Save the Cheerleader, Save NBC Primetime
Spoiler Warning: Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because you just read it.
I really don’t know how I can cover my thoughts on the entire, totally awesome first season of Heroes in one review, but I’ll do my best
I know that Heroes is perhaps the first show where I actually managed to see every episode of the entire first season in order, thanks to NBC.com’s rewind feature that allowed me to watch entire episodes.
NBC advertised Heroes fairly heavily coming into fall 2006, and they drew me in. Of course I quickly realized that it was meant as competition to Fox’s 24, which is another favorite. I’ll openly admit here, however, that I like Heroes better than 24. They both have their merits, but I finally realized that I don’t really care what happens to the characters in 24, whereas I do care about the heroes of Heroes. (The fact that I’m a major comic book geek played its part as well.)
To make this easier on myself, I’m going to use some lists:
Things I liked:
1. Jeph Loeb working as a producer. His writing for DC Comics, notably Batman: Hush and Batman: The Long Halloween was great, and I hope to see him contribute to the Dark Knight’s mythos again. Tim Sale’s artwork was nice too.
2. Twists. Hiro having accidentally transported to the future to see the bomb explode was ingenious. Nathan being Claire’s father. Niki’s alternate personality being the one that stole the money from D.L. Sylar becoming president in the future by impersonating Nathan. There were others, but these were my favorites.
3. Characters and characterization. Characterization is very important in any story (a fact I probably cover ad nauseum) because if people don’t care about the characters then they have little reason to continue following along.
I particularly like how the powers of the heroes tend to either complement the heroes or intensify their problems. A police officer wants to graduate to detective: suddenly he can read minds. A Japanese salaryman in cramped, time-managed Tokyo can suddenly manipulate space and time. The nurse becomes an empath, the prisoner can walk through walls, the lost little girl can find anyone, and the cheerleader they all have to save can heal from almost any wound.
My favorite characters and powers (not necessarily the same thing). Although definitions of power very, it is generally considered to be the extent to which one can effect change, influence, or manipulate. That said, my favorite powers on Heroes (not counting Peter’s ability to copy the powers of others) would be Sylar’s Telekinesis, Eden’s Compulsion, and Candace’s Illusion. Close runners-up would be Charlie’s Photographic Memory, Nathan’s Flight, and Matt’s Mind-reading. You might say I have control issues, but each of the powers on the show is ultimately a means of control.
As for favorite characters, I like Clair, Peter, Niki, Mr. Bennett, and Eden (who is much more interesting if you’ve read the mini-graphic novel for her on NBC.com. Sylar is cool too. Least favorites: I don’t like Mohinder or Isaac.
4. Ali Larter. Do I need to say more?
5. Shock value. Similar to, but not quite the same as a twist. The one that sticks out most in my mind was Clair waking up in the autopsy room with her torso laid open. Once you get a good look at it, it all looks pretty fake, but the initial half-second shot was amazing.
6. Japanese references: I’m currently studying Japanese, and any spoken Japanese I can listen to is helpful. Japan’s culture is also fascinating, so I always like to catch references to Japan. I’m pretty sure writers know that there are quiet a few Japanophiles (yes, I know that’s not a word) out there, because they seem to reference the country a lot, even when any country would do. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining things.
Things I didn’t like (it’s a short list):
1. Eden dying. She was one of my favorite characters, even if her role was fairly minor. I admit always admire a writer’s willingness to kill off a character (you should check out George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire), but I can still dislike it when my favorites die.
2. Hiro and Ando being gay. While I’m not %100 sure that this is the case, it seems fairly likely. They just made too big a deal about saving each other and then Hiro got all dark and serious in the future because Ando had died. The only real argument against was Hiro falling for Charlie (if you missed out, Charlie is a girl, although, the fact that her name was masculine may be more evidence for Hiro’s homosexuality). Anyway, if they’re gay, I don’t like it.
For the record, I don’t hate gay people. The Bible teaches us to hate the sin, not the sinner, so when it comes to homosexuality, I believe that it’s evil. That doesn’t make a gay person any more evil than all the other sinners on the planet, me among them.
3. The season finale. I was pretty disappointed. It was okay, in and of itself, but it failed to live up to what they’d been building all season.
Notes on the season finale:
We obviously know that Peter’s not dead. After all, he was the one who blew up New York in few, and he survived that, so there’s no reason to think he won’t survive the finale, especially since he can regenerate. It would appear that Nathan wasn’t so lucky.
I’ve read that Tim Kring means to keep the individual seasons of Heroes limited to their own storylines, to avoid the neverending story of Lost. The problem is, with Sylar and Peter both still alive, there’s nothing to keep one of them from blowing up New York later. So, far, all of Isaac’s paintings have come true, so there still seems to be the threat of a nuclear explosion.
What I want to now:
- What is Peter and Nathan’s mother’s power? She mentioned that she was part of the same group as Linderman and Simone’s dad, so what can she do?
- Did Sylar get Eden’s power of compulsion or not? I thought she blew her on head off so he couldn’t get her brain, which was very cool, but then, much later in the season, his voice got all deep and imperative at one point. I think it was when he was talking to his mother. So what’s the deal?
That’s about it, so I’ll just say I can’t wait for Season 2!!
