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)

1.02 Don’t Look Back

Mohinder returns to his apartment to find a suspicious exterminator doing something to the phone jack. He is saved by his neighbor Eden (Nora Zehetner), a former friend of his father. As they trade knowledge and check phone messages, they find a memory stick that contains a method for finding other superheroes. The phone messages also allude to a man called ‘Sylar’.

Niki wonders who killed the two dead thugs she found when she woke up. Her double graciously cleans up the mess she made, stuff the bodies in the trunk of their car, and provides a map of where to dump them.

Peter wonders why his brother Nathan can fly.

Hiro, teleported to New York, finds a comic book that already contains the illustrated story of his life, right up to the present. It was written and drawn by Isaac. But when Hiro visits Isaac, he finds the artist has been brutally murdered. As a tremendous explosion blooms outside the window, Hiro teleports back to Japan and the ‘present’.

Claire wants to find out about her real parents, but her father dissuades her, saying she should put it off and just enjoy life. He has ulterior motives that have yet to be fully explained. And now he has the missing tape that shows his daughter’s ‘talents’.

We also meet Matt (Greg Grunberg), a policeman who can hear thoughts. His talent enables him to find a girl hiding from a brutal murderer named ‘Sylar’ (yes, the same ‘Sylar’). But his inside knowledge also makes him look like a suspect, and he is arrested.

Comments

The ‘cockroach’ theme continues here, as a supposed exterminator is actually planting listening devices in Mohinder’s apartment.

Nits

All over the world, police organizations are notorious for protecting each other internally, and often looking for suspects elsewhere even when all clues point to the possible guilt of an officer. But here, based only on innuendo, a detective immediately clamps handcuffs on a policeman – because he has found a missing girl!

Memorable Moments

• Peter looking down and discovering that he is hovering

• Hiro turning back time to leave the scene of the explosion in New York

Quotable Quotes

"For all his bluster, it is the sad province of man that he cannot choose his triumph. He can only choose how he will stand when the call of destiny comes, hoping that he’ll have the courage to answer."
- Mohinder’s closing narration

1.03 One Giant Leap

Peter can’t seem to fly anymore, and Nathan is too busy campaigning to care. But Peter has located a copy of a book by Mohinder’s father.

Mohinder is frustrated with getting nowhere. When he throws his father’s notebook computer, a paper notebook falls out. It contains clues, addresses, and hair samples, perhaps from people who have ‘evolved’. One address is for ‘Sylar’ in Queens, New York.

Matt is being grilled by Audrey (Clea DuVall), but when he reads her mind, she realizes he is not a killer, and instead asks him to work for the FBI.

Simone tires of what she sees as Isaac’s drug-induced ravings, refusing to believe that he is painting glimpses of the future. She leaves him.

Hiro tries but fails to make contact with Isaac; if only he could tell the artist that his vision of New York going nuclear is true! Hiro does finally convince his friend Ando that he can bend time by freezing a scene and plucking a little girl from in front of a truck just before she is about to be hit.

Niki visits her mother-in-law, who defends her son D.L. (Micah’s father) even though Niki says he is a murderer.

Mohinder and Eden explore Sylar’s creepy apartment, where there is also a map showing people who may be genetically advanced. Sylar isn’t likely to surprise them, because he is, at that moment, trying to get the girl whom he missed at his last mass murder. Despite the girl being kept in a safe place, he is easily able to infiltrate, and later, we see why. Not only can he absorb multiple gunshots and make people turn their guns on themselves, he can move vertically to great heights to escape. It seems he may be a superhero gone bad.

Hiro and Ando journey together to New York City to stop it from going nuclear.

Peter tells Simone that he will no longer be sitting with her dieing father, that he is meant for bigger things.

Claire is ‘killed’ during a brutal attempted rape by Brody (Matt Lanter).

While driving home, Niki is stopped by a ‘policeman’ who tells her that Mr Lindeman (the mobster from whom she borrowed 30 thousand  dollars) wants to see her.

Simone and Peter meet at Nathan’s fundraising dinner, but Peter walks when Nathan lies during his speech and says that Peter recently attempted to commit suicide.

Hiro and Ando arrive in LA, but rather than flying to New York, Hiro says they must follow the comic book script and drive (in a Nissan Versa). First stop: Las Vegas, which pleases Ando, as his favorite website features striptease videos by a sexy girl known as Las Vegas Niki (yes, our Niki).

After an argument with his wife Janice, Matt seeks the solace of a bar, but reading the depressing thoughts of others isn’t very pleasing. But there is one tough looking black man who cannot be read and who meets and returns his stare – is this D.L.? As Matt gets up to leave, he feels dizzy, reels, and passes out on the floor.

Mohinder and Eden lead police back to Sylar’s apartment, but it is empty, and all incriminating evidence has been removed.

Peter punches Nathan twice for saying he tried to commit suicide.

On a rainy night, Peter and Simone share a first kiss under a shared red umbrella, and, back in his apartment, Isaac sees his sketch of that moment and knows it is happening.

Claire awakens, in the morgue, alone, undergoing an autopsy, her chest split open to reveal bloody ribs!

Comments

It’s becoming obvious that creator Tim Kring vision for a "…big show" can be realized. The characters and possibilities are so open-ended that, if handled well, this show could go on for years without ever repeating itself.

Eden (Nora Zehetner) is very skinny. Surely she is bordering on anorexic. They say television adds ten pounds. If so, she is probably invisble in real life.

Nits

It seems presumptuous for Eden to have and use her key to Mohinder’s apartment when she could have knocked first. She almost gets shot because of this. I also have a little twinge of misgiving about why Claire was making a video of all her exploits. At the time, it seemed like something a teenager would do, but when her father discovered it, it then seemed like a contrivance designed only to be discovered.

It seems unlikely that Nathan would view Peter’s suicide attempt as a positive way to gain votes.

Memorable Moments

• Time as frozen by Hiro

• Hiro shows Ando the next panel in the comic book, where the large woman sitting between them is sleeping on Ando’s shoulder. Ando’s expression is priceless (and sure enough, it happens)

• Subtitles when Hiro and Ando speak in Japanese – isn’t this a unique touch for an American TV show? I just hope they keep doing this

Quotable Quotes

Hiro: My only concern is…whether I need to hide my true identity. Perhaps a costume?
Ando: You even mention tights and a cape, I’m going home.

Peter: You son of a bitch!
Nathan: Easy Pete, that’s our mother you’re talking about.

"This force – evolution – is not sentimental. Like the earth itself, it knows only the hard facts of life’s struggle with death. All you can do is hope and trust that when you’ve served its needs faithfully, there may still remain some glimmer of the life you once knew."
- Mohinder’s closing narration

1.04 Collision

Matt awakens on an operating table, hooked up to machines, peering up at Mr Bennet and the mystery man (who has telekinetic powers, which he uses to inflict pain on Matt from across the room). They are testing him, then plan to wipe his mind.

Hiro and Ando are in a Las Vegas casino. Hiro, Niki, and Micah pass by each other.

Niki meets with Linderman’s lackey, who asks her to catch a visiting politician in a compromising position to ensure that they’ll have him in their back pocket.

Claire partially heals her body and sneaks away from the autopsy table.

Mohinder tries to warn Nathan that he may be under threat.

Nathan arrives at Peter’s apartment to find that Simone has spent the night. Believing that Peter told Mohinder about their abilities, he tries but fails to pay Peter off to leave town.

Just as Mohinder is about to give up and go home to India, Peter shows up at his door.

Hiro and Ando win big at roulette, since Hiro can stop time and place the ball wherever he wants.

Niki tells her mom more about her violent dreams and her feeling that there is someone else inside of her. She apologizes to Micah for being different and for having to go work ‘on location’.

Peter tell Mohinder that his power is the ability to channel the powers of others when he is near them. He cannot do anything by himself. He convinces his skeptic friend to accompany him to see Isaac. But when they arrive, Isaac is in the middle of painting in a heroin-induced haze, and does not answer the door.

Simone finally begins to believe that Isaac perhaps can paint the future when he shows her that he painted a picture of she and Peter kissing in the rain seven weeks before it happened.

Claire is back at school and decides not to tell anyone about Brody’s evil deed. But Brody knows what happened and he’s shocked to see Claire intact. While Claire hears from Lori that Brody is a serial rapist, she watches him already aggresively courting another young woman, and perhaps she wonders if she should just keep quiet about what happened.

Niki can’t keep her part of the bargain with Nathan, but when she leaves, her other half returns and takes over.

As painted by Isaac, Brody confronts Claire in a deserted amphitheater. She extracts revenge in a way only she could: she asks to drive Brody’s car, then slams it at high speed into a wall.

Mr Bennet takes the opportunity of two sleeping forms apre sex to capture Niki.

As Peter and Mohinder take a train home, time freezes everyone except Peter and one other person: Hiro. Now, he speaks perfect English, and says he is from the future, and that he has a message…

Comments

The last episode had some weak writing, and its leanings toward the horror genre made me wonder if the show was spirally downward, or at least away from something that held interest for me. But this week took us back into the realm of psychological drama (with a bit of shock horror thrown in too), and the writing is very good.

I’m really impressed with the intensity of Santiago Cabrera’s acting in this episode. He’s making Isaac a very believable tortured soul.

Conservative people and groups are not going to be happy about this show’s rape scenes, suicide scenes, and drug-crazed artists.

Nits

Do forensic scientists really stop in the middle of an autopsy to answer the phone? This seems like a contrived way to give Claire a chance to escape.

Memorable Moments

• Hiro taking a moment to eat an olive while time has stopped

Quotable Quotes

Matt: What are you, FBI? Huh? Are you CIA?
Mr Bennet: I’m not part of any organization that has initials.

Hiro: It’s cheating!
Ando: Is Peter Parker cheating when he sells pictures of Spiderman?
Hiro: No.

Peter: Maybe I can only do things when I am around people who can…do things. Does that sound as lame as I think it did?
Mohinder: It sounds like you should be talking to my father. This was his research, not mine.
Peter: Well, where is he? How can I get a hold of him?
Mohinder: He’s on the table.

Isaac: I need painting supplies.
Simone: I take it you’re not talking about oils and canvas.

"I can save everybody…I’m gonna be a hero."
- Isaac

"My name is Hiro Nakamura. I’m from the future. I’ve a message for you."
- Hiro to Peter (closing line)

1.05 Hiros

Hiro tells Peter that he risked a rift to give him a message: he must save the cheerleader. He says that Isaac will know. When time resumes, Mohinder doesn’t believe Peter’s visitation story.

Claire has survived the crash, and so has Brody.

Nathan’s attempted abduction by Mr Bennet is thwarted easily when Nathan flies to freedom at rocket-like speeds.

Niki awakens to find that her double has graciously fulfilled every distasteful request of Mr Linderman, and she is now free of debt.

Matt shows up at home. He has no memory of the last 24 hours; he thinks he just passed out in the bar.

Ando and Hiro are dumped well outside Las Vegas by one of the gamblers they fleeced. Ando is sick of getting beat up and leaves Hiro. At that moment, Hiro watches Nathan comes in for a landing outside the diner, burning his feet. Hiro tells Nathan that he can bend time, but Nathan is still a skeptic, even though he is a freak. But when he limo arrives, Nathan does agree to give Hiro a ride back to Vegas.

Claire tells her dad that she crashed the car on purpose because of Brody’s attempted rape and serial history. Mr Bennet promises not to tell anyone.

Peter finally sees Isaac. Although seemingly unwilling to help, Isaac’s paintings reveal a clue: the cheerleader whom Peter seeks.

Nathan drops Hiro off at Las Vegas and runs into Niki, who tells him he is about to be blackmailed. They dance around the notion that she is not the woman he slept with.

Matt and Janice begin the first steps to rekindling romance and trust with a romantic dinner.

Mr Bennet bedside manner with Brody is more than threatening. He brings his Haitian friend and tells him to wipe Brody’s mind completely.

Peter channels Isaac to finish the painting that could be the key to saving the cheerleader.

Niki returns home to find her house swarming with cops, looking for D.L, who was sighted nearby. When someone approaches the back door, guns are drawn – but it is only Ando. She explains that she is not the person he has been ‘chatting’ with online. He asks for her help, but she turns him away. The police leave…and we see D.L., already in the house, lurking in the shadows.

After what appeared to be a very successful lovemaking session, Matt’s trip to a convenience store to get ice cream for the sated Janice ends up being an adventure. First, he stops a thug from holding the place up. Then, overwhelmed by the thoughts of others, he collapses.

Hiro and Ando are united to continue their quest.

Peter finishes the painting as Hiro calls Isaac. Peter and Hiro make phone contact in the present.

Comments

Everything is meshing together nicely, but it’s good to see that the creators are in no hurry to bring everyone together or to solve any of the gray areas.

One of the more interesting characters is Claire’s father, Mr Bennet. He’s a contrast in protectice fatherly love and villanous destruction of whichever heroes he can catch. How he will resolve this with his daughter is anyone’s guess.

Adrian Pasdar’s subtle head movements help to create more than just a one-dimensional character. I never thought much of his acting on the series Mysterious Ways, but he’s excellent here. And he’s got the perfect oversized square head of a superhero.

Nits

In Isaac’s apartment, as Peter finishes the painting, his wisps of hair alternate between covering his right eye and sitting combed back on his head, depending on the camera angle.

Matt is making no effort to hide the fact that he can read Janice’s mind. Surprisingly, she doesn’t seem to be shocked or creeped out by it, she’s just all happy and blissful.

Memorable Moments

• The Haitian’s little sideways glance toward the audience as he closes the curtain on Brody’s memory

Quotable Quotes

"Save the cheerleader, save the world."
- Hiro to Peter

Peter: I don’t know why, but I’m supposed to see you. You’re supposed to have the answer.
Isaac: Is that what, um, I sound like? No wonder she left me.

Brody: You don’t know your daughter.
Mr Bennet: I know her even better than she does.

Hiro: My name is Hiro Nakamura.
Peter: My name is Peter Petrelli. I have a message for you.
(closing line)

1.06 Better Halves

Peter gives present day Hiro the same message the future Hiro gave to him: Save the cheerleader, save the world. Isaac and Peter realize that the paintings are a comic strip, and the key missing painting was given to Simone to sell.

Claire’s dad says he has made contact with Claire’s biological parents, and they want to meet her. Claire agrees to meet them.

D.L. confronts Niki in her house. Niki has a chance to tell the police he is in there, but she decides not to. D.L. convinces her that he was framed and that he always had his family’s best interest at heart. Eventually, Niki relents and invites him to bed. In the morning, Niki sees her double in the mirror, caressing D.L.

Claire discusses with Zach how she will react to meeting her birth parents.

Hiro and Ando try to start out on their quest, but are detained by the gambler they fleeced. While they are in the toilet, plotting their escape, an unknown woman beats up or murders everyone at the table. They escape out the window. Hiro is upset that he didn’t save the gamblers, but Ando convinces him that when he gets better at bending time and space, he can return and fix things.

Mohinder tell Eden that his outing with Peter did not result in any superhero sightings. He packs his bags to leave, and even her kiss goodbye does not sway him. Eden says he will be back.

Niki accompanies D.L. to find the woman who murdered his crew, but instead they find he aftermath: the dead gamblers from Hiro and Ando’s game. Niki tells D.L. that she thinks she is the murdering woman.

Claire’s birth parents don’t admit to having any special powers and they don’t seem to be hiding anything. But when Mr Bennet escorts them out to the car, their parting conversation seems to indicate that they were imposters, hired by Bennet for the purpose of appearing like Claire’s parents. Claire’s subsequent conversation with her mom reveals that Claire’s chromosomes are unusual in some way.

Eden calls Mr Bennet (who is obviously her employer) to update him on Mohinder’s plans and the possible superheroes that she has heard about.

Niki’s double stops long enough to update her on all of the evil things she has done. She framed D.L. and killed his crew. Now she’s blackmailing Niki to continue the scam, get the money, and get away with Micah. Led to the attic by her double, Niki finds a suitcase stuffed with money, and a gun. D.L. discovers her and says he will take the money and Micah, so her double gets to work on him. But a distraction from Micah allows D.L. to ‘kill’ her.

Isaac paints drops of blood on the face of Niki as a visitor comes to his door: Eden.

Comments

I like the tension and dynamic of two guys (Isaac and Peter), both in love with the same woman (Simone), forced to work together for a greater cause.

Nits

Granted, maybe D.L. didn’t go through with the crime to steal 2 million dollars from Linderman because of the implications for his family, but why did he even consider it in the first place?

Memorable Moments

• Finding out that Eden is working for Mr Bennet

Quotable Quotes

Isaac: Tell him about the guy from the future.
Peter: He is the guy from the future!

Eden: Also, there may have been an encounter with somebody who can stop time.
Mr Bennet: Really? That’s cool.

"Most of the time, in relationships, when somebody makes a mistake, the other person just pretends it didn’t happen. But when someone thinks you made a mistake and you didn’t…it just gets a lot more complicated."
- D.L. to Micah

1.07 Nothing to Hide

Peter shows Simons’s dieing father Charles that he can fly…but this is only in a dream. When he awakens, a distraught Simone is at his door to tell him that his father has died.

Zach tells Claire that, strangely, he has found her implicating tape under his bed, even though he had checked there before. He leaves in a hurry, and the tape ends up in the hands of Claire’s little brother Lyle. Lyle views the tape, staples Claire’s hand to see if she really is a freak, and watches the wound heal instantaneously. Lyle takes the tape and seeks solace in the family car, but Claire is able to convince him to keep her secret and keep the family together.

Niki awakens to find Micah gone, abducted by D.L. She faces the mirror and, for the first time, willingly asks her double for help.

Matt is about to tell Janice that he has the ability to read minds, but just as he is about to say it, he reads that she has a secret from him. It sounds like perhaps she has been having an affair. Caught off guard, he decides not to tell him.

Simone tells Peter that the missing painting that he requires was sold to a Mr Linderman from Las Vegas.

Nathan initially says no to an opportunity for some free publicity involving his family and his wheelchair-bound wife, but mom and wife convince him that he needs the poll boost. Peter shows up unexpectedly at the brunch, asking Nathan (in private) to contact Linderman and get the painting, then threatening to fly off the terrace in front of the reporter. The reporter confronts Nathan with the rumor that he went missing for a few hours and a blonde was involved, but Peter jumps in, saying that Nathan visited a clinic where he was being treated and spoke personally with a woman doctor about his case.

Matt is pulled out of the locker room by Audrey. Sylar has killed again and the FBI needs Matt’s mind-reading ability. A fingerprint on Sylar’s latest victim leads to the person who committed the murder: Ted Sprague (Matthew John Armstrong). Audrey and Matt go directly to the suspect’s house, but all they find are pictures with faces burned off, and lots of radiation. Matt doesn’t think Sylar lives at this house. Evidence is that the suspect’s wife was being treated by the doctor who was Sylar’s last victim. At the hospital, Matt is able to talk the man down. He is irradiated, and did kill the doctor, but he is not Sylar. Matt is able to hear his comatose wife thoughts and last words; she passes away while Matt and Audrey are standing there. Sprague might be another superhero.

Micah isn’t happy about being with D.L. and wants to go home. Niki discusses her double with Tina. Micah and D.L. reach a car wreck in the desert; a woman is trapped inside. Hiro and Ando show up a little later. D.L. reaches through the window and frees the woman, but is about the be engulfed in flames when Hiro stops time and pushes them to safety. Ando has called the police to aid the injured, so D.L. and Micah must go quickly.

Niki calls Nathan to ask for help, but with his wife in the same room, he hangs up on her. Nathan assures his wife that the story of him at the Vegas clinic is true.

With nowhere else to turn, Niki invokes her other half, ‘Jessica’.

Matt finally returns Janice’s calls, and leaves a message saying that he feels there is a secret between them. She is there, listening to the message, but doesn’t pick up the phone. Back at the station, he ‘hears’ his supposed buddy say that he is sleeping with his wife, so he punches him.

Nathan arranges for Linderman to send the painting back to Simone’s gallery, and then tells Peter that Linderman wouldn’t part with it. He also tells the story of his attempted abductions, and warns Peter to be careful.

Micah uses his heretofore unrevealed powers to call Jessica on an out-of-order pay phone to tell her where he is. He also shows that he knows the difference between Niki and Jessica. Jessica loads a round into her gun and prepares to head out.

Comments

Up to now, I wasn’t sure that D.L. was a superhero. He is another example of a character who is a shade of gray. He’s not a saint, but he has redeeming qualities. And up to now, I had no idea that Micah was a superhero.

Nits

Did I miss a scene or something? Matt went from passing out at a convenience store to being back inside his house, and I have no idea how he got there.

Memorable Moments

• Hiro stopping the explosion (this whole scene was great, because initially I thought it was a trick by law enforcement to trap D.L.)

• D.L. finds Micah talking on the out of order phone, and says, "You talking to your mom?" "No", says Micah, and he is telling the truth, because now he knows the difference between Niki and Jessica

Quotable Quotes

"I see her in the mirror, and she tells me that she wants to come out again. And the part of me that needs Micah back…wants to let her do it."
- Niki to Tina

"Why couldn’t I have super-strength, too?"
- Hiro

Claire: Just give me the damn tape!
Lyle: I’m gonna put this thing on YouTube and make like a million bucks!
Zach: YouTube’s free, you idiot.