Ah, out with the old, in with the new. The television season is dead, long live the next television season. And to prepare for it, I’m going to review new shows as the pilots become available.
Heroes; NBC, Monday 9:00 PM
Another “epic tale;” no, I didn’t call it that, the show itself did. There’s a crawl at the opening that pretentiously reads, “In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals as emerged with what can only be described as ’special’ abilities. Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning. Volume One of their epic tale begins here…”
Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) dreams of flying |
This episode, titled, “In His Own Image,” begins with a dreamer (Milo Ventimiglia, The Bedford Diaries) who has a recurring dream of flying yet cannot convince his brother (Adrian Pasdar, Desperate Housewives) the dream is real, and ends with unexpected truth that the dream reflects reality…in between, we witness normal people discovering extraordinary powers within themselves. Someone less jaded might suggest this is a metaphor for the best in all of us, but I’m thinking it has more to do with the success of various super-hero movies like Spider-man and Superman Returns than any nobler purpose. And it’s the brainchild of Tim Kring, known only for Crossing Jordan with no known connections to the fantasy genre.
The powers are as varied as the people experiencing them; while a college professor (Sendhil Ramamurthy, Blind Guy Driving) discovers his father, who died or was killed, had gathered evidence of the growing number of people experiencing these changes, a Las Vegas stripper (Ali Larter, Final Destination) with a genius son finds her reflection is more powerful than believable, a high school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere, Ice Princess) who’s father holds a shocking secret learns that she is totally indestructible by trying to injure herself, in Japan, a young man (Masi Oka, Scrubs) develops a way to stop time through sheer force of will, an artist (Santiago Cabrera, Empire) whose drug addiction is destroying his life and the relationship with his girlfriend (Tawny Cypress, Third Watch), is terrified when he discovers he can paint the future. All of them are frightened as they discover they are not like normal people, and all are alone in their search for the reasons they are special.
It’s fascinating watching previously-normal people find extraordinary powers, but some of the discoveries are a little hackneyed, and some of the dialog is almost laughable it’s so trite (“C’mon, baby, let’s get out of here…you’re too good for this school,” or, “They are here…among us…in the shadows…in the light…”). At its heart, it’s a soap opera more than a super-hero series, which may with some love and care evolve into an interesting program. While few special effects are needed and I really liked the small scene where the cheerleader tries hurting herself by jumping off a scaffolding, I sure hope they work on the flying sequences now that they have gone to series…the final climactic sequence is really bad. Mostly, though, the special powers can be displayed with little more than clever editing, as when the cheerleader performs the only super-hero-like act, saving a man from a fire while emerging unscathed, or when the stripper discovers her reflection has handled a problem off-camera while she was unconscious, or when the software developer in China teleports himself into the woman’s room of a discotheque. (Hey, it ain’t all serious; his friend calls him, “Super Hiro.”) I was a little disturbed when the cheerleader sticks her hand into the garbage disposal, but those who know me know I’m not a big fan of hand injuries, which becomes a continuing theme as the artist decides to stop the paintings he believes are evil.
Again, though, no matter how successful this series is, we know going in that we will inevitably be disappointed…that the story won’t ever satisfyingly end, but rather be hurriedly wrapped-up (if even that) when the producer moves on to another project.
The question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to invest your time and energy in an interesting journey that will eventually just…stop.
