I was really surprised at the change of pace in this episode compared to all of Volume three. And I kind of like it. I was glad to see that they focused more on the characters and their lives rather than extraneous situations and an overuse of powers. Also very excited by the lack of overly cliche and cheesy dialogue.

I really loved the ending too. Nice to see the characters coming together as people.

Amazing. That's all I have to freaking say! It feels so much like season one, which is what I have been praying for ever since season two, more so after season three.. <.< But, anyone else catch the reference to Mohinder running around the corner? I dunno it just looked a lot like how he did it in the first episode.. *Nerdgasm*

personally i loved the taxi scene... sorta like a nod to us that its a return to the roots of season 1

I honestly felt like it was the other way around. It seemed to get off to a rather quick start. Maybe none of the major characters died but I still feel like a lot happened in this one episode. If they wanted to they could've stretched out the kill squad's bag-n-tag missions for a couple of episodes.

I loved the pacing, no need for a couple of bag-n-tags when those are the main characters and when Nathan's team knows everything about their powers. Not like they have an advantage unless your name is Sylar.

This is only the first episode for bag and tag.

They still know of atleast a couple more supers that they have to go after. These just posed the most troublesome and/or powerful.

They should have info on
Micah
Sylar again
Haitian
Daphne
Meredith

I really enjoyed the pacing of this episode. They gave us enough information and story points to keep it interesting without feeling like it was Heroes-on-stimulants-pace-that-left-your-head-spinning like last volume.

To me it makes sense for the speed of the B&T's simply because Claire knew something was up and was trying to get the word out. Remember all the questions HRG had for Mohinder?

Hope you'll excuse me for saying so, but I think that the wool has been pulled over your eyes.

Where was the focus on the characters' lives? Claire talks about colleges for all of ten seconds with Angela. Peter gets a scene where he's a paramedic, which only serves as a clumsy excuse for lines like "I should have been stronger" and "You can't save everyone" to be written into the script. Mohinder is a cab driver for a few minutes before he's abducted by Nathan's goons. We get one conversation between Matt and Daphne about how their jobs are boring/I just want to live a normal life before Claire barges in on Parkman and everybody's real lives are completely lost in the dust cloud kicked up by the "round up the superpowered folks and put 'em on a plane" plot.

The dialog wasn't bad. But it didn't defy convention. It took absolutely no risks. Not one line stuck out as clever or thought-provoking. You knew what the characters would say before the words left their mouths. When Hiro is telling Ando about all of the gadgets he's rigged in the lair, you just know that Ando is going to say something like, "You're just trying to live vicariously through me because you can't time travel any more." When Claire and Angela are talking about getting an education, you know that Claire is going to say something like, "There are more important things than education." She didn't say that - not exactly. But her fixation with Sylar even in that conversation makes it clear that going to school isn't her priority. When Matt and Daphne are talking about the state of their life together, you just know that Matt is going to respond to her boredom with, "What's wrong with living a normal life?" You know that Peter and Nathan are going to engage in some verbal fisticuffs ("Kiss my ***" - Wow, good one =/) and they'll want to reach some sort of agreement, but they can't and they won't because the brain geniuses who are writing this show have decided that's the way it has to be.

In my opinion, this was probably Heroes' most average episode to date masquerading as a return to form. Lots of hype and our desire for the show to redeem itself can't justify putting this episode on a pedestal when it should be under the magnifying glass with all the rest of them.

I feel like the judge in "My Cousin Vinny".



That was a very well thought out post, but it doesn't really fit within this topic, which is about the pace of the episode, not the dialog of the characters.

"Overruled."

D'oh!

I was responding to pngaou's claims that the dialog had avoided convention and that the focus had shifted back to the characters' lives with my post. Suppose that might be better suited to another thread (although everybody but me seems to be glowing with praise for this one).

What can I say about the pacing... How about, "I liked it"? Last volume's premiere was a little crazy - there were some pretty big developments all happening in different places at different times, and no single thread was linking them together. Not so in this one - we got a much more streamlined story tonight. Claire, Peter, Matt, Mohinder, HRG... all of them were tied together by Nathan's plot to ship the specials off to Guantanamo, so things were packaged a little more nicely for the viewer. There was a marked improvement there.

(...But I'm still not happy about the premiere! *pout*)

I semi-agree and semi-disagree with you. Of course we didn't get a full episode on their human every day lives. In Heroes we can't have that. But we got so much more in this one episode alone than we got in volume three. That's saying something.

Also, I'm not saying the dialogue is spectacular either. "Also very excited by the lack of overly cliche and cheesy dialogue." I'm happy about the LACK of cheesy dialogue.

I was pretty critical of Heroes during S2 & S3, and I think yesterday's episode was definitely more of a throwback to S1. I thought it was nicely done.

I liked the episode, but not sure I am understanding what people are saying about it reminding them of season one. This just seems like what we were told we would think. Season one was all about here is a future we have to stop and here are some pictures along the way to provide clues - instead volume 4 is more like volume 3 crammed into one episode. Which I like, don't get me wrong - just not understanding how the pace reminds folks of season one...

I think that it's reminiscent of the first season for some folks not necessarily because the pacing is similar, but because it's so different from the third volume's seat-of-your-pants, what-just-happened storytelling approach that they want to start calling it a throwback to the glory days.

In any case, I do think there was some improvement (over season three thus far) in that department.

In season one the focus was the characters and not overly action-powers-zoom-zoom-fights. In Volume 3 the plot was moved forward with actions and reactions. I hope they focus on the characters and their interactions and not just reactions to outward stimulus.

I liked the pace. It lets the viewer know, somewhat, what the heroes will be up against without giving us too much information.