Spring Break
'Heroes' premiere starts third season off on high note
Courtney Bruner / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: The Verge
The two-hour premiere of "Heroes: Villains" season three starts off with an edge-of-your-seat opener that will hopefully hold out through the season. After watching new characters develop, new secrets of characters revealed and a future that ever changes, who wouldn't want to watch the rest of the season?
For those who don't know, "Heroes" is an hour-long TV show on NBC about a group of people who wake up and realize they have special "gifts" for the unexplainable. Some have the power to fly. Others can bend space and time. Some have the power to steal other people's powers by cutting into their heads.
In the beginning of season three, titled, "The Second Coming/Butterfly Effect," Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) points a gun at her uncle, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), for screwing up the future world that they live in. Peter heads back to the past, with his power to copy others' abilities, to fix the chaos of the future.
At the end of last season, Nathan Petrelli (Adrain Pasdar) is shot by an unknown assassin after almost revealing to the world that he has the ability to fly. At the beginning of "Second Coming," the unexpected killer shows himself. But this turns out to be OK when Nathan makes a full recovery after what is thought to be Daniel Linderman (Malcolm McDowell), who was killed early last season. Nathan believes it is God who cures him and vows to make things right.
Claire is alone at home when bad-guy Sylar (Zachary Quinto) steals her powers by cutting the top of her head. However, Claire is more special then anyone else. Sylar tells her that she cannot die because of her ability to regenerate and recover. In the process of stealing her powers, Sylar also takes away the only part of herself that made Claire feel human - that she could feel pain.
Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) is bored running his father's company after his father was murdered in the last season. Hiro is left with a video from his father about a safe he is never to open. Hiro opens it to find half of a formula that could destroy the world. Since Hiro has the ability to bend space and time, he heads to the future to find his best friend Ando (James Kyson Lee) trying to kill him over the formula with strange powers as Japan explodes. When he comes back to the present, Daphne (Brea Grant) steals the formula with her power to run extremely fast.
Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) figures the abilities are linked to adrenaline and gives himself a shot of a hero's adrenaline. He gains the ability of a spider (think Spider-Man), but also learns that it has side effects.
Sylar wants revenge on Noah Bennet (Jake Coleman) for trying to keep him locked up in the "company." He goes to the fifth level and accidentally sets insane, evil people loose from their cells. Now, Noah has to go get them back before they destroy the world. In the process, Sylar learns he has more connection to the Petrellis than he ever knew.
This was a great opener to the season. It builds onto this idea of new villains emerging and the world, once again, in danger of being destroyed. The characters are well set up and understandable. Although, it might take a while for someone who has not watched the prior seasons to catch up.
"Heroes" is a cluster of different people with different stories. These stories were well-connected and interesting. New problems with one character lead to problems with another, which adds to the drama and suspense.
The editors did a great job of editing the different plots into one story. The scenes flow nicely into one another, and the connections between the characters are made understandable. However, it is frustrating sometimes when something exciting happens, but the show cuts to another scene before one can find out more.
The show is unpredictable. Many of the things that happen should not really happen. One never knows who is going to die, live or stay dead. The audience will want to watch more to see what unusual thing could happen next.
All the characters are from different parts of the globe. The setting must then include scenes from all around the world as well. It is really neat to see a picture of Japan in one scene and in the next, see Paris or New York.
Most of the scenes are very dark. The characters are put in dark rooms, which adds to the suspense of the upcoming events played out in other characters. The focus is brought more onto the characters and their troubles.
Unlike many superhero movies, "Heroes" is set in real life. One can actually picture these people essentially existing in the everyday world. They seem like real people, not comic book characters. It makes it more believable that one might posses certain gifts. People can relate to the characters.
The actors work well together. Pasdar and Ventimiglia give the audience a feel that they might be brothers in real life. They act, on screen, like brothers who slightly hate each other, yet would kill for each other in the process.
Some of the best parts of "Second Coming" were with Oka and Lee. Whereas most of the rest of the characters and plots are very dramatic, this duo adds comedy to the whole show. Oka's excitement makes viewers smile and want to be excited, too. Oka and Lee's characters might have as many problems as the rest of them, but at least they make it fun.
Overall, season three of "Heroes" should be interesting. Hopefully, the suspense, drama and humor of the first show will continue throughout the rest of season. This will make the show worth watching.
"Heroes" airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on NBC. If anyone missed the first show, full episodes of every season can be viewed at www.nbc.com/heroes.
Courtney Bruner can be reached at 581-7942 or at cbbruner@eiu.edu.
For those who don't know, "Heroes" is an hour-long TV show on NBC about a group of people who wake up and realize they have special "gifts" for the unexplainable. Some have the power to fly. Others can bend space and time. Some have the power to steal other people's powers by cutting into their heads.
In the beginning of season three, titled, "The Second Coming/Butterfly Effect," Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) points a gun at her uncle, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), for screwing up the future world that they live in. Peter heads back to the past, with his power to copy others' abilities, to fix the chaos of the future.
At the end of last season, Nathan Petrelli (Adrain Pasdar) is shot by an unknown assassin after almost revealing to the world that he has the ability to fly. At the beginning of "Second Coming," the unexpected killer shows himself. But this turns out to be OK when Nathan makes a full recovery after what is thought to be Daniel Linderman (Malcolm McDowell), who was killed early last season. Nathan believes it is God who cures him and vows to make things right.
Claire is alone at home when bad-guy Sylar (Zachary Quinto) steals her powers by cutting the top of her head. However, Claire is more special then anyone else. Sylar tells her that she cannot die because of her ability to regenerate and recover. In the process of stealing her powers, Sylar also takes away the only part of herself that made Claire feel human - that she could feel pain.
Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) is bored running his father's company after his father was murdered in the last season. Hiro is left with a video from his father about a safe he is never to open. Hiro opens it to find half of a formula that could destroy the world. Since Hiro has the ability to bend space and time, he heads to the future to find his best friend Ando (James Kyson Lee) trying to kill him over the formula with strange powers as Japan explodes. When he comes back to the present, Daphne (Brea Grant) steals the formula with her power to run extremely fast.
Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) figures the abilities are linked to adrenaline and gives himself a shot of a hero's adrenaline. He gains the ability of a spider (think Spider-Man), but also learns that it has side effects.
Sylar wants revenge on Noah Bennet (Jake Coleman) for trying to keep him locked up in the "company." He goes to the fifth level and accidentally sets insane, evil people loose from their cells. Now, Noah has to go get them back before they destroy the world. In the process, Sylar learns he has more connection to the Petrellis than he ever knew.
This was a great opener to the season. It builds onto this idea of new villains emerging and the world, once again, in danger of being destroyed. The characters are well set up and understandable. Although, it might take a while for someone who has not watched the prior seasons to catch up.
"Heroes" is a cluster of different people with different stories. These stories were well-connected and interesting. New problems with one character lead to problems with another, which adds to the drama and suspense.
The editors did a great job of editing the different plots into one story. The scenes flow nicely into one another, and the connections between the characters are made understandable. However, it is frustrating sometimes when something exciting happens, but the show cuts to another scene before one can find out more.
The show is unpredictable. Many of the things that happen should not really happen. One never knows who is going to die, live or stay dead. The audience will want to watch more to see what unusual thing could happen next.
All the characters are from different parts of the globe. The setting must then include scenes from all around the world as well. It is really neat to see a picture of Japan in one scene and in the next, see Paris or New York.
Most of the scenes are very dark. The characters are put in dark rooms, which adds to the suspense of the upcoming events played out in other characters. The focus is brought more onto the characters and their troubles.
Unlike many superhero movies, "Heroes" is set in real life. One can actually picture these people essentially existing in the everyday world. They seem like real people, not comic book characters. It makes it more believable that one might posses certain gifts. People can relate to the characters.
The actors work well together. Pasdar and Ventimiglia give the audience a feel that they might be brothers in real life. They act, on screen, like brothers who slightly hate each other, yet would kill for each other in the process.
Some of the best parts of "Second Coming" were with Oka and Lee. Whereas most of the rest of the characters and plots are very dramatic, this duo adds comedy to the whole show. Oka's excitement makes viewers smile and want to be excited, too. Oka and Lee's characters might have as many problems as the rest of them, but at least they make it fun.
Overall, season three of "Heroes" should be interesting. Hopefully, the suspense, drama and humor of the first show will continue throughout the rest of season. This will make the show worth watching.
"Heroes" airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on NBC. If anyone missed the first show, full episodes of every season can be viewed at www.nbc.com/heroes.
Courtney Bruner can be reached at 581-7942 or at cbbruner@eiu.edu.
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