Review: HEROES REBORN Returns To Original Form and I'm Back In

You're going to read a lot of pretentious reviews about the continuation of Heroes.

"It's no longer original to do a superhero show in this day and age."

"Oh wow, short glimpses jumping around into people's lives not giving you time to make a connection...great job."

"How long until they screw us over again?"

F*** those guys. Heroes: Reborn is everything I wanted it to be. It reminded me why I was initially hooked back in 2006, and it showed me I can become hooked again.

To bring you up to speed in as spoiler free a way as possible...we open with a world where Evos are well-known and accepted into the world. That changes on June 13th, and those with special powers are now once again on the run. For the first two hours we primarily travel alongside with HRG himself Noah Bennett as he works to put the pieces together of a day he's long forgot two years later.

A lot of sites are really bashing the June 13th event in the show, saying it's a cheap allusion to 9/11. That's not a fair comparison. A disaster in the hub of Odessa, Texas is only comparable to one of our nations greatest tragedies in the sense it was a terrorist attack. In truth, especially when you look at the events that followed through the episode, it's much more akin to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A big attack happens and now those with powers are being registered with the states, persecuted, and overall treated like second class citizens, much like the Japanese-Americans during WWII. Some do register, others remember the past and hide, and some flee to surrounding countries. Our story mainly focuses on the fallout of June 13th still happening two years later.

I've already mentioned you see Bennett, but two other past faces make appearances as well in small roles. Other than that, we meet a fresh cast as follows...

• Tommy Collins: A teenage Evo with a spoilerish ability that won't be revealed until about midway through the first hour...it's pretty cool though. I enjoyed him and am guessing we will see much more of him throughout the course of the show.
• Carlos Guttierez: Twenty something Hispanic male living in East Los Angeles. Presumably Non Evo war veteran who returns home to a masked Luchador keeping his neighborhood safe.
• Miko Otomo: Japanese girl who can enter and leave a video game at will. Probably the coolest power in the show and much publicized. Don't act like I spoiled that for you.
• Ren Shimosawa: He's the Ando to Miko's Hiro. He knows the game Miko can travel through very well and becomes integral to her success.

We saw some other characters, but for the main part those are your Heroes for the time being. If I had to pick a favorite I'd goL Tommy, Miko and Ren, and Carlos. Tommy will definitely have a central role in the show it looks like, which is good because I enjoyed his segments the most.

The bad guy situation is interesting right now. Primatech is for all intents and purposes dead and buried, but vigilantes and non Evo groups are out in droves looking to rid the country of their powered friends. Our primary antagonists are played by Zachary Levi (Chuck) and Judith Collins. Levi does well in his role of conflicted killer while Collins truly shines as being a crazy, heartless bitch...for lack of a better word. I absolutely hated her by the end of the episode, and that's a good thing.

Then we have the mystery guy. Big man with a suitcase full of pennies. It's not entirely clear how his powers work, but it involves pennies, and at the moment it's really hard to tell if his intentions are good or bad.

The story was what you would expect...you learned a little but not a lot. The full story was scattered in bits and pieces through each character, and it's up to you to piece the mystery together before it all eventually ties together. If you don't like that, well. you likely didn't like Heroes in it's initial run, so don't expect a new and shaken-up formula going in.

There were a lot of things I loved in the first two hours of the show. The effects are just about as impressive as television superhero shows get, and they were ample throughout the two hours. There was lots of mystery and lots of action and always something to keep me enthralled and eagerly awaiting the end of the commercial break. It felt like when I first watched Heroes, essentially...and that's a good thing.

Oh yeah and your favorite soundtrack is back...mountain chants and all.

People say "blah people with powers," but that's not what got me into the series initially. It's not just people with powers, it's people with oddly specific powers. Each character has a power that's just as limiting as it is cool. It leaves out the option for "Superman" types (which ultimately killed the series for me in its first run) and leaves you with the conclusion that no one is really safe. These people may be special but they aren't leaps and bounds above their human oppressors. That's what has always made it refreshing to me.

I also loved that we didn't see the entire old cast shoved down our throats to give us that nostalgic feeling. I was cool with who appeared, and to start the show with Bennett was, in my opinion. the best you can start it with.

What I didn't like? The video game that Miko jumps into...my God it looks like a CGI Claymation. It's supposed to be an MMO in the same vein as WOW which I realize isn't the top tier in quality graphics...but damn. I felt like I was watching an episode of Reboot.

Honestly this may look a little better.

Really other than that I can't say much else that was negative. Whatever other issues I had they weren't massive enough for me to think back on this morning. Ultimately, they got me back. Past transgressions will go to the back burner for now, and I'm plugged in and ready to see how it pans out. Yeah, the story is pushing an angle that I don't believe for a second will pan out the way they are desperately trying to make you think it will... but it's more about the ride, and I enjoyed my two hour trip. Let the others on the review circuit continue to bash based on past transgressions...I'll be having a good time enjoying the good times while they're here.