Director: Greg Beeman
Cast: Dania Ramirez (Maya Herrera), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Adair Tishler (Molly Walker), Shalim Ortiz (Alejandro Herrera), David Anders (Takezo Kensei), Nick D'Agosto (West), Lyndsy Fonseca (April), George Takei (Kaito Nakamura), Eriko Tamura (Yaeko), Sara Solomon (Martha) & Barry Shabaka Henley (Detective Bryan Fuller)
The heroes have started new lives after the events in New York, but Hiro is still in the past with legendary Japanese warrior Takezo Kensei, while his father Kaito receives a death threat...After a debut season that became a global phenomenon, Heroes disappointed many with a plodding season finale. The sophomore season premiere of Volume II: Generations, entitled Four Months Later, jumps forward in time to catch-up with the heroes after they prevented New York's destruction...
Spaking of jumps in time, Hiro (Masi Oka) finds himself transported back to Kyoto, Japan in 1671, in the midst of a battle between a group of samurai and legendary warrior Takezo Kensei (David Anders). After saving Kensei from death, Hiro is disappointed to find his childhood hero is actually a youthful English conman, tricking his way across Japan...
Masi Oka was Heroes' heart last year, with his exuberance and saucer-faced joy proving to be the show's real trump card. Oka is his usual charismatic self here, although the period storyline doesn't seem to have much relevance. Historically, it's also extremely unlikely an Englishman would have been allowed to wander the Japanese countryside, as the Dutch were the only settlers -- but you don't watch Heroes for a history lesson!
David Anders (Alias) has a likeable vibe about him, but I'm not convinced by the decision to subvert expectation by changing Kensei's identity. I get the impression Hiro's "mission" is to make this unheroic young man live up to his own myth, but will audiences enjoy this historic diversion? I can't see how it can tie-in with present day events, but hopefully Hiro will drag Kensei into the contemporary world at some stage.
Back in the present day, the premiere focuses on adjustment for the characters, best exemplified by the Bennet family, who are now living as the Butler family in Costa Verde, California. Mr Bennet (can't bring myself to just call him Noah, sorry) is adamant indestructible daughter Claire "be entirely unextraordinary", so the shadowy Company don't discover their whereabouts...
Jack Coleman and Hayden Panettiere had a magnificent father/daughter dynamic last year, and their easy rapport is just as engaging as usual. Coleman is particularly great as Noah Bennet, forced to act subservient in a retail store, facing scorn from his young superior.
Panettiere remains endearing and cute as Claire, struggling to repress her academic skill and cheerleading prowess for the greater good. In an obvious development, the seed of a relationship is planted by introducing West (Nick D'Agosto), a young boy who takes a shine to Claire in class. It seems West will be allowed the romance that failed to develop between Zack and Claire last season.
Back in New York, Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) has joined the NYPD, thanks to his mind-reading advantage, but while his professional life is on the up, his private life has shattered off-screen in divorce. It's a good move to make Matt single, as he was stuck in a limp marriage that crippled his character's involvement for long periods of season 1's first half.
Molly Walker (Adair Tishler), the young girl who played a pivotal in the season finale, is now under Matt's guardianship, but plagued by nightmares about a supervillain we've yet to meet. In typical spooky kid style, Molly has taken to drawing red eyes emblazoned with the helix symbol that recurred throughout season 1.
Indeed, the helix motif is incredibly strong in this episode, indicating its stronger relevance this year. It seems to be tied to the unseen supervillain, who in turn appears to have a connection to the older generation of heroes. Kaito Nakamura (George Takei) is shaken to discover a photo of himself with the helix, used as a death threat. Kaito's been awaiting his son Hiro's return, while Ando (James Kyson Lee) has apparently risen to stature in Nakamoto's company, if his executive overcoat is any indication...
With the suffix of Generations, Volume II is clearly going to delve into the mysteries surrounding the older heroes -- including Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose), who cuts her usual Cruella de Ville figure throughout the episode, blaming son Nathan's cowardice for his current state as a bearded washout, grieving over the loss of brother Peter. Adrian Pasdar doesn't get much to do as Nathan, although a late scene hints at a bizarre development for his character -- as his reflection shows him burned and disfigured!
Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), whose "super power" is audience valium, sadly returns for more pretencious voice-over and humourless tedium. Here, Mohinder mirrors season 1's premiere with another crackpot lecture in Cairo -- speaking about an impending plague that only targets superpowered individuals. Frustratingly, the details of this plague remain vague and has appeared from nowhere, although I suspect it will become this season's "bomb". X-Men fans can be found rolling their eyes as Heroes rips off the Legacy Virus, though...
Writer Tim Kring stirrs some new characters into the mix, like mysterious Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky), a man with a "Midas Touch", who offers Mohinder a Company job. Hispanic siblings Maya and Alejandro Herrera also feature throughout the premiere episode, desperartely trying to get across the US border to cure Maya of her unspecified, dangerous power after reading Chandra Suresh's book...
Unfortunately, the Herrera's scenes are limp and unfocused, merely eating up time -- with actors Shalim Ortiz and Dania RamÃrez not given anything to do but run around and act scared. Their addition to the show also means more subtitles to read, as Heroes grows steadily closer to becoming a true comic-reading experience!
While catching up with all the characters is generally interesting, only the Bennet family are sufficiently well-drawn to have the experience mean something to viewers. But Matt and Molly make fior a nice duo, as Grunberg is far more plausible as a cuddly dad than action cop, and child actress Tishler looks much more confident in her role.
For a premiere, Four Months Later isn't dramatic or exciting enough to launch season 2 with the expected fireworks. The plague concept is sketchy, Hiro's subplot seems like another pointless diversion for the show's best character, while the hints at a mysterious threat is ground already covered by Sylar. Whatever tension exists over a new antagonist quickly dissipates when a "hoodie-villain" makes his debut, especially because the faceless, super-powered attacker was done last year.
Overall, season 2's premiere is a competent start to Volume II, with a handful of nice moments and enough intriguing notions to keep your faith. But after last year's whimper-not-a-bang finale, there's an element of caution in watching Heroes now. It remains to be seen if the writers can develop the characters, broaden the scope, deepen the mythology, and concoct threats that outdo a brain-guzzling psycho and an exploding man.
24 September 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm
