Less than a month ago I began my epic destiny. Scrolling through Netflix looking for something to watch, I came across the title of Heroes. Now I’d heard a thing or two about the show before, and I’m a big fan of the sci-fi and fantasy genre to begin with. Factor in my interest with super heroes and comic books and Heroes appeared to be a good mix for me to latch onto. Having watched in it’s completion Battlestar Galactica last year, and being relatively finished with Psych until new episodes come on I needed something to watch.
Now I like TV series, mainly because the story unfolds over a longer period of time instead of a small 2 –3 hour window. Heroes possessed 4 full seasons of episodes I could watch, and with a subject matter that seemed interesting to me I gave it a go, figuring I could decide whether I wanted to watch anymore of the show after the first episode.
This is when Peter Petrelli came into my life. A kind, caring and empathetic man who saw beauty in the world where others might not. He had a kind of emo quality to him, but at the same time represented such hope for what humanity could be. He was a dreamer, an idealist and abundantly loving.
Peter Petrelli felt he was destined for something more but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. He was having dreams about himself flying, and decided to share this with his brother, Nathan. Despite the theme that would be established later between the brothers, Nathan discouraged Peter though it was clear Nathan’s motives were out of self-interest. The very first episode ends when Peter jumps off of a building and Nathan, not Peter flies into the air to catch him. Nathan is not able to hold onto Peter, and when things look at their bleakest… TO BE CONTINUED…
With those three words I was hooked. Everything about the first episode pulled me into the story, the entire episode felt like I was watching a comic book and to have it ended with such a comic book feel left me sold. With my mind made up I began making short work of episodes. If I hadn’t been moving nearly immediately after starting the show I would probably have been finished with it awhile ago.
As the show went on, each episode left me with more questions drawing me further and further into the show. It wasn’t long before I began picking out favorites, and finding myself rooting for them through all of their struggles. Now, this is where I am going to choose to break away some as I don’t want to go in depth with the entire series and ruin anything for anyone who has never watched the show, so instead I am going to do something a bit different and give a rundown on my favorite characters in the series. I’ve already mentioned one of the five in Peter Petrelli, so on to another.
Hiro Nakamura, the overly excited and sometimes childish Japanese hero. His shouts of “Yatta” (I Did It) after moving time and space to teleport himself in the early episodes quickly became trademark. The early episodes portrayed Hiro as a very childish and naïve man. As the series progressed however Hiro would grow into a man.
Loving two women he was never quite destined to have, Hiro’s story is a rather sad one. Very few people suffer as much as Hiro does through out the series, but unlike some of the others Hiro never seems to lose his heart. Much like Peter, Hiro dedicates himself to being a good guy. Living by what he refers to as his “Hero’s Code”, and aided by his best friend Ando, Hiro manages to succeed in most of his endeavors. Hiro could possibly be the bravest, most noble character in the entire series.
As a result of this, combined with the many LOL moments provided by the character and the actor Masi Oka it was hard not to be entertained. Hiro was the lovable underdog, and as a result one of my favorite characters in the series.
Matt Parkman, played by actor Greg Grunberg was a hero capable of controlling the mind of anyone. His powers originally manifested in the form of being able to hear what people were thinking. Matt was a cop who had failed the Detective’s exam numerous occasions because of a learning disability.
He is first introduced on the scene of an investigation behind a multiple homicide, while there is a little girl missing. Matt is able to hear her thoughts and locate her. Matt thinks he heard the little girl talking, and is surprised to find no one else had heard her cries for help. The girls family was killed by a man named Sylar, which is a name Matt hears two FBI agents thinking about. When he brings this up, it leads to a bit of a problem for Matt.
Parkman finds his role in the early parts of the storyline trying to track down Sylar with the FBI. This causes him to cross paths with many of the other Heroes to be, including both Peter Petrelli and Hiro Nakamura. Matt continues to play a pivotal role in Sylar’s storyline throughout the entire series, tying directly into it at the end of the third season and most of the fourth.
Most of the time Matt is a steadfast Paladin for what is right, but times do arise when the ends justify his means. Mostly he operates under moral guidelines but pushed to certain lengths he has gone into the morally grey department. Matt is an emotional man, and leads a very rocky love life that effects the majority of his decisions. Above all else, Matt is loyal to his family, whether they be by blood or by deed.
Noah Bennett or HRG (Horn Rimmed Glasses) played by Jack Coleman is perhaps one of the more complex characters on the show.
Coleman does an excellent job of leaving you wondering his motives for most of the early parts of the series. Often referred to as the man in the horn rimmed glasses, Noah Bennett skirts the line of “morally gray” for the majority of the show. When you are first introduced to him you believe him to be the ultimate bad guy. At times, in the first few episodes I wondered if he wasn’t the man they referred to as Sylar. Bennett was always involved in anything to do with those with abilities, and when he discovers his daughter’s “attempts” filmed by an old friend of hers we are left wondering what he has planned for her.
As the show develops Bennett becomes a pivotal character in doing what is right. Despite his actions not always reflecting it, Noah Bennett is a good guy. Everything he does, he does for a reason. The man with the plan, Bennett balances his daughter’s secret with the long-term effects of his life’s decisions. HRG is perhaps one of the greatest manipulators on the show as well as the most bad-ass non-special. With no special powers or abilities, Noah can hang with the toughest of the specials.
The crowning piece on the Heroes storyline, Sylar aka Gabriel Gray played by Zachary Quinto plays the most interesting and most developed character in the series.
More often then not, Sylar is the bad guy. Many times we see glimmers of a good guy underneath, but Sylar lives for one reason only. To accumulate power, to become the most powerful of all the specials by taking the powers of others. Sylar, is discovered by Chandra Suresh, a man believed crazy by his colleagues for believing in the next stage of human evolution. After moving to America and deriving a formula to locate those with special powers the first and only one willing to meet with him is a Gabriel Gray. Gabriel, appears to have nothing special about him, but he is able to look at things and see how they work. It is through this power, combined with a hereditary hunger and a power of empathy that Sylar is born. The name, actually comes from a watch Gabriel is wearing when he needs to come up with a name.
Plagued by a need to be special, Gabriel slowly becomes the sociopathic Sylar. As the show goes on however, you begin to see how much Sylar craves just to have a connection. Most of his behavior comes from the uncontrollable hunger he does not know how to leash. Often having his emotions toyed with, it isn’t until Hiro Nakamura begins trying to fix wrongs in the world and confronts a past version of Sylar that the first real glimmer of redemption is shown in the man.
By the time the final episode ended, I felt as though I knew each character personally. I shared in their joys and their triumphs. I grieved with them, and hoped for them when things were going bad. Despite the many bad reviews I read, and the friends on Facebook who spoke on the shows decline, I weathered through it side by side with Hiro, Peter, Parkman and the gang. Even with an ending that many people didn’t like, I found it the perfect way to end the show.
It is a Brave New World indeed.