Heroes Retouched By Ink For the Better

They returned last Monday to NBC with an orgy of special effects and stiff dialogue to distract from their second-hand storyline. Now, Heroes has finally hits its stride and recaptured the magic that made Season One so remarkable with last night's debut of Episode 3, 'Ink.'

To diminish the comparisons to HBO's Carnivale, creator Tim Kring abandons the midway and spotlights his characters instead with improved authenticity. While Lydia's clairvoyant tattoos are certainly a colorful addition, it's the introduction of Emma (Deanne Bray) ' a deaf bookkeeper with an incredible gift ' that rekindles the wonderment of Season One when the original cast first discovered their talents.

With the evolved ability to see sounds, Emma tugs at the audience's heartstrings as somebody that already understands the pains of being 'different.' In order to conceal her disability, she hides behind earphones, and a desk jockey's indifference, to avoid the embarrassment of being asked the time, date or directions to the Statue of Liberty.

Now terrified about going blind, Emma has a hospital co-worker diagnose her with synesthesia, a condition for when cardinal senses blend together, but she remains gripped by fear. Through this combination of surprise, uncertainty and alienation, Kring recreates the cast's thematic struggle of passing as 'normal' when they clearly defy the norm.

Then again, it's hard to be anything else when others force you into accepting your reality, as both Gretchen and Sylar are determined to do.

With the conveniently-scripted suicide of her roommate behind her, Claire isolates herself after Gretchen catches her trying to emulate the death. Curious about Claire's secret, Gretchen imposes herself upon Noah's visit and gets invited to lunch with the Bennetts. From there, all subtlety flies out the window as Gretchen mentions her fascination with biological anomalies, and Noah suggests a return from retirement.

Repeating her pledge to honesty, above all, Claire later opens up to Gretchen and reveals her true self for their strange friendship to start. Compared to other seasons that depicted Claire as bounty hunter, refugee and renegade, it's nice to see her playing a teenager again. Her adolescent insecurities, combined with the ability to repair a fractured clavicle, are what first endeared audiences to the 'indestructible' cheerleader.

Peter too must reconcile his ability with the expectations of others as more co-workers are growing suspicious of his glory-hogging demeanor. Fortunately, he gets distracted by a bogus lawsuit filed by Samuel ' pretending to be an injured client ' and the compass tattoo he inadvertently intercepts. Where, or whom, it's pointing to, though, still remains a mystery.

Elsewhere, Parkman struggles with keeping Sylar under wraps as the merry murderer continues popping up at the most inopportune times. Ever since Parkman transferred Nathan's memories into Sylar's body, his ability to hold Sylar's subconscious captive has been slipping day by day with more disastrous results. This time, Sylar distorts Parkman's telepathy and turns his vision against him at a crime scene.

Subsequently, Parkman beats a perp into a bloody pulp after Sylar causes him to hallucinate the body of a dead child and insinuates the drug-dealer committed the deed.

Faced with the impending threat of a lawsuit - not to mention termination - Parkman cedes willpower to Sylar and uses his memory manipulation to smooth out the situation. Now that Sylar's influence can no longer be denied, it seems only a matter of time before he takes total control of Parkman.

Catch NBC's Heroes next Monday at 8 p.m. and see the saga unfold.