Can 'Heroes' save itself?

The inaugural season of Heroes is widely considered one of the best first seasons in television history. No one saw it coming - it did not fit neatly into the CSI formula or a typical courtroom drama like Law & Order. It was a high-concept, science fiction drama with a complex cast of characters who knew just as much about themselves as the audience did. The action never stopped as viewers were continually presented with the next challenge, but only ceased after discovering the answers to previously perplexing problems. Unfortunately, the magic was lost somewhere between Nathan and Peter flying into the stratosphere in last year's finale, and Peter showing up shirtless in the box in Ireland in the season premiere.

Where did the magic go? Perhaps the same place as Peter's lost shirt? Creator and writer Tim Kring does not even know the answer to that question. In this week's edition of Entertainment Weekly, Kring apologizes to Heroes fans for a lackluster season two. Instead of taking the big-picture approach and further uniting all of the known heroes under one common cause, the drama took the separate-paths approach. Hiro was sent to feudal Japan, Peter went to Ireland, and HRG and Claire went to Texas. The new characters were introduced as their own entities. Maya and Alejandro are the worst example of this, leaving dead bodies and black ink everywhere they went, seemingly without a purpose. Kring has also admitted that the romance plotlines were a mistake - signaling relationships between Claire and her flying boyfriend, Hiro and the princess, and Peter and the clueless Irish girl.

The most important part of the Kring apology is the fact that Kring knows something is wrong, and is willing to do something about it. Most importantly, last week Peter observed the viral apocalypse of the future, setting forth the challenge of the season, or at least the half season. The good news is that the past few episodes are proof that Kring is willing to listen to his adoring public and make the necessary changes. The bad news? The writers' strike could cause the Dec. 3 episode to morph into a season finale, thereby leaving room for further reinvention. Maybe I am alone in thinking this, but I would rather have a mediocre version of Heroes than no Heroes at all.