Post by pablo on Feb 23, 2009 12:05:05 GMT -5
Hi guys,
First off i'd like to apologise in case there was already a topic discussing season 1, i looked at the other threads and there seemed to be none, but I might be wrong
also i'm sorry for my English, i'm italian and there are probably some mistakes here and there, so please try and ignore them
Anyway i bought Heroes season 1 last week on amazon, it was a region 1 (I live in Italy) and since i have a region-free dvd player i though 10£ was a bargain.
I was never fussed by the whole Heroes bandwagon, I thought it was just an X-men rip-off cashing on the success of serialized mystery-dramas like Lost, like its predecessors like Invasion, Threshold and Surface.
I gotta say, i was wrong. Heroes is one of the most amazing tv shows i've seen in a long time. I'd say (so far, of course) it's up here with Buffy season 7 and Angel season 5, the only seasons i was so caught up with that i HAD to watch eps back-to-back.
So here's my review on Heroes so far, regarding single episodes and characters.
On a side note i've got to say that i had read a lot, along with some spoilers on heroes, what with following websites that covered it among the other shows, so i had a general idea of the concept and the show itself.
- Genesis: 7/10 - i had watched the premiere on italian television when it first aired, but only bits and bots so i didn't remember everything.
mohinder's voiceovers proved to be rather annoying, all that scientific gibberish, although being quite easy to follow, are pretty unnecessary to me.
i loved niki and simone's characters from the first scene, while i found hiro a bit too stereotyped, yet enjoyable.
peter's character is often seen in other tv shows, the low-key good guy living in his big brother's shadow and trying to make a difference on a daily basis, through a seemingly-humble job like hospice nurse.
nathan, on the other hand, proved to be the uptight @$$#ole brother right from the beginning, and i really find it hard to sympathize with that character.
claire's characterization seemed a bit confusing to me, in the first couple of eps. she asks zach for help and then disses him in front of the other cool kids, but we get that she isn't the typical cheerleader bimbo, yet her behaviour would contradict this, but then again, fitting in at high school, growing pains, high school cliques and yada yada, so it's quite excusable.
and i know HRG was supposed to be the bad guy, or at least make us think he was in the first ep, but it always seemed obvious to me that he was aware of claire's powers.
momma petrelli - priceless. i know she'll turn out to be a bad guy in season 3, but she reminds me a lot of sharon osborne, and that made me laugh.
- don't look back: 8/10 matt's character is another variation of peter and claire's - a "loser" that gets some sort of revenge on their mediocre life through their powers, but the fact that they are all good characters, and also thicking all the demographics (teenagers, young people trying to find their place in the world, adults stuck on dead-end jobs), viewers have no problem sympathizing with them.
isaac (along with eden) has got the coolest power, and i sort of understand the fact that he must be high in order to use his power (i do not condone the abuse of drugs, i am actually strongly against it, i am talking from a purely fantasy and storytelling-point of view): he needs to distantiate himself from the hinders of the material world and embrace a more metaphysical one, where his powers can express themselves fully.
eden's character seemed to me too nice and sweet to actually be real (or that might me my cynism speaking lol), so when i found out she was working for the company, well let's say it wasn't a real shocker.
hiro's travel to NYC is the event that sets the wheel in motion for the subsequent arc of episodes, or at least that's how i interpreted it.
isaac's painting on NY being destroyed by a nuclear explosion was devastating enough without actually witnessing it through Hiro's eyes, although that gave the viewer the ultimate confirmation of isaac's real powers.
niki's storyline kept being shrouded in mystery, the massacre of the two thugs was really upsetting and the emergence of jessica was intriguing.
peter and nathan's heartfelt moment was nice, although it got me wondering if nathan actually knew of his power before peter's revelation.
oh and one side note - Jackie = major pain in the @$$.
- One Giant Leap: 8/10 Nathan gave me the ultimate confirmation of him being a major @$$ when he announced that peter tried to committ suicide. he keeps his wife hidden in order not to strumentalize her for the campaign and then whores peter's (fake!) story around?! lame lame, you should never exploit family for your personal turnover.
this also proves how much nathan is driven towards his campaign, putting it first and leaving family behind.
sylar's character starts to emerge, and the discovery of the hidden room was very silence of the lamb-esque. chilling.
niki's visit to her mother-in-law gave us also details on DL's figure, although it's also clear how much niki despises him now.
hiro and ando's journey toward a hero's destinity is probably both cheesy and yet symbolic for all the other heroes, underlining their journey, role, fate and responsibility towards their powers.
claire's rape made me feel so bad for her, and when we realised she wouldn't recover i was both shocked and upset, since it was pretty established how her power of recovery worked.
- Collision: 8/10 - future-Hiro = mind-blowing. mohinder's constant changes of mind towards continuing his father research and skepticisim towars peter made him very annoying, especially considering his urgence to come to NY in the first place.
niki's resignation towards her dirty job for linderman is counter-balanced by jessica's badass attitude. it really becomes obvious she comes out when niki needs to be protected.
also, micha's awareness at her mom's job = heartbreaking. it already seemed obvious the kid had great powers (empathy, intelligence), without actually giving him a "proper" power like we see in the following eps.
my "i hate nathan petrelli" campaign was once more corroborated by him cheating on his wife, and subsequent counter-blackmailing linderman with his 4 mln $ request. i've got to say, tho, that he and niki make a lovely couple.
he also seems in charge of his power when he flees HRG's men, and nathan redeemed himself a bit when he gave hiro a lift.
ando's visit to niki's home = LOL, especially with the tension for DL's coming rising.
claire's actions left me a bit iffy, crashing a car and killing the guy? ok, he clearly deserved some sort of punishment, but that was too much. i felt it a bit too out of character, even tho at that point it wasn't really clear how her character worked.
- Hiros: 9/10 Isaac and Peter teaming up was amazing, and peter finally having a goal in his life added even more self-awereness to the character. it's also evident that peter mimics the power of a hero when they are standing next to him, along with some precog abilities seen through his dreams.
HRG's revenge on brody is genius, altho i wouldn't call it a revenge since he gave him the chance to start from scratch.
matt's storyline left me a bit indifferent, it was clear he would of used his power to patch things up with his wife, but his passing out in the shop was a bit confusing - i mean, are his abilities still unraveling and therefore he had never experienced the full extent of them before, or he was too weak after the company's treatment to stand all those thoughts?
- Better Halves: 10/10. FINALLY a Niki-driven episode! and finally we get a niki vs jessica showdown, AND a dl vs jessica/niki showdown. priceless.
also, when we find out about jessica being behind DL's framing, it's shocking. i sort of saw it coming, but it's amazing how they actually build that.
claire's (non)biological parents were definitely lol-worthy, but you could tell they were clearly not the ones, especially since we saw HRG being aware of claire's powers (he was watching claire's tape).
mohinder finally breaks out of his staticity and leaves ny, cue eden's revelation and isaac's kidnapping, although it's not clear why it took 3 episodes for peter to reach simone and ask her about the missing painting.
- Nothing to hide: 9/10 - Heidi Petrelli is a lovely, strong woman and it made nathan's cheating even more heartbreaking. the journal's reporter must have had a ball watching the petrelli drama unravelling in front of him, and peter proved to be an amazing character when he saved his brother's @$$ with the story of the rehab clinic in LV. try to learn a few things from him, nathan!
it's also fun to see how the heroes keep on constantly bumping into each other without actually acknowledging it - in this ep, it was Hero, Ando, Micah and DL's turn.
DL's good deed proved to the viewer that he's not a bad guy, he's just did what he thought was necessary to protect micah, eg knocking jessica out and leaving with the money - although i didn't really understand if he realised that somebody else had took over niki's body, or he just thought niki had gone crazy.
theodore sprague's story was so sad, as was matt's discovery about his wife's infidelty (i was glad i never took a liking at her).
also, theodore would make a great victim for sylar to steal the radioactive powers and actually blow up NY.
- Seven Minutes to Midnight 8/10: mohinder's background is explored through dreams and Sanjog's powers as a spirit guide.
again, mohinder's dilemma btwn moving on and carrying on his father's research is back, and i found this rather tiring. we all know he won't drop it, i mean, he's doing voiceovers for every episode lol
Charlie! i loved her! wish she was a regular, and Hiro's travel in time to save her was romantic, however, it was clear from the beginning it would be pointless - no matter how great your powers are, you can't escape death.
Claire's origins are explored through hrg's monologue to isaac, and eden forcing him to take drugs to paint showed how callous Bennet could be, even though he's clearly doing it for saving her little girl.
- Homecoming: 10/10 Nathan blacking isaac's paiting in order to "save" peter = L.A.M.E.; thank god for the photo simone showed peter.
it's also great to see peter so into his new mission he doesn't care about the possibility of dying while saving the cheerleader.
claire's path to embrace who she is is finally complete, and she learns to accept herself as a special person, or a freak, as zach puts it.
sylar finally shows his true colors when attacking jackie, who has a final moment of redemption when she says - run, to claire, trying to save her friend's life.
it's also clear that hiro's powers would have been useless against sylar, since he's a "hero", stopping time has no effect on him, like we saw in future-hiro and peter's run in.
peter's mimicking other's powers saves his life in this episode, but also put him in great danger (his arrest).
claire is saved by hrg that takes her home, ignoring the danger peter is in and refusing to help him.
eden and the haitian's move against sylar was incredibily simple yet worked perfectly.
also, jessica's attack on dl - terrifying. i didn't expect it would be so aggressive.
Six Months Ago 10/10: we finally get all the background we needed. how the heroes learnt about their powers, how their lives were before everything else happened.
also, nathan teaming up with linderman while he knew he's behind her wife's incident is disgusting. how could u accept money from the very person that destroyed your wife's life?
hiro and charlie sweet love-story proved that death cannot be defied, no matter how hard you try or the powers you have.
Hal's figure is horrific, it's shocking to find out about his abuses and niki's early life. jessica's death also sheds a new life on niki's counterpart - is she her sister, taking over her sis's body when she needs help, or is that a response to niki's grief that has been embodied in jessica's alterego?
sylar's genesis is also chilling. refusing to embrace the fact that he's just ordinary, especially after the empy hope given to him by chandra suresh, he decides to fix those who refuse their powers by stealing them, and therefore killing the unfortunate gifted people.
shanti's death is a very serious and affecting matter on chandra and his wife, yet i don't understand why this plays such a major role. i get that she had some sort of power, and she was the very reason why chandra took on such a research, but how can you not be over it, at least partially, after a good thirty years? i felt for mohinder on that, because it seemed as if time stopped for his parents and he was left growing up on his own.
i understand the sadness and emptiness these parents must feel when a daughter's death affects them, but i thought it was too overplayed on that storyline.
ok, here's my take on heroes, thank you for reading through all of this and i can't wait to hear the opinions of more experienced heroes fan!
pablo
First off i'd like to apologise in case there was already a topic discussing season 1, i looked at the other threads and there seemed to be none, but I might be wrong
also i'm sorry for my English, i'm italian and there are probably some mistakes here and there, so please try and ignore them
Anyway i bought Heroes season 1 last week on amazon, it was a region 1 (I live in Italy) and since i have a region-free dvd player i though 10£ was a bargain.
I was never fussed by the whole Heroes bandwagon, I thought it was just an X-men rip-off cashing on the success of serialized mystery-dramas like Lost, like its predecessors like Invasion, Threshold and Surface.
I gotta say, i was wrong. Heroes is one of the most amazing tv shows i've seen in a long time. I'd say (so far, of course) it's up here with Buffy season 7 and Angel season 5, the only seasons i was so caught up with that i HAD to watch eps back-to-back.
So here's my review on Heroes so far, regarding single episodes and characters.
On a side note i've got to say that i had read a lot, along with some spoilers on heroes, what with following websites that covered it among the other shows, so i had a general idea of the concept and the show itself.
- Genesis: 7/10 - i had watched the premiere on italian television when it first aired, but only bits and bots so i didn't remember everything.
mohinder's voiceovers proved to be rather annoying, all that scientific gibberish, although being quite easy to follow, are pretty unnecessary to me.
i loved niki and simone's characters from the first scene, while i found hiro a bit too stereotyped, yet enjoyable.
peter's character is often seen in other tv shows, the low-key good guy living in his big brother's shadow and trying to make a difference on a daily basis, through a seemingly-humble job like hospice nurse.
nathan, on the other hand, proved to be the uptight @$$#ole brother right from the beginning, and i really find it hard to sympathize with that character.
claire's characterization seemed a bit confusing to me, in the first couple of eps. she asks zach for help and then disses him in front of the other cool kids, but we get that she isn't the typical cheerleader bimbo, yet her behaviour would contradict this, but then again, fitting in at high school, growing pains, high school cliques and yada yada, so it's quite excusable.
and i know HRG was supposed to be the bad guy, or at least make us think he was in the first ep, but it always seemed obvious to me that he was aware of claire's powers.
momma petrelli - priceless. i know she'll turn out to be a bad guy in season 3, but she reminds me a lot of sharon osborne, and that made me laugh.
- don't look back: 8/10 matt's character is another variation of peter and claire's - a "loser" that gets some sort of revenge on their mediocre life through their powers, but the fact that they are all good characters, and also thicking all the demographics (teenagers, young people trying to find their place in the world, adults stuck on dead-end jobs), viewers have no problem sympathizing with them.
isaac (along with eden) has got the coolest power, and i sort of understand the fact that he must be high in order to use his power (i do not condone the abuse of drugs, i am actually strongly against it, i am talking from a purely fantasy and storytelling-point of view): he needs to distantiate himself from the hinders of the material world and embrace a more metaphysical one, where his powers can express themselves fully.
eden's character seemed to me too nice and sweet to actually be real (or that might me my cynism speaking lol), so when i found out she was working for the company, well let's say it wasn't a real shocker.
hiro's travel to NYC is the event that sets the wheel in motion for the subsequent arc of episodes, or at least that's how i interpreted it.
isaac's painting on NY being destroyed by a nuclear explosion was devastating enough without actually witnessing it through Hiro's eyes, although that gave the viewer the ultimate confirmation of isaac's real powers.
niki's storyline kept being shrouded in mystery, the massacre of the two thugs was really upsetting and the emergence of jessica was intriguing.
peter and nathan's heartfelt moment was nice, although it got me wondering if nathan actually knew of his power before peter's revelation.
oh and one side note - Jackie = major pain in the @$$.
- One Giant Leap: 8/10 Nathan gave me the ultimate confirmation of him being a major @$$ when he announced that peter tried to committ suicide. he keeps his wife hidden in order not to strumentalize her for the campaign and then whores peter's (fake!) story around?! lame lame, you should never exploit family for your personal turnover.
this also proves how much nathan is driven towards his campaign, putting it first and leaving family behind.
sylar's character starts to emerge, and the discovery of the hidden room was very silence of the lamb-esque. chilling.
niki's visit to her mother-in-law gave us also details on DL's figure, although it's also clear how much niki despises him now.
hiro and ando's journey toward a hero's destinity is probably both cheesy and yet symbolic for all the other heroes, underlining their journey, role, fate and responsibility towards their powers.
claire's rape made me feel so bad for her, and when we realised she wouldn't recover i was both shocked and upset, since it was pretty established how her power of recovery worked.
- Collision: 8/10 - future-Hiro = mind-blowing. mohinder's constant changes of mind towards continuing his father research and skepticisim towars peter made him very annoying, especially considering his urgence to come to NY in the first place.
niki's resignation towards her dirty job for linderman is counter-balanced by jessica's badass attitude. it really becomes obvious she comes out when niki needs to be protected.
also, micha's awareness at her mom's job = heartbreaking. it already seemed obvious the kid had great powers (empathy, intelligence), without actually giving him a "proper" power like we see in the following eps.
my "i hate nathan petrelli" campaign was once more corroborated by him cheating on his wife, and subsequent counter-blackmailing linderman with his 4 mln $ request. i've got to say, tho, that he and niki make a lovely couple.
he also seems in charge of his power when he flees HRG's men, and nathan redeemed himself a bit when he gave hiro a lift.
ando's visit to niki's home = LOL, especially with the tension for DL's coming rising.
claire's actions left me a bit iffy, crashing a car and killing the guy? ok, he clearly deserved some sort of punishment, but that was too much. i felt it a bit too out of character, even tho at that point it wasn't really clear how her character worked.
- Hiros: 9/10 Isaac and Peter teaming up was amazing, and peter finally having a goal in his life added even more self-awereness to the character. it's also evident that peter mimics the power of a hero when they are standing next to him, along with some precog abilities seen through his dreams.
HRG's revenge on brody is genius, altho i wouldn't call it a revenge since he gave him the chance to start from scratch.
matt's storyline left me a bit indifferent, it was clear he would of used his power to patch things up with his wife, but his passing out in the shop was a bit confusing - i mean, are his abilities still unraveling and therefore he had never experienced the full extent of them before, or he was too weak after the company's treatment to stand all those thoughts?
- Better Halves: 10/10. FINALLY a Niki-driven episode! and finally we get a niki vs jessica showdown, AND a dl vs jessica/niki showdown. priceless.
also, when we find out about jessica being behind DL's framing, it's shocking. i sort of saw it coming, but it's amazing how they actually build that.
claire's (non)biological parents were definitely lol-worthy, but you could tell they were clearly not the ones, especially since we saw HRG being aware of claire's powers (he was watching claire's tape).
mohinder finally breaks out of his staticity and leaves ny, cue eden's revelation and isaac's kidnapping, although it's not clear why it took 3 episodes for peter to reach simone and ask her about the missing painting.
- Nothing to hide: 9/10 - Heidi Petrelli is a lovely, strong woman and it made nathan's cheating even more heartbreaking. the journal's reporter must have had a ball watching the petrelli drama unravelling in front of him, and peter proved to be an amazing character when he saved his brother's @$$ with the story of the rehab clinic in LV. try to learn a few things from him, nathan!
it's also fun to see how the heroes keep on constantly bumping into each other without actually acknowledging it - in this ep, it was Hero, Ando, Micah and DL's turn.
DL's good deed proved to the viewer that he's not a bad guy, he's just did what he thought was necessary to protect micah, eg knocking jessica out and leaving with the money - although i didn't really understand if he realised that somebody else had took over niki's body, or he just thought niki had gone crazy.
theodore sprague's story was so sad, as was matt's discovery about his wife's infidelty (i was glad i never took a liking at her).
also, theodore would make a great victim for sylar to steal the radioactive powers and actually blow up NY.
- Seven Minutes to Midnight 8/10: mohinder's background is explored through dreams and Sanjog's powers as a spirit guide.
again, mohinder's dilemma btwn moving on and carrying on his father's research is back, and i found this rather tiring. we all know he won't drop it, i mean, he's doing voiceovers for every episode lol
Charlie! i loved her! wish she was a regular, and Hiro's travel in time to save her was romantic, however, it was clear from the beginning it would be pointless - no matter how great your powers are, you can't escape death.
Claire's origins are explored through hrg's monologue to isaac, and eden forcing him to take drugs to paint showed how callous Bennet could be, even though he's clearly doing it for saving her little girl.
- Homecoming: 10/10 Nathan blacking isaac's paiting in order to "save" peter = L.A.M.E.; thank god for the photo simone showed peter.
it's also great to see peter so into his new mission he doesn't care about the possibility of dying while saving the cheerleader.
claire's path to embrace who she is is finally complete, and she learns to accept herself as a special person, or a freak, as zach puts it.
sylar finally shows his true colors when attacking jackie, who has a final moment of redemption when she says - run, to claire, trying to save her friend's life.
it's also clear that hiro's powers would have been useless against sylar, since he's a "hero", stopping time has no effect on him, like we saw in future-hiro and peter's run in.
peter's mimicking other's powers saves his life in this episode, but also put him in great danger (his arrest).
claire is saved by hrg that takes her home, ignoring the danger peter is in and refusing to help him.
eden and the haitian's move against sylar was incredibily simple yet worked perfectly.
also, jessica's attack on dl - terrifying. i didn't expect it would be so aggressive.
Six Months Ago 10/10: we finally get all the background we needed. how the heroes learnt about their powers, how their lives were before everything else happened.
also, nathan teaming up with linderman while he knew he's behind her wife's incident is disgusting. how could u accept money from the very person that destroyed your wife's life?
hiro and charlie sweet love-story proved that death cannot be defied, no matter how hard you try or the powers you have.
Hal's figure is horrific, it's shocking to find out about his abuses and niki's early life. jessica's death also sheds a new life on niki's counterpart - is she her sister, taking over her sis's body when she needs help, or is that a response to niki's grief that has been embodied in jessica's alterego?
sylar's genesis is also chilling. refusing to embrace the fact that he's just ordinary, especially after the empy hope given to him by chandra suresh, he decides to fix those who refuse their powers by stealing them, and therefore killing the unfortunate gifted people.
shanti's death is a very serious and affecting matter on chandra and his wife, yet i don't understand why this plays such a major role. i get that she had some sort of power, and she was the very reason why chandra took on such a research, but how can you not be over it, at least partially, after a good thirty years? i felt for mohinder on that, because it seemed as if time stopped for his parents and he was left growing up on his own.
i understand the sadness and emptiness these parents must feel when a daughter's death affects them, but i thought it was too overplayed on that storyline.
ok, here's my take on heroes, thank you for reading through all of this and i can't wait to hear the opinions of more experienced heroes fan!
pablo