I was ready to throw my shoe through the screen when Parkman said he could fly---
But revealing that it was him just holding on to Daphne and then her subsequent death really was phenomenally done-- And the first minute of the show with the shaving already looked like the show used to be in the first season (Sylar delivering the puppetmaster?).
All in all an absence of Claire and Hiro/Ando getting back to what they do
helped the show. Maybe Nathan's absence also helped.
And I think they set it up nicely that maybe "Icegirl"
isn't dead as the ice pieces seemed to melt into the grate (and the blinking of her eyes when she was frozen)...
I hope this suggests the new direction/tempo of the series and it can only go up from here.