Superheroes that super-suck

As someone who was wholly disappointed by, but acknowledged the creative promise of, the first season of “Heroes,” the second season left me speechless, and not in a good way. Although the first season’s attempt at creating an enduring “Lost”-like mythology fell flat, each individual hero’s discovery and coming-to-grips with their own powers was modestly compelling television. Season two just feels stagnant, with our heroes figuratively (and sometimes literally) in their own personal holding patterns.

The aptly named Hiro (Masi Oka) spends most of the season stuck in feudal Japan, and the perpetually gorgeous but mostly wasted Claire (Hayden Panettiere) spends most of the season with a sour look on her face.

The efforts to revitalize the series, including the introduction of “Veronica Mars” star Kristen Bell as the electric badie Elle Bishop, as well as a pair of powerful twins whose story line practically kills all momentum the series enjoyed in its first 20 or so episodes, did nothing to improve an already struggling plot.

This time around, the supplements are not as comprehensive as with season one, but for serious fans they’re worth a look. The meat is in the cast and crew commentaries, which deal sometimes frankly with season two’s lack of steam. An alternate finale ending lets us know what might have happened if the Writer’s Guild of America strike hadn’t mercifully cropped the season, and a making-of devoted to the third season premiere is basically a glorified advertisement hoping to hook people back in to the show.

Somehow, “Heroes” still manages to rate high on the buzz meter. With season three starting soon on NBC, leaked footage from Comic-Con has fanboys clamoring for more, but it feels like a make-or-break scenario for Tim Kring’s  creation. Fans of shows like these are not to be toyed with, and if the ratings begin to slide, as they most likely will, these heroes might not get to save the world after all.