Heroes - Genesis

 First episode done and its time for my thoughts on Heroes - Genesis,

Its a strange watch in 2020, these days we're used to super powered antics on streaming services and in the cinema but back in 2006 we were still two years away from the Robert Downey Jnr and Jon Favreau kicking the MCU into life. The big shows of the day from my POV were Lost and a newly returned Doctor Who so super hero wise we're in uncharted territory.

We're introduced to a number of characters who we don't know at this point are linked by fate with the added aspect that some of them are developing powers - some are ever so subtle, some we don't know about yet but the connection is powers are developing among certain people. We see, flight, teleportation, healing factors and the ability to predict the future via the medium of ketting up & getting the paint brushes out.

The filmography and making of the eclipse a central point of the episode along with Claires home footage of her emerging powers are the high points of a very poorly directed episode. The flight scene looks like the director has locked himself in the lav and took LSD just before filming.

Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder is a good choice as narrator and his monologue sets the tone well. In fact him Claire and Hiro are the most memorable characters and we don't yet know who are going to be the main players. The strongest aspects of this episode are the introduction of the paintings of the future and the questions over who has and hasn't got powers - as well as what exactly are some of the power.

Its a very good watch second time around as there are a lot of nods to later and earlier incidents. Also I paused it as the flight picture is blatantly Peter and not Nathan - something I never noticed before.

However there are a lot of problems - I've mentioned the direction so I won't be going there again. The main take I got from this episode is that The Wachowski Sisters would be along a decade later to do this properly a decade later with Sense8. Its too network orientated, instead of feeling like a world encompassing story all the characters are in America already. Also theres a lot of low level misogyny going on, the female characters are either characterised by looks - being a cheerleader or a stripper - or by being someones mum in one occasion both.

Its a 6/10 from me as I'm enjoying a lot of the mystery and introduction of characters, however a lot of the basics of being a TV show need a good going over.