The previous volume (Generations) had finished on the cliffhanger of Nathan Petrelli being shot by an unknown figure just as he was going to give a speech to the world about people with powers. This mystery is quickly cleared up, when we see a future version of Peter Petrelli, now the owner of a prominent face scar, travel back in time to shoot his brother to prevent his speech. That moment had been a pivotal one, that sent mankind on a different path, where everyone, and anyone, can get themselves superpowers. This in turn had 'changed' some of our trusted heroes, like Claire Bennett, who now seems to be one of the villains, hunting down Peter with the aim of killing him.
As Nathan makes a near miraculous recovery from his shooting, and starts to see 'visions' of Daniel Linderman (played by Malcolm McDowell) who we'd previously seen die at the end of season one, it soon becomes clear that somebody is manipulating our heroes, and events, to their own ends. Who is behind it all, and what are their ultimate plans.
It's quite a widely regarded view that the previous season, Generations, had not been warmly received in many quarters, with the show's creator Tim Kring admitting as much in interviews, so could he get the show back on track in this series, and put it back up there with the popularity it's debut year had gained? To do so, Kring attempts to go back to that winning formula with a lot of the choices taken for Villains.
We have Hiro travelling into the future to witness an apocalyptic event, we have the inclusion of another hero who tells the future with his paintings, and later in the series, also see the return of comic shops, and the 9th Wonder comic strips. Kring also purposely puts Claire Bennett ('Save the cheerleader, save the world') at the centre of the over-riding plot, as carrier of 'the catalyst', which is needed to complete the formula that can give superpowers to anyone. We even get another eclipse thrown in, for good measure.
And for the first few episodes, this approach seems to be working very well, with a much more enjoyable tone than the disappointing Generations. The pairing of characters works very well, I thought, especially the teaming up of Sylar with Noah Bennett, and after being seperated for most of season two, it's good to have Hiro and Ando back together again, to provide the humourous aspects of the show.
The episode I Am Become Death is one of the highlights of Villains for me, taking a now traditional journey into a future where, as well as a lot of the heroes now being villains, we meet a future Sylar who's now a family man with a young son called Noah. Always one of Heroes most interesting characters, Zachary Quinto plays him just as well as a good guy, as he does the arch-villain. And he get many more great moments throughout the run, when he believes he is the son of Angela Petrelli. I also really liked the earlier episode The Butterfly Effect, which I felt tied in perfectly with the idea of cause and effect, something I felt was crucial to the initial appeal of Heroes.
For all it's good intentions though, Villains starts to unravel and fall apart as it reaches the two part episode The Eclipse. Although in theory, a story about the heroes having to survive without their powers could be very interesting, the result descends into the dull and tedious, with Peter, Nathan and The Haitian trying to overthrow a jungle militia.
After that, the whole story is wrapped up effectively in the penultimate episode, as Sylar kills main villain Arthur Petrelli, leaving us with a disappointing finale that consists mostly of Peter spending half an hour smashing up test tubes and bottles in the Pinehearst laboratory.
Villains isn't all bad at all, and it was definitely an improvement on Generations, but it must ultimately go down as a collection of missed opportunities. Having introduced a great villain, and character, in Arthur Petrelli, he ends up only being in a handful of episodes before being quickly dispatched. Possibly it's biggest faux pas though is after setting up the tantalising prospect of 'Level 5' (that's supposed to hold villains far worse than even Sylar), the show fails to deliver anyone of note.
I'll begin watching Volume Four: Fugitives in the next few days, but I'm not looking forward to it, as my memories of it aren't too positive. I'll have to see if it's better than I remember.
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