Heroes: Don't Look Back
(S01E02) Tonight's episode adds to the puzzle and that's just fine by me. It's still early and, as packed with characters and plot threads as the opener was, this episode seems like the second half of a two hour premiere. We're just getting started, still meeting new characters for the first time, and only Flying Boy has yet to cross paths with any of the other heroes.We get our first intimations of a named super villain tonight: Sylar. He (it?) likes to collect, or eat, superhero brains. Sylar is Mohinder's father's "patient zero" which I guess means he's either the link to all the heroes, or the first one with powers, or maybe the cause of everything, or, who knows.
Evidently, Mohinder has a hard time entering an apartment without finding a government agent creeping about. This is the second week in a row. But this time at least he meets a super-cutie neighbor -- who luckily handles a gun pretty well for a antique bookstore clerk. But Mohinder needs to have someone to deliver his exposition to, so she comes in quite handy in that way too.Flying Boy, Peter, and his brother the Flying Congressman both possess the super power, as some commentators guessed last week. Their Mom also possesses a secret power -- she has the ability to do excellent job of channeling Jessica Walters' character Lucille from Arrested Development. Could her delivery of the revelation that Peter's father had killed himself been any dryer?
I enjoyed Greg Grunberg (the great character actor who played Agent Weiss on Alias) as under-achieving cop Matt Parkman -- even though, with Psychic Artist's paintings and Peter's somewhat prescient dreams, I think the show's in danger of clairvoyant overpopulation.
Niki (Looking Glass Girl) is trapped in a horror film. I like the way the series jumps back and forth between gruesomeness, comedy, and family drama. Well, I could do with a little less family drama. If Peter dials back on the angst, that would be fine by me.
The character this week who is still my favorite is Hiro. Sure he avoids the murder wrap and has now has five weeks to avert the apocalypse, but first he finds himself back on the crowded train back on the way to his miserable cubicle farm job. It's tough to be a hero, but he's doing his best to embrace it and make it work. And apparently he hasn't got any better handle on his powers that do the others, yet. Except Clair, she seems to have the whole reset your twisted spinal cord thing down pretty well.
Now at the end of episode two, I still think the show is as promising as I did after the pilot. I'll be interested to hear what you all thought of it ...

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