Sci-Fi News and Reviews

"Heroes" Impressions

"Heroes" premiered its third season last night on NBC. I was ready - I even watched the hour-long promo show prior to the start!

My expectations going in were mixed. I clearly have a Love-Hate relationship with the show. On one hand, there is something about the show that always makes me *have* to watch the next week. The "Heroes" writers, led by Tim Kring, really have a handle on how to end an episode with some question that needs to be answered.

On the other hand, I have previously voiced my misgivings on Kring's 'seat-of-the-pants, see where the wind takes you' writing style. But heck, some of my fellow commentators think this is a good thing, like Vic over at Screen Rant, who says:

"Heroes is run by folks...who actually listen to the fans, take their complaints to heart, and use that information to improve the show. This season there will be no slow, dragged out story arcs, and...there will not be any new characters introduced (although this episode seems to contradict that)."

I kinda like the idea of the writers actually having a plan. But that's just me. Let's get to the more important stuff, like how good was the premiere?

The Good

First off, I have to say everyone looked great. All of the actor's must have been working out, because they were all smoking hot. Seriously. Almost distractingly so.

Looks notwithstanding, there was a lot going for the episode. They answered the question of "Who Shot Nathan?" by the first break, and set up the groundwork for a fairly large set of villians, a set of heroes and a set of people with a fairly gray interpretation of good and evil.

I was also happy to see the 'Veronica Mars' alumni reunion within the episode. Kristen Bell, who plays Elle (the electric girl), survived the episode. In addition, Francis Capra, who played "Weevil" (my favorite VMars character), showed up as "Jesse Murphy", who is supposed to be a very bad guy, but just so happens to be 'inhabited' by Present Day Peter.

The Not-So-Good

The powers of Future Day Peter are a little crazy. OK - I can accept that he somehow put Present Day Peter in some villain's body. But, you better tell me where his actual body is...and where is the consciousness of "Jesse Murphy" is now. Normally, I'd just figure that it will be revealed eventually, but with "Heroes", they may get off on a tangent and never get back to it.

The same goes for Claire suddenly not being able to feel anything. I can buy it...but there should be an explanation forthcoming.

The Overall Impression

Overall, I was satisfied with the premiere episode. It answered the outstanding questions and set up the season pretty well. I hope they don't devolve into 'let's hunt an escaped villain-of-the-week' plot cycle, but, honestly, I don't think they will go that direction with the triangle of good versus evil versus the morally ambiguous that was created.

Let's hope they keep up the good work!

---

Posted by Fred on September 23, 2008 8:53 PM
Permalink |





More Recent Stories:
• Story Arcs - Ruining Sci-Fi?
• "True Blood" Season 2
• Money Drives "Dollhouse", "Chuck" Renewals
• "Dollhouse" - Prospects and Review
• Great Month for Sci-Fi Movies
• "Flash Forward"
• "Pushing Daisies" Final Episodes
• Sci-Fi Shows in Danger
• My 3D Experience
• NASA Space Station Naming Contest