Heroes - Pilot

Okay. I'm a geek, but I've never been a comic book geek. Never had an inkling of interest. On the other hand, I loved loved loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it was GREAT allegory. I thought Spiderman (1 and 2) and X-Men 2 were GREAT movies. Still, I'm a little dubious over comic book stuff.


Heroes is about regular people who discoveer they have special powers. Regular people from all over the world (though mostly America, because, well, this show is on NBC and not StarWorld or BBC). Regular people like politician Adrian Pasdar (Profit, Desperate Housewives) and his nurse brother Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls), mother of genius and stripper Ali Landry (Legally Blonde), cheerleader Hayden Panettiere, Japanese office schlub Masi Oka (Scrubs), Prof/under cover Taxi Driver Sendhil Ramamurthy and more.

There are a few moments that seem to milk the moments in a bad drama Crossing Jordan sort of way (probably because its from Crossing Jordan's Tim Kring), but as a whole, the episode was well filmed and mesmerizing and I had chills twice (which doesn't usually happen with anything outside of Lost or The X-Files).

So far in the pilot, we are slowly introduced to some of the characters as they slowly figure out their powers, some accepting/questioning it more than others, as a mysterious figure seems to be following Mohinder Suresh, an Indian prof who comes to NY and takes on the role of a taxi driver as he attempts to figure out the death of his father, a formative researcher on teleportation and other special powers that will no doubt pop up in the show.

Finally here is a show this year with another huge cast that seems to have a nicely plotted and engaging story from the get go. This could all still go to craps as some shows have proven (and again, doesn't dismiss other pilots that were slower to get the plot moving, as Everwood, Entourage or Sex and the City has clearly proven that sometimes it takes a year to takes it stride), but so far I REALLY want to see what happens next (including the introduction of another main character played by usual JJ Abrams player Greg Grunberg, finally branching away to another boss) and the pilot was exciting, moved at a good pace and revealed just enough little tidbits to sucker the viewer in.

Also, finally a role that reveals Masi Oka as a hilarious and lovable character and uses it to the story's advantage! I'm excited by this show now and cannot wait until next week.