NBC’s hit show “Heroes”:http://www.nbc.com/Heroes is back and the writing is as good as ever. I love what this show is doing, and I’m really beginning to like the direction it seems to be heading in. It’s taken 12 episodes, but as Suresh’s closing voiceover states, the chaos of the various story arcs are beginning to approach something like order, as each character explores their abilities and forge new alliances.

I’ve discovered that I’m not one of those people who enjoys endlessly speculating about what sorts of things _could_ be, especially in a genre such as this. In _Heroes_, we’re still learning the rules of this universe, so it’s difficult to make any kind of predictions, simply because we don’t really know that much about it yet. But it _is_ fun to ask questions, and these are a few of the questions and observations that arose in my mind while watching this week’s episode:

• Where exactly are Peter Petrelli’s visions coming from? Does he, in fact, have _two_ abilities – absorbing and mimicking the powers of others as well as some sort of visionary ability? Or are the abilities of the heroes actually Godsent, and these visions are the way for God to place Peter in a place of leadership and prominence among the heroes?
• The religious tones that have been added to the show’s theme are interesting to me. The Godsent? Are the writers trying to suggest that these evolutionary changes are actually sent by God to a handful of extremely talented people? Both the Haitian and Hiro seem to think so. If that’s the case, then that’s a very interesting wrinkle in what’s going on.
• Who does Bennett really work for? My wife suggested that it might be Linderman, that they might be capturing, examining, and tagging these folks, whatever reason they might have for doing so. Bennett doesn’t seem exactly evil – his actions seem to indicate that he has good intentions – but he doesn’t seem exactly good, either – his means are somewhat questionable, if not outright unethical.
• Who exactly is Linderman? No one has yet seen him, and yet he has a connection to every one of our heroes so far. What does he know, and how involved is he in the revelations of each of our characters? Might Linderman himself be on Suresh’s list?
• Is _Suresh_ on the list, for that matter? We’ve not yet seen him exhibit any kind of extraordinary ability, but perhaps his still lies dormant or undiscovered. I’m inclined to think he’s not, but there’s still so much we don’t know.
• Nikki/Jessica is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. I love the potential and power of Jessica, but I would love to see that tempered by Nikki’s conscience. The union of these two people sharing a body would prove to be a strong ally and a formidable opponent. Chaos is slowly being brought to order, as Suresh said. Will Nikki be able to tame the almost uncontrollable Jessica to become a valuable asset to the rest of the heroes?
• Who is this invisible man, and how is Peter able to see him? The invisible man has been involved in the storyline right along. Peter’s vision would seem to indicate that he is pivotal. So who is he? And is Peter’s ability to absorb powers the thing that allows him to see this man, or is it something else, this thing that is causing his visions, perhaps?

As I said, I’m loving this show. There is so much potential here for great things, and I heard recently that NBC made the smart decision to sign it for a second season. Ten episodes left to go in the season. I can’t wait to see how things end up.