Mike’s in green, Drew’s in gold.

  • Build-up

I was expecting a little bit slower burn on this. The people started using their abilities almost immediately…and most of them don’t seem to be all that surprised by them.

As far as the build-up goes, I think the amount that they used their powers is totally natural. If I found out I could teleport, you bet that I would be zipping all over the world. If I could do anything to myself and not be hurt, I’d be doing the same thing. Those, and the flying thing, would be the only ones that I would say that the characters actually willfully ‘used’. Now, if you’re saying that you would rather have seen them discover their powers a little bit at a time, I can understand that, but they are also writing for a pretty volatile TV market, and they have to be sensational enough to keep people interested, or they’ll be gone in 3 weeks. Frankly, most viewers don’t have a long enough attention span to wait until midseason to see Claire walk through fire.

  • Dialogue

If I have to listen to Peter talk about how he feels he was “special” or “born to do something more” or “his destiny” again in the next episode I’m done. That got old quick…and there was quite a bit more dialogue that was just crap.  

 I can agree with you, sort of. I really want to wait for a couple of episodes to wait for the characters to…I don’t know the word…calm down, I guess. They’re really trying to push the exposition and character development. It seemed like they were setting him up to be the ‘leader’ as it were, but now it looks like Nathan is going to fill that spot.

The show might need some time to “calm down”…which I can understand.  Lots of shows need that…but Studio 60 didn’t need it. Lost didn’t need it either…and I only have so much time in the day, so I’m not totally committed to having to waiting around…  

By calm down time, I really just meant the first episode or two. And you really see it in pretty much every show out there. There’s almost always a pretty dramatic change throughout the first season, and usually within the first few episodes. That’s just natural. It’s too early to see where Studio 60 goes, really, and Lost is kind of a diamond in the rough. 

  • Lame powers

 

Having an evil mirror twin is not a super power - it’s a set up for a Stephen King book. “Painting the future?” - if that’s a super power than the guy on “Early Edition” is Superman. 

 Lame powers. Yeah, I see that. I’m curious as to where they’re going with all of those. But they may get to the point where they can harness that or something and the only way that the Indian guy can express what he sees is through art…or something. I don’t know. The thing that I didn’t like is that he and Peter had essentially the same power, so I feel like one of them may be expendable. If I had to bet, I would bet on the Indian guy dying.

 One of the brothers is going to end up being a supervillain. The obvious answer is Nathan, but it would be so much cooler if it was Peter.

 If Peter is the supervillain, then the Indian guy can stick around, I think.

  

  

   

   

  • Connections

The guy from India is driving a cab that Peter just happens to get in…the guy that killed the Indian guy’s dad just happens to be the father of the invincible girl. The daughter of Peter’s patient just happens to be dating the “paint the future” guy.

Too connected. I can sort of see that, too, except for the bad guy being Claire’s dad, especially her adopted dad. I think there may be some kind of intentional connection there, but everybody else just happening to meet each other…very convenient. But people say the same thing about Lost, and so many superhero stories are full of that kind of stuff, also. Again, that’s something I’d like to hold off on until further in, because there may be some kind of explanation…I hope.

The idea “other superhero stories do it” on the coincidence factor doesn’t fly with me. If this show is going to be like every other superhero movie or television franchise and just forget good storytelling and pacing, and instead go back to the tired “it’s a superhero story” blow off then they can cancel it now.

I’m not saying it’s okay to do it because other mediums do it…I’m just saying if it’s okay for other stuff to do it, it shouldn’t be NOT okay for Heroes to do it, you know? And who’s to say that there’s not a good explanation for all of them bumping into each other.

  • Flying  

That horrible excuse for flying at the end was so poorly done I couldn’t even tell what was happening.

If you’re talking about the way it was shot, then I completely agree with you. But as far as the actual revelation, I don’t know how I feel about it. I really like that the brother has powers, too, but it was a bit cryptic as to whether he already knew he could fly and was just hiding it or if he just realized it at that moment, and it happened as almost a knee-jerk reaction. I like the former, but if it’s the latter, I would have liked to have seen it handled differently.

  • Bottom Line

This series about superheroes isn’t half as good as most of the comic books being published about superheroes right now. If it can’t stand up to the “inspiration” then it won’t last.
 

I don’t think it has to be as good as the ‘inspiration’. I think it’s a completely different medium that is looking for a somewhat different audience. I think my bottom line is that I wouldn’t watch a whole season of episodes like this one, but I would love to watch a whole season of what I think this show can and is trying to become.