Just caught the episode on NBC.com (where it seemed to lag like crazy and was chopped into 6 parts, all of which starting with the same damned car commercial). I'm not sure why NBC is offering the episodes of a hot show for free a day later on their official website; logic would state that it would effect TV ratings if fans knew they could just watch it any time after Monday on the website. But fortunately TV viewers rarely show any logic as ratings seem to be up 10% from there already healthy numbers. HEROES is a hit. Perhaps the "official" online offerings are done deliberately so that "unofficial" DL's like BitTorrent and especially YouTube don't take a bite. And also probably to maintain the buzz.
So, is the show that Jay Leno just described as,
"The X-Men crossed with the X-Men" still hot by episode #5?
For me, yes.
Sure, HEROES isn't perfect. It's full of generic TV stereotypes and some plot issues if you want to go looking for them, but as a whole for me it manages to hook you along without revealing too much, but each episode at least feels like something worthwhile is accomplished; some serials can't balence between "suspenceful leading" and "decompressed plodding". Hell, a lot of comics can't manage that.
The episode gets off with a bang when Peter meets "Future Hiro", who, like Trunks, is cooler in the future than he is in the present, who decides to risk shattering the time continuum to give Peter some "plot device" clues to help him along. Then Nathan is dragged out from his night with "Were-Nikki" by Mr. Bennet and his apparently psychic (and speachless) black minion, when he is surprisingly able to punch free and then fly off...at seemingly sonic speeds. Matt, who was "wiped clean" by Mr. Bennet's helper after his fight with Syler, returns home to his wife with no memory of the past day, but using his telepathy to read all her wants and fulfll them to the letter; I can imagine every wife in the audience now wants a psychic husband with a pension.
Matt leaves to get ice-cream after a "reconcile", only to use his powers to dissuade a gunman from robbing the store, before passing out from "overload" after he is confused for the robber himself. Claire tells her scary father about her incident, after which Bennet has his man-slave (what? That's what the guy is! Toldja about stereotypes) render the jock an amnesiac. Mohinder doesn't belive Peter's story, but Peter investigates the lead anyway, meeting up with Isaac and "copying" his power (without the use of heroin, natch) to finish one of his paintings which seems to fortell Claire's death at the hands of Syler. Nikki goes about her usual schtick and finds out her crook husband D.L. has escaped prison. Hiro and his buddy split up, with Hiro getting to meet Nathan while the latter has a run in with the cops protecting Nikki. At the end, Peter is there to intercept one of Hiro's calls to Isaac to deliver a message. And Nathan is told by Nikki of the mobster's plan to bankroll and then blackmail them, and uses that to his advantage to get more money; seemingly not caring about becoming a "bought" Congressman.
Oh, and Peter's eyes turn all white like CHILDREN OF THE CORN when he uses Isaac's "Future-Paint" power.
Considering that flight by itself is often depicted as rather useless in comic books (hence why Angel usually has stunk without metal wings), HEROES manages to make it look quite cool with their first opening scenes, which is a worthy effort. Peter being an "omni-power" works well for the plot (as that power often does), and the theory that Syler may be simular is also a good one; he obviously will have to be powerful enough to fight many "heroes" at once. Out of all of them I still don't care much for Nikki and Claire, but I don't hate them and their storylines are improving. Out of all of them, Nathan still seems like the one who is least "heroic" in that pure, noble sense. He's more interested in his own ambition and interests while the others are either confused (Claire, originally Peter), eager to do something positive (Matt, Hiro, Peter, Isaac), or want to be positive but had to work out of manipulation, which is Nikki. While the female characters of HEROES have gotten the more "physical" powers classically given to male characters (regeneration, an enhanced "alter ego"), the male characters are still more assertive in their storylines, as Nikki & Claire are mostly in "reaction" mode.
The "save the cheerleader, save the world" bit was a little heavy handed thanks to the promos, but that's a minor quibble. I can see that with the characters starting to intertwine and mobilize, their stories won't be as fragmented, which is good. Hopefully the season finale has a payoff and doesn't just rely on endless cliffhangers. But that's a few weeks away.
