Herosite Reviews

Overview:

We meet the characters. Each has a super-power of some kind. Some of them dream about jumping off buildings. Others like filming amateur stunts or teleporting to the ladies' room. At present we're all yogurt, but we should strive to be cockroaches. Like God. We're all "special," but some are more special than others. Lots of ideas about the meaning of life and our sense of isolation come up. It could have been sentimental, pretentious garbage. Instead, it turns out to be a beautifully realized vision of each individual's struggle to come to terms with who they are. An awesome premiere from start to finish.

Overview:

Peter wakes up in hospital, draws a picture, then acts out the stick-figure sketch with Nathan. Daddy Bennet wants Claire to be his little girl forever and ever (ew!). He now knows about Claire's attempts to kill herself, but doesn't seem too upset about it. Meanwhile, Niki has alternate-personality issues, Mohinder meets his father's 'friend' (yeah, right), and a cop becomes telepathic. A tightly-scripted episode, developing the characters at the same time as introducing new ones. It's made spectacular by Hiro's visit to the future and the final twist to his story. The premiere was good. This is even better.

Overview:

The Smallville boys combine forces. Loeb writes a great script and Beeman gets a great performance from the cast. Peter likes to hang out in the playground with little kids watching. Nathan humiliates his brother, but he might be doing it to help him. Claire wants to be normal, but gets into a horrible situation with the quarterback. Dig, Niki, dig ... a better story! Simone is in turn annoying and endearing, so I'm reserving judgment. And Hiro steals the show for the third week in a row. Yatta! Also, buy an iPod! And a Nissan Versa!

Overview:

This week on Heroes: Mohinder loses the faith, Hiro cheats at poker, Nathan betrays his wife, Isaac shoots up, Simone is very confused, Mirror-Niki puts a heel spike to a guy's head, and Claire drives her rapist jock into a wall. Several of the above might still be considered "heroic" in some way. In other news: Matt wakes up in a lab with Daddy Bennet looking down on him, Peter figures out that he's a conduit for other people's abilities, and Future-Hiro shows up to visit Peter with "a message." Probably the strongest episode so far.

Overview:

Future-Hiro parades the "Save the cheerleader, save the world!" slogan and goes back to the future. Mohinder decides that everyone's mad, which perhaps is not all that surprising. Peter visits Isaac and helps him to finish a painting. It's not very good. Nathan and Hiro meet, and much hilarity follows. Meanwhile, Claire superheals, Brody gets a memory wipe, and Matt uses his telepathy to give his wife what a girl wants. Waffles and Nathan flying are two reasons for a "Woo-hoo!!", but there are lots of others. Despite a couple of questionable turns in the plot, the excellence continues.

Overview:

Niki and D.L. meet. Hostility ensues. Niki decides that D.L. isn't such a bad guy. Romance ensues. Mirror-Niki tells Niki to take the money and run. A big showdown between Mirror-Niki and molecular-phasing D.L. ensues. Does anyone else feel sorry for Micah? Poor kid. Meanwhile, Claire meets the bio-parents, Eden turns out to be working for Daddy Bennet, and Hiro and Ando hide in a bathroom while card sharks get their limbs ripped apart. The focus on Niki's arc gives it some momentum, but several characters are ignored completely this week, and the overall pace feels a little slow.

Overview:

D.L. takes a road trip with Micah. They encounter explosions. Niki's now permanently Mirror-Niki/Jessica. Micah can repair broken technology with his mind, and knows about Niki's alternate personality. Claire's brother finds out she's indestructible, and tests her ability with a staple gun (oh, brother). Nathan does an interview and screws up a lot, but Peter covers for him. Matt reappears and brings a radioactive guy to justice (sort of), then finds out that his wife is having an affair. The episode presents huge steps forward for Nathan, Micah and Matt, and some excellent sub-plots for Claire, Hiro and Peter.

Overview:

Mohinder resumes his university post in India, but falls asleep a lot and dreams of a boy with a football. Hiro meets a waitress who absorbs vast tracts of information. Sylar gives her the scalp treatment, so Hiro travels back in time to save her. He goes a little further back than intended. Isaac feels the Eden rehab love, but Daddy Bennet doesn't care if Isaac's rehabilitated. He just wants to save the cheerleader. Meanwhile, RadioTed and Matt compare notes about their experiences. Possibly the strongest episode so far, with a tight script, excellent performances, and development to several key story arcs.

Overview:

Claire becomes Homecoming Queen. She punches Jackie. Sylar works the scalp treatment on Jackie. Can't anyone be nice to Jackie? Sylar and Peter jump around a bit, Peter borrows Claire's insta-heal power, and Eden works the whammy on Sylar. Peter appropriately asks whether saving the cheerleader means they've now saved the world. The cops aren't interested. Meanwhile, Mohinder goes hunting for Sanjog Iyer (who, predictably, he finds playing football), Ando lounges around at the diner all day, and Micah reveals that he knows about Jessica.

Overview:

Six months ago: everything went horribly wrong. A watchmaker wanted to be "special" so badly that he started removing people's brains. Linderman sent goons to kill Nathan, and Heidi ended up paralyzed. Niki got a visit from her father and a visit from her dead sister. Matt met Eden, went for donuts, then failed his detective exam because of dyslexia. And Hiro's batteries ran out while Charlie got the Sylar scalp treatment a second time. An intensely captivating, well-performed and inventive episode, but filled with inconsistencies, and ignoring the characters it should have focused on the most.

Overview:

Peter dreams about going nuclear. It might have something to do with him meeting lots of heroes, or the fact that Sylar's now free from Daddy Bennet's workshop and very, very cross. In other news: Eden's dead, Niki wants to go to jail, Isaac's painting Hiro with a dinosaur, Matt's in Texas, and Claire finds out that her dad likes wiping people's memories. And the Haitian speaks. The only thing missing is Mr. Muggles. This could have been a season finale. That the show can produce such an amazing episode halfway through its first season is a testament to its quality.

Overview:

Peter's having flashbacks from his nuclear nightmare. They now include Christopher Eccleston. Claire feels alone and decides to tell Zach the truth once again. Hiro finds his sword. It's a replica, and Linderman has the real one. Simone makes herself useful by offering to help, and Nathan doesn't want to see New York explode before he becomes a congressman. Meanwhile, Matt organizes a SWAT raid on Primatech, Daddy Bennet visits Mohinder, and Niki gets the death penalty. Some amazing acting and good character development, but it's slower-paced than previous episodes and feels more like a set-up for the rest of the season.

Overview:

Claude agrees to help stop Peter from exploding. This involves lots of effort from Peter, who's not the first sponge. Claire phones her bio-mom, and she's a firestarter. Micah robs an ATM to help D.L. pay the rent. This temporarily puts an end to D.L.'s whining. Matt gets suspended from the police force, fixes a leaky pipe, and learns that Janice is pregnant. He couldn't be happier. Hiro's dad comes to New York and turns out to be Mr. Sulu. And Sylar is alive and well, and still very cross with Daddy Bennet. It's not the best episode for momentous plot twists, but it's a solid set-up for upcoming episodes.

Overview:

Claude begins training Peter. This involves cynicism, theft and a thirty-storey fall off a rooftop. Isaac's working for Daddy Bennet, who's busy trying to stop Sylar from killing his family. Claire's in no immediate danger, though, because she's in Kermit meeting her firestarter bio-mom. Claire doesn't know, but her bio-dad turns out to be Nathan. In other news: Papa Sulu lets Hiro return to his mission, and Jessica walks out of prison. Despite one or two flaws, this is an intensely dramatic and fast-paced hour, and as close to perfect as the show gets.

Overview:

Matt gets a security job. This leads to a shoot-out with Jessica and Matt pocketing $2m in diamonds. Claire wants to meet her bio-dad, but Meredith's not so keen after blackmailing $100k out of him. Mohinder and Sylar track down a guy who liquefies solid objects. Sylar gets there first, scalps him and takes his place. And Ando helps a showgirl retrieve a bag. The Matt and Niki stories speed up, Mohinder becomes central to the plot, and Claire's search for her bio-parents comes to a tragic resolution. The disappointment is Hiro's thread, which comes to a total standstill.

Overview:

Peter learns to control his powers. Daddy Bennet starts firing tasers and Claude bails. Peter blames Isaac for messing everything up and Isaac accidentally puts a couple of bullets in Simone. In other news: Claire tells Daddy Bennet what a bad man he is, Mohinder and Sylar meet a mechanic with super-hearing, Hiro tells Ando to go back to Japan, and RadioTed and Matt team up to take down Daddy Bennet. I'd use words like 'phenomenal' and 'jaw-dropping', but it's pretty much a given that this one's a masterpiece.

Overview:

Through flashbacks, we learn how Bennet joined The Company, how he and Claude were partners, how he turned Claude in, and how he adopted Claire. Back in the present, Matt and RadioTed take the Bennets hostage, Claire gets shot, and Eric Roberts shows up to help RadioTed go nuclear. Claire sedates RadioTed and saves the day, but Boss Roberts is peeved that no one told him about Claire's insta-heal power. To protect Claire, Bennet orders the Haitian to wipe his memory, take Claire and run. A 100-word summary can't begin to convey how brilliant this episode is.

Overview:

Mohinder figures out that Zane is Sylar. He proceeds to torture Sylar. Then Sylar tortures Mohinder. Then Peter loses the emo-bangs and the world weeps. Meanwhile, FBI agents approach Nathan to discuss Linderman's downfall. It goes awry. Jessica kills the agents and Linderman entices Nathan with ideas of presidency. Hiro gets his sword. His powers immediately return. And Claire ditches the Haitian to go find Peter. She finds Grandma Petrelli, who reveals that she's the one giving instructions to the Haitian. Despite a ton of plotholes and inconsistencies, it's an amazing hour for story twists and character arcs.

Overview:

Linderman reveals the Big Plan to Nathan. It involves a nuclear explosion in New York which kills .07% of the population. Apparently, this unites the world with a sense of solidarity. Nathan thinks it's nuts, as do we, but then begins to reconsider. This is after Peter takes a chunk of glass to the head and needs to be brought back to life by his darling niece. In other news, Daddy Bennet escapes from Primatech with Matt and RadioTed, Mohinder teams up with Thompson to stop Sylar, and Hiro meets himself. And Isaac gets the scalp treatment, which is all kinds of tragic.

Overview:

Hiro and Ando get a glimpse of the future. Peter goes nuclear, New York explodes, and Nathan covers it up by pinning the blame on Sylar. Sylar scalps Nathan, uses Candice's ability to masquerade as President Petrelli, and organizes a mass culling of superheroes everywhere. Peter and Niki hook up, Matt sells his soul, and Claire becomes a waitress. And Mohinder? Still being duped. It seems the only way to change the future is by getting Present-Hiro to slay Sylar, which pretty much takes us into the final three episodes, but also raises a bunch of questions about who these characters are, and who they're turning into. And it's awesome.

Overview:

Sylar realizes he's the bomb, feels guilty, and decides to visit his mom. Hiro follows Sylar to his home and plans to kill him. He fails. Peter doesn't want to leave New York, and he doesn't want Claire to either. They end up in Kirby Plaza, which, coincidentally, is where everyone else is, and where the SuperTrio's road trip concludes. In other news: Jessica and D.L. are part of Linderman's superhero breeding program, Nathan's just about ready to blow up New York, and Mohinder gives Molly Walker a blood transfusion to cure her illness.

Overview:

Matt and Daddy Bennet journey through Company Central. They meet Molly and Mohinder, and Thompson meets a bullet. Peter stops himself from going nuclear and plans to skip town with RadioTed and Claire. Their attempt is thwarted when Sylar helps AudreyClea to track down RadioTed. Sylar then intervenes and gives RadioTed a good ol' scalping. Hiro visits the Samurai Workshop and finds Papa Sulu there. Strenuous training ensues, and Papa Sulu totally kicks Hiro's butt for most of it. Micah rigs Nathan's victory in the election. Before Linderman can exploit the kid further or put any more bullets through D.L., D.L. phases a fist through the guy's brain. I'd add how brilliant this episode is, but that sort of goes without saying.

Overview:

Sylar paints a showdown with Peter, then heads over to Superhero Square to make it happen. Hiro teleports Ando back to Japan, but returns in time to stab Sylar. Claire ends up in the clutches of Nathan and the Ice Queen, but dives out a window and joins everyone else at Superhero Square. Peter has a dream of Papa Deveaux, and learns that all he needs in order to save the day is love. His smackdown with Sylar ends up turning him into the bomb, but Nathan shows up in time to fly Peter into the upper atmosphere, where they both explode. Or not. We'll find out next season.