Just For One Day

24May07

With the last episode of Heroes for this season finally over, the first volume of the saga of a band of brothers with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men comes to a close.

As a whole, the entire season itself was entertaining. It’s probably up to par with the other long-form serial dramas in TV right now (Lost, 24, etc. etc.) although I can’t really tell, because I don’t watch them. What I can say is that it was good superhero fiction in the Mighty Marvel Manner. Yes, sometimes the dialogue is a bit awkward (‘Love is all that matters, Peter’,’Don’t die officer Parkman! You’re my HERO!’) but it wasn’t as bad as the Star Wars prequels, and cheesy dialogue is part and parcel to superhero fiction anyway, so it didn’t bother me that much.

In the end, I enjoyed it because it set realistic goals for itself that payed off really well in the finale. Most of the questions regarding the characters were answered (Noah, for example) without spoiling the bigger picture too much that there’s still enough material for a couple of other seasons. More importantly, it also set up everything for season 2 without it being too much of a cliffhanger as to torture everyone who’s a fan for the next three months the same way they did while the show was on hiatus.

So yeah, good series.

Something interesting I realized while watching Heroes all these months though was how each (or most, depending on your perspective) of the characters were created with a certain dash of the oxymoronic. Meaning,

• Peter Petrelli was the unselfish guy that gets to have everything.
• Nathan Petrelli was the most grounded, the most practical, but has the ability to fly up in the clouds.
• Nikki Sanders, the stripper, was also Nikki Sanders, the bouncer.
• Hiro Nakamura, the pencil-pushing ‘dilbert’ that’s powerless and ineffectual in the real (read: corporate) world has the most powerful ability.
• Claire Bennet, the popular blonde-haired, blue-eyed, suburban white cheerleader who conceivably and possibly has the safest and most secure life among all the characters is the one who can afford to live dangerously.
• Micah Sanders, a 10-year old kid living in poverty who probably has the least access to technology because of his situation is the one with ultimate control over technology.
• Matt Parkman, who can’t even talk to his wife is very very good at ‘communication’.
• Isaac Mendez as someone who works in an industry in love with its own history (read: comic books) gets to be the one to see the future.
• Sylar was a machinist/watchmaker who spent more time dissecting people instead of machines.
• DL Hawkins was a convicted criminal who can never stay in prison.
• The Haitian who everyone seems to remember seeing (Parkman and Sprague for example), is the one that can make people forget.
• Eden McCain was the small, petite, unassuming neighbor who can apparently make anyone do anything she wants.
• Ted Sprague who was his wife’s ‘teddybear‘ was the one that made her sick.
• Molly Walker, the little girl who was hiding can actually seek anyone she wants.
• Candice Wilmer was the beautiful girl who makes other people see her differently.
• Linderman was a gangster who killed as much as he healed.
• Charlie Andrews, the redneck waitress who ended up being really really intelligent.

Admittedly, some of these might be considered a stretch, but like I said, it all depends on your perspective.

In any case, Heroes season 2 is coming soon. Surprisingly, I’m not that excited for it. The addition of a Heroes spin-off this early in its run looks to be ominous. The fact that Heroes: Origins is going to be Who Wants To Be A Superhero? in the Tim Kring universe doesn’t bode too well.

What I really want at this point, if they want to do a spin-off or something, is the prequel story behind the original group of heroes in the series - the Petrellis, Mr. Linderman, Mr. Nakamura, and Mr. Deveaux who, as I guessed correctly, is alive and well thanks to what seems to be his ability to enter the Dreaming.

Now that would be something.

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