My Heroes Review

So all summer I've been excited about the season premiere of Heroes. After watching it last night, now I'm only mildly enthused. Let's divide the episode into the Yeah!, Stupid, and Meh.


Yeah!

Okay, there ARE some very cool parts about the upcoming season, based on what we saw last night. It looks like the key villain is going to be very cool, which is a relief. The little girl Molly sees--and is seen by--this monster in her dreams, who is apparently much worse than last season's psychotic Sylar. It will be neat to watch as they unveil just how horrendous this villain will be.

The other very cool part is the mysterious plan to eliminate the original founders of the "company." Who's behind it? And why now? Is it because they failed in their mission to blow up New York? It looks like Hiro's father Kaito is dead, having been pushed off a building. Which begs the question, what was his power, anyway? And Angela Petrelli's?


Stupid.

Last season, Hiro was cool. His antics and naivete made him an enjoyable diversion from the heavy themes that abounded, and his search for mastery of his own powers was an excellent sub-plot.

This season, Hiro becomes a caricature of himself. Having just escaped death at the hands of Sylar, and having seen the horrific consequences of messing with events in the timeline, what's the first thing he does? Saves some dude's life in an historic battle in 17th century Japan, thereby altering the achievements of his personal ancient hero, Takezo Kensai. Obviously his new mission is to help Kensai get back on course and achieve the historical and cultural status that Hiro has ruined. This is a storyline that has been beaten to death. I hope they don't dwell on it too much.

More stupidity comes from the Claire Bennet front. Again, we've seen this played out before. She has a new life in California, and keeping her true identity a secret from the Company is of utmost importance. But she can't stand denying who she is, or what she can do. And she has a new boy who will undoubtedly learn her secret, and somehow her identity will be revealed to the Company. Boring.


Meh.

Parkman finally gets his badge. Yay. The guy can read other people's minds, and it took him this long. He's definitely one of the more annoying characters, and it seems the only way they could make him relevant was to make him Molly's guardian.

Nathan Petrelli has had a change of heart, and has blown off his political career. And grown a beard. Whoopee.

Mr. Bennet hates his job at the copy shop. Super duper.

Nathan Petrelli is alive. Big surprise there. Has amnesia--it was bound to happen. Gotta have the most powerful character lose something, otherwise everyone else would be pretty much moot. Peter could just take care of everything. This storyline does have potential, though. Like it would be really cool if he was captured and re-oriented as an evil dude.

Mohinder Suresh is a ridiculed academic. Nothing new there. And he's recruited to work for the company--by Ned Ryerson (Groundhog Day), no less! No biggie, he's worked with them before. Oh, but he's actually on a SECRET OPERATION to bring down the company. I'm glad they blew that secret in the first episode of the season. No reason to bring any more intrigue to that fascinating storyline. Maybe he'll at least get a chance to snatch up some cheap life insurance.


Overall, I give this episode a 6.5, maybe 7.0. That's a far cry from the 8.5 or 9.0 I would normally award the series. I still have hopes that Heroes will redeem itself, but at this rate it looks like it's already past its prime.