Heroes: Season 2, Episode 1
A tv post by matt, posted on September 24, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Spoilers for “Four Months Later” below.
Things that happened
After a killer first season capped with a considered-disappointing finale, the big question going into the second season of Heroes was simple: can they really keep the momentum going?
Claire and Noah Bennet, having abandoned Texas and now living under an assumed surname, provided our first hint at the answer to that question when, in their first season of the season, the still horn-rimmed father told his ex-cheerleader daughter to — paraphrasing — “just be unremarkable and blend in.”
And that pretty much set the tone for the whole episode, honestly. Unremarkable and colourless, this isn’t an episode that will get anyone talking. Its saving grace was that it wasn’t at all bad, just bland — a distinction that still leaves a ton of hope for the upcoming season.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Mohinder is still wandering around speaking in monologues that lend themselves perfectly to narration. His focus now is on the supposed disease that is killing all the super powered individuals on earth. It’s bad because not only does it result in the death of that hero, but it also threatens the heroes’ combined legacy — the next step in human evolution. You might even call this thing the Legacy Virus.
Mohinder’s confronted by a guy from The Company — a bald character actor who has the power to turn things into gold — who tries to get the junior professor on his, and The Company’s, side. Mohinder appears to agree and join up, but we later learn that he’s actually still working with the aforementioned Noah Bennet — living his boring, bland life and working at a copy centre — to infiltrate the shadowy organization and bring it all crashing down.
In other news, Hiro is stuck in feudal Japan, which looks not unlike your standard American forest. His fortunes are slightly lifted when he meets Takezo Kensei, the legendary warrior he’s idolized all his life (and whose sword he quested after for like 26 episodes last season). Any hope is quickly dashed, however, when he learns that his samurai idol is not even a goddamn Asian guy. He’s just some drunk British jerk who is looking to make a quick buck. Hiro tries to convince him to be the hero he always thought he was, but Kensei seems pretty set in his ways.
On the plus side for Hiro, though, is that no one in feudal Japan seems at all confused by his strange clothes.
Back in present time, Hiro’s dad is still speaking in a very deep voice. He and Ando have spent the last four months trying to figure out where Hiro’s gone to, but have pretty much given up. Father Hiro is ready to pack it in when he happens to receive a picture of himself marked with the mysterious symbol that appeared all over the place last season. Written in red, the symbol over his picture apparently means that he is to die within the next 24 hours.
Mother Petrelli gets a similar message, and thus also seems marked for death. Not at all concerned about this, though, is her son Nathan, who has taken Peter’s death so hard that he’s grown a terrible giant beard that looks awful. He also spends all his time now drinking and looking sad, apparently.
Mama Petrelli meets up with Papa Hiro, where she’s told to get out of the country because otherwise she will die. Papa Hiro plans to do the same, but doesn’t quite make it in time, and by the end of the episode he’s thrown off the building by a shadowy figure who seems to have some strong connection to the Heroes’ pasts. How mysterious.
Parkman is working on getting his life back in order in New York. He’s living in Mohinder’s apartment, having seemingly adopted Molly — that sad little hero-detecting girl from the tail end of last season — and working his way onto the NYPD. We don’t learn much more about him, save for the fact that Molly is having terrible nightmares where she is seeing someone evil. For simplicity’s sake, I hope it’s the same guy who threw Hiro’s dad off the building.
And in Mexico, a brother and sister are on the run from the law, having been charged with murder. It’s not their fault, though — it seems the sister has the unfortunate superpower of being able to kill people just by being around them. They’re off to New York to try to find Mohinder’s dad. They’re a little late.
And, lastly, in our big cliffhanger moment of the episode, a bunch of Irish smugglers pry open a shipping crate at a loading dock in Ireland only to stumble across… Peter Petrelli. Looking all confused and shooting electricity from his fingers. It seems the younger Petrelli is back, and still alive and well. “How do you stop an exploding man?” You fly him into the air, apparently, and then you ship him to Ireland.
Let’s see what happens next.
Things that were good
- The obvious one: it’s good to have Heroes back. It was great fun to catch up to these characters after being away for the summer. They’ve definitely given themselves a great base for this season.
- Ali Larter’s absence is always welcome, though I worry it will not last too long. Here’s to hoping, though. Maybe one of the other characters can just sort of mention off-hand that she died in a fire or something.
Things that were bad
- I’m concerned for this show. Anyone who geeks out on superhero stories can tell you that the origin stories are the easiest. Everything after is significantly harder. Is another mysterious hero-killer really going to be enough to drive this season? I hope there’s more layers coming.
- That initial scene with Claire and her father was just really bad, wasn’t it? It rang so false and contrived. Really subpar acting from these two, especially considering the awesome performances they gave last season. (cf. “Company Man”)
- You’ll notice that I didn’t mention new character West in my recap above. That is because I hate West. He is terrible and should be shot. “Aliens and robots?” What the hell? That kind of shit wouldn’t fly on the worst high school drama, much less a show of this calibre. West sucks.
Worth Watching If…
You loved Heroes last year. This was by no means a good jumping-on point for new viewers, as everything is still very much tied into last season’s events. Overall, this wasn’t a bad episode. If it had appeared mid-season, it would be considered better-than-mediocre. As a hotly anticipated season premiere, however, I really can’t consider it any kind of success. They needed a knock-out punch — instead we got little more than a body blow.
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Vaosk wrote:
I had no expectations, but i was still disapointed.
First episode.. Claire moments that was baad like you said, sounded cheesy. Hiro.. how is he advancing the plot, should i care he is the one in the legend?
Virus lady, create toxin or virus when terrified.. not very fond of.. Peter lost memory? Ugh.. It will take him 6 episodes to remember who he is ( he will meet Claire or something ). And little family crisis there and there.. Since when is this drama?
I personnally think also they should have changed the music.. we heard them a billion times.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 3:30 am | Permalink
Mike wrote:
I’ve had a hard time trying not to size this premier to season one opener. I guess I just expected s little more out of the writters. I hope that we will get a little more out of next weeks show or I’m afraid that they might start losing some fans.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 10:08 am | Permalink
Joe wrote:
Clearly you are a robot.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 11:28 am | Permalink
Chris wrote:
After watching this episode, I couldn’t help but feel: “why am I doing this again?” They really stretched 15-18 episodes into a full season last year when the show found success, and now that they realize what they have on their hands, they can write for length from the get go.
The Claire West DeGrassi BS is tired already, and we’ve had about 6 minutes of it. Let me guess, he’ll try to take advantage of her, accidentally KILL her, get scared, and FLY away? Can’t wait for an hour of my life to be sucked up by that episode.
Peter Petrelli doesn’t know who he is? Again? Wasn’t that season 1? I think it’s the first time a show has gone from metaphorical to literal with a character. How tedious is this going to be to watch for the next 8 weeks? Extremely, that’s how.
Oh look, the Samurai isn’t really japanese! SPOILER ALERT: Hiro takes over his mantle, becomes take Samurai of legend, and correctly writes history according to his childhood book. Expect it to take 26 episodes.
Another shadowy/msyerious bad guy? Is it Sylar?! Is it someone new?! Will people stick around long enough to find out?! Wait, wait, where are you going…?
We have latino characters now. Let’s say it’s the New Ken Burns Effect (hello The War!) and call it a day. I guess the market research said that only 74% of men 18-35 are attracted to blondes…
Speaking of blondes, you nailed it with the no Ali Larter storyline. I really can’t see how she can be worked back in, which I’m going to score as a big fat positive until they find a way to butcher her back in there. Which, according to IMDB, is next week. Something with precocious super-hacker kid and needing to wire computers to crack the genetic code of the virus that the latino-lady apparently makes when she’s angry (deep breath.) Either that, or Mulder and Sculley make a cameo and almost kiss.
Did anyone else actually get offended by the NotIrish accents at the end scene there? Good lord, it was criminal.
Overall, I had a huge sense of disappointment at the end of this episode. The networks need to learn that the only way episodic television works is with answers. Answering questions with more questions will wear down a fanbase rather quickly. They were guilty of stretching the storyline towards the end of last season. I can already feel the elastic pull of 26 episodes, and to be frank I’m not looking forward to it.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
matt wrote:
We’re ALL robots, apparently.
Oh man, do you think maybe the twist with West is that he actually IS an alien? Like from outer space? If so, this show will be racing Smallville to the bottom of the sci-fi well in no time.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Chris, particularly, nailed a bunch of the sarcasm I wanted to employ but held off on because I didn’t want to piss off any ardent Heroes supporters.
I guess I can be meaner next week.
In other news, it seems like Television Without Pity liked the episode a lot. Which is just mind-boggling, isn’t it? I can understand thinking it was okay, or even slightly decent, but to like it enough to declare “Y’all? Heroes is BACK.”? How is that even possible?
Also, who the hell talks like that?
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
Media Maven wrote:
Couldn’t agree more here. What a lame, lame start. How many crappy episodes in a row are we going to get here? Kring is too pompous for his own good. Check out my analysis @ mediamm.wordpress.com.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 4:48 pm | Permalink
Myles wrote:
You know, I said a lot about this already, but the fact that TWoP likes it blows my mind. However, I’ll equate it to Erin having her beloved Sark back, and assume that she Squeed her way through the rest of the episode not realizing how utterly uneventful it was.
It was literally a second pilot, only this one wasn’t “new” at all. The result was 52 minutes of television out of which 15 were useful or interesting.
Posted on 25-Sep-07 at 6:10 pm | Permalink
Neil wrote:
I think this is why we watch Heroes. To get questions answered and to find more mysterious characters. Though I found this first episode kinda disappointing, I still expect myself to get hooked with this series just like the first season.
Posted on 26-Sep-07 at 8:51 am | Permalink
Ben wrote:
I didnt find the pilot and Genesis episodes any better.
Posted on 26-Sep-07 at 2:56 pm | Permalink
SYLAR wrote:
How can u down a show thats built on a storyline that takes
more than 45 min. to get too…I guess all yall like reality tv
like CSI huh…Bottom line is u cant answer all questions or
critics in a single show like heroes…looks like a great
story to me from the virus, to the boogeyman, Nathan’s
reflection, Hiro/Kensei, how Peter adds into it, etc. theres
no shortage of storytelling for anyone to get into…and i
haven’t even mentioned the best part about the show, Sylar.
Posted on 27-Sep-07 at 3:59 pm | Permalink
Vaosk wrote:
This first episode was bad, you know, the first episodes are supposed to hook viewers with quality script. Then the quality lowers for the 3-4 next episodes because of budget.
Your saying this episode was good because you cant answer anything but you know.. rarely anything gets answers in heroes anyway so this doesnt apply.. and the very same parts you said it was interesting I found them dull. Must be because im not a fanatic anymore ( probably the 3-4 months of no heroes lapse ).
Ill just check next episode.. and decide if ill watch the rest, (ill save 24 hours of my life weee!)
Posted on 27-Sep-07 at 9:17 pm | Permalink
Yawn wrote:
I’m not sure what this site is even for. But it’s one of the top results in google when I search for “season 2 review”.
I just needed to get something off my chest:
Holy (#*@ this show sucks so much now!!!!
The season finale sucked and I was hoping the writers had enough time to remove the suckyness. Boy was I wrong. S2e1 was so bland and generic that I had to watch it side by side with porn. Only to not fall asleep and so that I’m too worked up to change channels.
Feudal japan?? Historical figure is not all that he/she is cracked out to be? are u kidding me. How overdone is that. That ‘time traveler took the role of an would be important figure in history that would make him an important figure in history’ is sooooo overused. I even read it in Archie comics once. There are countless of Cartoon, anime that used this trite concept.
Hiro’s time travelling have dissapointed me to the point that I might not like Hiro anymore in coming episodes, if not already. I’d hope he’ll materialize inside a building or a deep ocean next time he TT.
I would think someone who can stop time is like…invincible. Who didn’t wish him dead when he didn’t kill sylar in back episodes @ sylar’s moms house????? He had enough frickin time.
This show is for 13 year olds and below, it basically should offend intellectually anyone over that age. The fighting is so…scripted and based on conveniences. The story generic and stretched.
I’ll watch it if only to turn it off.
Posted on 28-Sep-07 at 2:35 am | Permalink
Yawn wrote:
I should emphasize about how scripted the fighting scenes are. It’s scripted enough to rival Batman the TV series. Like “Slow down your punch when your fist is in front of his face so he can take his sweet time to ducking”.
“I don’t think the Heroes should gang up on Sylar, let them do it the macho way, 1on1.”
“Oh, unlike the apocalyptic past Hiro saw, lets leave the City unscratched by not having them use earth shattering fireballs and just duke it out”
Posted on 28-Sep-07 at 2:42 am | Permalink
matt wrote:
Ben’s right, the original Heroes pilot was hardly an inspiring start. It was neat, because the characters were there and we were just getting introduced to them, but it definitely didn’t draw me into the world of the show like later episodes did.
SYLAR: Why the hell should I listen to you. You ate a bunch of brains and killed your own mom!!
Yawn: This is a blog I write with my pal Erin. It is almost entirely TV reviews and recaps. I’ll be reviewing every episode of Heroes this season.
I’m not quite as ready to give up as you are, but I am pretty concerned that maybe they blew through all their good ideas in the first season and now they’re just scrambling to come up with something interesting. The finale was lacking something special as a conclusion, and this premiere had an unfortunate empty feeling to it.
I agree with you on some of the fight scenes, too. It’s weird that, even with the show’s success, it still has a bit of a low-budget feel to it. It drives me crazy how dark so many of the scenes are. Mohinder’s New York apartment, especially — turn a damn lamp on.
Posted on 28-Sep-07 at 10:56 am | Permalink
Etrigan wrote:
I miss Ali Larter´s ass.
Posted on 01-Oct-07 at 7:28 am | Permalink
Ste wrote:
Good review, you’re right, West is a very unlikable character. This is not because he might be bad guy, or a goody-two-shoes love interest, or a flying-peeping-tom or whatever, but due to his lame character. His revelation of flight does not help to entice my interest in his involvement in the plot at all.
I see this show potentially going down the Lost road, piling too many plot lines and questions on top of each other to the point where the mysteries are so plentiful they lose their importance and you just want them to be answered for the sake of getting them out of the way in the hope that a better show lies beyond them.
On a more optimistic note this may be the ‘necessary evil’ to just re-establish characters for new audiences who just started watching. Next few episodes might explode with the reappearance of Sylar and maybe a rematch between him peter, or maybe Sylar will seize opportunity with Peters memory loss condition and befriends him and molds him into an evil Peter so he has an equally powerful ally to fight and absorb the new power that is apparently worse than him. (he could find out by spying on the girl who can see him in her nightmares and peacing together her pictures with his own future paintings)
I just thought of those ideas off the top of my head (maybe they are predictable, bad and cheesy) but at least they are more interesting than the style of adding more and more uninteresting mysteries on top of old ones rather than answering them with dramatic consequences to develop the story and its characters
I want dramatic progression not confusing prolongations!
Posted on 01-Oct-07 at 4:00 pm | Permalink
SYLAR wrote:
All of yall need to go back and watch season1 and then come back and tell me how u knew everything that was going to happen after the first two episodes. we knew nuthing about saving the cheerleader, we just got a picture of the bomb,they hadnt even showed sylar’s face on tv yet,let alone did we not know peter’s full abilities…there was no D.L. no Linderman no huge action scenes but some how it still became the hottest show on TV….I think you guys are trying to turn heroes into some kind of real life imitates fantasy thing when its really a fantasy show imitating real life….
Posted on 03-Oct-07 at 12:02 pm | Permalink
Niki wrote:
why can’t anyone just have the full episodes posted, starting with season 1 episode 1….seriously, how hard is that?
Posted on 08-Apr-08 at 2:05 pm | Permalink