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This review may contain spoilers

As far as I am concerned, “Heroes” is officially on cancellation watch. The creators managed to serve up yet another boring episode that contained virtually no action. I am not sure how much longer I can stay with this dismal failure of a television show.

The most straightforward plot focused on Claire (Hayden Panettiere) who is shares her secret with Gretchen. In the high point of action in this storyline, Noah (Jack Coleman) took Claire and Gretchen to lunch. One could argue that Gretchen cutting Claire’s hand with scissors was more exciting, but, since we have already seen this trick about 9,000 times, it simply doesn’t have any impact any more.

The second thread focused on Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), who gets sued by a person he supposedly saved from a bus wreck. It turns out to be Samuel (Robert Knepper), who passes the compass tattoo on to Peter. The high point of action in this storyline occurs when Peter is served his court papers. A couple of secondary storylines involving new characters we’re weaved in, and both met up with Peter Petrelli at some point. In addition to Samuel, viewers are introduced to Andrea, a deaf character who sees color in place of sound.

The best story of the night belonged to Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto). In what has become a tired cliché, Parkman continues in his ignorant attempt to refuse to use his powers. Of course Sylar torments him and uses Matt’s own powers against him. He induces hallucinations that cause Matt to think a suspect in a drug bust is really a kidnapper and murderer. Matt beats up the guy, only to find out that it was all a big joke by Sylar. Matt relapses and uses his powers to convince his partner, who is shocked by Parkman’s actions, that nothing bad happened.

While this story was the most interesting of the night, Parkman’s refusal to use his powers has gotten old already. Zachary Quinto is always excellent as Sylar, but the writers seemed trapped by his character. After four years, Sylar simply isn’t interesting any more, and even an actor as talented as Quinto can’t make something out of nothing. The writers need to move on to a new villain.

Overall, this season has severely disappointing and it is only three episodes in. While this episode was better than the first two, it still wasn’t anything special and little to nothing of value was revealed. “Heroes” ratings continue to fall, and this episode did nothing to make me feel better about the direction of this season.

What Worked

I liked the addition of Andrea, a deaf character who sees sound in place of color. Her spontaneous playing of the violin was the highlight of the episode. It is in intriguing power, but I can’t yet imagine how it will be helpful.

It was nice to see veteran actress Louise Fletcher show up in this episode, let alone in a hospital setting. Fletcher won an Oscar for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched in the 1975 Academy Award winning film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.

I did like how Samuel used his power to insert himself into one of Peter’s newspaper clippings.

What Didn’t Work

The episode contained very little action. I know that exposition and dialogue are important, but “Heroes” is becoming little more than a soap opera at this point. I had the same problem with last year’s sci-fi flop “The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. Every week, we got a bunch of dialogue, tons of exposition, but precious little action. When I tune in to a show whose premise is based on action, I expect action. When it fails, it ends up cancelled.

More than half the cast was missing in action this week: Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), Hiro (Masi Oka), Ando (James Kyson Lee), and Tracy (Ali Larter) all failed to turn up. I know that with a cast this large, screen time is at a premium, but this is a large chunk to be absent.

Samuel can control the earth, and he creates a sinkhole that destroys a mansion during a house party. Unfortunately, this happens off screen, and we only see the aftermath. “Heroes” does this way too often. Viewers don’t even get to see what would have been the most exciting development of the episode. Perhaps they should use their special effects budget more wisely.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Heroes" stars Jack Coleman, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Masi Oka, and Milo Ventimiglia. “Ink” was written by Aron Eli Coleite and directed by Roxann Dawson.

"Heroes" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.