In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what
can only be described as "special" abilities.
Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world,
but change it forever. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary
will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning.
Volume One of their epic tale begins here...
-- Heroes episode 1 Prologue
|
The first episode of Heroes switches between too many characters
making it a bit of dramatic mess. The first half hour seems to meander
without allowing us to identify with any particular person.
The episode would have greatly benefited by following one less story line,
which should have been the story about the stripper
running from the Mob. Her story is jarring to the flow of the entire episode. They should
have saved her character for later.
Everything else in this extra long 53 minute episode pretty much works.
The show starts and ends with a narration that is reminiscent of "The Twilight
Zone" or "The Outer Limits." Half way through, while all the disparate
characters observe a solar eclipse from different parts of the world, the show interrupts with a song that makes us
feel that something special is about to happen: "This last train home.
Birds passs by to tell me I am not alone. Pushing myself. Finishing this
part. Handle a lot. One thing that I miss. The horizon. The horizon. The
Horizon. The Horizon ..."
My favorite character is a Japanese office
worker, named "Hiro" oddly enough, whose expresses his bouyant heartfealt desire and belief that he can
"traverse the time-space continuum like on Star Trek" by merely using
his mind. By the end of
the episode, despite the doubts and derision of his best friend, he does
exactly that,
and we are left with the impression that this odd group of disparate
characters are headed someplace very special.
Although the premise seems to be a rip off of "X-Men", so many
other elements are thrown into a single episode that it becomes part
"The Sopranos", part "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", part "Sybil", part
"Star Trek", part "The X-files" and part "The Twilight Zone." The show
certainly owes a great deal to other series, but brings all these elements
together in a way that has never been done before.
The show seems to understand how a single image, like a painting, can convey
a great deal of imformation. This episode is full of meaningful images that need no dialogue. This isn't just television, it is art.
By the end of the first episode, what started out as a mess left me wanting MORE.
|