Now, here’s an interesting thing. For a show as perfectly paced was last year, this second installment sure has had pacing problems left and right. Last year they had a big, 22-episode story to tell, and they told it with very few hiccups in the process. And yet, getting out a story half that big has proven too difficult to do.

Earlier tonight, in my Chuck Wee-View, I mentioned how certain shows thrive in knowing the tale they have to tell, especially a “smaller” (for lack of a better word) tale. These shows see a finite story, tell that story, and then mosey on out the door. Problem is, almost all of these types of shows happen overseas. Here, we called them a “miniseries”, place them on back-to-back nights, and call it a day.

The genius of the Heroes structure is that it can, it fact, encompass both short-term and long-term storytelling needs, maybe even more that my favorite show of all time, Manimal. And by Manimal I mean Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For all its rich continuity, the show, to my knowledge, never pulled off a stunt like “Generations,” in which it told two big stories over one season. Now, I’m not saying that Buffy had to, I’m just saying it didn’t. The idea of telling two eleven-episode stories (with overall character continuity to link the two, as well as ramifications from story to story) made sense, given the comic-book based storytelling involved in the show. Move the heroes through big saga after big sage, changing the stakes, slowly changing the world, rotating in new team members, differentiating the threats…all good, and I was onboard. Why stop at two 11-episode arcs? How about three eight-episode arcs? Just go for sweeps glory and do four 6-week arcs! Go crazy, Heroes!

But then something happened, and that something was that the writers on the show had no freakin’ idea how to pace this story. Absolutely none. While there were many things in this week’s episode that had me absolutely squealing with delight, there are equally as many that have me frustrated beyond belief. Good God, we’re two episodes away from this volume’s completion, no one but Peter knows about the virus, I have no clue why The Blunder Twins were introduced, why Monica was introduced, why characters I love get weeks without screentime…it’s bordering on insanity in some cases.

Also, the more we learn about the murder mystery, the more I’m glad they introduced a world-killing plague to the equation. So, essentially, Adam Monroe wants to kill every remaining member of the Original 12 who locked him up and threw away the key. OK, seems a bit extreme, but sure, that’s fine. But it’s just not…epic enough. And they seemed to have locked him up because…he wasn’t aging anymore? Isn’t that basically what Angela said? I’m all for a reality-based superhero story, but let’s let the ambitions at least be super-sized. Linderman’s plan to blow up NYC in order to unite the world in grief was an ode to Adam Monroe, we’re led to believe, so why are Adam’s concerned so bottled up in simple revenge?

More to the point, the murder of Kaito makes less and less sense the more you think about it. So, Kensei swears eternal vengeance on Hiro, and does so by…working alongside his father for decades? That makes no freakin’ sense. Also, Kensei goes around giving everyone his calling card, announcing their impending doom, but Kaito thinks Adam would be the last one to be behind it all? There’s either something I’m missing here, or Kaito isn’t the brightest bulb in the galaxy.

Now, I can only guess at Adam’s intention, since all we’ve seen of him to date in the present is about two minutes of outright lies to Peter about saving the world. Now, had Peter met Adam earlier in the season, and been slowly turned by Adam into unwittingly aiding the virus’ insertion into the general population, then THAT’S something worth watching. It would give time to see Adam in the present day, and potentially glean his overall plan. But the show spent more than half the season in Japan, didn’t introduce the virus-as-major-threat until too late, and now everything is rushed. And oh by the way, this show features a sprawling cast so good luck seeing your favorites on a weekly basis.

And perhaps the most frustrating? That it really took until tonight for the show to live up to the name of the volume, “Generations.” Just about the entire theme of the volume can be encapsulated in Angela Petrelli’s line to an increasingly morally gray Matt Parkman: “Our generation mortgaged our souls to save yours.” I mean, wow. Yes, more of this please. An 11-episode arc showing that superhero families are just as messed up as the rest of us, only the stakes involved in an ill-fated holiday dinner could be 93% of the world’s population being wiped out. That’s slightly worse than how Yankee swaps turn out in my family, but only slightly, I have to say.

The idea of the sins of the fathers (and mothers) being visited upon their children, the notion that these heroes we know and love are the way they are through genetics as well as upbringing…these ideas were always there in this volume, to be sure, but never as emphasized as this week. And I think the emphasis did the show good. Look at how many relationships were cemented/altered/exposed in this week’s episode alone:

• HRG’s neverending love for Claire; Claire’s inability to reconcile the man who raised her with the man who captured her boyfriend
• Bob’s twisted ideas of “protecting his daughter”; Elle’s tough-on-the-outside, completely-scared-her-father-made-her-the-way-she is on the inside
• Mohinder wondering if he’s completely disgraced his father’s memory (the dude turned into Wesley Windham-Price in Season 3 of “Angel” tonight, didn’t he?)
• Kaito/Hiro’s touching goodbye
• Angela’s Lady MacBeth act, bleeding from the nose, broken in her soul
• Matt Parkman turning slowly into his father

I mean, that’s a lot for 41 minutes of television, and it was varying levels of great. But again, had we gotten that sense of “mortgaging [their] souls” earlier in the season, it would have given scope and heft to everything, the idea that something, whatever that thing is, is now reigning on the younger generation. I guess the virus will be the fruition of that sin, the representation that guilt cannot die with the passing of the elder generation, that inheritance is constant, unyielding, and unforgiving.

The last piece of the puzzle is one Victoria Pratt, a name yielded by Angela under pressure from Matt, an act that may or may not have cost him his soul. Hard to believe we have two episodes to go and they are STILL introducing new characters into the mix. For those of us spoiler free, she’s a complete mystery, up there with “Why did they introduced Maya/Alejandro/Monica to the mix?” and “Was Sylar really necessary for this particular volume?” and “Why didn’t HRG just email everyone the paintings right away in order to clear up some confusion?” and “Why on earth wouldn’t HRG just bring the Haitian to Imperial Beach, or at least John from Cincinnati?” But hey, I guess I shouldn’t be asking such questions. I should just be happy two of the paintings came true within a second of each other, I suppose.

All in all, I guess I can hope for two things:

1. That the next two episodes provide a mix of exposition and action that brings the entire volume up in quality.
2. That the showrunners have learned from this experience so that the next 11-episode volume benefits from what they’ve learned from this one.

As far as the former…well, sadly, the Season 1 finale was one of the weakest episodes all season. As far as the latter…well, let’s hope the writers’ strike ends Friday so we can see lessons learned onscreen sooner rather than later.