The third episode of Heroes, entitled “One of Us, One of Them” aired yesterday on NBC and I thought it was fantastic. The two part season premiere that aired last week was very fast paced with very short scenes and incorporated almost all of the major characters. The episodes were both exciting and enjoyable, but weren’t amazing. I thought this week’s episode was a considerable improvement.

The finale of season two left a lot of loose ends and I think the writers tried to tie them all up as quickly as possible in the premiere. The writers are obviously ready to take the show in a new direction and they started pushing those changes immediately last week. So between wrapping up the loose ends and pushing the new ideas at such as fast pace, the episodes suffered. Many of the characters seemed to change drastically or were immediately thrown into new situations. Mohinder and Maya was just weird and disconcerting.

I had started to worry that things were going amiss, but yesterday’s episode has quelled my fears significantly. The first week left me reeling a little, but I am beginning to think it actually did a pretty good job to set the stage for this season’s plot line. The third episode slowed things down and gave more time to individual characters. Other characters were ignored completely. I think this approach is crucial, because when the writers try to factor in every character, the episodes are just insane.

The episode started back in Sylar’s cell in Level 5 with Angela Petrelli revealing that she is his mother. I thought this scene came off a lot better with extended dialog. It had already been speculated that Angela was Sylar’s mother, so the revelation at the end of the premiere didn’t end up being much of a cliffhanger for me. In fact, I thought it was just kind of lame, but I like how the third episode began to play things out. Angela starts by leaving Sylar some “food” and we see just how nasty she can be. I mean, what a bitch!

Sylar is assigned to be Mr. Bennet’s partner as they attempt to track down the escaped prisoners from Level 5. Obviously this works out for Sylar, because he’ll have the chance to steal powers from some of the most dangerous villains in the world. I really liked how Bennet baited Sylar into helping bring them down, but it was not surprise that Sylar stole one of their powers. What was surprising was that he was willing to go back to Level 5 when they were down.

During the confrontation, future Peter shows up and removes present Peter from the body he is trapped inside and promptly whisks him away to the future. To be honest I’m getting a little tired of all the time travel. Does there always have to be some impending disaster that the heroes are trying to stop? We did that for the first two seasons and I’m ready for something different. It will probably work well enough, but I think the writers might try to be a little more creative next time around.

We also saw Hiro and Ando continue to track down the speedster Daphne. This plotline is nice because it brings some fun and humor to an otherwise somber show. It look forward to seeing more of this plot line.

And thankfully, we saw the whole Nikki/Tracy situation laid to rest. Literally. Tracy actually shows up at Nikki’s funeral and bumps into Micah. Seriously awkward. Through Micah, Tracy finds out that she is Nikki’s sister and track’s down the doctor that birthed them, or in his words “created them.”

Overall, I thought the third episode was the strongest of this season. It was very dramatic and enjoyable. I really like seeing expanded segments for each character, so the slightly slower pace seemed to work a lot better. I’m really looking forward to next week.

Heroes kicked off its third season with a three hour premiere. The first hour was a recap and behind-the-scenes episode. The next two hours consisted of the first two episodes of the season, “Second Coming” and “The Butterfly Effect.

With the start of the new season, began the start of a new volume entitled “Villains.” Already with the first two episodes, we have seen a significant darkening in the series. Many new villainous characters have been introduced and several other baddies returned. We also began to see how some of the more noble characters may become tempted or corrupted by their power.

It seems this will be a season of change with many of the central characters undergoing some dramatic change in the first two episodes. Suresh has injected himself with what he believes is the source of all human evolution and what creates the powers of all the Heroes. Peter has become trapped in the body of a man who has recently escaped from the Level 5 prison where the Company kept the most dangerous individuals. Nathan has been cured by Linderman, who only he can see, and been offered the chance to become a New York state senator. Nikki is back, but as Tracy Stroud and with the power to freeze. I could go on, but I won’t.

It seems that the writers really wanted to make a drastic change from last season and wipe the slate clean. That is probably because last season was not that well received and, with the writer’s strike, felt rushed and incomplete. I’m glad to see that, but I almost wonder if they weren’t a little too eager to make progress. The first two episodes have done a lot to jump start the story, so much that it kind of felt like not one character really got the screen time that he or she deserved. Just when I was getting into a plot line, it would switch over to another. The premiere was very fast paced, but, overall, it was very good.

I’m looking forward to see what is in store for the characters this season. I think season three will definitely have a better plot than last season. Not many of the original characters from season two are still around, so everyone’s favorite characters should get the screen time that they lacked last year. Overall, I think I would say I was satisfied with the premiere. I wasn’t blown away (like with the first season), but I definitely wasn’t disappointed either.

Unfortunately “Heroes” is on hiatus due to the writer’s strike, but there are still ways that fans can find some enjoyment from the show with the online features at NBC.com. Right now NBC and Sprint are running the “Create Your Hero” campaign.

“Create Your Hero” is an web-based promotion presented by Sprint in which “Heroes” fans are called upon to vote on various physical and personality attributes for the creation of a new hero. There will be one male hero and one female hero, created from the culmination of the most voted attributes. The new heroes will come to life in an original, live action series, which will run exclusively on NBC.com.

I’ve voted each week so far and I’ve found it interesting to see what kind of characters are developing from fan voting. It’s kind of amusing though to see how some of the attributes that are winning the vote are somewhat contradictory, such as a the character might be from the suburbs, but be of poor economic status. It will be interesting to see how the writers deal with all of the results.

Go and vote for yourself!