Wow, the season finale should offer up quite a bit. According to the preview for next week, "2 will fall", which may mean 2 heroes are gonna bite the bullet. It would seem like someone in the whole Niki/Monica situation is one of them. You'd have to guess Micah is going to ask his mom to go save the day and rescue Monica. You have a gang heavily armed with guns and neither Monica nor Niki can regenerate, so possibly someone there is being slain.

The other death is tough to figure out. Didn't see Hiro in the preview really or Maya. Does Sylar get cured and kill Maya? Does he kill Suresh? The preview showed Sylar against a wall with blood on him. That usually indicates a murder but you never know. The preview indicated a "villain will rise". For villains we have Adam Monroe, Sylar, Elle, and Matt Parkman's dad. Smart money is on Sylar, because I'm going to guess Hiro avenges his dad's death.

It'd be tough to see Claire, Hiro or Peter being one of the deaths. HRG too for that matter, as those are probably some of the more popular characters. In the preview, HRG is shown with his family and says he made a deal to protect them. Does he return to The Company? West could be killed by Elle setting up some sort of major feud for the next go round between Claire and herself.

It seems this season blew right by and lacked that same dramatic intensity of Season 1 (due to its shorter run time). A good example is HRG being shot and supposedly killed, then waking up alive and healed all within 10 minutes. In a longer season we may have been lead to believe he was dead for at least an episode. Also, Sylar was way underused on the show, making it as if there was no real villain this season.

In terms of Maya it would seem she was just a vehicle for Sylar to get his powers back, but maybe she is part of the whole Shanti virus situation. Don't know why, but this seems like it's connected since she unleashes some sort of plague that kills people. Maybe she has the Shanti virus in her, in a different strain. This is just a thought and cold be way off base, but it's a way to connect her to the whole plot.

Hopefully the battle between Peter and Hiro will not let us down and displays some cool swordplay and powers being used. The Heroes finale arrives next Monday at 9PM EST on NBC.

The latest episode of Heroes, "Cautionary Tales" brought forth several revelations. One of which a lot of fans had already speculated. Takezo Kensei, aka Adam is the hooded killer who took out Hiro's dad. It makes sense as he has the grudge to bear with Hiro over the whole "back in time" princess love story. Hiro found out the shocking truth and had to let fate be.

Matt Parkman started to really flex his mental powers and has basically the same abilities that Eden had. Wonder how far he will go with these new powers. He's already got inside his boss' head and Angela Petrelli's. Will he try his tricks on other heroes? Will he woo a supermodel to be his girlfriend? He might just be one of the more powerful heroes so he should really avoid Sylar. This also ups the ante of what Peter is capable of.

Hiro finally has better control of his abilities too and seems to be really developing the attitude of a true warrior. It will be interesting to see what he does with his new skills and attitude. I'm guessing some swordplay comes into the picture in the next few episodes.

We seem to be on a collision course of some sort with Parkman trying to find Adam Monroe and stop his quest to kill the elders. Peter is working with Adam. Adam killed Hiro's dad. Nathan is looking for his lost brother Peter. So something's gotta give. Most likely Adam will tell Peter that Parkman and Hiro are working for The Company and spark some sort of mini-heroes feud.

Also, I found it interesting that Claire's blood was used to heal/save HRG. The questions that raises are: Was he dead? Does he have a power, or does the blood heal anyone back from injuries? It's a valuable bit of blood if that's the case, and probably something Sylar wants his hands on. Best bet for who saved HRG is Suresh or Elle. Suresh may have realized the ability of the blood to save people and shot HRG knowing this. Or Elle was swayed by HRG's discussion of her father and The Company not giving her a normal life. The worst case scenario is that Bob and The Company took HRG in.

Just 2 episodes to go and it's going to be interesting! The big questions are going to be what happens with Sylar, Maya, Alejandro, Monica, Micah and Niki in the final 2 shows? Sylar's been very scarce this season, and may be scarcer as he has Star Trek coming up in which he plays Spock. Monica and Micah haven't had too much of a role in the overall scheme of this season either, but figure to play some part. I'd hate to think Monica is just part of the show to give Peter a new ability, but that could be the case.

Update: Although many are saying no hero died on the episode, in actuality you could count Kaito's death as the "hero death" of the show. The wool may have been pulled over our eyes with that one.

Heroes Season 2, Episode 8 had some great scenes with superpowers and special effects and gave us insight into how we got to Season 2's events. Kirsten Bell's character became extremely villainous yet sexy, and we got a cool trip down memory lane to show what happened when Peter went nuclear. As usual it's time to poke a few holes in the show. Again, I'm a fan of this show, but even creator Tim Kring has admitted it has flaws. Here's some things to mull over:

- How did Takezo get to the present day? Teleportation or immortal life? No aging is really shown on him, especially if he was alive back in the time of Samurai Warriors. It is possible that Claire, Peter and Adam don't show signs of aging due to their regenerative powers.

- How does Adam/Takezo know of Peter's powers? They were in captivity together but did he really get the full list? Or did he overhear someone say "Peter is an empath and can take on powers"?

- Does the Haitian's memory block work to block out powers of people nearby that he focuses on? That's my guess because Elle was able to shoot lightning at Peter while Peter was "powerless" it seemed. Recall last season when he was in the same police precinct or station as Matt Parkman and Parkman couldn't listen to mind thoughts from Claire or HRG in the interrogation room.

- Sylar's disappearance from the "fight scene" at the end of Season 1 was not shown, although it was a "teaser" in the preview last week. Best guess is Candice was able to work some magic and pull him down into the sewers, but it would have been nice to see the background of who saved Sylar. Candice seemed to be working for someone due to the cell phone call she made.

- The second shooting of DL was a bit "thrown into the mix" just to kill him off. A little more creativity might have been used here. For example, why not one of Linderman's ex-workers extracting some revenge for the murder of his boss? The firefighting use of his powers was a good inclusion.

- Despite the continued talk of the Petrelli father committing suicide because he was delusional, it's hard to buy on a show like this. Biggest question would be what are/were his powers?

- Also, it's understandable about the need to show how clever and covert "Company" agents are, but having them instantly appear in the very hospital that Peter rushed Nathan to, was just a bit much. The locating device to find heroes is Molly Walker, who they most likely didn't have access to at that time. The question would be how did they locate Peter and Nathan so fast, as they indicated they were tracking both. And how did they manage to be in the very hall that Peter was sneaking down?

- Finally, while I'm far from a science major, it seems tough to explain how Elle's lightning blasts are enough to knock Peter Petrelli out, but his own self-charged radioactive blast wasn't. Very intriguing, maybe Elle is one of the most powerful superheroes in all of the land.

There's probably going to be a few showdowns. Possibly Peter vs Sylar part 4, Hiro vs Adam and maybe Elle vs one of the female heroes. Peter is by far the coolest of the heroes, but how cool would it be if there was a female version? Looking forward to next week, as we have just 3 or 4 episodes left in this season.

On the latest episode, "Out of Time", Peter was in 2008 New York City with his new girl, Caitlin. They discovered the Shanti virus had started to wipe out people, including Peter's brother, Nathan. The good that came of this was Peter got a glimpse of the future and what it holds and what he must stop. He also had his amnesia lifted thanks to his mother, Angela, who provided him with childhood memories.

The bad part? Peter teleported back to current day Ireland, without his girl. And then, who shows up? Takezo Kensei, the guy that Hiro Nakamura pissed off way back in time and thought he killed. Except Takezo lives on somehow and says his name is Adam now, and he and Peter are going to make history.

So what's this mean? It's just like Bob said, Adam (Takezo) has been recruiting disciples with powers to do his dirty work. One was Mr. Linderman and another was Matt's dad, Maurey. Those 2 are sorta out of the picture, but Peter isn't. Peter will think this guy knows what he's doing and most likely, Adam will ask Peter to start picking off members of the Company. He'll tell him it's how they can prevent the Shanti virus from contaminating the population. So Peter most likely is a Heroes killer, thanks to some manipulation by Adam/Takezo. The good parts are that Hiro is back to present time and Peter will not want to kill his own mother off.

The other problem is that Suresh has gone spastic. He's basically turned on HRG and their plan to bring the Company down because he doesn't know who to trust. He wants to save Niki for some reason because he thinks it's the right thing to do. Meanwhile, the answer to saving Niki is kidnapping HRG's daughter, Claire and getting her regenerative cells. So Suresh has a gun now and he's shown holding a smoking gun in painting #7. Still, the guy he shoots could very well be Sylar posing as HRG. All this could be avoided if DL hadn't shot Linderman or Peter had met him. Linderman can bring things back to life.

Should get fun from here. We have Sylar still on the hunt for Suresh, and to steal powers. West on the run from Claire and her dad. The Company looking to hunt down Claire, and Takezo looking to get Peter to start killing elders.

It's starting to seem possible that Peter Petrelli is the hooded Heroes killer now. On this past week's show Peter received that note from "Adam". It just might be the same guy (Adam Monroe) that Bob told Suresh was dangerous to the Company...hmmm...Maybe Adam meets Peter in the future we saw and convinces Peter he needs to kill the Company and all its associates back in "present day"? Not too far fetched...Then again, maybe this Adam guy is the killer because as we saw in Painting 7 of 8, it didn't quite look like anyone we've seen yet, and this guy doesn't like The Company, hence he is HRG's killer..

When coming up with suspects, it seems to be best to consider the following:

1) The build of the hooded figure we were shown is sort of slender, which is like Peter, Nathan, West, maybe Takezo or even West. If the Petrelli dad is still alive he may be a possibility too.

2) Motives - Who wants these people dead? Someone committing crimes of passion or revenge? Is it someone they tracked, or someone whose life they have really messed up? Or someone trying to save the future from the Company? Or someone who used to work with or for them who now wants to destroy them?

3) Powers they might need - Judging from how Kaito was killed, the killer either can fly and/or regenerate/heal. They may be able to turn invisible (based on the Angela Petrelli attack). I'd go one step further and add teleportation to that list, because we saw Hiro teleport himself out of harm's way before hitting a building (when Sylar threw him towards it). Thinking of it like this, Peter has every one of these mentioned abilities.

Peter makes a prime suspect under all 3 of these above criteria. He has a similar figure to the hooded individual. He also has more than one motive with the whole "blow up NY plot" using him as the bomb, or possibly learning something in 2008 that leads him to want to kill off the elders. Suffering a serious case of amnesia, he could easily be teleporting away to perform killings or attacks. And he definitely has enough powers to achieve these murders and the Angela Petrelli attack. While he's a big fan favorite on this show, it seems premature to rule out any one of the characters as suspects right now, especially on a show about superheroes.

Noah Bennet aka "Horn Rimmed Glasses" and his good buddy The Haitian payed a little visit to HRG's former mentor, Ivan in Russia. During their visit they were made privy to the location of the remaining 7 paintings in the series of 8 that deceased Heroes painter Isaac Mendez drew. Here's a look at what they found.


The only thing distinguishable above appears to be a hand holding a vile of some sort. Possibly the cure for Heroes' sickness or the Shanti virus that Suresh was told to administer to Monica Dawson.


Above: In a painting on which we see no number, a blond woman appears to be pounding her fists on a door or wall, possibly because she is locked in somewhere. Best guess from the picture is that is Niki Sanders.

Above: A Hiro Nakamura vs. Takezo Kensei showdown, similar to Darth vs. Ben Kinobi and Anakin Skywalker versus Ben Kinobi from the Star Wars movies. (Painting 6 of 8)


Above: Will this be the man who shoots and murders HRG? Possibly "Adam Monroe" who we have yet to formally meet? Or someone else? (Painting 7 of 8)


Above: The Death of HRG? Say it ain't so. (Painting 8 of 8)

So that really gives us about 5 of the 8 paintings to mull over. We already saw the painting of the death of Kaito Nakamura, #1 in the series. There's about 3 more left for us to check out, which were probably kept out of our sight for good reason..

As Season 2 of Heroes continues to progress, here's some of the questions I'm working with. Also includes my speculation for what could easily happen this season. These aren't spoilers, just my ideas of what may happen.

1) Who is the Hero killer? My best guess is the "hooded hero killer" is either Nathan, Claude (the invisible man who trained Peter, season 1), or the Petrelli father. Nathan, Claude and Mr. Petrelli seem to have motives as they may not like "The Company" agenda or what was being planned for the city of New York. It would not be surprising if Parkman's dad is using mind tricks to involve Nathan or make it look like Nathan is involved. Takezo Kensei would make for a great twist in the plot, as we are watching him as a hero in the past and he's a killer in the present (it may even relate to #5 below).

2) Is West someone HRG sent to watch Claire? This is one that came up recently, in that maybe West is a trusted friend HRG met and helped via the Company. HRG asked West to watch over Claire. That might seem way off base though as the whole Claire-West relationship seems very well hidden from HRG. If not that, then possibly West is really a part of the current Company sent to gain Claire's trust so they can bring her in.

3) Who will Sylar's shiny new toy be? In the very first episode this season we were shown a bunch of intro scenes, including one which had Sylar saying "she's like a shiny toy for me to play with". This would seem to indicate Molly Walker. My guess is Sylar kidnaps her as bait to get Suresh to cure him. However Sylar could have been speaking about a few other characters such as Monica, Niki or even Maya.

4) Will Sylar kill Maya? If that happens, people are really in trouble, especially if Sylar gets upset. It would also mean that either Peter or Hiro need to be with Alejandro so they can freeze Sylar to "reverse the curse". Then Alejandro can work his magic to bring Sylar's victims back to life.

5) How is Hiro going to screw up the past/present/future? I just see it coming that Hiro will do something back in time with Kensei that isn't for the best or wasn't supposed to be done. It may possibly be a theory/motive as to why Kensei is in the present killing elder heroes. The question is what will Hiro mess up and what will it set off for the present day/future?

6) What is Monica Dawson's involvement? I can see it coming now, something involving Niki vs Elle or Monica vs Elle in some interesting female fight scenes. Maybe even a handicap match with Monica and Niki having a showdown with Elle. It's hard to figure out Monica's involvement in the story/plot so far and this makes some sense. It could also be she's just someone to give a new power to Peter and Sylar.

7) Does HRG get shot according to painting #8? - A friend of mine suggested that it is Sylar who is shot, not HRG, and it seems to make sense. Last season we all struggled with the "who's the bomb" question and who the "exploding man painting" depicted (Peter, Sylar, Ted Sprague). I believe we are being lead to think HRG is going to get shot, when in fact it is Sylar posing as him. West is with Claire and sees the guy who tried to abduct him and "bang". Best guess is the rest of those paintings HRG is looking for will show the other "elder hero murders" 1 by 1. Then HRG and whoever will be in a race to stop the next murders from going down.

8) How does Peter recall certain powers? This isn't a huge deal, the guy has amnesia. He knew to phase through ropes that were binding his hands, and was able to hear a suspicious thug's thoughts. So wouldn't he recall teleportation and just teleport himself back home to New York? I guess that's just a bit too easy and might ruin the story though...

On Episode 205 of Heroes, "Fight or Flight", Peter remembered his power to paint. His glossed over white eyes scared Kaitlyn as he franticly began to stroke the paintbrush on a blank canvas. The end result was the picture seen above, which Peter and Kaitlyn determined was possibly Montreal. The street signs in the painting were written in French and earlier, Peter discovered in his box of personal belongings a plane ticket for Montreal.

It raises questions though: How did Peter get the ticket? What is the purpose of the ticket? Who might be in Montreal? Well we can think back to when Peter's mother, Angela wanted Claire to go there to hide away. Of course, Claire escaped the clutches of Angela and her dad, Nathan, and didn't end up there.

Most likely it will now involve Peter going there to protect his mother, who will be hiding out from the evil hero killer. If not that, it will be a dead end he searches for answers. It's also reasonable to believe that Elle, the new blond girl we met who works for "The Company", shocked Peter and then cuffed him into the container on the docks. This might be stating the obvious, but she went to retrieve him on the docks and was checking out the empty container. It definitely makes for a cool new power that Peter can use, and you have to wonder if Sylar will get it as well..

Pictured above: A Heroes fan, Robbie, illustates Peter coming back to life after a tough battle with Sylar. Click pic to see his theory video.

Heroes definitely has some crazy fans, self included. Everyone's got their interesting, strange, and sometimes warped theories, but some of the stuff on these Heroes theories videos really takes the cake. Everything from a guy who believes Sylar is trying to track him down, to a dude saying Sylar is going to manipulate the power of the Sun/solar eclipse to blow up the Earth, yet Peter will use Hiro's time powers to stop it. Another girl suggests that Sylar becomes a vigilante, after killing Hiro, because he will decide to save the Heroes from extinction. Wow.

You can head over and submit your own video theories as well, crazy or not so crazy.

Past questions posed were:

Can Sylar be stopped and who will be the one to do it?

How will Season 2 end?

The current questions they are posing are:

What do you think will happen in Season 2? (very broad question)

Do you have anything else to ask that we didn't ask?

Winning submissions may air on NBC, so grab your video equipment and head over there to provide your theories!

Upon seeing the latest episode of Heroes, I was slightly let down at the fact they just tried to cram a lot of random things into this one. For example, having Niki just break down a door, toss Suresh aside, throw "Bob" up against a wall then get tasered down by Suresh. Apparently, Suresh is great at subduing those with superhuman powers, because he was able to knock out Sylar before, something Peter Petrelli and others have had difficulty with! But that's besides the point, we also saw Peter just happen to have a blank canvas to paint on in a room. How coincidental! Then there was Monica Dawson. One minute she's telling Micah, "I just want answers". The very next minute, she's met the guy with answers, as Dr. Suresh just happens to arrive at the home right then. What gives?

I hate being skeptical or pessimistic about a show I love, but we can definitely expect so much more from this show. A recent critical article I read discussed how the show was dumbing down a bit, and tonight seemed to involve that just a bit. Kristen Bell's character is somewhat interesting with her lightning power, and you wonder if she was in contact with Peter before since he had some sort of lightning bolt shoot from his hand on Episode 1 this season. Elle seems crafted in the same way as Drew Barrymore's "Firestarter", a young girl studied and exploited for her dangerous powers. Quite possibly her father is "Bob" at the company.

If Matt Parkman's dad is the "Serial Hero Killer", it makes this season less fun for guessing about. I was beginning to zero in on 2 suspects as the "Hooded Heroes Killer". Dallas Petrelli (father of Peter and Nathan) makes some sense. Nobody can confirm his suicide/death, so it is very possible he isn't dead. He's back extracting revenge on all those who were trying to make his sons responsible for such a terrible explosion scene in New York. Remember, he wanted to save the world according to Mr. Linderman. Also, we were lead to believe Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura had a bit of an affair. There's some motive for Kaito's murder and Angela Petrelli getting attacked.

The second suspect who could be interesting is Takezo Kensei. A lot of people seem to believe he's the culprit, and one theory I've developed is that maybe he is at the end of every hero we met's "family tree". Perhaps they are all in Kensei's lineage, as he was present with that original eclipse. He may possess or acquire powers as time goes on, similar to Peter and Sylar. Or he may just have the one power we've seen, healing himself. Either way, if he couldn't be killed back in time, what's to say he didn't age much and that he's not still alive in present time? Makes you wonder. The question would be what is his motive though? Seeing what Matt Parkman's deadbeat dad was capable of on this past episode and the photo Parkman and Nathan found of "Bob" with a red helix on it, seems to lend credibility to Matt's dad as the killer.

On a few final notes, Heroes won the "Best TV Show" award at Spike's "Scream 2007 Awards" show. Hayden Panettiere won "Breakout Performance". The show featured the best in Horror, Sci Fi and Comic Books. Maya, Sylar, Peter, Niki and Claire went up to accept the award with Peter giving a brief speech. Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia and Zachary Quinto were also presenters. See more about the Scream 2007 awards show here.

Also, TV Guide has opened up voting for the 2007 Online Video Awards.

Heroes is nominated for the following:

Best TV Show Site for Heroes Evolutions at NBC.com
Best Extras for Heroes Character Profiles at NBC.com
Best TV Drama Webisodes for Yamagato Fellowship's "Takezo Kensei: Sword Saint" at NBC.com

Vote for Heroes here at TVGuide.com!

In more than a couple scenes involving notorious Heroes supervillain, Sylar, we have seen a curious cockroach in the vicinity:

1) Sylar in the holding cell at Primatech Paper. Sylar's drugged or presumed dead and on the floor, we see a cockroach crawling near his face.

2) When Sylar is stabbed during the Season finale of Season 1, we later see his body has disappeared. A cockroach is seen crawling near an uncovered manhole, leading us to believe Sylar is not dead and is down in the sewers.

3) Recently we are lead to believe Sylar kills Derek with a brick, the young convict that was traveling with Maya and Alejandro. When we see Derek lying in a pool of blood, there is that pesky cockroach crawling nearby.

I've seen some interesting theories regarding this, most notably is the concept that the cockroach is merely symbolism, for how much of a menace Sylar is as a villain, in that he can't be killed, and keeps coming back. He's been shot, stabbed, drugged and fell off the top of a roof/bleachers area with Peter Petrelli. He didn't die in any of these situations, yet he lacks Claire's power to regenerate and has been trying to get it for a while now. This would seem to indicate he is able to survive very intense injuries despite lacking the power.

In the opening episode of Heroes, season 1, a reference to cockroaches is made in Dr. Mohinder Suresh's lecture. While speaking to his class at Chennai University, he discusses the cockroach as the pinnacle of evolution, and lists several of its advanced attributes. Later on at his father's apartment, Suresh steps on a cockroach on the floor. This would seem to indicate Sylar is like a cockroach, in that he has these advanced abilities yet is such a dreaded creature. The insect shows up at the scene of his murders (his own or others).

Another theory suggests Sylar has some ability similar to that of a cockroach which he stole from another person's brain. This would be quite interesting to see. Further theories suggest the cockroach is a relative of Sylar's such as his father or a brother, which doesn't make a ton of sense but is always possible. The very notable fact is that the cockroach has showed up in 3 death or near-death scenes involving Sylar though. (4 if you are to count that he murdered Suresh's father, even though it was not in the apartment).

Theories aside, the cockroach seems to be an instrument of symbolism, just like the eclipse and the helix we continue to see throughout the series. At times it almost seems like Sylar's serial killer "calling card", similar to the insects/moths in the mouth in the killer's victims in "Silence of the Lambs". Hopefully more will be revealed about the cockroach in future episodes, and it would be pretty interesting if it was tied into a power somehow.

Interestingly enough, the cockroach has its own Heroes Wiki page which discusses the Cockroach's appearances and some fun trivia facts about the bug.

The fourth episode of Heroes brought us a few new characters including Monica Dawson, the young woman who is Micah's cousin and has a cool power. She sees something on TV, absorbs it into her mind, and then can mimic or recreate the actions she saw. Comes in handy for food preparation and wrestling moves as seen at her work at the restaurant. Question becomes how will she come into play for the new season? Possibly a new power Peter absorbs from her, or Sylar steals.

Another question is how will Peter be found? Best guess is that he will realize he has Molly Walker's power and start locating various heroes in his mind. Or somehow down the road Molly finds him. He seems too needed by the other heroes not to come back into the picture in New York and have another showdown with Sylar.

We also find out that Matt Parkman's father was one of the "original 12" Heroes, amongst the elders being picked off 1 by 1. Molly Walker indicates he's the "nightmare man" who is able to find her. Then again, she may have seen someone else in the picture who is haunting her (maybe Bob or Mr. Petrelli). Nonetheless, at the end of this episode we are left with Molly in a coma but her thoughts screaming out for help to Matt Parkman.

It's hard to rule out Nathan as the killer of the elder heroes. It seems to be a male who can fly. After seeing Nathan see the ugly, burnt up reflection in the mirror (probably himself of Peter), it raises an interesting theory. When a hero loses a sibling they feel a sense of loss and guilt and take on the sibling as an alter-ego with an evil twist to it. Niki Sanders has/had the same deal with the whole Jessica thing. So possibly Nathan is flying into Jessica type rages where he goes on killing sprees. A very plausible theory, but Mr. Arthur Petrelli (Peter and Nathan's dad and Angela's "late" husband makes sense too).

Some far fetched theories about the killer are that it's a future version of Hiro or Peter. Both would be able to do the flight, the teleporting, etc. Another possible suspect is Takezo Kensei, but I won't get too carried away here. It seems to be a male and someone that both Kaito and Angela Petrelli know of. Peter and Nathan's father still makes sense too, because nobody has really seen him dead and no mention was made of his powers.

That brings us to Sylar. My speculation is Sylar will accompany Maya and Alejandro to Suresh's to get help, but then he will do something such as take Maya hostage or kidnap Molly Walker. He'll discover or already knows that Suresh' blood is the cure for heroes' becoming sick and having problem with their powers. Basically he needs Suresh' blood so he will find a way to get it, one way or the other, then the question becomes who does Sylar kill next?

On a final note, my friend gave an interesting theory that possibly the painting we see of the "dead HRG" is actually Sylar posing as HRG and shot by West or HRG himself. After all, Sylar killed Candice and stole her ability to look like other people. Great theory, thanks to Birdeena for suggesting this..

EW had a writeup after Episode 2 of Heroes, in which they discussed the direction this season has taken so far, including the focus on "older heroes" being targeted by a mysterious serial killer.

"Kaito Nakamura is dead, but possibly not gone for good. Angela Petrelli is also marked for death. But assuming that the hooded hoodlum who's doing the oldie-offing is Nathan Petrelli — in addition to last week's clues, we all heard Parkman and his boss, played by the mighty Barry Shabaka Henley, surmise that whoever pushed Kaito off the roof seemed to just fly away — would the guy whack his own mother? Maybe so, if he's holding onto some weird oedipal thing because, um, hello? We learned in the interrogation room that mom and Kaito were once lovers! And moments later, something scary popped into that room that made the normally icy Angela Petrelli scream and thrash like a rubber-roomer." (Full EW commentary here)

---

Early on it seemed a strong possibility that Nathan Petrelli was the serial hero killer, but it seems a little less plausible now. After seeing Nathan in the police station with Detective Parkman when his mother Angela Petrelli was attacked, it makes it hard to believe he's the top suspect (unless...). The question remains who can this serial killer be?

Here's 3 reasonable suspects that could be the culprit:

1) West - Claire's new love interest perhaps? This could be far fetched, but the killer seems to have the power of flight, which West definitely has. Not only that but quite possibly West was the one who killed HRG (Mr. Bennet) in that #8 painting we saw on Episode 3. So that very well makes West a prime suspect as the hero killer.

2) Mr. Petrelli - That's right, Nathan and Peter's dad. How can anyone be sure he's truly dead based on the words of others? Maybe he was never killed and the whole death was faked, so he could elude Linderman. Or even better, Linderman was in on it and convinced the father to be part of the whole elaborate "blow up the city" plot. If it's true that Kaito Nakamura and Angela Petrelli were lovers, that provides enough motive for Papa Petrelli to be doing these heinous crimes of passion and revenge.

3) Nathan Petrelli - Is it possible Nathan has some other powers beyond flight? For example, can he teleport? This would put him at the scene of the near crime where his mother was attacked. Can't rule him out completely, because he surely has the motive to be the one doing this.

In comic books and superhero shows, nothing and nobody can be ruled out, but the above 3 characters seem to have motive and ability to commit the crime. Of course that can all be thrown out the window if the killer is someone we have yet to meet. Also this raises the other interesting question, is this killer the same person that is haunting Molly Walker in her dreams? Or are the two unrelated? You decide.

After episode 203, "Kindred" we are left with quite a bit to contemplate and speculate about. Sylar and Peter are on almost similar quests to regain their identities and use of powers, but each is in a different predicament. Sylar is lost in the middle of nowhere after killing Candice. He has realized he doesn't have use of his powers, making you wonder who or what will find him next. Obviously whoever Candice was speaking to via phone knows of Sylar's location.

On the other hand, Peter has lost his memory of his identity and has developed a love interest in Ireland. He has decided to forego opening the box containing his personal things which will clue him in about his true identity. So for now, the 2 most powerful heroes are isolated from the rest. If Sylar does regain his powers he makes for one dangerous bad guy now that he could basically assume the appearance of ANYONE. Scary thought. Would not be surprising to see yet another Sylar vs Peter showdown this season, or even to see Sylar turn good. Why you ask? Whoever this character is that is worse than the Boogeyman just might be dangerous and evil enough to kill off Sylar as well.

The other thing we are left with at the end of episode 203 is the revelations that while working for "the Company" HRG once abducted Claire's new love interest, West. West doesn't know that HRG is her father yet, but Claire is fully aware of the situation. To make things more interesting, Suresh finds an Isaac Mendez painting showing HRG's demise due to a gunshot wound to the eye/head. Claire seems to be part of the picture, and you would have to believe the shooter will be West, the other dark figure holding Claire in the painting.

So far the Suresh undercover, Sylar lost in the middle of nowhere, new mystery hero killer and Peter's adventures in Ireland make for some intriguing plot lines. Maya and Alejandro needs to develop a bit more, but so far it's been a bit too much of the crying over the power and "RUN!" involved. However, it could become more interesting as the season progresses. Most likely these two are on a collision course with Suresh and the Company, and even Niki Sanders. Could get very interesting.

Note: These are merely my speculations, thoughts and questions, please don't take these as spoilers or as what will happen, just thoughts on what may go down with the show.

Now that we are three episodes into the second season, a few things are becoming apparent and curious:

1) There's going to be at least 3 love stories to deal with this season; Peter and the girl from Ireland, Claire and West, and Hiro and the Princess. It seems a bit more lovey-dovey than last season for sure and hopefully it doesn't water down the show completely. There's also the brother-sister love of Alejandro and Maya which so far has been a little less interesting than the other situations. Looking at Maya's power makes you think she will have a showdown with Niki or Sylar.

2) Speaking of Sylar, he should be re-introduced tonight if not soon. Best guess is he was dragged down to the sewers by Candice who is now wooing him with her powers. The big questions: do they team up? does Sylar steal her power? It's going to be interesting to say the least.

3) I had originally speculated the new manacing hero-killer was Nathan possibly or even the Haitian, but now neither of those seem to make much sense. Haitian was in Haiti and Nathan was at the police department when mother Petrelli got attacked. So that still leaves it open, this dark sinister force, is it someone we have seen or someone new completely? A friend of mine suggested it's probably someone working for Linderman, perhaps Niki. However the Boogeyman's voice heard in Molly Walker's dream seemed male.

4) I was expecting the whole Hiro & Kensei part of the show to be the typical "travel back in time" concept we see in movies, however it's been very entertaining so far. I'd give that along with Peter in Ireland the two best stories of the new season. Seeing Peter unleash random powers at certain moments has been fun thus far.

5) Dr. Mohinder Suresh working for "the company" should prove interesting too. Perhaps Suresh gets found out by his employers and needs to be rescued by various heroes from some sort of safe-holding cell in a secure compound. This would make for a great episode.

Overall, the second season is offering a good deal of intrigue so far. You have to wonder when Sylar does resurface who the first victim will be? Also will the whole "5 Years Later" episode start becoming more and more true? Suresh is working for "The Company" albeit as a spy to take them down, but perhaps he changes his tune. Sylar had Candace's power in the future, as well as Nathan's power and appearance indicating he gets to both of them. Strong possibilities for this season? You decide.

In addition, you may enjoy this post over at Blogging Experiment called "Heroes' Lesson on Blogging", as it discusses the world of blogging related to Heroes characters.

Sylar Escape Theories 101

Even though Heroes still has 1 month before its return, I've been mulling over one aspect of the Finale in my head, and that is the disappearance of Sylar. At the end of the big finale, Sylar gets Hiro's sword driven through his midsection. However, in the aftermath of everything (Nathan flying off with Peter to explode and other Heroes recovering). we saw a trail of blood and a missing Sylar body. Here's a few of the theories regarding this:

1) Sylar escaped on his own - This is the easiest of the theories, basically assuming that Sylar managed to crawl/sneak away from the scene down in the sewers of New York. Perhaps he has use of a power, such as Claude's invisibilty that we don't know about.

2) Someone saved or dragged Sylar down - This is my favorite theory because I want to speculate about a "bad guy alliance". I think this would be great for the plot, and provide all sorts of interesting twists and possibilities. The major suspsects I'd present are Candice, Mr. Linderman, and oh yes, The Boogeyman. A Candice/Sylar union could make for a very interesting fight for the rest of the heroes. And the Boogeyman also...if he can see Molly, maybe he has the ability to see any of the heroes/villains. This could be one ugly and sinister alliance. Linderman may be the least likely to be around as an accomplice/crime boss, but we all know in superhero worlds, villains seldom die the first time, or even the sceond, or third...

3) Sylar has the power to become a cockroach - I saw this on a Myspace forum I believe, and found it quite funny. It wouldn't really explain why we saw the manhole cover open with a trail of blood, but it would provide for why we saw a cockroach. I tend to prefer the cockroach we see more as symbolism that Sylar can't be killed so easy, but quite possibly it's also the Boogeyman.

Heroes will return to NBC for season 2 at the end of next month. Can't wait to see what twists, turns, villains and new heroes are in store for us.

Pre-order Heroes - Season One DVD at Amazon.com.