"Heroes" is back!

After a shortened, and disappointing, second season, "Heroes" is back and better than ever with an hour of clips, and then a two-hour premiere Monday, starting at 7 p.m. on NBC. True, that's not saying much right now, but it's great to be able to say it at all.
We pick up season three after the shooting of Nathan Petrelli (and the video above is great help in bringing one up to speed on that score), but the first scene actually takes place 4 years in the future.
I assume you actually want to WATCH the show yourself, instead of having me recount it all here (don't you just hate when critics do that), so I am offering a SPOILER FREE ZONE here. All I will tell you are which characters return, and which ones have some good moments.
Overall the premiere is very exciting, but a little overstuffed with characters. Still, it was so great to see a major Hiro (Masi Oka) storyline, and that his old pal Ando (James Kyson Lee) is still with him. Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) also figure prominently, and Mama Petrelli (Christine Rose) stops by to share some of her wisdom. Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) is hanging around as well, but he is his usual useless self.
Claire (Hayden Panettierre) has a meeting with Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in her home that does not go very well for her. It's great to see Sylar back to normal; in my opinion the biggest problem with season two was the wasted time when Sylar temporarily lost his powers.
Dragging down the proceedings considerably is Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who has teamed up with wonder twin Maya (Dania Ramirez). It seems that the only reason Mohinder is still around is to do those awful voiceovers at the beginning and end of each episode, and Maya, who knows what she's for. They're a good match for sure, each as boring as the other, but they get an unfortunate amount of screen time.
Niki (Ali Larter) is hanging around with another shadowy figure, and as usual, it's a little hard to figure out what she's up to. She's never been one of my favorite characters.
Hiro has a classic scene in his office which was by far my favorite moment of the premiere. See if you can guess which one it was. Almost as good is a goofy scene where Nathan undergoes some sort of, um, experience, I think, is the best word for it.
The ending is explosive, and surprising. Not even a hint will be offered here.