Review: Heroes "Genesis"

Before I can review this episode, I have a confession to make. When I sat down to work on this, it had been at least a decade since I'd watched the show. As such, I realized something: I don't love this show as much as I once did. And the reason why is present in the very first episode.

I absolutely forgot how dark this show was. I mean, dark and brooding was what I was into when I was a teenager, so this show came at the right time for me. But since then, I've discovered that I enjoy something very specific in shows like this.

Fun.

I mean, yes, seriousness and drama is all well and good. You can certainly do serious storytelling with superpowered characters. But there needs to be something more than brooding and grumping. And perhaps that's why Hiro was always my favorite, since he always managed to strike an enjoyable balance between fun and drama.

Hiro Nakamura was not originally part of the show, but creator Tim Kring realized that none of these characters actually seemed to enjoy having their superpowers. Not even Peter, who thought he could fly. Peter was too wrapped up in family drama. So Hiro was whipped up and inserted into the story, and for me, he's the saving grace. "Comic relief" exists for a reason. As dramatic as this show can get, it becomes meaningless without the juxtaposition of somebody who's happy.

Contrast is very important in a show like this, because otherwise, the audience simply gets sick of watching unhappy people mope their way through their lives. But even with Hiro to provide contrast, even with strong performances and interesting characters, this episode doesn't grab me like it used to. Maybe part of that has to do with the fact that I'm rewatching early episodes with full knowledge of where the show's mysteries lead. And arguably, the show's decline, since I know which mysteries won't actually have answers.

But who knows? Maybe the farther I go into the first season, I'll rediscover what made me love it in the first place. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Plot
The whole point of this episode is to set up a lot of characters, establish their personalities, wind them up, and set them down.

Tim Kring started developing the show from the start as a big ol' ensemble piece that dealt with a group of people who stood in the face of a global cataclysm. Because the show is so character-driven, the idea of an overall "plot" does not really exist yet in the show. Sure, many of the characters are interacting, but only in esoteric ways.

Hiro can stop time, though his best friend reacts with disbelief as he pays a camgirl named Niki who's turned to stripping online to pay off her debt to Linderman, the guy Nathan was on the phone with as he runs for Congress, ignoring his brother's dreams of flying, which he sees in a painting made by the drug-addled boyfriend of the daughter of the man he takes care of as a hospice nurse...

The trademark of Heroes is how it weaves an intricate web of seemingly-unconnected events and people into a narrative, kind of like the Dirk Gently books. ...For better and for worse.

And for now, the tangled threads are barely connected, though that will change as time goes on.

Themes
First and foremost, that eclipse. Although it's used to provide a very striking visual to associate with the show, the global eclipse acts as a metaphor for something amazing that people around the world will share in.

The point of the premiere, and the show as a whole, is to illustrate how ordinary people react to extraordinary circumstances. Specifically, forces of change. In a world where putting on tights and a cape will get you laughed at, what happens when ordinary people discover superpowers that they can't quite master yet?

• Mohinder's dad was treated like a crackpot for believing such abilities were possible.
• Peter's own brother treats him like he's insane.
• Hiro's best friend won't believe him.
• Niki fears what she's becoming.
• Claire believes herself to be a freak.
• And so on, and so forth.

But at the same time, the show gives us revealing glimpses of every character's personality in the tiniest of ways. For example, both Peter and HRG enter Mohinder's taxi. But Peter asks Mohinder his name. HRG reads it off Mohinder's license. Peter is filled to the brim with empathy; he learns about people by interacting with them. HRG, on the other hand, is always watching all the angles.

So really, all I've managed to say so far is that this show is primarily about the characters' interactions and reactions. So let's talk about them.

Characters
There are a lot of them, so I hope you'll forgive me for only going over the most important ones in this episode.

Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy)
Mohinder's main goal in life is to earn his father's approval. So when his father turns out to have died under mysterious circumstances, Mohinder not only makes it his duty to investigate, but also to continue his father's work.

When Mohinder narrates at the beginning, he's not just being vaguely philosophical, he's actually talking about his own predicament.

Mohinder: "Where does it come from? This quest, this need to solve life's mysteries, when the simplest of questions will never be answered?"

Not only did his father run away to pursue such mysteries, but Mohinder has made it his quest to solve his father's death and continue his work. But at the same time, Mohinder will never have an answer to the smallest of questions: Did he make his dad proud?

But he's chosen his path, and we'll have to see where that takes him.

Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia)
Peter is a nice guy. Even when arguing with his brother or his mom, he's got kid gloves on. While Nathan's fully okay with yelling at his mom to "get over" the death of her husband, Peter's content to use a gentle voice with her and only get after her when she keeps saying negative things about Nathan.

And, of course, the big question: Can Peter fly?

"Ya got me. I'm just a painting made by an addict."

Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar)
Nathan is a politician; obsessed about polls, working hard on his own image, and constantly looking out for number one. But in the end, he literally flies through the air to save his brother from a very nasty fall, despite some arguably villainous traits. Time will tell which side ends up winning.

Simone Deveaux (Tawny Cypress)
Peter seems to be developing a little crush on the daughter of the man he looks after, and she seems to possibly be developing one in return. But she remains loyal to her drug-addict boyfriend/client. After all, if she leaves Isaac, that the end of both their love life and Isaac's career, since her job is to sell his artwork to various galleries.

Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera)
He's having a rough time. Not only has he developed a dependence on drugs, but anything he paints while high seems to foretell disaster. Even some of his minor paintings foreshadow minor events, like the way Simone is framed in the doorway when she arrives to find Isaac painting over his "evil" paintings.

You can bet that this ability will be used and abused in pretty much every possible way until the writers takes drastic steps to keep his powers from being a game-breaker. But I'm getting ahead of myself. But speaking of game-breaker powers....

Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka)
Hiro is the only character who loves having superpowers, making him a breath of fresh air. His retconned existence into events fits surprisingly well, especially when you consider the fact that unlike the other characters, his only link to the rest of events is the fact that his best buddy Ando pays one of the other characters to take off her clothes.

Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere)
Claire has not adjusted to her superpowers. At all.

Well, she has, in a way. She's very nonchalant about how she can push her ribs back into place, but she's still horrified over even having regenerative abilities in the first place.

But Claire has one thing in common with a lot of the other characters. She's heroic.

Peter is a hospice nurse, Nathan flies up to save his brother, Isaac's words after painting New York exploding are "We have to stop it," Hiro can't wait to save lives, and all that motivates Niki is providing a good life for her son. And like them, Claire reveals her true colors when she saves some random guy from a burning blaze... even if all she wanted to do in the first place was see if she could survive the fire.

Complicating matters, her dad seems to be some sort of creepy man in a suit.

Mr. Bennet, aka "HRG" (Jack Coleman)
Government? Black ops? CIA? S.H.I.E.L.D.? HYDRA? We don't know who he works for, but we know two things.

1. It involves Professor Chandra Suresh and/or his superhuman research somehow.
2. He loves his daughter. ...Or does he?

Niki Sanders (Ali Larter)
Niki is basically the Incredible Hulk, minus the big green transformation. With a large smattering of Jekyll and Hyde to boot.

She's made some bad choices in life, namely, borrowing money from a crime boss. But everything she does, she does for her son, and she works darn hard to make sure her choices don't affect him.

And we'll have to see how easy that is when the time comes to dump a couple bodies, but that's a story for another time.

Visuals
Comic book artist Tim Sale is responsible for all of Isaac's paintings, and they look simply phenomenal. Watching this show is what got me seriously interested in painting.

I mean, that is simply striking.

The directing is phenomenal, as well, and the special effects are pretty much flawless when you consider this was made on a TV budget one year after Doctor Who returned to TV.

Music
Shenkar (originally credited as "Shankar") simply... just... wow.

He collaborated with duo Wendy and Lisa to compose the score, and provided the haunting vocal portions himself. There's simply no way to describe the truly unique score this show has. At least, there's no way for me to. I'm not really a music expert.

But seriously, the Heroes theme instantly conjures up images of destiny and mystery and it's quite simply amazing.

Final Thoughts
These days, if you want superheroes on TV, you don't have to screw around with shows like Smallville that live in fear of depicting tights and flights. You can find Girls of Steel, Legends, the Fastest Men Alive, and much more. But Heroes begins with a promise to figure out what people who don't want to run around in costumes would do with superpowers. And in that way, it still manages to stand out, even today.

The greatest strength of "Genesis" is that it truly feels like the characters are on the cusp of something truly extraordinary happening, which unfortunately means that very little extraordinary has happened yet, which, when coupled with the extended running time... Yeah, it can be a bit slow at times.

But "Genesis" is basically the Iron Man of this season. It starts off in a grounded place, while still promising that things are going to end up getting absolutely nuts down the line. And it manages to provide some interesting mysteries... even if the inability to handle all these mysteries would help lead to the show's demise. But the problems of the later seasons are not the problem of this season.

"Genesis" is a solid start to a show that helped change people's expectations for what network TV could provide. Honestly, it wouldn't look too out-of-place as a Netflix original.

So while I don't love it as much as I once did, it's still certainly an impressive hour of TV.

Next time, more heroes show up. As if there weren't enough already. See you then!