To Whom Much is Given: Power and Responsibility as Themes in Heroes

In its inaugural season, Heroes more than lived up to expectations, primarily by striking a balance between the everyday difficulties of normal lives and the extraordinary abilities and responsibilities of its main characters. No Hero seems perfect, and all struggle to learn to harness their abilities. In the Season Two premiere, the door opened to more fully explore these themes. Through the introductions of new characters, the new struggles of established characters, and the sometimes comical diversions to those who imagine they (or their dog) have special power or ability, Heroes developed what will certainly be a recurrent theme throughout the series.

Mohinder

In Mohinder's opening speech, he introduces an important element in the series: the ephemeral nature of the heroes' special abilities. The virus to be found in those evolutionarily-advanced individuals will eventually take away first the abilities, and then the lives, of those people. Implicit here is a limited window each hero has in which to use his/her ability to the betterment of the world. For Suresh, the window of opportunity concept is further revealed in his apparently reluctant acceptance of the offer to work for "The Company." The man who recruits him can turn objects into gold (it is unclear from the spoon demonstration whether he can do this to any object or merely any metal and/or inanimate object), and is willing to provide funding to research that brings Mohinder mostly empty rooms for his speeches, and which landed Mohinder's father's book in the parapsychology section between books on hypnosis and alien abductions.