The NBCscience fictionserialdrama series Heroes follows the lives of people across the globe who possess various superhuman powers as they struggle to cope with their everyday lives and prevent foreseen disasters from occurring. The third season premiered on September 22, 2008, and was released on DVD on September 1, 2009. Within the seasons of Heroes are "volumes", which allow the writers to focus on shorter story arcs. The third season comprised 25 episodes that aired in two blocks generally without reruns. The first 13 episodes of the season made up the third volume, Villains, and the final 12 comprise the fourth volume, Fugitives. The season premiered on September 22, 2008 in the United States on NBC and on Global in Canada, with a one-hour clip-show and two regular episodes. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on September 1, 2009 in the United States and Canada.
Plot
"Villains", the season's first volume, began with the assassination attempt on Nathan Petrelli by Peter Petrelli from the future, and explores its consequences. In addition, several villains with abilities escape from the Company's prisons. Some of them join forces with Arthur Petrelli at Pinehearst Company, who wants to find a formula that gives ordinary people abilities in order to make the world a better place. Character arcs involve Tracy Strauss discovering her origins, Sylar trying to decide his loyalties, Peter losing his ability, Mohinder Suresh giving himself an ability, and Hiro Nakamura's discovery of a family secret. The second part of season three, titled "Fugitives", involves what happens after Nathan fails to produce the formula. After the destruction of Primatech and Pinehearst, the heroes attempt to lead normal lives until Nathan tells the President of the United States about people with abilities, and runs a government force, headed by Emile Danko, to round them up. Micah Sanders, posing as "Rebel", starts to help people with abilities hide from the government. Meanwhile, Sylar searches for his father. In the season finale, Sylar kills Nathan in an intense duel; however, Matt Parkman is instructed to alter Sylar's mind so that he believes that he is Nathan.
Season three of Heroes started with strong ratings that dropped steadily throughout the season. The season's finale placed last in its timeslot. This season was met with mixed to negative reception with most criticism directed towards the storylines, writing and characters.
