Heroes: Thanks for watching.

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.

Heroes in Everyday Life

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but there is a very serious explanation for that. You see, this past weekend my wife, my four kids and I moved. Our rent is now $113 cheaper then it was, and $313 cheaper then what our landlord had planned to hike our rent up to without renovating anything. As a result of the move, we had no phone or internet for a few days. That changed yesterday, but yesterday I wasn’t feeling up to doing too much of anything and spent most of my time hooking up everything and patching my various games. So that is the reason behind the absence in posting. Which by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with what I plan to write about here in a moment. It’s only an explanation.

Today’s writing is going to be about one of my favorite subjects. Heroes. Before I get into all of that, allow me to offer you some insight on what exactly a hero is, per dictionary.com

he·ro [heer-oh] Show IPA

noun, plural he·roes; for 5 also he·ros.

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities orhas performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model orideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

3. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

4. Classical Mythology . a. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.  b. (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.  c. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

5. hero sandwich.

Alternatively, a hero is someone you might look up to. It is this form of a hero I wish to talk about today. For a lot of children when they are growing up their father or their mother is their hero. I could possibly argue my daughter Bonita has a little of that hero worship for me to the point that sometimes I wonder if she’s going to go all little boy from Unbreakable on my ass.

Anyway, to go along with all of this I am going to go into full detail on who I look up to the most. The one person above all others in my life that inspires me to be better, to do better and to keep on keeping on no matter how hard, or how bad things get. If my hero can do it, then so can I. So, without further ado, I present my hero…

This is my son Jason. Jason was born under very traumatic circumstances. His mother’s labor was induced as a result of the blood thinners she was on during her pregnancy. When they broke her water, it looked like the Hoover dam had cracked. The nurse left, and my son shoved his arm out into the world. The nurse returned and tried to shove his arm back in, so he could be moved and then delivered.

This did not work out to well. My wife was rushed down to an emergency c-section and I was left waiting, fearing only the worst. We had Bonita, but Jason here was going to be my first flesh and blood child. All of my life I wanted children, from as early as I can remember. Most kids dreamt of growing up to be firemen, or police officers, lawyers… but not me. My dream was to grow up and be a father.

As I waited to find out anything that day I saw all of my hopes and dreams crashing before me. All I could think about was how worried the doc looked when they wheeled my wife into the operating room. All the possibilities came rushing through my head, and only the worst took up shop. What felt like weeks later one of the doctor’s came out with a deep blue baby boy. My son, he wasn’t breathing. The umbilical cord had wrapped itself around his throat in the womb.

Now, the year prior to all of this, my wife (girlfriend at the time) was pregnant, we had a miscarriage. I did my best to hide how much that hurt me, she needed me to be strong or so I thought. I never allowed anyone to see me grieve, but when I was alone it tore me apart until the day I found out my wife was pregnant with Jason.

When I saw his little limp blue body on the cart, my heart broke. Still no one would tell me what was going on with my wife, and I was afraid I was going to lose her as well as my son. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Bonita any of that, or how I was going to explain anything to her sisters, or how I was going to keep living.

I followed the doctors up with my son, and they explained they were doing what they could to get him breathing. I couldn’t tell you anything else about what happened next, because I hardly remember any of it anymore. I know I was holding back the tears, and when we got out of the elevator onto the floor with the nursery and I saw my mother. The next thing I recall is being told he was breathing, but he was having seizures. A specialist was being brought in from Syracuse whose primary field was Neurology.

My son was alive thankfully, but he was heavily drugged on anti seizure medication. Everyone got a chance to see Jason, and we all talked to him. I couldn’t do it alone and I had to take my mother with me. I have nothing against crying, and I’m not the kind of guy who thinks because he has a penis he can’t cry. But, I knew everyone else was as afraid as I was and they were all doing their best to be strong, to keep the tiny flicker of hope in me alive.

When the neurologist got there, they told us things did not look good for him. If he lived, my son Jason would be brain dead for the rest of his life. My flicker of hope was extinguished inside of me, but outside I pretended things were going to be fine. Jason was taken to Syracuse where I had no way to get to him, my wife and I were in Rome. We only had one opportunity to go see him, thanks to my cousin Freddy. He had a big thing strapped to his head where they were essentially running what was like an IV. One of the hardest things to see at the time for me, but I dealt with it. We still didn’t know what was going to happen with him, but for the time being he was alive, and that was all that mattered to me.

Jason was born February 6th, by the end of the month we were able to finally bring him home in time for my grandmother’s surprise 80th birthday. That was over five years ago now, and today my baby boy graduated from his special needs Pre-K and will going into a regular kindergarten class this September. Jason is too smart for special education, my boy, the one who wasn’t supposed to make it and even if he had was supposed to be brain dead.

Never in my life has anyone else passed through who has ever been able to teach me that there is always hope quite like him. As a result I am proud to say my hero is five years old and the bravest and strongest person I have ever met. For that, I am incredibly grateful.