I was comparing these first eps to the start of season 3, which I had all kinds of problems with, and realized that despite Harold's reluctance to engage, all the true tension is now coming from the outside of their little group, which was so not the case last season - Shaw and Harold were sniping at each other, and John seemed to be stepping away from his previous intimacy with Harold, and Root was still Public Enemy Number Whatever despite her thing with the Machine, and Fusco still hadn't achieved real heroism or trust (and Carter was still alive, but yeah). And now they all know each other so much better, or in John and Harold's case, they've found that closeness again.

I'm wondering now where the interpersonal drama is going to come from, but since the season's barely begun, they have lots of places to go with all that. I hope that tension comes from new characters!