Heroes

Created by: Tim Kring

Executive producers: Tim Kring, Dennis Hammer, and others 

Producer: Lori Moyter Kevin Lafferty

Starring: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh)

This is going to be a hard one for me to write for one specific reason: it's been ages since I've seen it (and no, I don't rewatch things to write these blogs). But I still feel a significant need to post about it before I leave my "favorites" list behind because it was one of the first shows I ever really, truly followed and emotionally connected to. 

I followed this series when it was first airing, back when I was in high school (I think). It caught my attention for a very specific reason, the same reason most shows grab me: it was about people with powers. Not every show that happens to have powers or the supernatural is actually good... but this one was. It was very good. 

Before I Google the show to help my jog my memory, I'll start with a few things in my mind from pure nostalgia and fond memory. 

• Save the cheerleader, save the world. 
• Sylar was creepy awesome 
• My name is Claire Bennet, and this was Attempt #1 
• Loved soaring through the heights of NYC with Mohinder delivering philosophical wisdom in a smooth, sage voice 
• Awesome explosion painting on the floor
• Micah learning to unlock his fascinating technopathy abilities 
• Hiro learning to unlock his fascinating time-space abilities 
• Probably the most devastatingly heartbreaking story in the entire series (franchise?) of Hiro trying to save Charlie from her murder by Sylar's hand 

I remember that every character's story in the first several seasons were captivating. Most interesting to me of all was Claire as a cheerleader with amazing healing abilities and her father, who was part of a shady organization that seemed to hunt down superhumans. I followed Peter with fascination as he sought to understand the strange phenomena in his life as his brother Nathan tried to shut him down in favor of his congressional campaign. I watched Hiro with amusement as he discovered his ability to teleport through space, followed by his self-serving friend Ando. The superpowered mother-son-father trio of Niki, Noah, and D.L. brought of fun factor of mystery as they escaped the law and Niki's split, super-strong personality. I sympathized with Matt, the mind-reading police officer, whose powers brought question to his authenticity as a cop. And finally the narrator Mohinder, our only non-powered main, who sought to understand and help the superpower phenomenon. 

The first season was probably the best of the show's full run. We as an audience came to know the characters and the world, just as the characters came to know each other and their world. It was a fascinating place of conspiracies, politics, unraveling new abilities, and discovering who could be trusted and who couldn't. All the while, a super-powered serial killer roamed the streets, and an ominous city-wide explosion threatened the future for everyone. 

As the series progresses, a few other interest plots and characters arise: a electrokinetic character named Elle who works for the shady organization; Hiro teleports back to medieval Japan to meet his hero samurai and find out the real guy is a sham, Claire searches for and discovers her biological parents, Niki's twin sister Jessica appears with waterbending (er, water mimicry), and an odd carnival full of superhumans crops up in season 4 that frankly lost my understanding, but was still fun to watch. Especailly because it was led by an earthbender. 

Sadly, the show truly did peter out of its suspense and intrigue as it went on and never managed to pick it up, even into its reboot. But in my mind, that doesn't take away from the masterpiece that was its seasons 1-3. I think the show broke new ground; it was truly about characters with supernatural powers and how they coped. Sure, there were other fascinating and suspenseful sub-plots like the shady organization and serial killers, but each of these were closely intertwined to the powers. I think this show really displayed to TV networks that powers-based drama can work, and can be fascinating. And I would go so far as to theorize that this show paved a way for comic-based series to attain massive popularity in the future (today). Shows that I've fallen in love with and plan to cover in future posts, like Supergirl, Jessica Jones, and Titans.

So thank you, Mr. Kring, for creating this masterpiece!