact that these are people with extraordinary gifts, but people nonetheless.