Review: Heroes Reborn Ep 1 and 2

Review: Heroes Reborn Ep 1 and 2 

I think it’s safe to say that many of us who loved season one of Heroes and were heart broken by season 2 and 3 were skeptical about the announcement of Heroes Reborn on NBC. If you are unfamiliar with the series, Heroes is the story of a world filled of people with extraordinary abilities and how they deal with a world that does not fully accept them. Unfortunately during season two and three of Heroes, writers strikes occurred and diminished the quality of the show dramatically. They were able to end the series with a wrap up by announcing to the world that ‘Evos'(Anyone with super powers) exist and called it quits, which many of us were glad.

(Spoilers! Beware!) Heroes Reborn takes place years after the first series in a world trying to make peace with the fact that a new generation of human being exist. During their peace summit, an explosion takes place which destroys any hope for peace. Governments not force all Evos to register and they are often hunted down by hate groups. A majority of characters in Reborn have abilities and live scared for their lives in hiding.

Now that we are all up to speed, lets get into the review!

Overall Plot

I have to admit that they got me, I am sucked into the plot of government versus innocent citizens. A majority of us who watch the series are probably comic book fans and can relate this to Marvel’s Civil War where a mutant related incident results in the death of hundreds and causes the government to force all super heroes to register. The heroes fight against it and the entire Marvel roster chooses a side and fights for it. The difference between Heroes Reborn and Marvel’s Civil War is that there are no beloved masked super heroes, just everyday folks who have unique abilities that they can’t control because they try to never use their ability.

The first two episodes capture this feeling of isolation, segregation, and misguided hate. One section of the main characters is a husband and  wife who lost their son on the day of the explosion, they have since made it their mission in life to kill as many Evos as possible. The husband is far more sympathetic to Evos as he will often talk with them and attempt to resolve certain situations as peacefully as possible while the wife is death incarnate who spares no one. Once again, I am enjoying the plot quite a bit.

Characters

The characters in Heroes Reborn is vastly different from the original series as they are dealing with a world that fears and hunts Evos. Although we have only seen a glimpse of the characters and their personalities, you at least have an idea of what will come. You have a boy in high school who is on the run with his mom due to his powers, he is a good kid with a good heart that finds himself mixed up in terrible situations. Another is a war hero with a troubled past who discovers his dying brother ran an underground Evo railroad that takes Evos from there semi military state of America to the less regulated Canada and decides to take on his task. Noah Bennett is back and tried to regain his lost memories so that he can get to the bottom of the conspiracies regarding the explosion. You have two characters in Japan who discover that one of them has a video game that is based around them and the other assists the former in uncovering the truth of this. Then  you have a woman who is capable of locating any Evo in the world who also gets herself mixed in with the wrong crowd. Other than the Evo hunters mentioned in the Overall Plot paragraphs, the last character is ‘Penny For Your Thoughts’ who seems to be on a mission to protect his fellow Evos by any means necessary.

My thoughts on the characters are mixed, on one hand I love how unique and diverse all of them are and on the other hand, holy shit there are too many characters in different locations. I remember thinking this about the original series and, to my surprise, it worked quite well due to the killing off of characters. I have high hopes for the characters of this new series and am currently enjoying everyone.

The Powers

Although the characters and overall storyline are entertaining, we’re all here to see some awesome powers flash across the screen to please the inner 10 year old in us all. The first season had typical powers from regeneration to the power to produce freezing temperatures from their body. I was intrigued to see what the new roster of powers were and were glad to see the powers this season are the ability to teleport objects to locations of the user’s choice, transport into a video game, locate anyone on the planet, being able to make people forget, being able to walk through solid objects, turn into smoke, and more.

The powers are unique and should play big roles in the lives of the characters as they attempt to deal with the issues in their lives the best way they can. I will admit that I do wish there was at least one offensive power in the roster but then again this could make the show more entertaining as they have to find alternate solutions than outright killing their opposition.

The Cheese

There was only one aspect of the show that I cringed and rolled my eyes at and that was ‘Katana Girl’, who is one of the two characters they cover in Japan who is able to transport into a video game. Everything from the actors they choose to the low budget video game graphics they used in the show make it unbelievable to actual gamers and lovers of Japanese shows. Instead of having the Japanese characters be eccentric and ridiculous, they should have written them like normal people in normal situations like bumping into one another at a coffee shop or on the subway rather than the video game fanatic barge into the girl’s apartment unannounced and be ridiculous.

If this was their attempt to make him lovable due to his over the top nature then they failed big time. That entire sub plot makes me want to skip over it due to how utterly cheesy it is. If there is a chance the creators of the show is reading this, I highly recommend dropping the PS2 video game graphics aspect and sticking to live action combat.

The other aspect of the show I rolled my eyes at was the Evo Luchador. Don’t get me wrong, I love luchadors with a passion but the costume they used for him looks terrible. It looks less like a luchador mask and more like Kick Ass. I feel as though if they were going to go with a Mexican wrestler as a hero then they should have gone full measure by having a more colorful design. Obviously it would hinder stealth but that would make him that much more inspiring. This.This is the only major bad side of the premiere in my humble opinion.

In Conclusion

I am looking forward to what Heroes Reborn has to offer in their debut season. They have a good roster of characters, sub plots, overall plot, and so much more. I’ll admit that it is slightly less impactful as Heroes’ first episode but it is still incredibly strong. If  I were a betting man I would say that this is going to be a great season as long as they don’t give too much attention to the video game aspect of Katana Girl.

What were your thoughts on it?