Will Sylar Bake Cookies Tonight?

I'll admit it, I almost deserted my beloved Heroes this season. I think it was sometime in between future Peter shooting present Nathan, future Peter taking present Peter hostage in another "hero's" body, Claire deciding to try and be heroic (while only succeeding in whining and wearing tight leather for all the perverts in the world), a long lost twin to Niki Sanders magically fabricating, Horn Rimmed Glasses repeating the same stupid dialogue every episode about protecting his daughter, dead-man Linderman walking around, the appearance of that annoying speed-demon Run Lola Run knock off character, Parkman talking to a turtle, and oh, let me think, Sylar MAKING WAFFLES in an apron that I decided the writers of the show had gone off the deep end. And after coming off a strike abbreviated season that actually necessitated creator Tim Kring's public apology to fans over its poor quality, I do not think that this was a wholly unfounded conclusion (nor was I alone). But then, just as I resigned myself to wait until January 2009 for another quality, science-fiction drama to return, things actually started to not be so terrible with the return of Parkman's father and things finally starting to make some darn sense as a legit set of "Villains" emerge. With Heroes pulling in its worst ratings yet, the writers had better act fast and reclaim their fan base before the show goes the way of Sulu's character on the show (he died, in case you couldn't guess). Hm, it's not that long till January is it?