Heroes

[rhienelleth]

I've been anticipating the premiere of Heroes since I saw the first promo.  It hits a weakness of mine - ordinary people developing extraordinary abilities.  And instead of making it a cheesy X-men ripoff and/or stereotype, NBC is treating it like a regular ensemble drama, which gives the show, IMO, a serious and believable edge that may draw in a larger audience than it might otherwise enjoy.  It helps that they're also promoting it as if it's a non-genre show, which, in their line-up, is pretty amazing.  It's not as though NBC is known for it's supernatural thrillers  (until Medium's success, at any rate, which probably came as a huge surprise to their studio execs.)

I loved it.  The pilot was very well done, introducing the premise, the conspiracy, the mystery, and most of the characters quite well - no mean feat in a 50 minute period.  My thoughts and reactions and many and varied.

I love Hiro - it's great how, unlike the other characters, he has this kind of childlike joy in his newfound power.  As he states, every ten-year-old wants superpowers -and he actually has them!  He brings the comic book comparisons that really do need to be made to the show. 

Claire is messed up.  I mean, this girl obviously has some fairly serious issues.  I don't care how fast the damage repairs itself, getting it still has to hurt.  And this is a brand new thing she's discovered, yet her way of 'testing' the ability is to try, over and over again, to kill herself?  The 70 foot jump was "attempt number 6", and she talks of stabbing herself in the chest before that.  There has to be some part of her, every single time, that wonders if this will be the time when it doesn't work, when the damage won't heal.  Yet she continues to try.  And when her ribs healed wrong and were sticking out of her torso?  She just casually shoves them back like it's nothing.  Ouch.  And even if you have tried to kill yourself six times to no avail, wouldn't seeing your ribs sticking out of your skin, I don't know, bother you a little bit?  And then there's the garbage disposal.  Dude, ouch!  It's like she's trying to find the one thing her body won't heal.  If she succeeded, it would be horrific, but does that even give her pause?  Nope.  Serious, deep issues.  I hope the show intends to explore that.

I don't quite get what Niki's ability is...what, her image can come out of mirrors and kick ass?  I'm confused,and I hope they intend to make this clearer in the future. 

The other question, which I think they meant to leave us with, is Peter - can Peter fly, or, as my perception was, can he not, but his brother the politician can?  If that's the case, I feel sorry for Peter. 

All in all, I enjoyed the pilot, but I'm ancious for future episodes to develop the characters and their personalities more. 

Comments

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

Claire reminded me a lot of Logan, besides the superhealing. He has that death wish to some degree as well, looking for that one thing that even s(he) can't survive.

From her reaction to things, I'm thinking that in addition to healing, she's got some measure of invulnerability or inability to feel pain, because she genuinely behaves as though there is no pain involved.

I've dislocated my shoulder before. IT HURTS LIKE A MOFO. She just casually popped hers back in, which indicates to me that the pain receptors don't work.

And the "I DID IT!!!" was the cutest thing ever.

[dragonsinger.livejournal.com]

*Nods* Good questions all. Poor Peter. I hope there's something he can do. *Snuggles Peter*

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with the comic by JMS - "Rising Stars"? When I first saw this, and some of the abilities, I was immediately thinking - hey! It's the comic.

I guess it isn't, but the premise is close - after a flash of light 113 children were born with extraordinary powers.

I think I'll watch this one when it comes out on DVD sounds v. interesting - or when we get money finally bite the bullet and get a damn Tivo. *sigh*

[stephdub.livejournal.com]

My thoughts on Claire were that she actually wanted to commit suicide. She talked about all the pressure she was under at school, but basically it was the fact that she numbered her attempts that made me think she actually wanted to die. She just discovered that she couldn't.

Just my $.02. I really enjoyed the show though. I'm glad I watched.