1.01 Genesis

In India, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a young professor, mourns the suspicious death of his father. Mohinder believes the death occurred because of his father’s wild but possibly true theories about man’s pending evolution into genetically enhanced ‘superheroes’. When Mohinder visits his father’s apartment to gather notes, he finds an American intruder scooping up secrets.

At the same time, we meet people who may be starting to evolve: a cheerleader who videotapes her failed efforts to kill herself; a young man, a Japanese man who can control the flow of time; a man whose dreams are becoming real; a single mom who is seeing someone watching her; an artist whose paintings predict the future.

The Indian professor journeys to New York and takes the same apartment – and same day job (driving a taxi) as his dad. Now he is being stalked by the same person or people who may have killed his father. And – to complicate things more – there are threads that tie these people together in ways they cannot imagine.

They all seemed destined to try to stop a large-scale explosion in New York City, as painted by Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera). 

Comments

There is polish, care, and good writing and acting in what I believe is a carefully planned amalgamation of successful TV shows like Smallville and 24. New life is breathed into the patterns by the ethnic cast and overseas locations, and there’s even a non-American, non-English speaker as a major cast member.

I’m not sure at this point in time how I feel emotionally about the choice of making the ‘Big Disaster To Avoid’ a huge explosion in New York City. It’s now over 5 years since 9-11, but it still brings back memories.

Nits

Claire’s (Hayden Panettiere) superpowers seem inconsistent. After she jumps off the bridge, she is still tucking in exposed ribs a few minutes later. But when she saves the man from the fire, she never seemed to get burned at all. And her regeneration in the food disposal is almost instantaneous.

Memorable Moments

• Mohinder lustily stamping on a cockroach in his dad’s apartment (which is a veiled contradiction of his own statements earlier about how cockroaches are highly evolved)

Quotable Quotes

"The Human Genome Project has discovered that tiny variations in man’s genetic code are taking place at increasingly rapid rates. Teleportation, levitation, tissue regeneration: is this outside the realm of possibility? Or is man entering a new gateway to evolution? Is he finally standing at the threshold to true human potential?"
– Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy)

"Use your death grip, Spock! The death grip!"
- worker in office to Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka)