Heroes S:01 E:06

Episode Title: Better Halves
Original Airdate: 10-30-2006

After several episodes of dancing around it, we finally get one that more or less reveals what is really going on with Niki and her alter ego, along with the real introduction of D.L. and his powers. Meanwhile, there’s also a bit of connections floating around that reveal more than they were initially letting on. One of my remembered story twists were also revealed in this episode, though not exactly the way I had originally remembered. The biggest issue that I had with this episode is that the focus is on Niki for most of the run time, and she is honestly the least interesting character out of the entire first season group.
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:06

Heroes S:01 E:05

Episode Title: Hiros
Original Airdate: 10-23-06

Onto the fifth episode in the first season and this is the one where things really start to feel like they’re finally coming together. There’s a sense of purpose and a sense of wonder that really shines through in this episode more than some of the other episodes aside from possibly the pilot. There’s also something that I noticed in this episode that either wasn’t in the earlier episodes, or I just hadn’t really noticed and that’s the strong color palette with a focus on the primary colors red, yellow, and blue. There’s also a handful of moments where more characters start embracing their powers besides Hiro who has accepted his power from day one. In fact, Hiro is just about the only character who doesn’t use his powers in this episode.
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:05

Heroes S:01 E:04

Episode Title: Collision
Original Airdate: 10-16-2006

Coming into the fourth episode of the season and characters are already starting to intermingle with each others story lines in different and unexpected ways. Some of the characters begin to fall into using their powers for their own gain, and we get to see a little bit more of Noah and what he really does. There isn’t much progress on the Sylar front, or really any major story line. Most of this episode just involves a lot of character development and interactions along with the first real hint at the season long tagline “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:04

Heroes S:01 E:03

Episode Title: One Giant Leap
Original Airdate: 10-9-06

After a couple episodes of build up, the show teases the main villain of this season Sylar just a little bit more as people seemingly start closing in on him from various different angles, and yet he remains ever elusive. Meanwhile all of the characters start growing a little bit more bold in pursuing their destinies, especially Hiro, Ando, and Peter. And once again it accomplishes something that few other shows tended to do before this one and that was to often end on a mini cliffhanger which was often used more for soap operas rather than prime time dramas.
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:03

Heroes S:01 E:02

Episode Title: Don’t Look Back
Original Airdate: 10-2-06

More than the pilot episode, re-watching this second episode of the series really helped solidify what it was about this show that really helped make it resonate with me and likely with many of its other viewers. It certainly had an air of mystery to it and compelling characters, but there was something more to it than that. There was an air of deep mythology associated within itself, something that it was able to develop a shorthand for within the span of just two episodes it made if feel like there was a much deeper world to this show and we were only getting to see a brief glimpse into what was a very deep pool. This episode introduced the concept of what was internally referred to as the helix, and it was something that I don’t remember much about from my first viewing, but this time I definitely noticed it pop up in a few places and caught myself looking more closely for it everywhere once I saw it.
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:02

Heroes S:01 E:01

Episode Title: Genesis
Original Airdate: 9-25-06

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Heroes, even though I own the first season on DVD, I never did re-watch it after seeing it on September 25th nine years ago. It has a diminished reputation as the later seasons continued to decline in quality, and there are some reveals that don’t really feel like reveals anymore. There were so many different connections between all of the characters, but it managed to never feel overly convoluted, at least not in the beginning. There was also a notable lack of special effects for the most part, the pilot was more about the characters than the spectacle, something that I also remember would be the first step in its downfall at the end of the first season, but we’ll get there in time. For now, let’s take a look at how the show started all those years ago.
Continue reading Heroes S:01 E:01

Heroes: Introduction

It’s been less than 10 years since the premier of Heroes in the fall of 2006. It was a show that I watched almost religiously, at least for the first season and a half and then once again for the last half of the final season. It came with a large amount of hype as I clearly remembered the early trailers for the series that started with the home video footage of Clair Bennet falling, resetting her broken arm, and declaring that was attempt number six. As the season went on, the catch phrase “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” became a viral phenomenon as viewers wondered how the season would end with some climactic struggle between good and evil set in what felt very much like the real world.
Continue reading Heroes: Introduction