Here are now, at the finale of another season of “Heroes.” Entertain us…or, at the very least, leave us happy ’til the beginning of the next season, right? With the return of Bryan Fuller to the fold, the show has been working its way slowly but surely out of the creative doledrums in which it had found itself, but does anyone even care anymore?

It’s a fair question, particularly when you look back at how few people are commenting on this blog nowadays. Once upon a time, we actually used to get a discussion going about the episode of the week, but if you look back over the course of the past several weeks, we’ve been averaging no more than 2 or 3 comments per ep, with one week receiving absolutely no comments! I figured Fuller’s return would kickstart the blog, but has it really reached a point where even the return of one of the show’s seminal writers (if, indeed, a show only in its third season can be said to have such a thing) can’t stir much in the way of conversation? I’m not even taking it personally anymore. I’m really just surprised.

Frankly, I feel like the show’s been relatively strong in recent weeks. Are there really so few people who feel the same way?

Last week ended with Zeljko looking darned surprised about Sylar surviving a knife blade to the back of the skull, but given the amount of shapeshifting Sylar had been doing, I wasn’t terribly shocked. Since he’s now able to move his size and shape around in a rather dramatic fashion, I figured his Achilles’ heel might not be where we last left it. I was, however, wondering whether we’d see Sylar slaughter Zeljko immediately or if he’d toy with him for awhile first. Nice touch, taking on his form to discredit him, ruin his reputation, and get him thrown into prison with…HRG?

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Now this felt like a comic book.

I know I’ve said that before about episodes of “Heroes,” but those who frequent this blog on a regular basis are hopefully aware that I don’t say it very often. Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of things, that’s not really a good thing, since, y’know, this is a show about people with superhuman abilities. As such, you’d like to think that just about every episode would feel more or less like a comic book…but they don’t.

Shall we once again chalk this up to the return of Bryan Fuller?

Oh, what the hell. We might as well, right? I mean, after all, it might’ve been written by Aron Eli Coleite, but Fuller’s influence is all over this episode, from the flashback structure to the use of one of his regular players: Diana Scarwid, who was a regular on “Wonderfalls” (Karen Tyler) and popped up on “Pushing Daisies” on more than a few occasions as well (as Mother Mary Mary Superior).

Last week ended with the Petrelli family literally digging up skeletons from Mama’s past as they scoured the now-desolate area known as Coyote Flats. Why? To find Mama’s long lost sister, Alice. So let’s cue up the flashbacks and drop into black and white mode, shall we?

It was cool to see some well-established characters in their younger years: Charles Deveaux, Daniel Linderman, Bob(by) Bishop, and, of course, Mohinder’s pops. The references to the Nazis – specifically, Mengele – and the Jews were almost inevitable. It’s focusing on a camp filled with people who have been deemed different in some way, and it’s filmed in black and white. Even people who’ve never seen “Schindler’s List” were thinking of that movie from the moment the color faded away…and, somehow, I can’t imagine the comparison wasn’t completely and totally intentional. There were several nice uses of music in this episode, with Santo and Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” definitely being among the highlights, but my personal favorite moment was the transition between the last 1961 flashback sequence and the present, with Roy Orbison’s original version of “Crying” segueing seamlessly into k.d. lang’s cover. That was some sweet, sweet stuff right there, my friends.

The only problem with the flashback sequences being so good, however, was that the present-day bits needed to be exciting enough that you didn’t keep thinking, “Geez, I wish they’d flip back to 1961 already!” The storm surges served that purpose nicely, since we weren’t entirely sure if indeed Alice was still alive or not. I certainly didn’t think she was controlling the winds from beyond the grave or anything, but I wasn’t sure how they were going to handle it.

As it turned out, she ended up looking suspiciously like the Cat Lady from “The Simpsons,” but I didn’t think about the point of comparison until afterwards. While I was actually watching the episode, I was far more focused on the interaction between Scarwid and Cristine Rose, which was a lot of fun to watch. Wow, so Mama Petrelli lied to her sister outright. Yeah, that’s a pretty big secret to carry with you for that many years, though it had to at least be a little bit of a load off to learn that Alice was actually still alive, what with having believed her dead for 48 years. I dare say we haven’t seen the last of her in the “Heroes” saga.

All told, a very, very solid episode for those who enjoy a well-told bit of back story…and since I count myself among that number, you may color me pleased. The last few moments, however, definitely left me chomping at the bit for next week. Clearly, the future isn’t going to turn out exactly as it was foretold in previous episodes, but with Sylar doing his best Nathan impression, there are definitely some seriously dark clouds on the horizon.

In closing, don’t forget to check out my interview with Greg Grunberg over at Bullz-Eye, part of our latest TV Power Rankings festivities.

Tonight’s “Heroes” was one of intertwined stories bound with ridiculous coincidences and total mindfucks…which is to say that there was tension to be had, but there were also a couple of moments where the Plot Police should have been called in to charge the writers with including events which were just waaaaaaayyyyyyy too convenient.

Between Zeljko and Sylar, it was clear from early on that HRG’s mind was going to seriously played with tonight, but as I observed last week, HRG’s been around the block way too many times with Sylar to just accept his death as a given without checking into it a bit…and, of course, it didn’t take long before he’d confirmed that, indeed, the body that looked like Sylar actually wasn’t Sylar. What he didn’t realize at that point, however, was that he’d already had an encounter with the now-shapeshifting villain. When Sandra first turned up, my first thought was that it was Sylar pretending to be her…until it turned into the tale of two Zeljkos.

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So Peter saved his mother last week not so much because he loves her but because he wants answers, but the sequences with he and Mama Petrelli initially seemed designed solely for longtime fans who’ve been complaining about a lack of character development…and, indeed, it’s fair to say that’s what both of the Petrelli-centric storylines were tonight. Once the government agents arrived at the church, we were taken a little bit further into Mama’s past, making her seem more human than she ever has before. (HRG’s sigh before giving the fake all-clear sign to his men was awesome, by the way.) Still, in the end, we spent a whole lot of time watching Peter and Mama doing very, very little. As for Nathan and Claire, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Patzcuaro, Mexico, but you have to respect any city where the hotel clerks are familiar with the old “unless you’re paying hourly” joke. How is it that Nathan didn’t think to get a stockpile of cash before heading off to Mexico? Maybe he didn’t think his plan through very well…or, more likely, the writers came up with the idea of a tequila-drinking contest and had to figure out how to make it come to fruition. I’m sure all the ladies in the “Heroes” viewing audience enjoyed seeing him dressed semi-spiffy and sporting a couple of days worth of stubble, and all the guys blew a blood vessel when Claire whipped off her shirt to take her dad’s spot in the game. Win-win, right? I admit that Nathan’s drunken confession to Claire helped make him seem a little more fatherly, but Claire’s “Superman” speech before her teary departure the next morning was too melodramatic for my tastes.

The use of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” tonight was inspired, with Sylar popping up in the back seat so abruptly. The tension between HRG and Zeljko was palpable this episode once Sylar turned up, but none were better than Zeljko’s reference to “the big book of letting (Sylar) slip through your fingers.” It didn’t occur to me that Sylar had been the one who offered up the Puppet Master, nor did I entirely imagine a scenario where Sylar would team up with Zeljko. The idea of having a head in a box hasn’t had the same impact since we imagined Brad Pitt got that very special package from Kevin Spacey in “Se7en,” but it was still a pleasantly macabre way of allowing Sylar to offer intel to Zeljko. The shapeshifter special effects probably didn’t break the bank, but they were delivered cleverly enough. The reveal that the shapeshifter had decided to take on Zeljko’s appearance was fantastic. Just when you think Zachary Quinto isn’t capable of looking any more evil or crazed, he surprises you, as he did with the look he offered up when Zeljko asked him if there was any way to take the shapeshifter’s abilities without leaving his traditional forehead slice.

So we close on The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place,” with HRG almost certainly not believing that Sylar’s really dead, Nathan and Claire are homeward bound, and Mama’s taking Peter to meet…his sister? Fair enough. But let’s hope there’s a little more action next week, huh? I’m all for character development, but for the most part, this week’s episode really dragged ass.

Cue up the John Sebastian, people, ’cause it’s time to formally offer a hearty “welcome back” to Bryan Fuller. Tonight’s episode is the first time we’ve seen the man’s name in the writing credits since the glory days of “Heroes,” i.e. Season 1, and although his return comes at the expense of “Pushing Daisies,” you have to respect the guy for trying to do his part of save the series that he helped to make. And, yeah, I know, it’s not like he created the show, but given how many times Fuller’s “Company Man” has been held up as the series’ definitive episode, you can’t deny that his contributions helped make “Heroes” appointment television during the 2007 – 2008 TV season.

It was clear from the opening sequence, with Zeljko literally being handed a gift-wrapped Puppet Master, that we were finally going to get something we hadn’t seen in forever: a “Heroes” episode that actually felt like it was taken from a comic book. You wouldn’t think it’d be so hard to accomplish that in a show about people with superhuman abilities…and, apparently, it isn’t hard for Fuller, since he’s proven time and time again that he can manage it. Watching Zeljko turn the tables on Mohinder was awesome (”Why did you bring me here?” “I thought it’d be a whole lot easier than carrying you.”), and his typically tense conversations with HRG were typically solid, as was the HRG / Mama Petrelli chat at the beginning.

I don’t think there was anything that came out of Hiro’s mouth tonight that wasn’t genius, whether it was his addressing of Matt Parkman, Jr. (”Baby Matt Parkman, we will save you; if you understand, shake rattle once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’”), his using a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode to rationalize how a de-aging process might’ve occurred and offering up a “Wrath of Khan” reference (”Life from lifelessness!”), or his asking Ando, “What are we saving the baby from? Lead-based toys?” I thought it was a great touch that, despite the TV being turned on and off repeatedly, Hiro and Ando still never once noticed that it was actually the baby’s daddy on the screen. The sequence where Hiro finally addressed having witnessed his mother’s death in the past and had an emotional bonding moment with Ando was unexpectedly effective (sometimes you forget that those guys can work together in drama as well as comedy), but then it was back to the comedy with the “E.T.” homage. And once the men in black busted in to take Li’l Parkman and Matt’s ex into custody…words fail me. Hiro’s powers are back! Thank you, Toddler Touch and Go! Except they’re not entirely, which means he can stop time again but still can’t teleport. Oh, well, so the kid’s not perfect. Anyone else do a spit take when Hiro rolled Ando out in a wheelbarrow?

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Given what a cool ending we had to last week’s episode, things sure did start off a decidedly anticlimactic fashion. The scene between Claire, Mrs. Bennett, and the Puppet Master was a major letdown, only serving to remind us that A) things are tough all over for people with superhuman abilities, and B) evil characters get really boring really fast when they try to turn over a new leaf. Good thing they quickly moved over to the Parkman storyline, providing us with a rare opportunity to end the pre-credits sequence on a cliffhanger.

The dark humor of the dialogue between Nathan and Parkman as the latter tried to get his power working enough to defuse the bomb that’s strapped to him was great. (”Don’t touch the red wire!” “I’m not touching anything!”) I liked the fact that Zeljko managed to be suspicious – if only for a couple of minutes – about how Nathan had gotten to Parkman’s side so quickly without suffering from one of those leaps of logic that never would’ve happened in the real world. Instead, Tracy helped fill in the blanks for him by repeatedly screaming, “You’re one of us, Nathan!” Oh, sure, when push came to shove, she backpedaled, but with a guy like that, once the genie’s out of the bottle, you can’t just put him back in and think he’s going to stay there. (Given enough time, I could’ve mixed at least a couple more metaphors in that sentence, but I’m working on a deadline here.)

And, indeed, the next thing you know, HRG’s put in a position where he has to throw Mama Petrelli to the wolves, though he at least has the common decency to let her know what he’s done. Not, as it turns out, that she needed his help. (Fancy an oyster…?) The scene with Zeljko shooting a couple of holes in the window and then throwing Nathan through the compromised glass was well executed, although I thought the shot of HRG lingered too long after Zeljko said, “Tell me you didn’t know about this.” Just a quick shot of his oh-fuck-how-am-I-gonna-handle-this expression would’ve been more effective.

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I’m not saying this was the best episode of the season, but it was definitely filled with some of the best dialogue of the season.

I can’t tell you the exact moment that I decided I liked every character on “Heroes,” but at least I can identify it for Claire’s new boy, Alex (though I like to think of him as Aqualad). It was when he looked at her and said, “You’re not Harriet Tubman, Claire, all right? And this isn’t the Underground Railroad. You’re just a high school girl, and you’re in over your head.” He’s probably a narc, but what can I tell you? You just don’t get many Harriet Tubman references nowadays; you’ve gotta respect them when they come along. Also, I actually laughed out loud when Alex wouldn’t even cop to having sex with Claire to save his own skin.

You know, I almost hate to admit it, but I actually kind of liked Hayden Panettiere’s performance this episode…probably because she actually played some semblance of a typical teenage girl for much of the time, particularly during the discussion with her mom about whether or not a divorce from HRG was forthcoming. Her mom had quite a few good lines during the course of the episode, too, including her observation about the van that’d been sitting outside their house for way too long (”No-one’s pool is that dirty”), but nothing topped the lustful shout-out to the glory of Def Leppard’s Rick Savage. Having the agent come in and almost but not quite find Alex wasn’t nearly as suspenseful as I think it was probably intended to be, though, nor was Claire and Alex’s great escape. And the underwater kiss…?

Okay, fine, it was actually kind of sweet. Happy?

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Last week’s “Heroes” ended with HRG taking a swig of his drink and, at least to the untrained eye (i.e., mine), his sudden wooziness made it appear that he’d been slipped a fast-acting mickey. Maybe he had been drugged…or, then again, maybe he was under the influence of Matt Parkman’s heavy-duty mental powers. It was hard to tell at the time. Whichever the case, the result was the same: the guy went down, and he went down hard. The next thing you know, he’s being dragged out by Parkman, Mohinder, and Peter Petrelli.

What we learn at the beginning of this week’s episode, however, is how this plan came into being. Unsurprisingly, it’s Matt who’s the mastermind of the goings-on…and, of course, I say “unsurprisingly” because he’s clearly royally pissed off about Daphne being taken down a few episodes ago. I had to laugh at how typically wishy-washy Pete was, though. First, he’s wondering about the issue of drugging him, asking Matt uncertainly, “Can’t you just read his mind and get what we need that way?” But ten seconds later, when Mohinder chimes in about his own issues with the kidnapping aspects, Pete confidently counters, “I don’t like it, either, but this way it gives us answers.” Damn, Petrelli, I’ve heard of getting with the plan, but that’s gotta be some kind of record!

In short, these three stooges (Mohinder, Larry, and Curly?) spiked HRG’s Scotch with a pharmaceutical agent that would enable Parkman’s abilities to penetrate all of Noah’s psychological training and get the answers they want about what’s going on with Nathan’s big governmental crackdown on America’s heroes.

What do they discover? Only the best chapter of the “Fugitives” saga to date…and, I feel comfortable arguing, the most impressive episode we’ve gotten in Season 3, period.

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Really? They had to start the episode by reminding me about the plotline that loathe the most…?

Fair enough, let’s drive right into the Claire storyline. She’s continuing to get text messages from the mysterious rebel while lying to her mother and being shitty to her father, while HRG continues to offer up threats which are clearly pointless, since we all know that she’s going to ignore orders and do whatever she wants to do, anyway. Well, at least Zeljko is clearly pissed off about it. (We can only hope and pray that he actually acts on it.) By using another comic book store as a set piece, I couldn’t help but feel like the producers were saying, “Okay, let’s keep playing to the diehard geeks, ’cause if we lose them, we’re really screwed.” The sequences of Claire trying to save the life of Comic Book Guy were well-executed, but, again, it all came back to the issue of Claire being totally uncontrollable. If this had been a real government operation, she would’ve been imprisoned (at the very least) long ago, no matter who her father and stepfather were. And now she’s unnecessarily telling her mother what’s going on, knowing full well what effect that could have on her and, worse, leading to a touchy-feely scene at the end with Claire and HRG…? (The only redeeming moment of that sequence was having Comic Book Guy step out of the shadows.)

Dear “Heroes” producers: KILL THE CHEERLEADER, SAVE THE SHOW.

It felt a little too on-the-nose to have “Born to be Wild” playing on the stereo as Sylar set forth on his road trip with his new little buddy, Luke, but that was about my only complaint about their storyline this episode. The relationship between the two of them remains the most interesting thing about this new series, with Sylar doling out examples of his power and being flummoxed by Luke proving more fascinated than scared. The scene at the diner was also really well done, with Luke being irresponsible with his abilities and Sylar actually opening up to Luke about what he wants out of his encounter with his father. I thought sure we were going to see the end of Luke after he made the mistake of trying to be a nice guy by giving Sylar his dad’s address, but then Zeljko’s men invaded, and the end of the scene was…well, how did you feel about it? I’m sure Luke thought that Sylar had betrayed him by leaving him to be captured, but I felt like Sylar imagined that he’d given Luke a bit of a thank-you gift by not just killing him outright. In the end, of course, Sylar clearly felt like he really did owe it to Luke to save his ass, and the sequence in the paddywagon was awesome…almost as awesome as having the two of them drive off into the night to the strains of “Psycho Killer.”

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Tonight’s episode began not with the resolution to the cliffhanger but, rather, with Nathan making a phone call to…who? At first, I thought, “Oh, it’s Mama,” but, no, that would’ve been too obvious. And we knew it wasn’t Tracy, since she was on the plane. Then I had a crazy thought: maybe it’s Papa, already back from the dead. It wasn’t, of course: it actually was Mama. But, hey, a Robert Forster fan can dream, can’t he?

The post-crash sequence quickly showed that last week’s cliffhanger was a big waste of everyone’s time, as every single hero got out alive, but once the gang got on the run, it looked like things were going to get very interesting very quickly, especially when Matt went all white-eyed. But, suddenly, the jets flew over and bombed the shit out of the crashed plane, and I groaned. Really, “Heroes” writers? You think having a couple of big, loud jets flying by and dropping bombs is somehow going to draw attention away from the plane crash that happened a few minutes before…? And my groaning turned into moaning with the funny-for-all-the-wrong-reasons scene of tranced-up Matt busting into a trailer just to hunt down paper and a writing utensil. Fortunately, Ando was there to provide a couple of legitimate laughs, most notably at an airline operator’s lack of knowledge about the whereabouts of the state of Arkansas.

It was a shame to see Daphne get shot down, though I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see a great deal of Matt’s emotional reaction beyond his turning the soldiers against themselves. I’m sure, however, that we’ll see him start to grow darker with his power usage in upcoming weeks as he extracts his revenge.

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