T.V. Review: "Heroes" Season One
I not so recently organized a “Heroes” marathon. The result was that after three nights in four weeks my friends and I finished all 23 season-one episodes of “Heroes.”
One thing I remembered the first time watching “Heroes” was how deliberately the show was developing and how I perked up when NY exploded. Not because I hate NY but because they were implying it would be inline with the real Congressional elections. That didn’t happen. Of course the weekly delay isn’t a problem on DVD.
I also thought “Heroes” was going to be more draining and I would be finding faults with every scene or character. Something like “Heroes” where it sweeps you up in with its mythology and characters is almost never as good the second time round (I’m thinking Stars Wars here).
Yet Hiro (Masi Oka) is still a great character and the plot holes aren’t that big. I mention Hiro because nobody that bubbly can stay on your good side. But almost all his scenes were pure gold. Even Hiro’s and Ando’s pointless adventure with Hope was a riot, because of Hiro and Ando(James Kyson Lee). Even the duo’s subtitles seem appropriate replacing comic book speech balloons.
Probably the more rewarding aspects of watching “Heroes” again was how much more three-dimensional some of the characters become. I already mention Hiro and, to reiterate, he holds his own on a second viewing. One of the things I didn’t notice the first time around was how Hiro and Nathan Petrelli(Adrian Pasdar), two characters who are a study in just about every conceivable contrast yet have this touching regard for each other in all their scenes. All these scenes I should add are golden. Nathan Petrelli definitely benefits from a second viewing, coming across as much more conflicted and three-dimensional.
Even Sylar(Zackery Quinto), who I thought was a great villain worth his weight in gold to begin with, has greater depth. He is still worth his weight in gold, but his origins as a killer make that much more sense without acquitting him or his actions (See the Star Wars prequels for a bad example of a villain’s origins). As it aired the nuance that was put into Sylar regarding his motivations was lost on me, but on second viewing its amazing how consistent his motivations are presented throughout the season even before we meet the character.
Plot wise, “Heroes” holds up and the ending doesn’t seem as anticlimactic as it did the first time around because a huge fight between Sylar and Peter(Milo Ventimiglia) wasn’t the point. Though this is a situation I hope shows up in the second season. But the best sign the plot has me enthralled is that plot holes are easily ignored.
Yet on a second viewing and on DVD, the show’s more annoying tics became more apparent. The most annoying one was how “Heroes” often replayed salient moments from the end of the previous episode as a part of the beginning of the next episode, and not just in the “Previously on Heroes” section. A mostly annoying occurrence unless it involved Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) blowing off some guy’s head; a moment that I rewound and re-watched repeatedly. Not because I’m a sadist, but because I love bad ass moments like that on film or television. Another annoying tic was how Claire gets greivously injured at random in the early episodes. I don't care who you are if you get tackled by a football player, even without warning, your head is not going to turn clear around on your shoulders.
Aside from little things like that, “Heroes” is worth a first look and holds up under a second viewing. “Heroes” was definitely the best new show of the 2006-2007 television season, and I can only hope that the second season will deliver. 10/10.
One thing I remembered the first time watching “Heroes” was how deliberately the show was developing and how I perked up when NY exploded. Not because I hate NY but because they were implying it would be inline with the real Congressional elections. That didn’t happen. Of course the weekly delay isn’t a problem on DVD.
I also thought “Heroes” was going to be more draining and I would be finding faults with every scene or character. Something like “Heroes” where it sweeps you up in with its mythology and characters is almost never as good the second time round (I’m thinking Stars Wars here).
Yet Hiro (Masi Oka) is still a great character and the plot holes aren’t that big. I mention Hiro because nobody that bubbly can stay on your good side. But almost all his scenes were pure gold. Even Hiro’s and Ando’s pointless adventure with Hope was a riot, because of Hiro and Ando(James Kyson Lee). Even the duo’s subtitles seem appropriate replacing comic book speech balloons.
Probably the more rewarding aspects of watching “Heroes” again was how much more three-dimensional some of the characters become. I already mention Hiro and, to reiterate, he holds his own on a second viewing. One of the things I didn’t notice the first time around was how Hiro and Nathan Petrelli(Adrian Pasdar), two characters who are a study in just about every conceivable contrast yet have this touching regard for each other in all their scenes. All these scenes I should add are golden. Nathan Petrelli definitely benefits from a second viewing, coming across as much more conflicted and three-dimensional.
Even Sylar(Zackery Quinto), who I thought was a great villain worth his weight in gold to begin with, has greater depth. He is still worth his weight in gold, but his origins as a killer make that much more sense without acquitting him or his actions (See the Star Wars prequels for a bad example of a villain’s origins). As it aired the nuance that was put into Sylar regarding his motivations was lost on me, but on second viewing its amazing how consistent his motivations are presented throughout the season even before we meet the character.
Plot wise, “Heroes” holds up and the ending doesn’t seem as anticlimactic as it did the first time around because a huge fight between Sylar and Peter(Milo Ventimiglia) wasn’t the point. Though this is a situation I hope shows up in the second season. But the best sign the plot has me enthralled is that plot holes are easily ignored.
Yet on a second viewing and on DVD, the show’s more annoying tics became more apparent. The most annoying one was how “Heroes” often replayed salient moments from the end of the previous episode as a part of the beginning of the next episode, and not just in the “Previously on Heroes” section. A mostly annoying occurrence unless it involved Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) blowing off some guy’s head; a moment that I rewound and re-watched repeatedly. Not because I’m a sadist, but because I love bad ass moments like that on film or television. Another annoying tic was how Claire gets greivously injured at random in the early episodes. I don't care who you are if you get tackled by a football player, even without warning, your head is not going to turn clear around on your shoulders.
Aside from little things like that, “Heroes” is worth a first look and holds up under a second viewing. “Heroes” was definitely the best new show of the 2006-2007 television season, and I can only hope that the second season will deliver. 10/10.