NBC has posted the entire first season of HEROES online.
I watched almost the entire season yesterday while my 360 was in a do-loop of GRAW matches without me. Kids, when you grow up, watch HEROES if you like comics. Unfortunately creators can't help but mix in useless smut and graphic violence into an otherwise brilliant show.
Back when I was a dedicated X-Men collector Jeph Loeb wrote some of the more interesting story arcs for the X-Force title. Now he is co-executive producing HEROES on NBC. Personally, I think this is some of his best stuff. He gets both the superhero vibe and interesting ideas that appeal to superhero fans. HEROES presents ordinary, flawed people who are just starting to discover their powers. Around them are evil masterminds with concealed machinations already set in motion, and all but certain doom awaits the city of New York.
The show's writers not only reach out to pop culture touchstones such as Back to the Future (for time travel) but blend modern dramas into extraordinary situations. Hiro, the Japanese time-stopping teleporter even cries "Geat-o Scottu!" after realizing he just talked to himself in the past. After watching the first three seasons of Smallville, I saw a lot in common, but that is a good thing. Though fantastic, the characters and locations seem believable, though some are more intriguing than others.
Portraying each of these would-be heroes (with villains and villainesses) is a solid ensemble cast from a lot of look-alikes. In the early episodes the actor who plays Peter Petrelli (whose hair I have been trying to get for the last four years) acts and sounds too much like Keanu Reeves. One of the more twisted villains, Sylar, is almost a dead ringer for Ben Stiller. Finally, the all-but-indestructable Claire is portrayed by a Hilary Duff clone not even K-Fed can tell apart from the real one.
The main plot alludes to the imminent destruction of New York City by a nuclear explosion. The sub plots hinge on all of the characters coming to grips with their new powers. Some of these characters are more welcoming of their newfound abilities than others. Still deeper are the beautifully and coarsely woven strings of interaction between each of these struggling people.
The creators paint a vivid picture of a modern-day crisis but call upon many to suspend their disbelief for some of the drama that plays in the wings. The dramatization of everybody having affairs is ludicrous, but most people probably wouldn't know otherwise these days. Also, some of the violence is too over-the-top (no pun intended), especially for Sylar's crowning attacks upon the nicest and raunchiest of unsuspecting characters. The gore seems to be there mainly for shock value. Much of the depiction of said gore is along the lines of 70s and 80s splatter films. To the delicate it is offensive; to those past feeling it may be just another murder.
Though this is a prime-time show with high school characters, the content is for mature audiences. Parental supervision is recommended. Episodes include some of the best Japanese dialogue in ages mingled with: drug use, bloody violence against innocents, violence against women, strong scenes of sexuality including under-age attempts at rape, and scenes of mutilation.