Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Heroes - Four Months Later

Did you guys catch the season 2 Heroes premiere last night? If you missed it, live in the States, and want to catch up on all the awesomeness, check out Four Months Later at NBC.com for free :)

I have to say I was very pleased with the episode. It didn't try to cram absolutely all of the characters back into the show all at once, and it continued strongly on the mythology. Beware some SPOILERS here. To recap the story follows a few choice characters and caught up with them as the title says four months later. Claire, begins her new life, witha new name, at a new high school in California (i believe) and meets a Tom Welling lookalike with the soap opera name West who is sure to become her new love interest. Hiro Nakamura is lost in the 17th century with his favorite folk hero, legendary samurai warrior Takezo Kensei who surprise surprise is white?!?! We also catch up with everyman cop Matt Parkman who has just made detective, and is doing his best to raise little Molly who has started having some pretty terrible dreams/premonitions once again. There's also a few small bits and pieces with Mohinder who is apparently getting recruited into The Company again, a drunken Nathan who survived long enough to grow a very fake beard, and some of the older generation of heroes, specifically Hiro's father and Nathan's mother as they both receive ominous death threats. Oh, and finally we meet one, or possibly two, new heroes, on the run from a murder rap in Honduras they are making their way up to New York to desperately find Dr Saresh.

I loved how the episode flowed. Like pretty much every episode of Heroes, if there is one specific storyline that falls a bit flat there is always another one to pick it up. Thankfully all of todays stories were for the most part interesting. I liked how Claire is seriously trying to deal with her situation but will obviously never be able to contain herself and not use her powers. .. I mean come on everyone; shes not a robot! I did think her new love interest is a bit cliched, and looked way too much like it was Heroes doing Smallville, but the fantastic scenes with Claire and her father HRG easily made up for it. I also enjoyed Hiros story; my guess is that he will actually end up becoming Kensei himself, ultimately winning the blacksmiths daughters hand and becoming his own greatest hero. Although I loved how over the top David Anders was in this episode as Kenseiu. That guy seems to just always be amazing, and despite the armor I think he's really bulked up since Alias. I will say, the Matt storyline wasn't quite there for me. I think I really just want him to be a better father figure, a better man, and he's just not. And he's left his wife? divorced?! oh Matt, Matt.... what happened? And yes Molly is still totally cute, but she seems a bit too petulant. I had such big plans for her spinoff show with Micah too... oh well, maybe next season.

The big surprise at the end of the episode is of course the reveal that Peter is in fact alive. But where he's been or what has happened to him remain a mystery. It looks like that'll be a fantastic story that unfolds with him. And that he's going to be something of a badass for the next while, at least until he can buy back his memories. very exciting.

I really liked the episode overall and can't wait to see where they bring the series this season. My hope is for a little less mellodrama, and a bit more action. I know everyone has their favorite characters but overall I think we just need a more cohesive single story. Get the heroes together quicker and firmly establish the challenges for this season's story.

A couple of things mentioned in the episode that I think we should keep in mind going forward with the season.

- There is a plague hitting people with this active hero gene (umm... Legacy virus anyone?)
- Someone is out to pick off the remaining older generation of heroes (Hiro's father says: "there are only 9 left")
- Peter's mystery (his new necklace (isn't it the same as The Haitians)? who chained Peter up? how did he get his momory stolen? where has he been for the last four months?)
- Back in the past Hiro saw another eclipse, what is the significance?
- Is Mrs Bennett "in" on the whole Company thing now? What about Lyall?
- Who is behind The Company? What are their plans now?
- Is DL dead? and where is Nikki and Micah?
- Where is the Haitian? Is he still working for Angela Patrelli?
- Where is Sylar??? Its been confirmed he is definitely coming back.

Anything else I missed?

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