reviewed by Charity Bishop
     

One of the most popular shows ever to air is Heroes, a sci-fi series about super-humans caught up in the midst of impending catastrophic events. Driven by expanding character development and tremendous special effects, the series follows its band of "heroes" as their fates and lives intersect in a desperate attempt to save humanity from a massive nuclear explosion.

It's election year and at the forefront of the political scene is aspiring congressmen Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar), whose unscrupulous connections to a hard-hitting mafia organization make him a "sure win." Everything about Nathan is perfect -- he has a socialite mother who watches his back, a wheelchair bound but loving wife, and two smart boys. The only hitch in this idyllic existence is his younger brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), who has abandoned his legal ambitions to become a hospice nurse so that he might ease the suffering of the unfortunates approaching their deaths. This radical departure from everything their family name stands for has made him a social pariah, but even more troubling is Peter's fascination with abilities. He believes he is meant for a greater destiny and is convinced he has an unknown super power, but when his experiment goes wrong, it is Nathan who shows an incredible ability to fly, revealing that it is not Peter who is "special" after all.

Hundreds of miles away, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) has discovered she isn't exactly normal either... Her repeat experiences with death only transform into regeneration. Whether it is being incinerated saving someone's life in a house fire or falling from a three-story bridge, Claire can push her limbs back into place and walk away without a scratch. Suspecting her gift is inherited from her biological parents, she attempts to find out who they are without cluing her adopted family in on her secret. But her recent dramatic action in saving someone from death lures the attention of someone else -- someone far more dangerous than anything she has before encountered. Sylar (Zachary Quinto) is a mentally disturbed man who preys on and absorbs other people's powers through murdering them. His latest victim is his former associate Dr. Suresh, who was making a study of him and others like him in order to link their genetic mutation to evolution. Suresh's son Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is now interested in what happened to his father -- and in protecting all the individuals that his father was studying. 

Other significant names on his father's growing list include a cop, Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), who wakes up one morning and can hear everyone's thoughts, and Niki Sanders (Ali Larter), who has a diabolical second personality inherited from her dead twin sister -- her alter ego, Jessica, is a skilled assassin who works for a mafia lord. Then there is the ambitious young Hiro (Masi Oka), who is bored working at a desk in his father's Japanese company and wants to become a "hero." His ability to teleport and bend space and time put him on a path that collides with these individuals and also plays a role in what is transpiring in a series of futuristic paintings by a local New York artist. When stoned, he can paint the future -- and it looks bleak.

If one thing can be said for Heroes, it's complicated. How could it not be, with a primary cast of a dozen different characters all with their timelines unfolding parallel to one another? It's tempting to assume they have nothing to do with one another but then the writers cleverly cause them to intersect and by the end of the first season, we have an astoundingly good grasp of how these people are connected to one another. Some of them are related and others merely share a cab. There's also a multi-faceted network of villains to contend with on both a personal and physical level and on a far more immense playing field, as we learn there is an organization dedicated to the destruction and preservation of this genetic mutation. Its powerful base spans continents and seeks to use these "heroes" for their own diabolical ends. Common thugs do exist and are summarily dealt with but two primary villains emerge in the form of the mafia lord Linderman (a great guest appearance by Malcolm McDowell), and the ruthless Sylar, who is more than just a serial killer. He has a past history that will tug your heart strings even as you watch him spiral into absolute evil.

Many new characters come and go but the primary cast remains interesting, although some are more so than others. Mohinder is the weakest of the lot but around midseason finds his footing and becomes more important to the plot. Well-known British actor Christopher Eccleston makes a several episode appearance as a mentor to Peter and a local pickpocket. The writing is very good but there are a couple of "throw away" episodes and some viewers might not like the way the story constantly jumps around -- it's not hard to follow but can be frustrating when one episode ends with something significant happening and we have to wait another thirty minutes in the next to continue that particular scene. There's also an immense amount of gore. I remember catching a few episodes when they originally aired and being shocked how much could be gotten away with on network television. Sylar kills people by slicing their heads open telepathically (we see blood running down their faces) and removing their brains -- multiple times throughout the season we view dead bodies with half their skull missing and an open crater where their mind was. This is really just the tip of the iceberg, since we also watch characters regenerate after some truly horrific impalements -- Claire pushes jutting out ribs back inside, has a tree branch impaled in her throat, spits up a bloody bullet, snaps her limbs back into place, and is once shown completely cut open on a morgue operating table (her internal organs and ribcage exposed). Elsewhere, characters are stabbed with swords, impaled with broken pieces of glass, and sent crashing into walls. Sylar often begins the process of cutting heads open while the victims are still conscious.

Blood spatter is frequent, as are dead bodies bleeding out on the floor. There are enormous amounts of blood -- it spatters on walls when people are shot in the head, pools beneath fallen forms, and drenches characters who have emerged unscathed. Sexual content is also an issue in the first six episodes. Jessica runs a web cam out of her garage and is often shown in skimpy garments, obliging the requests of her paying clients. She is paid to seduce Nathan and the entire thing is caught on tape, which the audience watches several times (it is not explicit but pretty racy). Peter sleeps with a woman he has been interested in a long time; we see a "morning after" shot. Strippers are often shown in the nightclub. In a scene that will turn your stomach, Claire is assaulted and almost raped by one of the high school football players. We learn the boy has victimized many other girls in the school. Claire pays him back by driving him -- and his car -- ninety miles an hour into the nearest brick wall. We learn about several adulterous affairs, one of which nearly destroys a marriage. There are some scattered sexual references. References to God are infrequent and range from being reverent (some characters have "faith") to being dismissive or used as mild profanities. There is some emphasis on evolution as well. Various characters are capable of "telling the future" through prophetic dreams or visions (but there is no "magic" involved; it is simply their ability manifesting itself).

It's a shame the series is so gruesome because it's really very well conceived and structured in such a way that we learn more about these people over a long period of time. Some of their twists toward the end of the season were particularly magnificent. I did have a little trouble getting into it at the start because the content was so shocking at first, but the sensuality tones down within two disks and the violence becomes more infrequent (but no less gory) as the season progresses. It's easy to find a character (or even more than one) that you identify with and like as an individual and there is a wide variety to choose from. Hiro is adorable and his earnest desire to live up to his name and fulfill his destiny is what really drives the series forward, but it is the action scenes and suspense in later episodes that really make it fantastic. Sylar is one of the best villains to come along in a many years -- a psychopath who also experiences moments of self-loathing and doubt. It's very frightening to open the front door and find him there. His victims are not aware of the danger, but we are and that sinking feeling as he introduces himself and asks if he can come in is part of what makes Heroes so appealing -- we're drawn in emotionally.

Audiences will know within a couple of episodes if this show is for them, but if you do choose to watch, I would recommend going into it well-prepared. It is seductive with its intriguing plot and memorable figures but it's also never good to become too desensitized to so much blood.