"Heroes" has gotten a bum rap in its sophomore season. Ratings are in the toilet (reportedly down 3 million viewers from last year) and critics and viewers alike are bashing it for its slow, plodding pace and a rash of new characters. I think they're kind of crazy. I'm not saying that the show hasn't had some problems this season, but if any show was doomed for a sophomore slump, it was poor "Heroes." With very little initial hype it quickly became NBC's darling last season, a buzz show for a network desperately in need of some buzz. And since our cynical culture loves nothing more than to build something up only to rip it down, well, this was inevitable. But I honestly don't think the first half of Season 2 was paced any differently than the first half of Season 1, and when you look at the cast with all its additions and subtractions, we've probably got the same number of characters we've always had.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that last night's episode will shut everyone up. The past couple installments have been pretty great, actually, but last night's filled in all the gaps between the first season finale and the second season premiere, which jumped to the future by about four months. Among the revelations:

- Nathan was severely burned by the radiation emitted by Exploding Peter when he flew him away from New York. That explains those bizarre visions Nathan has been having all season in which he looks like Two-Face from Batman.

- DL survived Linderman's bullet and he, Nikki, and Micah tried to settle into happy family life. But after Nikki stopped taking her psych meds (prescribed to her by The Company) a NEW personality, Gina, emerged and took control. "Gina" fled to party it up in LA, and after DL showed up to bring her back, he was promptly shot by "Gina"'s sleazebag coke supplier. And that's how he died, and explains why Nikki would leave Micah with his grandmother while she went to The Company to get "cured."

- After exploding, Peter ultimately saved crispy critter Nate from falling to his death and dropped him off at a hospital, where Peter was summarily captured by Electric Elle and Bob the Company Man. Bob preyed on Peter's fears of losing control and convinced him that he should stay at their "facility," since The Company is very close to developing a cure for super powers. Peter bites, and he strikes up a kinky S&M-ish relationship with Elle, who brings him his daily dose of power-inhibiting pills. We learn more about Elle, who is seriously screwed up in the head, and I kind of love her now. (I'm still not convinced that Kristen Bell was the right choice for this role, but she's growing on me.)

- While in his cell at The Company's facility, Peter meets his cell neighbor, Adam Monroe, a.k.a. the samurai Hiro was farting around with in feudal Japan. Due to his healing powers Adam apparently never ages and is immortal. He's also a clever bastard, and he slowly but surely manipulates Peter into busting the two of them out of the facility. They go to Nate's hospital room, Adam injects just a bit of his blood into Nathan's IV drip, and pow! Nathan heals up, good as new. But then Elle, Bob, and the Haitian Sensation track down Adam and Pete. Adam hands Pete his ticket to Montreal, his passport (where the hell did he get that?), and tells him to meet him in a warehouse. Peter gets shot by Elle's electricity, setting fire to his clothes and causing him to go shirtless. Haitian Sensation traps him in a cargo hold (right by a hospital? Where the hell is this?), mind wipes him in an effort to give Peter a fresh start, and locks him in the bin. And that's how Peter ended up shirtless and memory-less in Ireland. So I guess we can blame Haitian Sensation for that insufferable storyline.

So a lot was answered, but as always, more questions emerged. Some observations:

- It's interesting that Haitian Sensation was just fine when he took down Peter in this episode, a scene that supposedly took place one week prior to the beginning of Season 2. And yet in the second episode of the season, he was crazy sick with the virus that strips supers of their powers and eventually kills them. That means it comes on awfully fast. It's also notable that the two people we know that have had the virus-Molly and Haitian-were both in the care of The Company at some point. And Nikki just intentionally injected herself with the virus found in Company offices last week, and Bob wanted to inject Monica with the same. Is The Company behind Molly and Haitian getting the bug? Are there specific supers they're trying to take out? Molly, Haitian, and Monica all have powers that could be very useful in taking out someone like, say, The Big Bad.

- Who is almost certainly Adam. It just makes sense. It's clear now that he's the person who killed Hiro's father earlier this season; remember how the assailant was mysteriously missing from the ground after he pushed the two of them off the roof? Well if you have super healing abilities, that's not too difficult. And Adam would have just escaped from The Company's facility and started his quest for revenge on Hiro and the Super Parents group that betrayed him. Hiro's dad unfortunately fell into both groups. I'm still unclear how he got Parkman's dad to get in on the dirty work, but I guess we'll find out soon.

- The power-inhibiting pills Elle was giving to Peter make me think that perhaps that's why Sylar's powers aren't working. Remember, Candice had been tending to him in the Mexican jungle. And Candice was most certainly part of the Company. It makes sense that The Company would want Sylar locked down, but also far enough away from Peter-and Adam-so as to not be a bigger threat. Peter's powers came back roughly a week or so after he stopped taking the pills (I believe). I wonder how long before Sylar's return?

Lastly, a theory. Bob seems intent on getting Claire's blood as a "cure" for the virus. I suspect that mixing Claire's healing factor with the virus leads to a super-virus that can cross over into the general population, which leads to the death of 93 percent of the human population Peter saw while in the future. I'm glad that this virus thing looks to be wrapping up in the next three episodes (if NBC's teasers are to be believed) because I'm kind of sick of it already. It's such an odd plot point-I can see the Company wanting to develop something that inhibits people's powers, but if they have pills that work, why bother creating a virus? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, onward.

As one of the high points of what can be considered the Best Pop Culture Week Ever, Bravo's fashion design competition "Project Runway" returned last night for Season 4. It's about goddamned time; it's been roughly 13 months since Season 3 ended, and I have missed the fashion, the catty judges (Michael Kors, I salute you), and especially host Heidi Klum and mentor Tim Gunn.

That said, the premiere was not a knock out. With 15 new competitors it was impossible to really get a feel for most of the designers. Bravo traditionally makes the premiere two hours, usually slotting in a "Road to the Runway" special that introduces everyone. They chose not to do that for some reason, but here's what I gleaned from what we saw:

-I thought it was smart to do the "design a dress to express who you are as a designer" challenge first instead of last. The final four always botches that
one, probably because they're so exhausted by that point. And it helped us to get a sense of who these guys are better than, say, "make a dress out of corn flakes" or something.

-I'm so glad my new pretend boyfriend, Rami, won. (Although I actually liked Christian's garment better.) He's just a total dreamboat, and his
shoulders are the Robert Best's arms of this season. And I get him for at least two more weeks! (But I suspect he won't make it much past mid-season; he
seems doomed to me.)

-Christian is super annoying, but I think he's definitely talented.

-I'm really drawn to Kit for some reason. I was surprised her dress wasn't in the top. I like her 80s-inspired style, and she seems fun. Like a pixie. I
think she's going to be my new Allison.

-Didn't really love Victorya's garment. Didn't get the fuss.

-Had initially dismissed Dickensian-dressed Marion, but from what little we saw I really dug his creations.

-We have GOT to do something about Carmen's hair.

-I'm guessing the large guy is supposed to be our new Kayne, with his costumey designs, constant giggling
and silly attitude? I just don't think he's witty enough.

-Leather daddy-esque Kevin proclaiming his hetero-ness literally seconds after appearing on screen: methinks the lady doth protest too much. (At least, I hope that's the case...)

-Simone seems like a sweet lady, but if she really thought that dress had a point of view, she was totally off her game and deserved to go first. And
what was with that hideous "jacket"?

-Elisa's dress (heretofore known as the "pooping fabric" dress, courtesy of The Klum) was actually gorgeous from the front, but I suspect she's our new
Vincent. I find her exponentially less offensive than that idiot, so I'm OK with that.

The previews seem to indicate that the season will be less dramatic than last year, and that's OK with me. Between the Jeffrey/Angela rancor, the Keith debacle, and the continued, frustrating presence of Vincent, S3 got kind of exhausting. I do think there's a lot of talent in this group and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

I've been a supporter of CBS' reality experiment "Kid Nation" since the beginning. I give it credit for doing something different, and I'm all for more family-appropriate entertainment. The backlash against the show began before it ever aired, with people up in arms over child labor laws, child endangerment, and parents making a buck off their eager kids' backs (um, welcome to showbiz y'all). When the premiere finally aired in September it was savaged by most of the entertainment press, who labeled it boring (untrue) and contrived (sure, but what isn't?), and falsely reported that the children were violent toward one another (a gross exaggeration of an isolated incident).

Since then the ratings have been fairly uninspiring, and surely the project is a disappointment to CBS given all of its pre-debut buzz. But I've loved the show from the start, and in addition to it being genuinely fun and interesting, it's also surprisingly heart-warming and life-affirming.

Until last week. Things in Bonanza City-the Old West "ghost town" that has been turned over to 40 kids to run without adult supervision-turned ugly after the Pioneer Journal (one of the show's cheesiest elements, through which the producers essentially create drama in the town) encouraged the four districts to trade some their members. Three out of the four districts did so, but one elected not to. That district's leader, Laurel, came under intense fire by the kids of the town, and after a nearly unanimous vote of no confidence the entire four-person Town Council was unseated in an impromptu election, and four new kids took their place. Among them were the town's two biggest bullies, Greg and Blaine.

It's true that the kids have nobody but themselves to blame for putting these immature brats in control. That said, Americans have a knack for electing the wrong candidates all the time, so why should their kids be any different? In short order things got pretty dark. Greg and Blaine forced the kids to participate in pointless, offensive "respect" exercises (while acting completely disrespectful themselves, of course). They started eavesdropping on the kids' private discussions, some of which painted them unfavorably. And they repeatedly retaliated in the most immature ways possible, sowing even more discord in the town.

The bad times kept rolling in this week's episode, as the new, unimproved Council tried to steamroll over everyone else's will, causing an actual physical fight to break out over which chickens to kill for dinner (the girls protecting the "cute" chickens were equally at fault, and are horrible, but Greg's handling of the situation was to employ bullying tactics). They harassed the team's problem child, Taylor-a spoiled princess, to be sure-when the solution was to work with her, as former Council member Zack new very well. And then Greg and Blaine encouraged their districts to ignore their work details in favor of partaking in that week's reward, a town arcade, without limits. Great role models!

Since the Council shake-up went down I've found the show increasingly hard to watch. It used to be fun; now the kids are getting dangerously close to "Lord of the Flies" territory. A cynic could argue that if society's youngest, least corrupted members treat each other like crap so readily, there's little hope for the rest of us. I'd like to think it's just a couple bad apples (Greg, Blaine, Taylor, Emilie, arguably Olivia) making it bad for everyone else. I don't know. But there are only a couple episodes left, and I'll be surprised if CBS brings "Kid Nation" back (although it is a reality show, which is cheap, and there IS the writer's strike, which has screwed up their season, and CBS is far more willing to give reality shows a couple seasons to grow, a la "Amazing Race" and "Big Brother"), so I'll keep watching, and hoping that the disturbing turns the show has taken are only temporary, and that the good old fun Bonanza City will make a comeback.