Heroes: Super Men and Women

Bryan Fuller did not create Heroes, but wrote for it during its first season; possibly the best episode of the series, "Company Man", was written by him. As a sci-fi fan, it is easy to see why he was drawn to this series, and while it is sad that he will no longer be contributing to it (he left to do Pushing Daisies), both Daisies and Heroes seem like they will be here for a while (unless the third season is anything like the second).

I'm still surprised that this show has taken off. In addition to the fact that Heroes is basically a televised comic book, I don't remember NBC promoting this show exceptionally well until after it started airing. I may not be remembering this properly, but I remember knowing that this show existed. There were plenty of posters that premiered at Comic-Con '06, but aside from the fact that we knew it would be about "normal people discovering superpowers", there wasn't much other information that I was aware of (though this doesn't prove much; many things have slipped past my radar). Then the pilot aired and things turned around. Despite mixed reviews, the ratings were huge and the first season became the new must-watch show (I started watching with the second episode and immediately went online and watched the series premiere).

Most of the praise given to the show was deserved (strangely, a fair amount of the negative reception was deserved as well, but more on that later). The story of a group of people discovering superpowers that they have trouble controlling and understanding was extremely captivating, and was supplemented by amazing special effects. There was a season-long arc that directed the characters, but the main point of season one (called "Genesis") was to introduce the various "heroes" to us.

It is very hard to find a true lead character, but I guess the closest thing in the first season was Peter Petrelli (though the biggest break-outs were definitely Claire Bennett, Mr. Bennett and Hiro Nakamura). Peter is a hospice nurse (first gripe: in a show that claimed that it followed "normal" people trying to deal with superpowers, Peter's normal life as a nurse disappeared pretty quickly) who only wants to help others. He helps others so that he does not have to focus on his own shortcomings and insecurities, of which he has many. He is a very admirable human being, he is kind and selfless, but he longs to be special. A series of dreams lead him to believe that he can fly, but the truth is so much more incredible... and dangerous. He has the ability to mimic the power of any other superhuman he meets, but his insecurities manifest in his inability to control these powers.

The power of flight was procured from his older brother, Nathan, a New York City Assistant District Attorney running for Congress (and is one of my favorite characters on the show). Nathan and Peter are nearly perfect mirrors for each other. Whereas Peter is open and optimistic, Nathan closes himself off and is often critical of humanity's ability to accept unfamiliar ideas. Peter would never compromise his values for the greater good, while Nathan gets in bed (figuratively) with organized crime; he hopes that the money they give him will help him get elected, which will allow him to do more good than he would be able to do as a private citizen. Both are inherently good people, though Nathan's goodness is much, much murkier than Peter's.

My other top favorite character is Mr. Bennett, a man who begins the series as a very shadowy personality who's agenda is kept a secret (unfortunately, the promotional materials kind of laid the "Mr. Bennett is evil" very thick, which is what led me to deduce where his character was really going to go). Bennett has no powers of his own, but he works for an organization that tracks and documents the actions of powered individuals. His daughter, Claire, is a cheerleader at a Texas high school, who discovers that she is invulnerable to harm. Mr. Bennett (his name is a highly-kept secret throughout the first year, which was done to enhance the mystery around him) works for a company (called The Company) that monitors the heroes. He joined them due to pure motivations (there are dangerous powers and dangerous people out there, like Sylar), but the organization has some shadowy motives. The story of the Bennett family follows Claire as she tries to figure out her origins (she's adopted) in order to understand herself and her powers, while Bennett has to determine how far he is willing to go to keep his job and keep his family safe (and to prove to the audience that he really does love his family).

Other major players include Hiro Nakamura, a Japanese salaryman/drone who discovers that he can manipulate space and time. He can stop time, teleport across distances and travel across time, allowing for the very interesting "Five Years Gone" episode, which takes place five years in the future and shows a darker side of our heroes. Matt Parkman is a telepathic cop who has perpetually been down on his luck. His dyslexia has prevented him from passing the detective exam, and no one ever seems to take him seriously. When his mind reading powers manifest, they are initially uncontrollable and he uses his accidental discoveries give him an edge at crime scenes and in the bedroom. Mohinder Surresh is a sort of anti-Bennett; he is a solo scientist who is also researching the heroes, but his motives are purely benevolent.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters work as well as the aforementioned heroes. Isaac Mendes, an artist who was able to paint the future while high on heroin, was always more of a plot device than a full-fledged character (his mural of New York City being atom-bombed was the impetus for the first season's plot). Unfortunately, his girlfriend Simone was even less of a character. This is sad because both had a lot of potential to be more interesting; Isaac's ability could have allowed him to be a power player at The Company, while Simone had many interesting stories planned for her, only to be abandoned by the writers. Finally, the family of D.L. Hawkins (phasing), Niki Sanders (super strength... sort of) and Micah Sanders (technopathy- think of Mitch Hundred from Ex Machina) never grabbed my attention. The most interesting of this group was D.L., but he wasn't introduced until around the seventh episode, and one of the coolest aspects of his character, a prisoner who could walk through walls, was basically ignored and rarely referenced (in a deleted scene, we see that he was originally going to be introduced in prison and we'd see his breakout). Micah filled the annoying kid role while Nikki's abilities were vague at best and was not written as well as the rest of the cast.

And then there's Sylar. Sylar is the kind of man The Company was designed for; he is unhinged and uses his powers for personal gain and to hurt others. And not only that, he has a mission to hunt down other powered individuals in order to increase his own power; you see, he is another kind of mirror for Peter. Peter acquires the powers of others by accident, and does so harmlessly. He is not looking to increase his power, but he uses his growing strength to try and help people. Sylar, on the other hand, has the ability to acquire other superpowers by devouring the brain of the holder of the power (he may also be part zombie).

Up next: The first season's story and themes...