I’ve been a Heroes fan from the start, being the X-Men fangirl that I am.

Last season, like most, I was dreadfully disappointed with the slow pace it took. I didn’t mind the plot arc overall (but what did ever happen to Peter’s girlfriend trapped in that alternate future with the plague?), but rather how freakin’ slow it went.

If last night was any indication, Season 3 will not suffer from that malaise.

Granted, we were treated to two full hours (sorry, I don’t watch “countdown to” shows unless it’s for Battlestar Galactica) of twists and turns that left me with whiplash. And seldom have I been so pleased to get whiplash.

There was quite a bit to digest, so I’m not going to do a start-to-finish recap. After the jump, I’ll discuss the high points and some theories I came up with last night. The theories can’t be considered spoilers, seeing as I have no inside knowledge and I quite often make completely erroneous assumptions about my favorite shows. There are tons of spoilers, though, if you didn’t watch both hours, so don’t bother clicking on “read more” if you didn’t.

Ready? See you after the jump.

Mohinder

Slightly more annoying now that he has this awesome new power (s?), I started to feel sorry for him at the end of the second episode.

The interesting thing about his new power is that he seems to have multiple new powers; or are all his powers a part of the same? He has these hightened senses, super strength (Hulk), ability to climb up walls (Spider-Man), seemingly a new-found super-sexiness to the ladies (Wolverine) and … well, his skin’s peeling off and he’s starting to mutate (eww). Into what?

Given that his blood was the antidote to the virus that kills the Mutants (sorry, I just always think of them in X-Men terms), I wonder if that’s why he is having this reaction to the Mutant-maker shot.

Has he stumbled upon the mysterious “formula” that the older generation of Mutants were protecting? Did he discover it and the older generation got it through time travel or something and took back to the past to protect?

Hiro and Ando

Of course the loveable goofball opened the safe and lost the half of the formula that can destroy the world. Why can it destroy the world? Well, obviously, it leads to that war Future Peter keeps referring to. The ability to give powers and take them away is more than man should have. Humanity has, time and again, in real life and in fiction, proven itself incapable of wielding such extreme power humanely.

I thought the trail that super-fast girl left behind her was very cool, though. Interesting that Hiro doesn’t exactly STOP time inasmuch as he slows it to almost a complete stop. That’s why Superfast Girl could move; with her super-speed, she just seemed to be moving at a normal speed to Hiro when everyone was frozen around them.

Now, the part of this story that got interesting was Ando’s seeming betrayal of Hiro in the future.

First off, the way Hiro is treating Ando in the present time because of his belief that Ando may not be trustworthy is likely the reason Ando ends up betraying him. Proof that you can’t really change the future; you may be able to change little aspects of it, but if the world’s going to end, it’s going to end.

The Mutants may have stoped the nuke from blowing up New York City, but the world’s going to hell in a handbasket in other ways. One future that may or may not have been averted is the one where Peter’s Irish girlfriend got trapped. Then there’s the one with evil Claire trying to shoot Peter. Then there’s this chaotic one where Ando betrays Hiro. Then there’s whatever future the release of the Evil Men from Level 5 has wrought.

So how does Ando get a power? Is that really Ando? Is it Sylar, pretending to be Ando, with Elle’s power? Or some other electric mutant’s power?

Speaking of …

Elle

First off, bad repair job they did on her forehead. It looks like they used Silly Putty to fix the slice Sylar had managed to carve into her forehead.

But how cool was it that her electricity just exploded and managed to knock Sylar out when he tried to get into her brain?

I felt sorry for her when she saw her father killed, though. He was a jackass, but she’d only ever wanted to please him. I think it’s good for her that she’s freed of her father. With Mama Petrelli kicking her out of the “organization,” will she join up with the good guys? It think she really liked/loved Peter when he was captured by her dad.

The Petrelli Clan

None of the Petrellis can be taken singly.

First off, it’s nice to really find out what Mama Petrelli’s power is. Dreams of the future. Who were all those people in her apocalyptic future? Sylar, sure. Adam. Nikki/Jessica/Tracey/Gina/psycho woman of the week. Was that older guy Parkman’s father? And who was the fifth? The new Evil Guy from Level 5 who takes people’s fears and turns them against them, played by Marlo from The Wire?

And if Claire’s head is cut off, does she actually die, despite what Sylar told her?

Obviously, Mama’s dreams are an interpretation of reality. Claire hasn’t worn that cheerleader outfit since the first season.

As much of a mean mama she is, she’s right about what she’s telling Future Scarred Peter. He can’t change the future. Any change he makes will just make it worse or, at least, no better. He’s setting things in motion that no one can foretell quite yet.

And so we have dueling Peters.

We have Present Peter, trapped in the body of Evil Man from Level 5 whose power was simply stated as “sound manipulation.” I have a feeling we’ll find out what that means and I’m assuming that Peter being in his body will mean that he’ll be able to use that power in the future.

And we have Future Scarred Peter. Even his powers of regeneration couldn’t repair that scar. What caused that? Considering he fully repaired himself from his nuclear detonation above the earth, you’d think he could get rid of an unsightly scar. Or is it that he doesn’t want to, he needs the reminder of whatever happened to him?

He really has become adept at handling his powers. Of course, he has a few years on Present Peter.

I was only half surprised when we found out he was Nathan’s shooter, though. Many had supposed that over the long hiatus, and I have to admit it was so unlikely that it seemed the most likely option. His reasons were interesting, though, that he’d choose to sacrifice his beloved brother for the greater good. Perhaps because his brother had once almost sacrificed himself for the greater good (getting Nuclear Peter into the stratosphere before detonation)?

Don’t blame Nathan for not being sure how he feels about it. Here’s the question though: Did Peter really revive him, or is he somehow connected to Malcolm McDowell psychically, so even though Malcolm’s dead, he still healed him? I know that sounds stupid, but …

We all know his selection as the junior senator from New York is no coincidence. And who was behind his rise to Congressman?

That brings us to …

Nikki/Jessica/Gina/Tracey/Ice Queen/Incredible Hulk/Whatever personality she feels like trying on today

Here’s my theory on Nikki: She isn’t actually Nikki. She’s Jessica. But not split personality Jessica; she’s Nikki’s actual twin sister (remember, the one who supposedly died at their father’s hand?) I believe she was never killed; I believe the Older Generation wanted to split them up. Twin mutants would figure out their powers a lot faster, I’d think, because they’d have someone to confide in.

So they were split up. Nikki was made to believe Jessica was killed. Jessica’s memories of being Jessica were somehow erased and she was brought up as someone else entirely.

I do believe Nikki was blown up last season. There’s no way that in just a couple of months, one of the top advisers to the governor of New York could come out of nowhere and no one do a background check, etc. (No Eliot Spitzer jokes, please.)

Tracey/Ice Queen is not Nikki. Plus, she has a totally different power. While it’s not impossible that Nikki could have had two powers, it would have been far more likely, I’d think, for her to fling the guy across the garage in a murderous rage, given how angry she was at him, than for her to turn him into ice.

Mark my words.

Claire

Why does Claire turn bad?

I think that part of it is Future Scarred Peter pulling away from her in present time because he’s not Present Peter. Part of it is her new connection to her birth mother. Part of it is HRG becoming partners with Sylar. Part of it is Sylar having “turned off” whatever nerves in her brain that felt pain. She no longer feels pain.

It’s a lot easier to go into a situation if you know you won’t feel any pain. I mean, sure, she can regenerate, but she always still felt the pain of the branch into her head, the cutting off of her toe, the fall from the water tower. You’ll take greater risks if you don’t feel pain. I sure would. And she herself points out that she feels less and less human.

If she’s not human, does she have to be humane?

Sylar

He’s become extremely powerful, and he can now regenerate, sure. But it’s good to see he’s not completely without an Achilles’ heel.

Whatever it is that the Organization uses to keep the mutants under its control seems to be working. How could Mama Petrelli just walk in there?

And, is she really his mother? I mean, biologically? Or is it that she’s spiritually his mother? Will be interesting to find out. Wonder if her dreams of the future foresaw that he’d be evil, and sending him off to a nice watchmaker’s family was their attempt to give him a good life and prevent him from ever discovering his true nature.

Why would he want to work for the Organization, though? Is it a matter of getting access to all the records of all the Mutants?

Evil Men from Level 5

Obviously, these men are going to wreak havoc and display their powers overtly. How much of an influence will Present Peter, trapped in Sound Manipulator’s body, be able to have over them? How, exactly, did Future Scarred Peter put Present Peter in there?

These villains, I believe, are going to become Sylar’s gang of four. He’ll plan all sorts of stuff, and when he’s finished with them, he’ll steal their powers. Of course, if he realizes Present Peter is inside Sound Manipulator, he’ll kill him right off, hoping to get all his powers in one fell swoop.

I have to admit, though, it’s nice for a change to see the Mutants using their power for evil. We know that the better side of man is not usually the one that rears its head. It’s more realistic this way.

If Heroes can keep up the pace it set in the first two hours for the rest of the season, we’re in for some ride, my friends. Some ride indeed.

Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.