Heroes Reborn - Season 1 Discussion Thread (with Spoilers)

[Christopher]

I was wondering if they recast Molly for any reason other than the twist at the end, but it looks like the original actress hasn't been in anything since 2010.

Wikipedia says that Adair Tishler took a break from acting "to focus on school and family." She's now attending college.

The new actress, Francesca Eastwood, is the daughter of Clint Eastwood and Frances Fisher. And she's stunning. Reminds me of Brigid Brannagh.

 

[Forbin]

Her eyes are strangely far apart, but, yes, quite pretty.

I like teleporter kid much more here than when he was Annoying Evil Peter Pan in Once Upon a Time.

I don't get why the Evo hunters slaughtered a room full of technicians. Unless it was a panic reaction. Except for the hunting and slaughtering part, they were sort of on the same side.

It would be nice to see Claire Bear, at least once in the pilot. I know she's busy with her own series, but I despise country music, so I haven't seen her in ages.

The video game power is ludicrous, but it's kind of cool having a character who looks exactly like an anime girl.

 

[Christopher]

I don't get why the Evo hunters slaughtered a room full of technicians. Unless it was a panic reaction. Except for the hunting and slaughtering part, they were sort of on the same side.

It was established earlier that the wife is a bloodthirsty, shoot-first kind of person. She even admitted it in as many words when they were stuck in the room and he was looking for a way out. She's not a rational actor; she's impulsively violent. She started shooting without thinking, acting on reflex, and the husband was clearly displeased with that; but once the others started shooting back, he felt he had no choice but to follow her lead.

I suspect that as time goes on, he's going to become more uneasy with her ruthless, kill-them-all fanaticism. He's been letting her take the lead because of his grief and pain, going along with her bloodthirsty rampage while doing what he can to rein her in up to a point; but it seems that he's the sane and rational one, and that he'll probably get more uneasy with her methods while she gets more unwilling to let him hold her back.

The video game power is ludicrous, but it's kind of cool having a character who looks exactly like an anime girl.

I just wonder why she never locks her front door. Is it because the violent crime rate is so low in Japan?

 

[Forbin]

They don't explain exactly what happened at the rally - ominous shadow falls over the venue, then everything blows up. So I wonder what exactly it took to kill Claire! We've seen her wake up in the middle of being autopsied with her body cavity wide open, get up, fold up her Y-incision, and walk away!

 

[sojourner]

What makes you think Claire is actually dead?

We didn't see her at the rally. We only saw HRG glimpse a video of him viewing a dead body under a sheet - that he doesn't remember himself.

Pretty flimsy evidence.

 

[Beagleman]

Eh, I'm not sold yet, thought most of the characters and storylines were kinda chliche/boring, it's nice to see HRG again but for the rest...? I like Levi and how his character seems more rational than his wife (which I hope will see a painful end). What power is transforming into a video-game char? ...I want to be Luigie! And I kinda miss Mohinders cheesy pretentious narration.

 

[Christopher]

On io9, they pointed out the oddity that Miko could somehow be unaware that her father had created a successful video game and manga series whose main character was based on her. How could she have missed that? And she does look kind of unreal in the way she dresses. So I have a theory that she isn't a real person who turns into a video game character, but a video game character who has been turned into a real person through her father's superpower.

 

[JD]

I'm wondering about Claire too. We didn't see her die, and in a show like this even if we see a body that still doesn't mean she's dead, or if she is, that she will stay dead. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up getting some surprise cameos by unannounced characters, like Claire, one or both Petrelli brothers, or Sylar by the end of the season.

 

[Forbin]

What makes you think Claire is actually dead?

We didn't see her at the rally. We only saw HRG glimpse a video of him viewing a dead body under a sheet - that he doesn't remember himself.

Pretty flimsy evidence.

Oh, I agree! And hope!

 

[Beagleman]

I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up getting some surprise cameos by unannounced characters, like Claire, one or both Petrelli brothers, or Sylar by the end of the season.

That's what I'm really hoping for.

 

[davejames]

Tried watching it last night, but just couldn't get into it at all. Instead of any kind of slow and gradual reintroduction to get you interested in the world again (as I was expecting), it just jumped right back in at full speed and jumped around from place to place so fast that I just could never get emotionally invested in anything or anyone.

Obviously that fast-paced, comic booky style was what made that first season stand out and seem so fun in the first place, but it still only gave you a handful of characters to focus on and introduced their powers in a gradual and fairly believable way. But now so many people are running around with flashy X-Men style powers that the world doesn't feel even remotely believable anymore.

 

[Christopher]

Tried watching it last night, but just couldn't get into it at all. Instead of any kind of slow and gradual reintroduction to get you interested in the world again (as I was expecting), it just jumped right back in at full speed and jumped around from place to place so fast that I just could never get emotionally invested in anything or anyone.

I felt it worked pretty well as a new introduction. Even if you were totally new to the universe, the opening minutes efficiently told you what you needed to know: This is an X-Men-like world where superpowered mutants (except not by that name) exist and are publicly known, and where a disaster created anti-mutant bigotry and persecution. Maybe Noah's story wasn't quite as clear to new viewers, though, what with all the references to his daughter and his history with the Company. I think the basics were pretty well spelled out, though.

Obviously that fast-paced, comic booky style was what made that first season stand out and seem so fun in the first place, but it still only gave you a handful of characters to focus on and introduced their powers in a gradual and fairly believable way.

I don't think the number of focus characters introduced was all that different. "Genesis" introduced Mohinder, Peter and Nathan, Hiro and Ando, Claire and Zack, Isaac and Simone, and Niki and Micah. "Brave New World" established Noah and Quentin, Tommy and Emily (and the penny guy), Luke and Joanne, Carlos and his family, Miko and Ren, and Molly and the people around her. It's about the same number of character groups and subplots in each one.

But now so many people are running around with flashy X-Men style powers that the world doesn't feel even remotely believable anymore.

News flash: It was never believable. It was a world where a total solar eclipse could somehow be seen everywhere on Earth at the same time. It was a world where a mysterious symbol and weird coincidences and synchronicities kept showing up everywhere with no explanation. Its superpowers were so fanciful and ridiculous that they made the Marvel Universe look scientific.

 

[Noname Given]

IDK - after watching the 'premiere' - I think a better title would have been Heroes: Regurgitated (Blech)

I mean, it's the same basic plot: "Something's coming" + "Evil clandestine organization manipulating"...

Japanese character (this time female) with a Katana; that (instead of helping focus to travel time) transports her into a video game as a character (or maybe her father's power is somehow to bring video game characters top life??); but either way, it still feels like Mr. Kring has a one track mind and can only tell one type of story.

Wasn't too interested when I heard they were bringing it back (probably because somehow NBC felt "Superheroes are IN - didn't we have a show once that...")

Again, I enjoy comic book superheroes a great deal, and IMO WB's The Flash really does that well and has been interesting and even managed to throw a few interesting quirks, etc.

Heroes Reborn, not really. Unless something really changes/improves, one season, tops (with Tim Kring again blaming the failure on NBC execs.)

 

[sojourner]

Well, it's still being billed as a mini-series, so one season would be the default here.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I found it enjoyable-- not quite as crisply plotted as the original Heroes, but still off to a very good start. My biggest disappointment was the death of the Haitian. That was sad and unfortunate. And it seems that HRG's super power is conversing with people just as they die seconds too soon to tell him what he needs to know. I wonder if Claire is really dead, or if they are just holding out the hope that the actress may decide to make an appearance.

Katana Girl is interesting, but I don't understand her powers. It seems very specific. Rather than having the power to enter video games, she seems to only be able to enter that one video game, and her power is connected to that specific sword-- how'd that happen? Was her father able to somehow influence the form that her power took? I suppose it will be important to the plot, but it seems like a pretty bad power otherwise. What would happen if someone unplugged the computer while she was in the game?

And I found that to be rather suspicious that HRG's wimpy partner got off with just a flesh wound. Bonnie and Clyde didn't seem too keen on leaving living witnesses.

 

[ZeNd]

Nothing in the choices matched the way I feel, so I won't vote, just comment.

In heroes first came out, I was a **HUGE** fan, of pretty much all of the different storylines started in season 1.

After watching the first two episodes of the new series, its the complete opposite, very big disappointment but not enough of a disappointment to stop watching (yet).

What I like thus far:

1. The return of HRG. I'm sure most feel this way but probably the best character from heroes besides season 1 sylar.

2. Teleport kid's storyline seems interesting and his powers seem interesting storyline material.

3. Pennyman seems like a goldmine of good material and background lore. He has the least screentime yet somehow portayed himself as the most interesting somehow.

What I don't like:

1. The overall plot of "something bad is going to happen" HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE IN THE ORIGINAL HEROES. Really? That almost single handednly turned me off. They wouldn't come up with an overall plotline that was more original?

2. Almost none of the new characters seem interesting at all except teleporter boy and pennyman.

3. I love japanese culture. I loved Hiro and Ando (season 1) and the whole japanese influence of the original series. With that said. I **HATE** miko and the dumb videogame storyline. This is 2015 and they show cgi from a game that looks like it made in 1915 instead of 2015. And the overall storyline is really dumb. By far worst part of the series thus far.

5. This may be forecasting, but there seems to be no forecasting of a "Sylar" like villain, which probably was one of the best part of heroes (Season 1). An entire shadow organization out to kill "evos" is somehow not as compelling as a single villian (Sylar)

6. I have yet to see anything really "cool" about this show yet. There was something about the original Hero's that got me hooked right away. It didn't even take a full episode to get me hooked. Right now it just feels like im watching this show out of respect of the original series.

 

[sojourner]

Katana Girl is interesting, but I don't understand her powers. It seems very specific. Rather than having the power to enter video games, she seems to only be able to enter that one video game, and her power is connected to that specific sword-- how'd that happen? Was her father able to somehow influence the form that her power took? I suppose it will be important to the plot, but it seems like a pretty bad power otherwise. What would happen if someone unplugged the computer while she was in the game?

The going theory is that Katana girl is a video game character and her "father" is the EVO. Basically he used his power to bring her into the real world.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Katana Girl is interesting, but I don't understand her powers. It seems very specific. Rather than having the power to enter video games, she seems to only be able to enter that one video game, and her power is connected to that specific sword-- how'd that happen? Was her father able to somehow influence the form that her power took? I suppose it will be important to the plot, but it seems like a pretty bad power otherwise. What would happen if someone unplugged the computer while she was in the game?

The going theory is that Katana girl is a video game character and her "father" is the EVO. Basically he used his power to bring her into the real world.

That could be. That raises similar questions, though. Does her father have the power to enter video games (assuming he's really in there), or just ones he created? Can he bring any character in the game to life? What happens if the computer is unplugged or destroyed? If it's an online game, can they exit at any point where there is an active device?

 

[Candlelight]

I'm 75% through the premiere. It's very slow and uninteresting so far. The video game is plain dumb. The new characters aren't a patch on the original cast. The way the promos trailed the show made it seem like there would be more of them in it.

Not sure if I'll carry on watching this. I stayed until ep402 last time. The magic is gone.

 

[Christopher]

^The magic was gone the moment season 2 premiered. At least what we're getting now isn't as awful as the original show's worst seasons.