Heroes returned last night after a lengthy winter hiatus. As is tradition, viewers and critics approach the start of this new volume with hope and trepidation. Will it be better than the last? How long before they screw up again? Jaded by the disappointments of previous volumes and the nature of the material, my expectations are low. I don’t expect Heroes to be anything more than light fare that takes itself way too seriously. Not only is the show over-serious, but its fans and critics take it even more seriously than it deserves. That being said, I’m sure the blogosphere is flooded with Tuesday morning quarterbacks bemoaning the missteps from this volume, Fugitives, premiere. After two years on the sidelines, I’ll try to add some balance to discontent by briefly looking at the good and bad from last night’s episode.
Last night, we caught up with our Heroes, months after the Pinehearst explosion. The Heroes are trying to live “normal” lives (Peter’s back in healthcare as an EMT, Claire’s shopping colleges, Parkman is a bodyguard, Hiro and Ando continue to play amateur superheroes, etc.). All seems well until a “mysterious” black-ops unit starts rounding up people with abilities. As previewed in last volume’s finale, Nathan Petrelli is leading the charge to round up “supers” because they are a danger to society. Once the ever-precocious Claire stumbles on to her estranged father’s plot, which her grandmother, Angela, and adoptive father, Noah, are both in on, she alerts the other Heroes (Character interaction early in the season? Shocking, I know.). Despite Claire’s warning, the Heroes are captured and hauled off to a Spruce Goose bomber, which likely leads to some variation on the early 90’s version of Genosha from the X-Men comics. After a daring rescue by Claire and Peter, in which we learn that Peter can no longer retain all the powers he absorbs, the plane crashes and we’re left with a cliffhanger and a preview of the Heroes actually working together.
Now, let’s get the pain out of the way and look at the premiere’s negatives.
1. Dialogue – Still cringe-worthy, but not nearly as bad as it used to be. The characters, especially Peter, Claire, and Mohinder, still speak in that ultra-serious tone that implies that the world will end tomorrow.
2. Character Motivations – Nathan has, somewhat, understandably turned on his own after dealing with all the crap from volumes 1-3 1/2. While Nathan’s perspective is mildly logical, Angela Petrelli and Noah Bennet’s involvement is more confusing. What does Angela benefit from having supers locked up? And, is there no other job HRG can do besides catch supers? Jeez, man, get a degree or something.
3. Matt and Daphne – Seriously, these two are not compatible in the slightest. Even Daphne seems visibly uncomfortable with their coupling. With only Matt enjoying this it’s almost possible that he’s got Daphne in a mind grip. Either way, writers, stop forcing this paring down everyone’s throat.
Now, the good:
1. Streamlined plot – For once, the plot seems simple. The Heroes become fugitives after their normal lives are interrupted by Nathan’s Mutant Registration Stormtroopers, led by the Vampire Judge from True Blood. If the writers can keep it simple and logical—well, as logical as possible—then I’ll stay on board until season’s end.
2. Character Interaction — Finally, after two seasons of contriving ways to keep the characters apart, the writers decided maybe we should let our characters interact with each other rather than occupy their own personal solar systems. Novel, I know. Hopefully, this will continue and heroes will become Heroes rather than random assortment of powered people save the world from apocalypse variation 6,042.
3. Humor-Carrying over from the last point, character interaction allows the Heroes to act almost human. When Peter gets into Mohinder’s cab halfway through the premiere, they actually exchange a joke, almost like they were human. Keep this up and the viewers will see the characters as more than action figures or chess pieces.
4. Ando’s power — For such a seemingly useless power, it sure looks cool. When Ando’s hands crackle with energy and make that starter sound, I can’t help but think of King of Fighters, with Kyo Kusanagi clenching a fist filled with crackling flames.
With all that said, I wish Heores luck with this volume. It’s likely they’ll let us down, but if we set our expectations low enough then we can only be pleasantly—well, moderately—surprised.
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