Celluloid heroes

My temptation to call this post “Hiro’s Heroes” is all but overwhelming at this point, but I’m going to hope I come up with something better before I get finished.

I did! Thank God for the Davies brothers.

Random reactions to HEROES, the only TV show I'm watching:

* I was, at first, baffled and intrigued by the stripper character (Nikki). Her power seemed rather freaky – did her mirror image actually somehow come to life, stepping out of the looking glass, as it were, into solid, physical reality, to do the things that the stripper couldn’t or wouldn’t do for herself? And if so, did that mean that the two basically switched places, and Nikki herself was trapped in the mirror, while her alter ego was out rampaging around?

It was with a rather odd, abrupt rush of simultaneous disappointment and satisfaction that I realized, sometime in the second episode, that her power wasn’t anything remotely that Gaimanesque – she’s just The Rose And The Thorn, that’s all. Making The Rose persona an Internet stripper is a very Modern Age updating of the character, but other than that, she’s pretty much a straight swipe – er… tribute. Yeah. That's it. She's a tribute.

* I like pretty much all the characters in the show. And it would actually be hard for me to pick favorites. I like the earnest, somewhat bewildered telepathic cop (Matt). I like the plucky, perky indestructible cheerleader (Claire). I like the idealistic younger brother guy who apparently has the powers of the Mimic (Peter). I’m not wild about the drug addict artist guy (Isaac), but, well, so far he’s been pretty obnoxious, so that’s understandable. I can’t say I admire big brother the politician (Nathan) much, but he’s an interesting and enjoyable character, and pretty clearly has an arc to go through. The stripper is okay, although, honestly, she’s gotten a little whinier lately than I find ideal. And, like everyone else, I find Hiro’s enthusiastic embrace of his powers (which are, admittedly, pretty much the coolest powers any of them got) to be enormously charming.

Having said all that, did they have to make both super-chicks blonde? For that matter, did they have to make the cast so overwhelmingly white? So far, the only black guy in the show (DL) seems to be sort of a creep. Although, with Nikki's kid (Micah) turning out to have powers too, they’re starting to redress that. Hopefully we’ll start seeing that it’s not just white folks that can have super powers.

* Mad props to whoever came up with the idea of putting the comic book by the clairvoyant artist in as a story element. It’s a fabulous visual prop that wouldn’t work anywhere near as well in any other medium.

* Hiro jumped into the future when he beamed himself to New York City? Way cool!

* Hiro’s buddy better not get caught watching strippers on his work computer.

* Figures the Indian scientist guy (Mohinder)'s totally hot little brunette elflike next door neighbor chick (Eden) is evil. She probably has super powers, too.

* Most of the cliffhanger endings in this show have been fabulous, especially Claire waking up on an autopsy table, and Future Hiro coming back to tell Peter how to save the world. But the ending where Peter passes the message on to Present Day Hiro over the phone isn't dramatic at all.

* That bit where Nathan blasts off into the sky, and then goes supersonic? Awesome. I got wood.

* I wonder if Syler, the villain, has multiple super powers? Or if he also has mimic powers, like Peter, and he's stealing body parts from super powered people so he can get a ‘charge’ from them?

* I should really learn everyone's names. It's a problem I have with big ensemble dramas on TV.

And now, I have learned everyone's names, and updated this post, thanks to the wonderful SuperFiancee. Once again... Luckiest. Man. In. The. UNIverse.

Thanks, baby.