Why the start of Heroes season 2 sucked (and related info)

I came across the Heroes wiki today (http://heroeswiki.com/), and was reading up on stuff, and found some links to some very interesting articles that explain a lot. So I thought I'd sum it up in a Q&A, since I know that some of you would be interested. Q: What the heck was up with the beginning of season 2? It sucked! A: The writers screwed up. Viewership tanked. And creator Tim Kring admitted it, and pointed out the mistakes - every one of which I was like "Yep, that sucked." It's good that he admitted it, and he held true to his promise of making the second half better - I definitely noticed a change, and it has been way better. The general public agrees - there's an uptick in viewers for episode eight, right when it started getting better. So to those that stopped watching at the beginning of season two, catch up on the plot (pretty quick) up to chapter 8, watch chapters 9 and 10 online, and then hold on for the finale. Note: Sorry that the graph isn't up to date, it's the best I could find. Q: Wait a minute - finale? On Dec. 3? What the crap? A: You know that writer's strike? Yep, it hits too close to home, including at Heroes. I had heard rumors and assumed that it was the cause, but it has been confirmed that it is the direct cause. Q: So the finale isn't going to really be a finale, right? A: Wrong - handily enough, the Dec 3 episode was going to end the current story arc (whatever that means), but they've re-shot the episode so that it will be a proper finale. Once again, creator Tim Kring apologizes for the beginning of the season, and promises that the finale will be a good one. Seeing as how he has drastically turned around the second half of the season, I trust that it will be. Note: The only spoiler in the article is that the finale ends in a cliffhanger. No surprise there (did we expect anything else?) Sorry if I ruined anyone's lives. Q: Season 3? A: The writer's strike has everything in the air. The much anticipated Heroes:Origins, which was supposed to air between this next episode and the beginning of the third story arc, got cancelled because of the strike. If/when the strike comes to an end, things may change, but as of yet, there doesn't seem to be any definite idea of what season three would look like, if it indeed exists. There were, however a full 24 episodes planned for season 2, and only the first 11 were aired, so there is a good chance that the rest will be aired at some point, especially considering the vast improvement and therefore increase viewership of the last few epsiodes.