(S04E19) Volume Five came to a climactic end, and as with past volumes, it was both exciting and a little bit of a letdown. But also in keeping with tradition, it left the door open for exciting possibilities in Volume Six, teased at the end of the episode, despite a fifth season not being a certainty at this point.

I suspect, though, that NBC will in fact bring the show back, despite it's lackluster ratings performance. A reboot, of sorts, to the franchise could revitalize it in the same way 'Chuck' has seen ratings improve this season. Properly handled, 'Heroes' is a show that could go several seasons. "Properly handled" is the key to that phrase, and it has been mismanaged for too long.

(S04E16) "Objection, your honor. He's reciting the opening to Quantum Leap." -- Adam Monro, prosecuting attorney in Hiro's mind-trial

This week, it was time to deal once and for all with that pesky tumor in Hiro's brain. This isn't Eli Stone, after all. Not to mention how downright loopy he's been lately. So apparently the resolution is for his body to collapse while he faces a strange trial in the diner where he met, failed-to-save, and then did save Charlie. David Anders reprised his role as Adam Monroe to prosecute our time traveling hero, while George Takei presided over the thing as his father and the judge.

The rest of the episode was split between Sylar's quest to figure out why Lydia's ability was directing him to Claire, and Samuel's attempts to woo Vanessa after he'd kidnapped her. I can say, that I thought he was off to a rough start on that one.

(S04E15) Doesn't it always come down to a girl? I'm not sure why I didn't see it.

This week saw many of the pieces coming together for the endgame coming soon between Samuel and whatever band of heroes Noah can put together to take him down. But then again, Noah's not the only one gunning for Samuel at this point, is he? Other than Sylar and Tracy, we touched base with just about everyone in the cast, and for the first time in a long time, this series is starting to feel the same way it did during that exciting first season, when it had three times as many viewers.

If you were irritated trying to keep up with Hiro's bizarre "geek culture" speak, you'll be pleased to know that it comes to an end this episode.

(S04E13) Samuel's plans are coming together as he finally tracks down one of the last pieces he knows to make his utopian dream of a home for people with special abilities a reality. At least that's the snowjob he spends most of the episode feeding Claire. And in typical Claire fashion, she remains just as conflicted and confused as she always is.

Speaking of confused, remember when Hiro spouted off some nonsense and then disappeared last time we saw him? I thought maybe it was a reference to something I'd forgotten -- it happens -- but instead it was just the first sampling of whatever that dude did to his brain. It takes Sam's "swiss cheese memory" from Quantum Leap to a whole new level.

(S04E08) As promised, this week's episode of Heroes took us back to the heydays of the first season. Back when this was a world of wonder filled with new and exciting characters and mystery. Their futures lie before them, and it all centered on Charlie, the poor waitress that Hiro failed time and again to save back then.

Now that he's working on his bucket list before he kicks it, the time has come to head back three years and try to undo her death by Sylar's hand. Which means we got to see HRG, Claire, Hiro, Ando, Sylar and even Isaac as they were three years ago.

The question was whether or not he could change the past and save Charlie, when he failed to before. Furthermore, could he do so without changing all the subsequent events that had happened. He'd already had a taste of success with Ando and his sister, but this sojourn had much higher stakes.

(S04E04) What are you doing with your life? Are you happy with what you do every day, 40 or more hours a week? If not, then you're not truly living your life, you're living someone else's. Only when you realize that this life is a gift and it's so much shorter than any of us can possibly realize, can you truly start to live for yourself. Take a risk. Do what you want. Do what makes you happy.

That's pretty heady stuff, but it was apparently on the Heroes writers' minds tonight, because that's exactly what this episode was about. And it turned out pretty well. There were moments of true growth for several of our characters, some good and some probably not so good.

(S04E02) Things are definitely getting interesting again. I'm glad Heroes went with a two-hour premiere, because it wasn't until the end of this hour that we had enough to really grab our attention again. As expected, Samuel Sullivan and the Sullivan Brothers Carnival are right at the heart of the mystery right now.

There's another mystery brewing at Claire's college. Or maybe there isn't. Could what happened with Annie be as straightforward as everyone seems to want us to believe? But now that's the least of Claire's problems, due to her little impromptu experiment.

This episode focused primarily on four main storylines, and it progressed very smoothly for it. It wasn't too confusing, and I came out if it with a sense of confidence that there's a plan for the season. I'm still not sure if it's accessible enough for new viewers, but you never know. Maybe people are smarter than I give them credit for.

(S04E01) Volume Five - "Redemption"

A new volume and new faces ... on the show, that is. At this point, I think it's a bit of a pipe dream by NBC to think they can nab new viewers. And as much as I was hoping they'd make this as accessible as possible, things are still pretty hopelessly complex. The situation with Nathan/Sylar alone is enough to make any new viewer change the channel. Maybe see how House is coping with life in the asylum.

On the other hand, Robert Knepper has joined the cast as Samuel, the leader of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, and I couldn't be more excited. No matter how ridiculous Prison Break got over four years, Knepper was just deliciously villainous as T-Bag. And he's just as enigmatic on camera here.

Tonight's premiere is a two-hour extravaganza, including the first two episodes of the new season. Look for my review of the second hour in a separate post.

It's not easy to live in Hiro's shadow, which is what poor sidekick Ando has been forced to do on sci-fi hit 'Heroes'. Played by Korean James Kyson Lee (who sometimes gets some flak for playing a Japanese guy), Ando has slowly emerged as a hero in his own right as the series has progressed.

Now blessed with powers of his own, Ando no longer takes the back seat. Certainly Lee's acting ability and profound likability has played a part in his character's advancement; it's not often that a character goes from comic foil to centre of attention. It takes a certain kind of magnetism for that to happen, and Lee has it in spades.

AOL sat down to talk with Lee at the 2009 Fan Expo in Toronto about the upcoming season of 'Heroes', and what it's been like maturing along with his character, Ando.

(S03E25) In my early look at this finale, I laid a pretty broad hint as to the major twist at the end of this volume, and I was impressed with some of the deductive abilities of our readers. And the fact that one of you got it exactly right. Now that we've all seen the final cut of the closing chapter of the "Fugitives" volume of Heroes, we can really look back at it and see how we think things have gone.

What was needed was to wipe the slate clean, resolve as many of the dangling plot threads as possible, and establish a tabula rasa for "Volume Five." Or as much of one as we can this far into a series. After all, these last two volumes have left some pretty sour tastes in many mouths. The set up for interesting things to come next year was definitely well done. I'm more interested in what's going to happen in "Redemption" than I was excited about what happened in this finale.

(S03E15) The second chapter of the newest volume of Heroes wasn't quite as strong as the first one, but it kept things moving in a positive direction. I guess the writers were wanting to keep the fugitive heroes as weak in power base as possible, based on the casualty we experienced in this episode. In a way, I can say I knew it was coming, but was hopeful that it wouldn't. While I agree that the cast had gotten a little sprawling and out of control at times thorughout the series progression, I never thought this character was a problem.

(S03E14) Now that's more like it! Yes, we're only one hour into this fourth volume ("Fugitives") of Heroes, but already we're looking at a vastly improved product. We're no longer fragmented trying to keep track of a million different seemingly unrelated storylines. Everything's connected, there's a very common and familiar enemy that needs to be dealt with, and it's a natural progression from where we've come.

Nathan's progression to the point we see him tonight has been handled pretty well. From the beginning, he was always portrayed as kind of a dick who felt pretty differently than Peter about abilities and those with them. Now we see just how strongly he feels. The addition of Zejlko Ivanek (Damages) as the man in charge of the hunter squads is a great casting choice. Already he brings an intensity to the role that's much appreciated. It's early to say, but this reminded me so much of the tone and atmosphere of the first season that I think we can declare Heroes back.

(S03E13) Man, they did it again. Set up a potentially solid climactic final chapter to a "Volume" and then just kind of fizzled out. Sylar's antics bordered a bit on the ridiculous, and I don't at all buy Nathan's character path over the past three seasons as plausible. I was pleased with the continuation and ultimate resolution of Hiro's story as it involved also Ando, Matt and Daphne. As it turns out, while these are by no means the central figures in the plots for this Volume, their story was the best.

Maybe it's because there was a minimum of whining (Peter) or pouting (Claire), and quite frankly there's only so much of that crap you can take. With the end of "Volume Three" tonight, as we've done in the past, we got a sneak peek at "Volume Four: Fugitives." And as has been the case in the past, the few minutes we got on a preview of the next volume was much more compelling than the finale of this current volume. Just like real comic books, you usually get a great build up in these big stories, ultimately leading to disappointment.

(S03E11) Well, that was a whole lot of hullabaloo about nothing. I know, I know can't spoil anything before the jump. Can I say that I'm really enjoying Hiro these last couple of episodes? Maybe all he needed was to be a 10-year old boy. In fact, I wasn't too terribly annoyed by anyone in this episode ... except for Mohinder. Come on, dude. Let it go. Do you really think she's still going to be interested after everything that went down?

You just know that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer were just geeking out about getting a role on this show. In fact, we need more Heroes sketches on Robot Chicken. Now there's no excuses. As for the rest, the eclipse came and went and all those huge promises about what a big freaking deal this would turn out to be were for naught. Their powers disappeared when the eclipse came. What happened when it left?

(S03E10) We've reached the climax of this volume of Heroes. With the coming of the eclipse the first time, abilities manifested in our plethora of characters, or at least some of them. Or at least it was a catalyst of some importance. Now Claire is apparently a catalyst of some importance. Because the writers aren't sure how to make her anything other than kind of annoying, but she's the "hot chick" so they have to keep her. But that's another issue. It's time for another eclipse, and this time what havoc will it wreak?

Maybe it can make Peter whine less. Or Claire be less useless of a character. Or Matt more important of a character. Or Mohinder go back to normal or just die already. Things were definitely turned sideways this episode, and I think it was in a good way. I know all they naysayers will keep saying nay, many of them doing so without even watching the episodes (which makes their opinions irrelevant), but things are getting on track. Now if they can just avoid a disappointing conclusion to this volume, I'll be thrilled powerless.