Heroes regains at least some of its cliffhanging mythology mojo in Monday night's NBC season premiere, "The Second Coming."

Brimming with dank cinematography, deadly earnest acting -- the fate of the world is still hanging in the balance, after all -- and at least two genuine WTF? moments, the Season 3 opener hopscotches full speed toward a dark destiny rife with betrayal, collapsing cities and reversals of fortune.

The heroes' dysfunctional relationships that were spelled out in previous years add depth for longtime fans, but new viewers -- and first-season loyalists who quit watching during the NBC series' wayward second year -- should be able to grok the basics quickly enough.

At its best, Heroes treats serialized sci-fi storytelling like a page-turning comic book. Empowered with whiplash story twists, reasonably good visual effects and the struggle against a dense conspiracy determined to bring the world as we know it to an end, the show's superheroes feel cursed, rather than blessed, by their gifts. When the machinery is humming, the real kick comes in watching ordinary people handle their extraordinary responsibilities.

And this season, as always, one thing is certain. The future looks bleak.   

(Spoiler alert: Minor plot points follow.)

Season 3 begins four years in the future and races through a where-are-they-now status update.

• Pain-proof Claire (Hayden Panettiere), now a brunette, prepares to shoot our brooding alpha hero, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia, pictured at right with Panettiere, and above with Cristine Rose as Angela).
  
• Back in the present day, Peter's politician brother, Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), is rudely interrupted just as he's about to reveal that he can fly. Scary mom Angela is not pleased.
  
• In Tokyo, bored time traveler Hiro (Masi Oka), the series' go-to guy for comic relief, uncovers a secret formula that prompts the arrival of a sassy new nemesis (Brea Grant) who's capable of traveling at the speed of sound.
  
• Meanwhile, scientist Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) finally gains insight, via the beautiful-but-complaining superpowered Maya (Dania Ramirez), about the heroes' special gifts. Hint: It ain't the blood.
  
• In California, relentless killing machine Sylar (Zachary Quinto), freshly rebooted, gets into Claire's head and uncovers the key to her superpower.
  
• Mind-reader Matt (Greg Grunberg) also appears, freaking out in the desert, while the show's resident shape-shifting sexpot (played by Ali Larter) appears briefly in bad-girl mode.
  

"The Butterfly Effect," the second show of Season 3, immediately follows "The Second Coming." That episode was not available for review, but it's a sure bet that the heroes' predicament will get a helluva lot worse before it gets better. And that's a good thing.

Heroes version 3 may not offer the thrill of discovery that hooked fans during the show's first season. Despite the often ponderous dialogue and gloomy score, Heroes deploys brute storytelling force to prompt in the view a need to find out what happens next. Quoting from a W.B. Yeats poem, Suresh mournfully wonders, "What rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem?" For the answer to that question, we'll keep watching.

What do you think? Is tonight's episode a return to form, or is Heroes still floundering? Comment below.

Wired: Back on track, our "heroes" brace for a season of change-ups.

Tired: We love Masi Oka, but the time-stopping scrunchy-face is getting old.