It took me a while to get into Heroes – in fact the first season was nearly over when I caught the premiere (lent to me by a friend). I proceeded to watch the following episodes in quick succession on DVD, just in time to catch the “Exploding Man” finale when it aired. Now, I’m hooked. It’s a clever show, with impressive effects, great characters, and plenty of intrigue. And though the concept of ordinary people with extraordinary abilities has been done before, notably with X-Men, it’s interesting to see how the various individuals deal with their powers.
The phenomenal Volume One left off four months ago with Hiro (Masi Oka) disposing of the villainous Sylar (Zachary Quinto) with a sword, while Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) finds his inner ‘hero’ and flies his about-to-detonate brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) into outer space in order to save the world. Moments later there’s an intense burst of light as, we assume, Peter explodes. Meanwhile, time-travelling Hiro suddenly finds himself in 17th century Japan facing down warriors poised to perforate him with arrows.
And so Volume Two: Generations begins. The show opens with Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) speechifying on a virus that targets and kills these extraordinary humans, and the need to find a cure in order to allow humanity to evolve. It becomes clear later in the episode that Suresh and Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) are working together to infiltrate “the Company” and bring it down.
Speaking of the Bennets, they’ve moved to California and are now living in Costa Verde as the Butlers in order to protect Claire (Hayden Panettiere), who has the ability to heal herself. The former cheerleader is instructed by her father to lie low and not attract attention but she finds a potential admirer in classmate West, who we later learn can fly.
Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), the down-on-his-luck cop who can hear people’s thoughts, was shot in the stomach in the season finale but he’s still alive and now working for the NYPD. He’s also looking after Molly Walker (Adair Tishler), who has vivid nightmares of some evil creature that could be this season’s answer to Sylar. Although I see Zachary Quinto is supposed to be returning to the show this year, which I’m happy about because Sylar was the most interesting character in Season One. I kept hoping he’d show up at some point in the Season Two premiere but alas was disappointed.
Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) and Takezo Kenzei (David Anders) in a scene from Heroes
We did see two other characters presumed dead after last season’s conclusion – the Petrelli boys. A bearded, depressed and drinking Nathan Petrelli, haunted by memories of his burned brother Peter, receives a phone call from Claire, who’s having trouble hiding her true identity. He essentially tells her to leave him alone, saying that he can’t provide the answers she needs. Then, in the dramatic final scene, we learn that Peter is still alive. He’s discovered chained inside a metal cargo container by thieves in Cork, Ireland. How curious. We don’t know how he managed to survive, or if anyone’s aware of his existence.
In other story arcs, the lovable Hiro meets his idol, warrior Takezo Kensei, in feudal Japan, only to find out that he’s a hard-drinking white guy with nary a heroic bone in his body. Needless to say, Hiro is crushed. Meanwhile, Hiro’s father Kaito Nakamura (George Takei) is ostensibly thrown off a building and killed by a shadowy figure, and we’re led to believe Angela Petrelli, Nathan and Peter’s mom, is next. Justice for past evil deeds? Only time will tell.
We’re also introduced to two new characters, Maya and Alejandro. The siblings from Honduras are on the lam on account of Maya’s disturbing ability to kill all those around her. They’re headed to the U.S. in search of Suresh, who they hope can help Maya.
Overall thoughts? A decent beginning, but it was a bit all over the place and there are a lot of storylines to keep track of. Did we really need the Maya and Alejandro one? I’m guessing there must be a reason for it, and I’m hoping the various stories begin to converge sooner rather than later. It’s still one of the better shows out there and I hope they keep last season’s momentum going this year.
Heroes airs Monday nights at 9pm(8c) on NBC
Posted by Cate Jones
Agree? Disagree? Email Cate at criticizecate@gmail.com
i now way peter is still alive is because he as the power to come back a live because of Claire power
Posted by: michaela | December 13, 2007 at 09:08 AM