Tonight’s half-season finale – that’s as good a name for it as any, don’t you think? – was pretty impressive for the most part, providing plenty of reasons to continue tuning in whenever the second half of the season finally emerges.

The intertwined Peter / Adam / Hiro / Nathan / Parkman storylines proved to be the most effective of the episode. I still think it’s ridiculous that Peter wouldn’t give Hiro the benefit of the doubt about Adam, but their battle / discussion played well nonetheless, particularly the way it was capped off by Adam’s line as he swiped his sword back from the unconscious Hiro (“I believe this is mine, carp”). Actually, it was a night of great lines, what with Parkman’s comment after Nathan’s landing (“We don’t talk about that ever again”) and Nathan’s matter-of-fact reaction to Parkman’s revelation that he’d gotten advice from Mama Petrelli (“Listening to my mother has never led to anything good”). The twin-pronged attack from Peter and Adam as they walked down the hallway was pretty bad-ass, and the showdown between Adam and Hiro was well done as well; certainly, Adam’s final fate confirmed conclusively that it’s not wise to fuck with Hiro Nakamura. After those two made their departure, I really couldn’t believe that between Peter, Nathan, and Parkman, none of them noticed the blinking red light in the ventilation shaft. I was thinking that the collection of clips which aired over Nathan’s speech was the kind of thing that should’ve been used as a trailer for the Season 2 DVD, which left me completely blindsided by his assassination. I wasn’t all that shocked to find that Mama was behind her son’s death, given that she’d already “told” Parkman that he’d probably end up having to put a bullet through Peter’s head, but it was still a rough revelation.

As it has been throughout the season, the Micah / Monica subplot remained mostly tangential to everything else going on around it. I’m digging the way they’re finally delving deeper into Micah’s powers, and Nikki was actually pretty kick ass in her big scene saving Monica, but, obviously, the big moment with Nikki’s apparent demise in that huge fireball. I don’t really think she’s dead, but I reckon we’ll find out eventually.

The Mohinder / Molly / Maya / Sylar storyline only played out about halfway how I figured it would; I knew Maya would eventually figure out that Sylar had killed her brother (although, admittedly, it didn’t occur to me that Molly would play into the revelation) and that there’d be a big showdown over it. There were still a few surprises here and there, though. I loved Mohinder’s look after Maya let slip that Sylar didn’t have his powers, even if it totally telegraphed that he was about to do something like, say, grab for a knife. Sylar’s line, “Now look what you made me do,” was brilliant. My favorite part was Elle’s entrance into the fray. Earlier in the episode, she’d gotten that total smackdown from Bob. “When I think about all the hard work I put into raising you…” Ouch. (And, yet, how can you not love the guy after seeing that picture of him in fishing hat and waders, holding up his prize catch?) The battle between her and Sylar was good fun, as was her look when Mohinder assured her that she had indeed been helpful to them. Again, I say it: I love Kristen Bell. And I’m PSYCHED that both she and Bob made it out of the half-season alive.

Ultimately, I was least excited about the HRG / Claire / Wes saga. I’ve just become less and less enamored of Claire this season, and when she went into whiny bitch mode with Wes, I pretty much tuned out. I feel like HRG’s teaming with Bob is gonna prove to be the equivalent of selling one’s soul to the devil, though, so I am interested in seeing how that pans out.

Here’s my closing question: who would you say was the second of the two deaths that we were promised? Was it Maya, since she was pretty much dead after Sylar shot her, only to be brought back via the blood transfusion? Or was it Nikki? I’m leaning toward the former; that’s just the kind of trick you’d expect from the “Heroes” team.

So 2008 will bring us more “Heroes,” or so promised NBC at the end of the episode. Yes, but when in 2008? Well, as long as Sylar’s gonna have his powers back, we’ll be there…whenever it is.