TV.com has an article talking with Heroes creator Tim Kring on the criticism of the hit show Heroes. Of course we know that Heroes has seen a bit of a lapse in the second season. TV.com puts together a few of the interviews Kring conducted with various outlets where you see Kring discuss how the best is yet to come from this season:

Speaking with The Los Angeles Times, Kring dismissed the numbers much like many other television executives have: DVRs, online episodes, the Internet. What’s more, ratings drops are taking their toll on almost all shows, not just Heroes.

As for the rest of the criticism, Kring is promising that it will all make sense. “It will all be paid off by episode 11,” Kring said. “From seven to 11 are the best episodes we’ve ever done.” The Heroes crew has always said that this current season would be split up into “volumes,” with the current one, titled “Generations,” concluding midseason.

“One of the things that we found is that, by the end of the (first) year, we were dragging a tremendous amount of story behind us that had to be paid off in that final episode,” Kring said during a conference call, according to Salt Lake City’s Deseret News, “which made for an episode that the (audience) expectations are so high that it’s hard to meet everybody’s expectation.”

But that didn’t stop the writers from adding several new characters in the offseason, and the result is too much story to pack into one hour of television per week to satisfy everyone.

“Part of what happens on any show is that you enter a relationship with your viewers where you teach them how to watch your show and they teach you what they seem to be responding to,” Kring said, reports the Deseret News. “And we, I think, are in this process right now of teaching the audience how to get used to the idea that not everybody is going to be in every single episode.”

Some think that Heroes is just undergoing a sophomore slump. However, Kring may be thinking that viewers are looking at season two a bit too harshly by elevating season one unrealistically. “People tend to look at last season and see things in it that were not in it. We haven’t deviated that much [from last season’s formula].”

The biggest quote that you can take from this article is that Kring believes the best episodes the series have ever done are episode 7-11 which are coming very soon. Kring has made these predictions and assumptions in Season 1 and they panned out, so I for one will give him the benefit of the doubt and look forward to the coming weeks of Heroes.

So as we have done in past weeks we are going to break up this review by character (some will overlap) but that way you can just read what characters your most interested in, and then at the end we will give our thoughts on the entire episode as a whole.

Peter
The episode opens up with Peter with his girlfriend who lost her brother in the last episode by Elle played by Kristen Bell. Now the two are going to Montreal to seek revenge. He ends up in Montreal with a note and see’s New York in June 14, 2008 where it is deserted with a mandatory evacuation notice.

Monica
As we saw in he last episode, Monica learns that she can watch someone do something and completely replicate it to perfection. Suresh brings her to the company and is given the task of trying to use a variance of a virus to see if it “cures” there abilities. Suresh refuses to give her the shot, showing the first time he has really stood up against The Company and also means Monica has her abilities.

Claire
There is no doubt that some are really into the Claire storyline and others that are ready for her to move on from being just a whining high school student. Last season she seemed so much intelligent and in tune with reality. Now her and her new flying boyfriend West is making for a bit of an disheartening combination. Claire in order to keep her relationship a secret from her parents makes sure she makes the cheer squad and performs what I would consider a pretty pathetic prank to get a leg up on joining the squad.

Hiro
We meet back up with Hiro who is still in Feudal Japan getting “very” close to finishing up his mission. This is one of the more drawn out areas of the sho. There is also the romance with Hiro and the young lady who is supposed to be Kensei’s lover, which goes to a new level when Hiro goes in for the kiss and guess who watches them kiss? Kensei! But then comes the first twist we have seen in the Feudal Japan scenes where Kensei betrays Hiro and knocks him in the back of the head, having him lie out cold.

Maya, Alejandro & Sylar
So we know Maya, Alejandro, and Sylar are heading to the US, and on the way we see Maya taking out more officers (this time being egged on by Sylar) and she goes through with it without having her brother stop her. Sylar tells Alejandro his plan to kill them both to get her power. A bit of foreshadowing?

Final Opinion
Finally an episode worth being excited about. The Line was the first episode that started to pull things together. First off the date of June 14th could signify something, can you say a possible finale date? Also there is so much to be excited about with a lot of the storylines coming together. We didn’t hear from Parkman and Nathan in this episode a story that was coming together, nor did with see Kristen Bell’s new character Elle. Next week should be a really exciting episode.

So just a reminder for everyone who may have had a busy weekend and forgot that today is Monday. Tonight airs the next episode of Heroes, titled The Line. Here is a brief summary of the episode:

Peter goes on a search. West convinces Claire to stand up to someone. Hiro struggles with his feelings for Yaeko. Suresh has more problems with the Company. HRG tries to locate more of Isaac’s paintings. Alejandro doesn’t trust Sylar.

The episode will hopefully dive deeper into connecting the handful of story-lines that are all across the board right now. Check back here after it airs for a full review!

There is nothing like getting pumped up for next week’s episode of Heroes on the Wednesday before, but with very little information coming out on Heroes (especially with the lower ratings this week) however here is a preview of next week’s episode titled The Line.

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I love hearing what some of the new heroes have to say about the show and joining the show during the second season. Dana Davis who plays Monica (the copycat) sat down with Buddy TV to talk about her process of becoming a member of the Heroes cast. Here is a portion of the interview:

And last week we saw the first glimpse of what your characters power is, I guess. It’s sort of like you can imitate things you see on TV, or how would you describe this power?

Well a lot of people think that because of the first episode that it’s what I see on TV, but actually anything Monica sees she can replicate. It just so happens the first thing she saw that she could replicate was on TV, but anything she sees. Like if she watches and NBA game, she can play ball like an NBA player.

Okay. And you got to do some … well, I’m not sure if you actually got to do it, but there was some pretty serious action going on. A big fight scene in the first episode. Did you get to do any of those stunts yourself?

I got to do some of it, but the bulk of it I have a stunt girl who’s like a little gymnast and she did, you know, the hard stuff. So, yeah, that was fun. And Monica’s power … I do physical things like every time I go to work, there’s like some huge stunt that I have to do. So, it’s been hard work. It’s been taxing on my body, but it’s been fun.

Before you got the role, were you a fan of Heroes? Had you seen the first season?

Oh yeah, I was a huge fan. I watched Heroes before it came out. I got a hold of the pilot somehow and I watched it and I was like … I had my friends over and we watched. I watched it like 4 times, the season premiere, like the same episode. And then it became a ritual for me and my friends. We’d watch it every Monday night, it would be our Heroes night. So I was a huge fan, so it was such like a treat to join the cast, you know?

Exactly. And I’d imagine your friends are all excited for you as well. Are they constantly trying to get you to spill what’s going on?

No actually, it’s the exact opposite. They’re like: ‘Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me.’ Anytime I talk about it, they’re like: ‘I don’t wanna hear. I don’t wanna hear.’ And so they’re such big fans they don’t want me to ruin anything for them.

Thus far we’ve only seen your character a little bit, in the one scene, or the one location. Throughout the season, will your character get to interact with more of the Heroes?

Yeah. Yeah. Eventually I think all the heroes are going to meet up, but in the beginning I run up with Sendhil [Ramamurthy’s] character, who plays Mohinder and also with Ali Larter’s character. But eventually the way it works is we’ll all run up together, but right now Monica’s kind of making her mark in New Orleans and she also ends up doing something that no NBC hero has done before. So we’ll get to see that and it’s really fun. So around episode 12 or 13 you’ll see Monica do that.

That no NBC girl has done before?

No NBC hero has done before.

Ah. No NBC hero. And your character, one of the other big additions this season is Nichelle Nichols that you get to play a lot of scenes with. Obviously of Star Trek. Were you a Star Trek fan or have any Trekkies in your family?

Yeah I do. My mom’s a Trekkie so I grew up watching Star Trek. So when I found out that she was going to be playing my Grandma, I remember the producer told me and I like punched him. I was like, “Shut up,” like I was so excited, and he’s all, “Ow.” But I was so excited and it’s been a treat. Everyone is such a huge fan of Nichelle and she’s always getting like, “Oh Nichelle can I get your autograph? Can I get a picture.” And she’s just so sweet about it always so, yeah, it’s been a treat.

It is a great interview, so go check out the full thing over at Buddy TV.

This may come as very surprising news for those who have been die hard Heroes fans since the begining. We all thought Heroes was going to stay at the top slot throughout this second season, especially with the hype over the summer that the show was getting. However last night during the 9pm hour, Heroes came up a bit short with ABC taking the top with a half hour of Dancing with the Stars and Samantha Who. Here is what Media Life Magazine had to say:

ABC led again at 9 p.m. with a 5.2 average for its last hour of “Stars” and its airing of “Samantha Who?” (4.6), with NBC second with a 4.9 for “Heroes.” CBS was third with a 4.3 average for “Two and a Half Men” (4.8) and “Rules of Engagement” (3.9), Univision fourth with a 2.4 for “Destilando Amor,” Fox fifth with a 2.0 for “K-Ville” and CW sixth with a 1.0 average for “Girlfriends” (0.9) and “The Game” (1.2).

So this has been made out to be a really large episode, a lot of questions have needed to be answered and we haven’t seen Peter or Hiro in last weeks episode. But we know that a lot should be revealed tonight, so lets get into the review:

Peter
We meet up with Peter back at the pub and he is hooking up with the local girl that I am still not sure of her name. He has been stubborn and hasn’t opened the box. Peter finally ends up opening the box and sees a picture of himself, a passport, and a one way ticket and remembers nothing. He then goes into Isaac mode where he begins to paint. We find out that Peter is probably going to Montreal and that Elle took out the pubs owner.

Elle (Kristen Bell)
Early on in the episode we meet up with Elle played by Kristen Bell a character many fans have been excited for and she gives good reason for it. She is not a bad actress and we learn right in the intro of the show that she works for a “company” and has the ability to shoot out electricity from her hands. Elle is obviously after Peter (for whatever reason) and goes to the pub where we see the owner (Peter’s new love interest brother) pretend like he doesn’t know Peter, but we know Elle won’t buy that.

Parkman & Nathan
We saw in last episode that Parkman saw his dad’s face in a picture of all the old Heroes, and he asks Molly to find him. We learn quickly that this is the man plaguing her dreams and she is goes into some sort of shock. It is now Parkman’s mission to go find his Dad, someone he hasn’t seen in many years. Parkman ends up taking Nathan (who has taken a bit of a back seat) to go find his Dad in Philadelphia and when they do they realize he has gotten the picture with the helix sign as well. However one thing just really changes everything for Nathan and Parkman they go into this room in Parkman’s dad’s house and we instantly find that they are in a different future where Nathan witnesses New York totally destroyed and Parman in a high security prison, it is all a bit peculiar.

We meet back up with Parkman and Nathan in this sort of alternate reality where we see the two looking an alternate reality where the two end up beating each other up. It is one of the oddest scenes and one that I am still a bit confused on.

Monica
Last week we saw Monica (a relative to Micah, cousin) take out some gang banger by imitating a guy on TV. She describes it as being able to do something without even telling her body to do something. Micah shows Monica the comic book and calls her the “copy cat” which basically means that Monica copies anything she sees, pretty cool stuff. As Monica begins to learn her power, Mohinder comes and says he has answers.

Hiro
It seems as though the Hiro storyline is getting closer to coming to an end and we see that Hiro is still jealous of Kensei’s love. They are getting close to saving the dad, but it seems to be bewildering the point a bit.

Overall this wasn’t as much of a telling episode as I thought it would be, it was a lot of bits and pieces where I think a lot of us want content. This is once again to much short snippets and not enough information. There has been a bit of Hiro in the last three episodes, Claire was unseen in this episode, there was no Sylar, and I am sure there was a few other characters that were missing as well its just getting harder and harder to keep up with.

So there is a new episode tonight of Heroes and this one has the introduction of Kristen Bell makes her appearance on the show as well. There is really a lot riding on this episode, it is supposed to be a rather telling episode of the show. Here is the bio on tonights show:

More paintings by Isaac are found are researched. We learn something about Mohinder’s past. We meet more new heroes. A woman named Elle is searching for Peter. Ando looks for Hiro in the past. Matt looks for the man in Molly’s dreams.

Come back tonight for a full review of tonights episode titled Fight or Flight.

Although the numbers for Heroes aren’t as staggering as many of the great weeks that NBC had with Heroes last year, it is still great to see Heroes wrapping up its time slot again this week. This is good news for any fan of Heroes worried that the cumbersome number of characters could be drawing people away from Heroes, but it seems like the show is leveling off for some good numbers. Here is what Media Life Magazine had to say about the ratings:

NBC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 5.1 for “Heroes,” while ABC slipped to second with a 4.7 for its last half hour of “Stars” and the premiere of “Who” (4.5). CBS was third with a 4.4 for “Two and a Half Men” (4.8) and “Rules of Engagement” (4.0), Fox fourth with a 2.8 for another hour of baseball, Univision fifth with a 1.9 for “Destilando Amor” and CW sixth with a 1.1 average for “Girlfriends” (1.0) and “The Game” (1.1).

This is good news for Heroes, and could also be a good sign for all three Monday night NBC shows.

So for this episode we are going with a different method, instead of going through of the entire episode we will give a brief of what is going on with many of the main characters:

Nathan
Nathan hasn’t been a big part of the second season, and for the first time you really get an insight into his pain. He goes to see his kids at school towards the begining of the episode and we learn that he must have really hit the panic button after the end of Season 1 and is not allowed to see his kids. Nathan continues his big role in this episode when he goes to the hospital to visit his mother who confesses to killing Hiro’s dad although she didn’t do it. She explains that this is to save them from having there secret come out, and there are some obvious future implications of this decision.

Claire
What is hard to watch in Heroes is Claire, mainly because she basically does the opposite of what her Dad tells her to do. We know Claire’s Dad saw a picture of himself dead, and of course we get some foreshadowing that this has a lot to do with Claire’s new love interest who by the way she agrees to go on a date with, I guess that is her High School age speaking for her. Speaking of not listening, she ends up going out with West, and the Super-Man effect was in 100% action tonight as we see West fly Claire to the Hollywood sign and they do the flying up in the air while kissing act that was made famous in literally every Super-Man comic and movie ever made, nothing like being original guys!

Parkman
There is no doubt that Parkman has been getting a lot of air time in Season 2, mainly because he is the guardian of Molly. Well in today’s episode Parkman finds the picture with Nathan of all the original heroes and guess who was on the picture? Parkman’s dad! Molly tries to find Parkman, but then we find out that Parkman’s dad was the man who haunts Molly’s dreams. At the end of the episode we find that Parkman asks Molly to find his Dad and she does and goes into shock.

Silar
So Silar is back in the thick of things and we find him in the middle of the street in Mexico where he meets up with the brother and sister duo on there way to see Suresh. Silar seems to be getting better by the minute and it seems as though his powers are back because he takes out a fellow traveler who was going to call the cops in a few seconds.

Overall Feelings
This is another one of those episodes that leaves way to much to be desired. In fact we didn’t see Peter or Hiro at all in this episode, and once again Jessica was no where to be seen and that is the biggest problem so far this season, you get interested in one characters story and the next week they are no where to be seen. And guess what not only were there new characters this week, but next week there are more! A decent episode, but once again nothing special.