I wasn't engrossed by this episode at all. The writing again was on the nose (not terribly so, but enough to distract) and the plot beats and character progressions by the numbers. Hiro discovering a comic book about himself was - for a few minutes - an interesting development as I thought perhaps the show would move into an intriguing self-referential territory, but - no - it was just the work of the precognitive artist. There was an amount of gruesomeness this episode which imparted a harder edge to the show than last week's chapter, but nothing that hadn't already been seen on, say, The X-Files.
I was wondering if this series was worth my time when things picked up in the last scene. The reference to the "Merry Marvel Marching Society" was funny (if anachronistic ... but hey, Hiro does have the ability to time travel) and the Trek mentions once again cute. That wouldn't have been enough of course, until the twist at the end. The scroll at the beginning of the pilot already told us that the heroes were going to save the world, but now we have a deadline.
Will give episode three a go at least.