BBC2 just kicked off the first season of Heroes with the first and second episodes back to back. It’s like Unbreakable x 7 but without Shyamalan’s languid pace. I don’t know how they managed to make every character interesting but they did! (Except for the politician’s younger brother.)
The cheerleader’s outfit was ingenious since it’s what superhero costumes basically look like. It was also great to see the cursed artist be just as talented as Tim Sale (who obviously painted the pieces and drew the comic books). The second episode cliffhanger that fastforwarded five weeks then returned to the series timeline was fantastic. I can’t pick a favorite character!
I know people have been talking about how great Heroes is but I didn’t even imagine it could be this good.
Any Eventuality 
Uh.. you’d better get used to that younger brother, since he’s basically the most important part of the show. It will develop eventually.
The character I HATE is Nikki. I actually hate her whole family, but you haven’t seen a lot of them lately, so I won’t spoil anything.
I’m glad I stuck with Heroes – I was actually a little unsure at the beginning of the show, but there was a moment when a character burst into the full potential of their power that made me say “Whoah!” and then I was hooked. Oh, and Hiro and Ando are my favorites.
I’m goad to hear you’re enjoying it so much. It’s my favorite show, too. It gives me hope for genre TV. Hell, it gives me hope for TV in general.
Cool. I’m glad to hear it gets even better.
Aside from the fact that I’ve always had a crush on Ali Larter I can see her becoming monotonous if she keeps whining but by the end of the second episode I thought she was coming to terms with her other half. But so far her character is just lifted from Fight Club so I hope they do something more interesting with the concept, though I hope they maintain the POV of just her one persona so we have to figure out along with her what the other has done. (Unless we see her from the POV of another character, as the first episode hinted there will be constant crossover between characters.) She also needs to discover another facial expression.
I see a lot of potential in the politician who can fly because comic books and movies repeatedly focus on “ordinary” people who get superpowers, or at least people with everyday jobs, so it should be fun to explore a character in a high-profile job who can fly, and see how he uses it (after trying not to use it of course). I hope they don’t squander the opportunity to do something interesting with him.
Also, I hope they don’t have the public fearfully ostracize them all as freaks and mutants because that’s been so done.
I like Hiro too because he’s the one character (so far) to fully embrace his powers and be excited about it rather than scared of himself like everyone else (except apparently the younger brother). He really captures the joy of having powers, something lost from most comic books nowadays which pseudointellectually emphasize the facile paradox of powers being a curse in spite of the obvious wish-fulfillment nature of superheroes.
I was impressed with Heroes’ first few episodes because of the extremely ingenious concept and truly shocking episode endings. I was annoyed by some things at the beginning (including the too-intellectual-for-TV narration at the beginning and end of episodes), but they refine their formula about six episodes through and it just keeps getting better and better until it climaxes beautifully.
Can’t wait for season/series 2.
“[Ali Larter] needs to discover another facial expression.”
Don’t worry. Her acting gets better as the season progresses.
[…] the fifth episode, but looked forward to getting past the six-episode mark when commenter Phillip Johnston said it starts taking off. Aside from a few cool moments, like Hiro pausing an explosion, it […]