You can probably tell by the tone of our recent Heroes episode guides, but we're as displeased with this season as many critics of the show.

Every week, tiny steps are taken in the advancement of story lines, but countless minutes are wasted to get us there. Take last night: By the end, we were intrigued by a deserted New York City and an evil, pissed off Kensei.

But we almot fell asleep during the build up to those pay offs, as the two main Heroes on the show - Hiro and Peter - have been anything but heroic for a solid six episodes now. Simply put, it's been incredibly boring.

Instead of just bashing the series and praying for a return to Season One glory, however, let's review various characters, their problems so far this season and the ways we'd amp up their story lines in order to make Heroes, you know, interesting and exciting again...

Mohinder: Wasn't the plan for the doctor to help take down The Company from the inside? Has he done anything along those lines yet? Even last night, when he finally stood up to Bob and refused to inject Monica with a strain of the virus, it was rather overt. No real suspense there.

Mohinder needs to start taking action. Instead of merely showing the Adam Monroe file last night, why not have Suresh sneak in and steal it later in the episode? Cue the dramatic music, show Bob walking down the hall, Mohinder scrambling to swipe the file before he's caught... anything that reeks of intrigue in an angle that, so far, has shown us nothing but Mohinder following orders and making faces.

Claire/West: Many in our Heroes forum are guessing that West will turn on Claire eventually, and we agree. But can we please get there already? Do we really need an entire episode focused around some inane plot to get Claire onto the cheerleading team?

And do we really need her and her father distrustful of one another again? Been there, done that, seen these two make up in the first season. We know Claire can regenerate body parts, but we have no interest in watching her regenerate story lines.

Nathan: You think Peter is dead. This makes you sad. And that makes you drink and ignore all special abilities. We get it. We're also bored by it. It's fine to undergo a character change given the dramatic events to close last season, but we hope the drama with Parkman's dad snaps you out of your self-pitying phase.

Go back to being the tough politician, the guy who stared down Linderman and told Peter he saved the cheerleader, so you could save the world. That's how you honor your brother's memory.

Peter/Hiro: Not to be rude, but you guys suck right now! While Heroes is an ensemble series, these are the two mainstays, the characters that move the stories along and, together, supposedly killed Sylar to end last season. Now?

One is more focused on the love of a woman - from 300 years ago! - than on his mission to save the world. Remember all his inspirational speeches to Ando last year? Hiro, apparently, does not.

Peter, meanwhile, doesn't even know who he is, creating a scenario we've seen already: Peter discovers his abilities, learns to embrace them, hopes to save NYC, yadda, yadda, yadda. A third of the season is almost behind us and Peter has nothing to show for it but a boring love interest and a trip to Montreal. That's sad.

In the end, the show needs a unifying story line. Last season, everyone was concerned about stopping Sylar and/or the explosion in New York. It was a constant, common theme, referred to in almost every episode.

This year, it angers us to watch Heroes regress in their use of abilities and repeat the confusion we thought they worked past in Season One. You're supposed to be heroic, people, and there's supposed to be a world to save. Act like it.