Heroes- 'Four Months Later' season two, episode one, review
October 5th 2007 05:55
Heroes, Season Two, Episode One, Four Months Later
I will not attempt to make any denials: I loved ‘Heroes’ season 1. Finally, here was a stab at a superhero narrative, on a TV budget, which didn’t suck. A television format allows you more time to develop story arcs and to flesh out your characters, which is one of the shortcomings of the archetypal 2 hour- motion picture form. ‘Batman Begins’(2005), though a splendid return to form for the soiled DC Comics Dark Knight (thanks to Joel Schumacher’s dreadful movies ‘Batman Forever’ (1995) and ‘Batman and Robin’(1997)), unfortunately spent too much of its running time having to go into Batman’s origin story, and there perhaps was not quite enough of the ‘real’ established Batman.
‘Heroes’ is a comic book for TV. Comic books have lengthy, drawn-out arc storylines, and so does ‘Heroes’. This show is a geek’s dream come true. With a supporting cast that includes many faces familiar to SF veterans (Christopher Ecclestone, who you’d remember as the ninth Doctor in Doctor Who(2005); George Takei, who played Mr Sulu in the original Star Trek series(1966); and Malcolm McDowell, who was Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’(1971) and Soran in ‘Star Trek Generations’ (1994) ) how could it possibly fail?
The stories are well-plotted and engaging, the characters are likeable (especially the time-bending Hiro (Masi Oka) ), and there’s enough drama packed into each episode to fill an entire season of Desperate Housewives (2004). There’s something for everyone in this show. It isn’t quite a soap opera, it isn’t quite a science fiction show, but it straddles several horses, and is adept at riding all of them.
Four months after the events of season one’s finale ‘How to stop an Exploding Man’, we pick up in season two with Hiro stranded in 17th century Japan, surrounded by an army of samurai warriors. Claire Bennett (Hayden Panettiere) and her father Noah (Jack Coleman) have started a new life, trying to keep themselves quiet; and off the Company’s sinister radar. Dr Suresh is giving lectures about the heroes, and is approached by a strange man who offers him a job. And Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) is a slovenly, drunken, bearded mess of a man, who is blaming himself for his brother Peter’s death.
Heroes weaves a very complex web of stories centred around different characters, in different situations, yet they all seem to be part of the cohesive whole. I was quite impressed with this season’s opening episode. Particularly the Hiro storyline (I’m a real sucker for time travel stories). The man he has read so much about, and idolises as his hero, turns out not to be the man Hiro thought he was. For starters, the guy is not Japanese. He’s a Brit, and instead of being a courageous warrior who saved the town of Otsu, and married the swordsmith’s daughter, he’s a larrikin, cavalier drunkard who only cares about where his next flagon of ale is coming from. Although ‘hero-worship-turns-ugly-when -the-protagonist-actually-mee ts-their-hero-and-they ain’t-what-they’re-cracked-up -to-be’ stories have been done before numerous times in film and in literature, it isn’t often when a character is given the opportunity to travel back in time, and encounter one of their historical heroes.
The Mr Bennett subplot(in which he actually does work for a paper company this time, rather than a paper company as a front organisation for the Company) is fun, also. I loved his smug attitude around the obnoxious supervisor. And when Bennett finally twists the guy’s arm (figuratively and literally!) to leave him alone, that was a definite awesome moment!
Claire’s first day at her new school felt like a ‘Buffy’ episode from that show’s early seasons (not that that’s such a bad thing, because that was one of the best series, genre or otherwise, of the past decade, in my opinion). Here was an extraordinary girl, thrust into a very un-extraordinary situation. She was trying to blend into the crowd, look inconspicuous, and not stand out too much. No-one must know her secret, that she’s a hero who can regenerate damaged skin and heal injuries immediately. Of course, this is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you feel the need to stand up to the school’s resident queen bee cheerleader, who’s picking on less confident and self-conscious girls. That new guy, who I guarantee they are setting up as a love interest for Claire is weirding me out, though. He has that creepy serial killer glint in his eye. I don’t know, I’m getting an Anakin Skywalker from Episode Three psychotic vibe from him.
The episode was pretty great, and I look forward to seeing what unfolds as Season Two progresses. There are a few new characters (Alejandro and Maya) whose superhero powers have not fully been revealed yet, and the surprise return of an amnesiac Peter Petrelli promises great things to come, too.
I will not attempt to make any denials: I loved ‘Heroes’ season 1. Finally, here was a stab at a superhero narrative, on a TV budget, which didn’t suck. A television format allows you more time to develop story arcs and to flesh out your characters, which is one of the shortcomings of the archetypal 2 hour- motion picture form. ‘Batman Begins’(2005), though a splendid return to form for the soiled DC Comics Dark Knight (thanks to Joel Schumacher’s dreadful movies ‘Batman Forever’ (1995) and ‘Batman and Robin’(1997)), unfortunately spent too much of its running time having to go into Batman’s origin story, and there perhaps was not quite enough of the ‘real’ established Batman.
‘Heroes’ is a comic book for TV. Comic books have lengthy, drawn-out arc storylines, and so does ‘Heroes’. This show is a geek’s dream come true. With a supporting cast that includes many faces familiar to SF veterans (Christopher Ecclestone, who you’d remember as the ninth Doctor in Doctor Who(2005); George Takei, who played Mr Sulu in the original Star Trek series(1966); and Malcolm McDowell, who was Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’(1971) and Soran in ‘Star Trek Generations’ (1994) ) how could it possibly fail?
The stories are well-plotted and engaging, the characters are likeable (especially the time-bending Hiro (Masi Oka) ), and there’s enough drama packed into each episode to fill an entire season of Desperate Housewives (2004). There’s something for everyone in this show. It isn’t quite a soap opera, it isn’t quite a science fiction show, but it straddles several horses, and is adept at riding all of them.
Four months after the events of season one’s finale ‘How to stop an Exploding Man’, we pick up in season two with Hiro stranded in 17th century Japan, surrounded by an army of samurai warriors. Claire Bennett (Hayden Panettiere) and her father Noah (Jack Coleman) have started a new life, trying to keep themselves quiet; and off the Company’s sinister radar. Dr Suresh is giving lectures about the heroes, and is approached by a strange man who offers him a job. And Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) is a slovenly, drunken, bearded mess of a man, who is blaming himself for his brother Peter’s death.
Heroes weaves a very complex web of stories centred around different characters, in different situations, yet they all seem to be part of the cohesive whole. I was quite impressed with this season’s opening episode. Particularly the Hiro storyline (I’m a real sucker for time travel stories). The man he has read so much about, and idolises as his hero, turns out not to be the man Hiro thought he was. For starters, the guy is not Japanese. He’s a Brit, and instead of being a courageous warrior who saved the town of Otsu, and married the swordsmith’s daughter, he’s a larrikin, cavalier drunkard who only cares about where his next flagon of ale is coming from. Although ‘hero-worship-turns-ugly-when -the-protagonist-actually-mee ts-their-hero-and-they ain’t-what-they’re-cracked-up -to-be’ stories have been done before numerous times in film and in literature, it isn’t often when a character is given the opportunity to travel back in time, and encounter one of their historical heroes.
The Mr Bennett subplot(in which he actually does work for a paper company this time, rather than a paper company as a front organisation for the Company) is fun, also. I loved his smug attitude around the obnoxious supervisor. And when Bennett finally twists the guy’s arm (figuratively and literally!) to leave him alone, that was a definite awesome moment!
Claire’s first day at her new school felt like a ‘Buffy’ episode from that show’s early seasons (not that that’s such a bad thing, because that was one of the best series, genre or otherwise, of the past decade, in my opinion). Here was an extraordinary girl, thrust into a very un-extraordinary situation. She was trying to blend into the crowd, look inconspicuous, and not stand out too much. No-one must know her secret, that she’s a hero who can regenerate damaged skin and heal injuries immediately. Of course, this is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you feel the need to stand up to the school’s resident queen bee cheerleader, who’s picking on less confident and self-conscious girls. That new guy, who I guarantee they are setting up as a love interest for Claire is weirding me out, though. He has that creepy serial killer glint in his eye. I don’t know, I’m getting an Anakin Skywalker from Episode Three psychotic vibe from him.
The episode was pretty great, and I look forward to seeing what unfolds as Season Two progresses. There are a few new characters (Alejandro and Maya) whose superhero powers have not fully been revealed yet, and the surprise return of an amnesiac Peter Petrelli promises great things to come, too.
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