I don’t know what NBC is playing at, but a six-week break?! You’ve got to be kidding me! _Heroes_ only just came back from the mid-season break over the holidays and already they’re taking another hiatus from the show. I don’t know whose ‘brilliant’ idea this was, but it stinks. At first I thought it might be due to March Madness, but checking the listings for next week proves that to not be the case. Of course, with only four episodes remaining in the season, I suppose they have to do _something_ to drag things out until the summer recess.

How about some general observations and comments after this week’s episode?

First of all, I really don’t get this whole Nikki/Jessica character. And to be honest, I’m not sure that Kring does either. Out of all the heroes, this one seems to be the most stagnant. She is making no progress, either in discovering or mastering her abilities, whatever they are. All we have is a woman with dual personalities – one is weak and simpering, the other is cruel and ruthless. The only thing that Nikki and Jessica share in common is a desire to protect Micah and herself. And is she good or evil? It all depends on which personality is dominant at any given time. Personally, I think Kring would serve this character far better to allow Nikki to find a way to unite her two halves into a whole and allow her to tap into her superhuman strength and precision at will, rather than being kept at the whim of her evil half. Maybe that sort of thing is still in the cards for Nikki, but the way Kring is playing things with his show right now, that doesn’t seem likely. It almost appears that Nikki/Jessica exists for the sole purpose of plot advancement, such as it is.

Speaking of which, Kring made a colossal plot blunder last night. Apparently he forgot that Linderman hired Jessica to kill Nathan Petrelli because Linderman didn’t seem at all surprised to see Nathan in front of him. There are two other possibilities, however – 1) that it was someone else who hired Jessica to kill Nathan (not likely, given how intimately aware Nikki was of Linderman’s plans) or 2) Jessica receding to the background so Nikki could tell Nathan what to expect when he met with Linderman was all part of the master plan; after all, Linderman does seem to know just about everything that is happening with all our heroes.

Hiro finally acquires his coveted sword, but he still can’t seem to control his powers quite yet. He jumped both himself and Ando across the country and forward in time – but Hiro doesn’t seem to realize this fact yet. Whether or not he’ll realize it in time remains to be seen.

Sylar obviously has no idea what he’s found in Peter Petrelli. He thinks he’s found someone just like himself, but what he doesn’t realize is that Peter is far more powerful than him. Peter’s been exposed to far more specials than Sylar has and can, in all likelihood, absorb all of Sylar’s abilities, as well. The previews for the next episode promise an epic battle between this hero and this super-villian, and I can’t wait to see it.

Kring _is_ doing a relatively good job at developing characters with whom we can sympathize. I shivered with empathy as Sylar began to do his thing to Peter, and I shuddered to see what he’d done to Mohinder (though I’m pleased to see, at least, that he was still alive). And as usual, Kring has raised as many new questions as he’s answered, generating interesting plot points.

I have a bad feeling, though, that the destruction of New York may boil down to a fizzling climax. If Peter really _is_ allegedly going to be the cause of the destruction, then that will be terribly anti-climactic. But I’m hoping that Kring is going for a bit of clever redirection, placing the brunt of the focus and emphasis on Peter, only to reveal a villain (Ted? Sylar? Mystery person?) who will, in actuality, be the one to stop in order to save the city. We’ve only four more chapters to go before we find out.

_Heroes_ is still a great show, even with the problem points, and I know it’s one that I’ll be looking to grab on DVD once it comes out. I just hope that Kring doesn’t let us down.