Heroes - Back To School, Back to Basics

Chapter 1 - Four Months Later - Season 2 Premiere

I was a little fearful of this premiere, almost reluctant to watch, because I really thought the finale SUCKED and while I thought the show in general was always fun, I knew it had problems that needed to be addressed.

So it's Season 2, a fresh start, and we are back to Chapter 1 again as they sort of get to restart the clock.

Seems like they've self corrected a bit, and gotten back to the core things that made Heroes so strong, namely, concentrating on the whole arch of the battle through the eyes of the two most lovable characters, Hiro and Claire. Nicky/Jessica is not even in the picture and Matt Parkman (who gets reinstated back onto the force) is relegated to the side at this point. HRG and Claire and family, now with a new last name, are living in Southern California and Claire must go back to high school and camouflage herself while HRG lands a regular job at a copy centre and is not the employee of the month. We get to see Claire back into a regular life, as she's trying to figure out her powers and her role in the world, while being herself. We have another attempt at the cute guy friend (Nick D'Agosto, one of those kids I always recognize cause he guest stars in everything but I just realised I remember him from Election. Okay. That's a winner!), only this one we discover, has a secret of his own (and this time, it's not that he's not gay).

Last season we ended off with Hiro in Japan in 1600's, and he encounters his childhood hero Takezo Kensei, only it's "Sark" David Anders playing (yet another) Englishman (with a more proper accent than Sark, does he ever get to play American? Or was Private Practice enough to scare him off that?) who really is a drunk hero-for-pay, and Hiro already changes the course of history and realises his hero isn't all that. It's always fun watching Masi Oka's Hiro but with the addition of David Anders (Alias), this was a comic duo heaven!

I'm glad they kept Ando as well (whose hair is just getting highly fantastic), and is waiting with Hiro's father Kaito Nakamura (George Takei) except Kaito finds out he and Angela Petrelli are both marked for death, and we see someone take him down.

Nathan and Angela Petrelli are still looking for Peter, who is found in a shipping tanker in Cork, Ireland, all clean cut, naked and locked up in chains.

Where was I?

We meet Maya (Dania Ramirez) and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz), on the run in the Dominican Republic trying to get to America, and we don't know what Maya's problem is, but we realise she is not to be messed with, even though she acts all delicate and frail. There's a fear in what might be possible for her and they know it.

So far, back to the basics of the show. So far, so good. There isn't too much of the convoluted mystery with only Mohinder really getting to somewhere he wants to be, so that he and HRG can take down the "company". The dialogue is still horrible as hell, but there are cute moments, usually elevated by either Hayden Panetierre and Masi Oka (and now David Anders), especially the "Yuck" comment. There's still the overdramatic score, which worked at points, but now I think hinders the quality and believability of the show. Yes, I said believability. Remember, we love these Heroes because they are supposedly everyday people like you and I that just discovers they have these powers. It's everyone's wish to secretly discover we have superpowers so this is our little fantasy dream.

So the fake terrace overlooking the dark New York backdrop may add a stylistic comic touch but it's taking away from why we connected with the show in the first place, but putting Claire back in High School is a step in the right direction.