Heroes: Don't Look Back review

According to the NBC promo, 25 million people watched the premiere, and it’s the show “everyone is reading about.” Here’s my take on this week’s episode: Don’t Look Back. Spoilers abound, so take the time to watch the episode on NBC online if you haven’t already.

This episode didn’t do that much better in terms of character development, but I guess six or so individual scenes of all the characters advances the storyline as much as six episodes focused on each of the characters, so it is what it is. I found myself becoming increasingly critical of the episode until about 4/5 of the way through, where the ending finally brought the point of the spliced storylines together, so hopefully next week begins with a more developed story than the splintering format readily apparent in the first two episodes. The ending certainly made up for much of the episode, and it leaves me more optimistic the initial success of the show can be maintained.

Rather than give a brief rundown of the episode's high and low points, I will simply continue with my portrayal of the characters and explain the episode through that way (since that is how much of the episode progressed anyway).

General characteristics of the characters: If you have powers and are one of the “good guys,” expect to have some sort of police involvement. Conversely, if you’re one of the “bad guys” (real or potentially), expect to get away with murder.

The “Don’t Look Back” episode introduced the name of the villain (Silar), who may or may not be the Agent described in my previous reviews. The bomb in the city apparently takes place November 8, so at least they don’t plan on dragging that particular storyline out that long, but that means that they will save the day then (at the 1/3 of the season mark) and likely postpone this apocalyptic event until later in the season (possibly a cliffhanger).

The Heroes continue their journey of discovery:
Professor X: finds a flash drive containing the super secret method of tracking all the heroes. Not surprisingly, another incompetent goon of the “counter-hero agency” (the “Agency”) fails to make this discovery and is defeated at the threat of fire extinguisher and a petite British woman.

Isaac Mendez, artist of the stars: Survives his overdose before we discover his ability appears to be limited to seeing everybody’s death but his own. Or is it? As I predicted, he is the creator of the 9th wonder comic book.

The Agent (who may or may not be Silar, the evil mutant serial killer): his power this week is the amazing ability to rob a high school kid without tipping his hand. In doing so, he discovers that his adopted daughter (the cheerleader) has one of these evolutionary genetic markers he’s seeking to destroy (or convert to his own use).

If you use your powers for good, expect some sort of police or medical involvement:
Claire the adopted cheerleader: save a life and be lined up for an odd interrogation with the rest of your cheerleader friends only to have your cheerleader nemesis take the credit. (See gripe 1 below). I can only assume that the nemesis will face some sort of retribution from the Agency as a result. I hope to be surprised that this doesn’t happen.

Matt Parkman, the psychic cop. Likeable character; his talent and character is a cross between “What Women Want” and Carl Winslow. His brush in with the law is that his psychic ability implicates him in a vicious crime. I’m sure he’ll be able to think his way out of it.

The Fly and The Fly II (senator-elect): Not too much this episode. In the end, there was a moment very reminiscent of a scene from The Heavenly Kid where the ‘Fonz guy is trying to convince the other guy (who turns out to be his son) that he’s an angel. Apparently it takes concentration to fly before it becomes second nature, kind of like Ghost. His first “attempted suicide” lands him in the hospital.

Hiro the teleporter (“Prot”) : His secondary power is the ability to pick up conversational English almost as fast as he can travel across the globe. I guffawed at his using yen to pay for the comic book (this means it was not that clever). Hopefully next week he learns the lesson of not picking up incriminating evidence.

If you use your powers for bad, no consequences:
Niki ("Don't call me a stripper" Sanders: Until I see a need to otherwise, I will refer to her split personality as “Ikin.” Ikin seems to be good at covering up a lot of stuff, and Niki goes right along with it without asking questions. Her ex-husband is mentioned again as being “on the run” – she probably could win on an insanity defense. I maintain my criticism of her super power as being a front to schizophrenia.

Conclusion:
The end of the episode at least starts to tie the semblance of a television-worthy plot together. I hope they do a better job with the character development next week, and I think the psychic cop’s character has the potential of bringing them all together once Hiro can bust him out of prison. Assuming that this snag remedies itself in the first few scenes of next week’s episode, it appears the Fly and his brother may be sharing the “central character to the plot” role with the psychic cop (nickname forthcoming).

Addendum (Gripe one):
Somehow the writers forgot that cheerleaders don’t practice on the football field, and most coaches frown upon non-athletes walking through practice. If you’re going to have a high school storyline, Dawson’s Creek is not the model to use and neither is Saved by the Bell. I can only assume that whoever scripted this must have dreamed of being an athlete because they certainly didn’t get it right. And fyi, the cheerleaders in high school generally wear their uniforms on days of football, basketball games, key wrestling matches, or pep rallies, not for practice.

If Heroes is going to keep going with this high school storyline, and I’m not saying they should or should not, I suggest the writers hire the varsity club president of some local high school to help consult with them during his or her offseason or get him or her to make a recommendation of someone who can make the show's portrayal of high school a little more believable. The last thing we need on tv is another Laguna Beach, since that's real life. I saw that Heroes is produced by “Tailwind productions," which uses a pole vaulter for their icon, which is great. On the assumption that this company must have some roots in track & field, then I'm going to assume further that someone connected to the show participated in *varsity* athletics at the high school or college level, and they must be insulted by this misleading portrayal of high school life/sports.

Other observations: I must have seen three or four x-men commercials. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one? Aren’t they trying to distinguish Heroes from X-Men?

Tags: heroes, don't look back, nbc