A few days ago, “Heroes” creator Tim Kring apologized to the show’s fans everywhere (via “Entertainment Weekly”) for Season 2’s snail-slow pace and coma-inducing story lines. He also said some new characters would not return after Dec. 3’s midseason climax. That my friends, very likely means that Maya and Alejandro, whose borderline-pointless storyline has dragged the most, will be packing their bags in the next three episodes–victims of bad writing (OK, the acting hasn’t quite been stellar either). Either way, we got a bit better acquainted with the characters’ background in this week’s episode, which cycled back to four months ago, filling in the gaps between last season’s finale and the premiere of Season 2.

In the Dominican Republic, at Alejandro’s wedding, Maya discovers the bride getting it on with an ex in a utility shed. For the very first time, her eyes spout black goo and she not only involuntarily kills the secret couple, but everybody at the wedding. Except Alejandro. We next see Maya in a Venezuelan church, where she’s turned into a nun (”Heroes” writers have been watching one too many telenovelas). Alejandro tracks her to the church and asks her how she managed to kill her prison guards, by which we learn that she was somehow busted for the deaths of everyone in the wedding. (Which is yet another weak link in this storyline. When Maya kills people, they simply keel over. What evidence would there have been that she was the murderer, even assuming she had confessed?). Anyway, Alejandro brings a cop with him, telling Maya it’s for the best that she go to jail (because it worked so well the first time).  When she goes gooey and kills the cop,  Alejandro  grabs her arms and  tries to calm her down…and discovers  that by doing so, he has the ability to undo the damage she does. They run away, starting their epic journey to the U.S.

It’s not just the twins’ back story that we’re let in on. We also return to the Kirby Plaza showdown, scene of the Season 1 finale. Just after Nathan flies Peter, who is quickly going nuclear, into the stratosphere, and we find out why Peter couldn’t just have flown up by himself: he was using all his power to concentrate on not exploding while on the ground. As they fly together, Peter begs Nathan to let go of him, which happens just as Peter explodes. Next scene: Peter, who has survived the episode with nothing more than a ripped shirt, carries his badly burned bro into a hospital. That’s where electric sex kitten Elle (”Veronica Mars” fan fave Kristen Bell) shows up, zaps him unconscious and transports him to the Company headquarters. There, he meets Bob and volunteers to take some pills to get his powers under control so that he doesn’t hurt anyone anymore (can’t quite understand why characters on this show find this guy so persuasive, but OK).

A the Company “rehab” facilty, he meets Adam, the guy formerly known as Kensei, who is in the next cell and has to point out to the epically slow Peter that the pills are fake and the Company is not a rehab facility, but a prison (what, the locked cell and toilet attached tot he wall didn’t give it away?). For the next five days, Peter spits out his pills. He walks through the wall dividing his cell from Adam’s and breaks them both out by going through another wall: Adam has promised to cure Nathan with his blood, which can cure anything, and help Peter save the world. They go to Nathan’s hospital room, where big bro looks like a piece of burnt toast. Adam injects his blood into Nathan’s IV, healing the burns. Then, he and Peter take off, bound for Montreal. (Don’t ask me how they managed to get passports and airline tickets so fast.) Sadly, Elle and the Haitian catch up to them, they separate, and after getting chased by the Haitian, Peter ends up handcuffed to a shipping container, with his memory erased, and we’ve come full circle to the beginning of season 2.

D.L. survives the gunshot wound he received at Kirby Plaza, and for the umpteenth time, he and Nikki and Micah try to be a normal family. As usual, that works for about five minutes. Bob shows up persuades Nikki to take the pills to get rid of evil alter-ego Jessica once and for all. Nikki seems to agree, then dumps the pills down the kitchen sink. She can handle  Jessica, she tells herself. THat’s when she looks in the mirror and finds out that she has gotten rid of Jessica, but there’s another Nikki-double in the mirror: Gina, who locks Nikki in the mirror and takes off to L.A. D.L. follows and finds her dancing with a sleazy guy, who shoots D.L. dead. Nikki’s own actions have caused his death. Now we understand why at the beginning of the season, she checked herself into Company rehab and took the vaccine to get rid of her powers once and for all.

All in all, this week’s was a solid episode that offered a lot of the answers we’ve been waiting for all season (well, those of us who have stuck with the show anyway). The next three episodes, as promised in next a preview, will wrap up all story lines. So we’ll get to see if Mr. Bennet aka Horn Rimmed Glasses will really kill wimp Suresh and if little Peter and Adam can save the world from the Virus. Expect surprises. If nothing else, “Heroes” has shown over and over that you never know what side anyone is on (ie. the  contantly morally morphing HRG and Kensei/Adam) and that people are not ever wholly good or evil.

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