''To bring down this company, sometimes we have to do bad things.'' That's what H.R.G. told Suresh when the waffly doctor was on the fence about injecting something awful into Monica (better known as Marvel Comics' Taskmaster, but, you know, with nicer skin). I'm starting to feel similarly about this show. To save Heroes, they just might have to do some bad things.

First on my list: kill Mohinder Suresh. Not only does he no longer serve a real purpose; he doesn't even act like a real character. In the span of a single episode, he went from being a semi-faithful company lapdog to a rebel without a syringe to a slightly more cautious lapdog. And why didn't he leave Bob's slimy clutches? Because Molly was still recovering from Papa Parkman's crazy brain drain. But if the Company isn't getting her better, then why can't Suresh take her out of there? She was just as unconscious on his couch. Why? Because the story needs Suresh to be there. That's the worst kind of storytelling, when you force a character to betray himself to obey the dictates of plot. And once a character does that, he's useless.

Don't get me wrong; I thought this week's episode was an improvement over the last couple. Not a thing of beauty (and definitely not a joy forever), but better. Still, there are some story lines that need to be either fed some Miracle-Gro or pruned entirely. To wit: Sylar. Why is he on the show this year? What has he added to the mix besides familiarity? Part of what made the first season work so well is that we weren't sure who was on whose side. Who were the bad guys? Well, we know that Sylar's one of the mustache twirlers. We know that everything he does comes from a place of malice. Oh, and just in case you didn't know, he's going to tell you, every chance he gets. Like in that bit toward the end, just after Alejandro threw him a beating: Sylar made a point of standing there and telling a character who doesn't speak English what he's going to do to him. Which means he's just telling us what he's going to do. As if we didn't know.

(Honestly, the less said about the Abject-Lack-of-Wonder Twins the better. Except for this: If these twins are as close as we've been led to believe, how come only Maya knows English — and absolutely perfect English at that? Where was her brother while she was getting lessons? And why didn't she share those lessons with him? Because Mr. Menudo's gonna buy la granja.)

While I think the new Claire business is like watching very pretty paint dry (didn't we do the horrific-cheerleader plotline last year?), at least her new beau is starting to give some clues as to which way he wears his power. Especially when he drops lines like ''You've got a power — by definition, you're better than she is'' and ''I can fly. That pretty much makes parental guidance a non-issue.'' If only there were a character like Erik Lehnsherr — X-Men's Magneto — for some of these on-the-fencers to rally behind. Come to think of it, there's no one with that force of personality anywhere to be found on this show — especially after they killed off Hiro's pops. Why not? Why do we have to suffer through another drawn-out ''look, everyone has to find each other so they can fight some big evil'' story when we've already been through that chapter of the comic book that is Heroes? Don't the producers know that the second act of any team comic is when the team — already assembled — falls apart? Or did they not read that far ahead?

NEXT: Hiro's bitty little battle

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