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For some reason, I missed this when it was on TV. I heard rave reviews but I didn’t want to start watching in the middle of the season and miss what was going on. I did catch the first episode but never another one after that. So, I jumped on this as soon as it came out on DVD. Of course, I started this on September 2nd, 2007 and the season is starting on the 24th, so I hope I can bang through this set in short order before the season starts. So let’s get to it!
The Main Characters
There are a ton of characters in Hero, so I will try to make this as concise as possible. Claire Bennet is a cheerleader in Texas who is invulnerable. Isaac Mendez lives in New York and believe his paintings tell the future, but he can only paint them when he’s high. Hiro Nakamura is Japanese and can teleport through time. Mohinder Suresh is not empowered but his murdered father was investigating these special people when he was killed. Peter and Nathan Petrelli are brothers. Nathan is running for office and both have the power of flight, and Peter has the power of siphon off others powers, but only those nearby him. Matt Parkman is a police officer with the power of telepathy. Niki Sanders is a stripper from Las Vegas with an evil altar ego. Her son Micah, is great with machines. Micah’s father is DL, an escaped convict. They are all strangely connected and seem to come into conflict with HRG, Claire’s father, and his assistant, called The Haitian. Behind it all is a villain named Sylar.
The Setting
Our main characters are scattered all over the globe. Most of the action takes place in New York City so we will go with that.
Season One
---Disc One---
1) Genesis (53:15)
Original Airdate: 09/25/06
Mohinder Suresh is a professor in India when he learns his father, a scientist living in New York and working on research, is killed. Mohinder spoke to his father earlier and his father was worried someone was following him. He goes to his father’s apartment and is stunned to learn someone else is there. Throughout the episode we are introduced to a cast of characters with odd, somewhat supernatural experiences or powers. In Texas, a cheerleader, Claire Bennet, finds that she cannot be killed or hurt. In Las Vegas, a stripping single mother, Niki Sanders has a child Micah, a whiz with machines. Niki seems to have an evil altar ego and is on the run from a mobster who she owes a large sum of money too. In Japan, an office worker named Hiro Nakamura learns he can manipulate time and can teleport. Nathan Petrelli is running for Congress and is pissed his brother, Peter, a daydreamer, thinks he can fly. Peter also has a strange spiritual connection to his brother. As it turns out, it is really Nathan that can fly. Finally, we meet an artist, Isaac Mendez, who believes his paintings are signs of the future. These seemingly unrelated entities are strangely connected in some way and are all witness to a solar eclipse. This gets cool points for mentioning the X-Men even though he referenced the wrong issue. The intrigue continues as Niki’s altar ego has murdered two mobsters, Mohinder is driving a cab and picks up Peter Petrlli, and ironically, the man who was in his father’s apartment and ironically, Claire’s adopted father. This was just an amazing episode to set up all the characters and demonstrating their powers and leaves with a cliffhanger, Nathan dropping his brother after Peter jumped off a building thinking he could fly and Nathan flying up to get him.
2) Don’t Look Back (42:53)
Original Airdate: 10/02/06
Hiro ends up in New York and finds a comic book that surprisingly stars himself. He is shocked that it mirrors his life, and the exact conversations he had with his friend. He seeks out the writer/artist, the man we know as Isaac Mendez. Hiro finds his apartment, and sees Isaac’s head chopped off at the scalp, and the cops descend on him, He passes out. He is questioned, he calls his friend who says Hiro has been missing for five weeks. Turns out, he had teleported forward into time, to November 8th, when an atom bomb detonated in the NYC. Niki starts blanking out and missing huge chunks of time, and it’s all her alter ego. She and Micah go on the run, in a brand new car (with the cadavers) courtesy of her altar ego. Mohinder is attacked by someone in his father’s apartment and the girl across the hall saves him, a woman who was the friend of his father, a woman who he told theories about. Mohinder wants to know everything. He also listens to his father’s messages and hears a name, Sylar. They find a portable hard drive and Mohinder finds his father succeeded in his work. In high school, Claire gets unwanted attention for being a hero but one of the other girls takes credit for the save, like the attention-grabbing whore she is. Claire finds out that her friend who had been videotaping her jumping to her “death” had been stolen from his bag, then gets her neck broken by a football player. She hides it from everyone and no one is any wiser. She goes back home and her father says she can meet her birth parents and it turns out he has the tape of Claire jumping off the ledge. Peter is in the hospital and knows Nathan saved him, but Nathan tells him he jumped, trying to kill himself, and landed on a fire escape. Peter manages to get it out of Nathan that Nathan actually flew, but Nathan tells him they both flew. We visit with Matt Parkman, a cop, in Los Angeles, trying to help in a murder/ kidnapping case but being unable to when the CIA show up. The victims had their heads sawed off, and a name, Sylar, is mentioned as the killer. Matt starts hearing the voice of the little girl and manages to find her! Does he get a hero’s welcome? Nah, they just berate him, and arrest him on suspicion of murder. Damn, another awesome episode. We’re introduced to a new hero, a telepath, Hiro went 5 weeks into the future (and is an honorary member of the MMMS) and knows what will happen, and the mystery of Sylar, Claire’s dad and Niki’s personalities deepen.
---Disc Two---
3) One Giant Leap (43:32)
Original Airdate: 10/09/06
Hiro tries to convince his friend he really can manipulate time. Hiro saves a little girl by stopping time, proving to his friend he has powers and his friend says he will go with him to New York. Mohinder is getting increasingly frustrated with his father’s work and throws the laptop, cracking it open, revealing a book, with a name (Sylar) and an address. More questions. Mohinder breaks into Sylar’s home and finds a map exactly like the one his father has, but with more names, including Nathan Petrelli. He brings the police there but it is cleaned out. Simone leaves Isaac as Hiro tries to contact him to warn him of the future. Niki and Micah go to their grandmother’s house. Niki is told that DL was framed for the murder he commited. Micah says that they will never find his father and she takes off with her kid, only to have a cop pull her over saying this Mr. Linderman, needs to see her. Matt Parkman is asked to work for the FBI after proving he can read minds. Sylar tries to kidnap the young girl but Parkman shoots him down, only to have Sylar rise and escape. He comes home to a disinterested life and goes to a bar, listening in on people’s conversations. There he sees a mysterious man whose thoughts he cannot read and he passes out. Peter attends a rally for Nathan and uses his brother’s “accident” for his own political gain, pissing Peter off. Claire tries to live a normal life, attending a postgame celebration with her classmates and the team’s star quarterback. He puts the moves on her and tries to rape her but she fights back, and lands on an branch that is thrust into her neck. She wakes up on a coroner’s table being autopsied in the cliffhanger. Decent episode, I don’t care too much for the Petrelli stuff, yet, but I love the Mohinder mystery and the Hiro stuff.
4) Collision (43:26)
Original Airdate: 10/16/06
Parkman awakes to Mr. Bennet aka Horn-Rimmed Glasses (HRG) on a table with a whole bunch of wires attached to him. The mysterious man from the bar is there and can seemingly block telepathy. Hiro and Ando end up in Las Vegas, in the same casino Niki and Micah are in. Ando loses all the money, so Hiro uses his powers to win some of it back. He wants to leave since he cheated but Ando asks if Peter Parker is cheating when he sells pictures of Spider-Man? Let’s gamble! Of course, they’re gambling gets them in trouble. Niki is told she needs to sleep with an arriving politician from New York, none other than Nathan Petrelli. Niki can’t do it, but her alter-ego has no problem with it. After their love-making is recorded, HRG is there with the mystery man and says to take the one. Nathan is on his way to meet Linderman for a 2 million dollar donation and Mohinder tracks him down before he leaves. Nathan doesn’t talk to him and completely blows him off. Nathan thinks Peter set him up to it and Peter arrives at Mohinder’s door. Mohinder is skeptical at first, but Peter brings him to meet Isaac. Isaac is busy painting a picture of Claire’s impending doom. Mohinder and Peter head back on the train, when mysteriously all time stops and only Peter is moving. A Hiro from the future comes to visit him. Claire awakes after having the tree branch removed from her neck and is on a coroner’s table. She gets up and walks away while the examiner is on the phone. It turns out she can only heal after the branch was removed. She returns home with no one knowing what had happened. Claire isn’t too pleased with the jock, who is a serial rapist. So she takes him for a ride in his car, crashing it into a brick wall. Claire is one vengeful you-know-what, but you can’t really blame her. Another great episode.
5) Hiros (43:30)
Original Airdate: 10/23/06
Hiro from the future tells Peter he must save the cheerleader and to go to Isaac and answer the phone when he is there. HRG and the Haitian take Nathan away but he just flies away. Niki is shocked that she slept with Nathan, but doesn’t remember any of it. Matt Parkman arrives home with no memory of what happened. He uses his new power to improve his marriage. He goes to the store and is overwhelmed by the voices, and even stops a robbery. He passes out due to all the voices, though. Hiro and Ando are dumped by the Texan in the desert, near a diner, and they enter. While there, Hiro sees Nathan land from flying and walk into the same diner. Hiro introduces himself and warns him of a bomb in NYC and that he wins the election. Nathan gives Hiro a ride back to the hotel where he runs into Niki. Niki tells him that it wasn’t her who was with him and warns him of blackmail. Niki is free of her dept, though. Nathan quickly turns the tables on them, though, getting more money out of it. Claire tells her father about what the quarterback, Brody did, including him forcing him on her, so Mr. Bennet has a word with him. Brody meets the Haitian, and the Haitian wipes Brody’s memory. Niki comes home and learns her husband has escaped jail. Ando even shows up at her door, too. She tells him she can’t help him so Ando goes back to Hiro. They call the artist, and Peter answers, and he has a message for Hiro. Future Hiro was just awesome and I love the Mr. Bennet character.
6) Better Halves (43:33)
Original Airdate: 10/30/06
Peter tells Hiro, “save the cheerleader, save the world.” There is a missing panel from the paintings that Isaac drew, and Simone has the painting. DL makes contact with Niki and Niki tells him he needs to leave by morning. She changes his mind and DL stays. Micah asks how DL got out of prison and he says he walked out. Claire is told by her father that a meeting has been arranged with her biological parents. She meets them and is unimpressed. It turns out the bioparents worked for HRG. Hiro and Ando try to make it back to NY but the person they swindled tells them they need to use their mojo to win back the money for him. They go there and when Ando sees the scary man has a gun, he takes Hiro to the bathroom. While there, the three people are killed and Hiro is upset they didn’t do anything but hid. Turns out, those are the people DL knew who used to work for Linderman. DL and Niki came to look for them and are shocked at the carnage. Niki thinks it was her who did this. She blanks out again and then has a conversation with her other self. She tells herself to either choose the money or DL, and Niki picks the money. DL finds out and isn’t too happy to learn that Niki set her up. DL says he’s taking Micah but evil Niki appears and whacks him across the room. DL shows off his superpowers, too, that he can phase through things. DL takes Micah and leaves. Mohinder tells Eden he is going back to India to scatter the ashes. Eden is sure he’s coming back. Eden then calls HRG to let him know that Mohinder left and about all the powered people Mohinder has mentioned. She even mentions to HRG about saving the cheerleader. HRG tells her to get the precog, and Eden shows up at Isaac’s door. Not as great as the previous episodes, but it does set up some interesting things, especially with Eden working for HRG.
---Disc Three---
7) Nothing To Hide (43:29)
Original Airdate: 11/06/06
Claire’s friend tells her that he found the tape of her jumping off the ledge. So Claire leaves it around and her brother, Lyle picks it up and watches it. Lyle now knows her secret. Niki wakes up to find Micah gone and asks for help in the mirror. Niki reveals the name of her alter ego, Jessica. Simone tells Peter that her father died and when they go to tell Isaac, they find he’s gone. Simone tells Peter the painting he wants was sold to a man named Linderman in Las Vegas. Peter has been protecting his wife from the press and it seems he’s being doing that since she’s wheelchair bound. Apparently, she was in an accident where Nathan was driving. Of course, during Nathan’s lunch with an important journalist, Peter shows up asking for the painting from Linderman and saves Nathan’s ass from the reporters questioning about a blonde woman in Vegas. Nathan calls Linderman to get the painting. Audrey tells Parkman that Sylar has struck again, this time a victim was burned to a crisp via radiation. They use fingerprints to learn Sylar’s identity, a man named Ted Sprague. Audrey and Parkman investigate and figure out Ted is not Sylar but another super-powered being. His power is that he can emit radiation. Parkman is a hero but learns his buddy at the precinct is sleeping with his wife. DL takes Micah away and runs into a car that is burning with a unconscious woman inside. DL tries to save her but the car ends up exploding. Luckily, Hiro and Ando were in the car right behind them and Hiro stops time to pull DL and the woman out of the way. This resulted in a hilarious conversation with Hiro and Micah. One last reveal before the episode is out, Micah is a technophobe, he can control electronics. He calls his mother and tells her where they are, and she loads a gun, ready to leave. A little bit of a letdown as nothing I thought was really advanced, and no parts really blew me away.
8) Seven Minutes to Midnight (43:29)
Original Airdate: 11/13/06
Mohinder is in India, spreading his father’s ashes. He struggles with his decision on whether to return to America or stay in India. While there, Mohinder experiences vivid dreams where he is reexperincing events he was at, as well as ones he wasn’t. This is due to another superpowered young boy named Sanjog. Mohinder also learns he had a sister. The boy, Sanjog, shows Mohinder how his father died and there was a man wearing a watch who did it. Mohinder gets a key and finds a folder his father was keeping with research on Sanjog. Hiro and Ando are in a diner and meet a waitress with an amazing memory, a memory that just started working like that. Hiro marvels at her speaking Japanese whilst a man in shadows, wearing a watch, watching them uses telekinesis to get a coffee cup. This man would later kill the waitress, named Charlie, cutting off the top of her head. Hiro remembers the painter being killed the same way and tries to go into the past to save her. Parkman and Audrey interrogate Ted Sprague and Parkman is shocked to see that Ted has the same scars on his neck that he has. The scar is two parallel lines, like the letter H without the line in the middle. Ted mentions the Haitian that Parkman met as well, realizing they have a lot more in common. Of course, as he’s questioning him, more authorities come to take him away. Parkman goes home and his wife admits to the affair but Audrey calls her to tell him Ted escapes. Mr. Bennet visits Isaac to plead with him to finish the painting. Bennet tells him that he needs that painting since his daugther is in his paintings and Sylar is going to kill her, and no one knows who Sylar is. Isaac can’t pain and so Mr. Bennet makes Eden give Isaac the drugs to get him to paint. It appears Eden has some sort of persuasion abilities. So the episode ends with Hiro still the past and Isaac working on his painting. The Hiro and Mohinder stuff were really good. I don’t like Ted as a character and the rest was just average.
9) Homecoming (43:27)
Original Airdate: 11/20/06
This episode takes place during Claire’s homecoming. Niki/Jessica buys a rifle to kill DL with. Micah tells DL about how the Jessica side of her shows up and mom needs help. Jessica finds DL and takes a shot at the end of the episode. Mohinder finds Sonjag and Sonjag tells him that he already has the answer as to which path he must take. Mo doesn’t know what it is, though. He finally learns the answer and gets into his dad’s computer, showing a list of all the names. As we know, Sylar is after Claire and is going to kill her tonight. Claire argues with her old cheerleader friend who tells Claire that she can’t possibly be homecoming queen since she’s unpopular now. Turns out, Claire won the queen title since all the rejects of the school voted for her. She’s even given a copy of Suresh’s book on super-powers. Claire comes home and isn’t happy to be told by her father she needs to stay home. Zach comes after her and convinces her to go. Nathan buys the painting from Linderman that Peter wants and destroys it, with all references of Claire’s school being erased. Simone calls Peter anyone and tells him what was on the painting. Luckily, Simone had a digital print of the painting and Peter is in it. Peter calls Hiro (and Ando answers since Hiro is gone) and tells them they need to go to Odessa TX. Hiro is still nowhere to be seen but Ando sees a picture of Charlie and Hiro together that was taken six months ago. Peter goes to the school and bumps into Claire, but he thinks that the other cheerleader, is the one he needs to save, since she claimed to run into a burning fire to save someone. Sylar sees the same picture and thinks the same thing. He goes after the other girl, while Peter and Mr. Bennet are there and hear the girls screams. Peter runs into Claire and tells her to keep running as he stares down Sylar. They both fight and fall off a ledge, with Peter really hurting himself, but he leeches off of Claire’s powers to heal himself. Sylar gets away and oddly enough, runs into Eden. She and the Haitian take Sylar away. The cops show up and arrest Peter Petrelli. The episode ends 6 months in the past with Hiro at the diner with Charlie. This was a really good episode that brought almost all the plot lines together with some awesome thing.
10) Six Months Ago (43:25)
Original Airdate: 11/27/06
Hiro teleports 6 months into the past to save Charlie’s life. Hiro starts working at the restaurant and he gives her a Japanese phrase book. This whole episode takes place 6 months ago. So Hiro takes Charlie to Japan and she professes her love for him. She tells him she has a clot in her brain that is going to kill her. They are about to kiss and all of a sudden he’s back in Japan in the present and can’t get back. Chandra Suresh gives a man called Gabriel a copy of his book, since he is looking for special people. Chandra runs tests on Gabriel Gray but he seems normal. Gabe doesn’t like this information. He takes an address of a Brian Davis, who is telekinetic and leaves. He gets Brian to come to his store, kills him so he can “fix” his brain and calls himself, Sylar. We go to LA and see Parkman pulling over Eden, who uses her powers to get out of a ticket. Parkman drives off but the Haitian is in front of Eden’s car. Claire falls hand-first into a glass and cuts it very badly. She goes to the doctor as Chandra calls Mr. Bennet about Claire. Mr. Bennet visits Chandra about his research. Niki is at an AA meeting, and she is one year sober. We see her father who she hasn’t spoken to in a long time. We see that Jessica is really Niki’s dead sister. Niki’s father does meet the family and gives Micah a laptop. He leaves and we just know her father did something very terrible. So Jessica shows up and attacks her father, as revenge for him killing Jessica. The Petrelli’s celebrate Peter graduating from nursing school. Nathan tells Peter that the DA wants Nate to prosecute Mr. Linderman. Nathan decides not to do it since his father was involved with Linderman and he didn’t want to take his dad down. Nathan drives home with his wife and some guy starts driving behind them bumping the car. Nathan flies up and the car collides into a barrier, injuring Nathan’s wife, paralyzing her. The end is very good as Sylar shows Chandra he now has powers and Mr. Bennet sends Eden to get Claire’s name off of Chandra’s list. We return to the present with Hiro coming back to Ando. Hiro realizes he can’t change the past, the power is bigger than him. Pretty good episode setting up the past and its effect on what we know in the show, and that introduction of Sylar was just awesome.
---Disc Four---
11) Fallout (43:20)
Original Airdate: 12/04/06
Claire told her dad about her powers and he tells her that he already knew about her powers. Peter is in jail and so Nathan drops everything to help him out. Audrey and Parkman are on the trail of Sylar and Parkman finds another set of footprints and thinks Sylar was taken away. Peter is questioned by Parkman and Audrey and Peter reads the mind of Audrey and tells them they need to protect Claire Bennet. So Audrey and Parkman search her out. So they talk to Claire but Parkman can’t get anything from her since the Haitian is there. Claire talks to Peter and likes the fact there are others besides her. Claire comes home and learns Lyle’s memory had been erased and he no longer knows about her power. She meets with Zach and his memory has been erased, too. The Haitian comes after Claire now and even speaks to her, asking if she can keep a secret. Jessica shoots DL in the shoulder but he phases, avoided a shot to the head. He and Micah escape. Jessica catches up to them and Jessica goes too far, injuring Micah. Niki takes over and can’t believe what happened. She turns herself over to the police for fear of Jessica taking over again. Isaac meets with Ando and Hiro and Isaac shows them the comic he had been working on, complete with scenes of Hiro and Charlie together. Eden goes into Sylar’s cell to try to use her powers to kill himself but he uses his telekinesis powers and tells her he will absorb her power. She blows her own brains out. Peter is freed from prison and passes out, waking up in New York, having a vision of all the main characters together. It seems that Peter was the exploding man referenced earlier in the episode. This was just an awesome episode with all the Heroes being touched upon on this episode.
12) Godsend (43:26)
Original Airdate: 01/22/07
Mr. Bennet believes that Claire’s memory had been erased but Claire knows the truth. Claire realizes that Zach doesn’t remember anything and speaks to the Haitian about it now. Claire feels alone. Claire tries to have Zach tape her falling again so she can rekindle her friendship with him. The SWAT team go into HRG’s place (Primatech Paper Company) searching for Sylar but Sylar had been moved and Parkman can’t read minds to find out where he is. Parkman returns home and comes clean with his wife. Hiro goes to NY to look for the sword he is destined to have and it is in the Museum of Natural History. It has the strange symbol we’ve seen throughout the series (on Niki’s back, and the Haitiain’s necklace). He steals it but the sword is not actually there, it was a replica donated by the Lidnerman group. Peter is in a coma, Nathan is worried about him and Simone takes him to visit Isaac. Nathan says this can’t be all connected and as soon as the words leave his mouth, Hiro pops in mentioned Linderman has the real sword. Nathan is stunned. Mohinder talks with an officer about the people from his father’s list that are dead or missing. Niki is being questioned by someone in prison and Jessica keeps battling Niki for control and it seems Niki is losing. Mohinder learns Eden is dead and is upset about it. He returns home and HRG is there. HRG tries to get the list but Mohinder won’t work with him. HRG gives him his card. He leaves the hospital and no one knows where he is. Simone is stunned by all the heroes and Simone says she knows Linderman and can get him the sword. Peter has another vision and he again explodes, glowing much like Ted was when he practiced his powers this episode. We also see someone laughing. Peter says he can’t control the power and Nathan says he won’t leave him. Peter is the cause of the explosion in New York. He’s on the phone to go to Las Vegas when he sees the laughing man from his vision. The man Peter sees is invisible. Another really good episode deepening the mystery behind the explosion, revealing enough secrets to make you want to come back for more.
13) The Fix (43:25)
Original Airdate: 01/29/07
Peter talks to the Invisible Man who makes a reference to meeting someone else who can replicate his powers. Hiro thinks he has lost his powers. They go to Ando’s car and a man with a gun is waiting for them. They get captured. Nathan talks to Mohinder about Peter and his powers and Nathan agrees to look for him with Mohinder to help him be rid of his powers. Peter runs out and they think he flew out the window. Turns out the Invisible Man is ther to talk to him. IM mentions that Simone is an empath. Claire keeps lying to her father about not knowing anything but HRG is starting to get suspicious. Claire meets with Haitian again and he says her mother died in an explosion 14 years ago. He says they can’t meet anymore. A doctor calls HRG and tells him Sylar is dead. HRG talks to Claire and sees the wind chimes she used to contact the Haitian. Micha steals a shitload of money from an ATM. Niki is still in the crazy house and talks to a shrink about Jessica. Matt is suspended from the force for 6 months and finds out his wife is pregnant. Hiro and Ando meet the boss behind his capture, Hiro’s father. Claire calls who she thinks is her aunt, and it is really her mother, a woman with the ability to control flame. The big shock at the end of the episode is Sylar’s escape and then asking HRG how Claire is. The episode was kind of boring through the first half but the second half had some nice cliffhangers.
14) Distractions (43:11)
Original Airdate: 02/05/07
Sylar escapes from prison, staling HRG’s wallet and getting his driver’s license. He locks up HRG in the same cage he was in and visits the Bennet household. Mrs. Bennet, not knowing any better, invites him to stay for dinner. Sylar eventually starts trying to kill her and HRG shows up with the Haitian, shooting Sylar. Sylar escapes, though and the Haitian makes Mrs. Bennet forget. Simone visits Isaac looking for Peter but Isaac says he can’t paint Peter’s future, his mind is blank when it comes to him. Claire and Zach skip school to visit her birth mother. Claire finds out her mother has powers, too. Hiro is back home with his father (in Port Washington, LI of all places) and he is pissed. He tells Hiro to go back to work and he will make him an Executive VP of the company he is CEO of. Hiro refuses to give up his destiny. He convinces his father to make his sister the executive VP and his father goes away (in a car with the license plate NCC 1701, an obvious Star Trek reference). Invisible Man (Claude) mentors Peter to use his powers properly. Peter starts overloading on his powers, with all of them coming out at once. Niki is released from jail (due to Linderman) but is still trapped behind the Jessica personality. Jessica seems to have taken control now. Claire’s mother calls the father and she tells him that Claire is alive. The man on the other end of the phone? Nathan Petrelli. Wow. That was quite the turn of events. The episode, like the last, was a bit boring until that last reveal.
---Disc Five---
15) Run! (43:25)
Original Airdate: 02/12/07
Matt becomes a bodyguard and has to protect the man who freed Niki the previous episode. Of course, Linderman hires Jessica to kill this man since that guy stole $2 million from him. Jessica throws Matt out the window and he lands on the ledge of the building. Jessica ends up killing them. Matt hears one of the cops say Matt will never be back on the force and Matt, dejected, keeps the diamonds. Nathan says he will pay the mother of Claire $100,000 to keep the news of his daughter quiet. Claire finds out that her mother got in touch with her father but doesn’t know his name yet. Nathan even goes down to Texas but the mother tells Claire he isn’t coming and so Claire and Nathan never meet, though Claire is listening in when Nathan visits Nathan sees a picture of Claire and Claire tries to get a look at her father but can’t see him. Ando wants to help a dancer named Hope (played by Missi Pyle) who asks them to get a bag for her. It turns out that Hope knows how to get to Linderman if Ando and Hiro help them. Ando is stuck in the hotel but Hiro goes back to hear Hope talking to the phone with someone saying she got the two Chinese guys to get the bag for them. Hiro confronts her and she calls him Sulu before knocking him out, a reference to the actor (George Takei) who plays Hiro’s father. Mohinder gets a call from a man named Zane Taylor who asks him to come visit him. Zane hears the door ring so he answers it and Sylar is at the door. Mohinder finally shows up, and Sylar answers the door. Sylar has killed Zane and assumed his identity, and his power (he can melt things down). Sylar is of course interested in the other ones on Mohinder’s list. Sylar offers to help Mohinder convince others on his list that Mo can help them. Claire comes home and her mother is very bad off, after all the times her mind has been erased and Hiro is arrested by the gaming commision. Jessica/Niki gets another job, she has to kill Nathan Petrelli.
16) Unexpected (43:23)
Original Airdate: 02/19/07
Ted meets a woman named Hana who can control wireless signals. It seems that someone has been shooting them up with something, which is causing the scar that Ted, Hana and Matt have. Ted makes contact with Matt to tell him about the scars they have. It seems that the scar they have is a tracking device and it was traced to Primatech and shipped to Mr. Bennet. Isaac meets with HRG and tells them Peter is responsible for NY exploding. HRG mentions that Peter met someone who is invisible, someone they thought was long dead. Peter and Claude continue training. The Haitian and HRG track them down. They tazer Claude but Peter uses Hiro’s powers to stop it, then flies away. Mohinder and Zane (Sylar) are in Montana looking for another superhuman. They encounter a woman with super-hearing. Mohinder tells Zane that a man named Sylar killed his father. They head off to their separate rooms and Sylar kills the woman while Mohinder sleeps. Sylar convinces Mohinder to not call the police while there and to warn everyone on the list. A man looking for Hope takes Hiro along with him looking for the pink bag which we find is full of poker chips. They find Ando and Hope and a big gun fight breaks out. Ando is clipped in the shoulder but Hiro uses his powers (that he thought he lost) to save them. Hiro tells Ando to go home to make sure Ando is not hurt anymore. Hiro gets on a bus (driven by Stan Lee of course) and leaves Ando. Claire’s mother passes out and she seems to have a bruise on the memory part of her brain. Claire confronts her father about the missing memories and Claire says he can’t apologize for this. The Bennets come home and Parkman and Ted are there waiting for them. Isaac paints another picture of Peter and Peter is there behind him, asking why Isaac sold him out. Isaac has the scar, too. Isaac has a gun, ready to shoot Peter but fires two shots into Simone by mistake as she walks through the door. Very good episode.
17) Company Man (43:26)
Original Airdate: 02/26/07
Ted and Parkman get the jump on HRG and his family. Parkman reads Claire’s thoughts and finds out that the Haitian didn’t erase her memory. Ted and Matt try to get answers with Ted getting increasingly more volatile. HRG actually uses Matt’s mind-reading power to control the situation to shoot Claire since she can heal. HRG says he didn’t give her the powers and their facts are not straight. They head to Primatech and HRG calls the Haitian. HRG’s not too happy with the Haitian since he can talk and didn’t erase Claire’s memories. Ted is told there is no cure. Things escalate when HRG’s boss shows up and shoots Ted, who starts exploding. Claire risks her life to put a tranquilizer in him and her healing powers keep her alive. Primatech now has Ted and Matt in their grasp and now expect Claire. HRG sets up his “death” and tells the Haitian to leave with Claire so they can’t be found. The Haitian then erases his memory. The story is told simultaneously with a look into the the past of HRG. It shows how he came to work at Primatech, and the Invisible Man (Claude) who used to work for them. HRG meets with Hiro’s father, too to discuss what to do with baby Claire and he tells HRG the baby is his but if she shows her power, the baby is theirs. We see how HRG came into contact with the Haitian (to erase his wife’s mind after she found a gun in his bag). We also see how Claude left and disappeared. He was hiding a superpowered person (possibly Claire) so HRG shot him and he fell off a bridge. This was easily the best episode of the season so far, revealing so many secrets of the show and just being a compelling story. Just awesome.
18) Parasite (43:26)
Original Airdate: 03/05/07
We find out that Nathan is actually working for the FBI to get incriminating evidence on Linderman and want him to wear a wire when he meets him tonight. Peter visits Nathan and tells him that Simone is dead because of him and Isaac shot her. Mohinder gives Zane (Sylar) the list of heroes and Mohinder drugs Zane, telling him he knows he is Sylar. He holds him captive and takes a DNA test, finding a way to create a much larger list. Sylar escapes and wants the list. Nathan shows up in Vegas and runs into Hiro, who is trying to get into Linderman’s casino to meet him. Hiro gets the swords but the curator calls for security. Ando shows up to help Hiro and they teleport away, to a destroyed New York. Jessica kills the FBI agents listening to Nathan’s wire, but Niki warns him that Jessica is going to kill him. Nathan confronts Linderman and wants to kill him and he tells him that he know about his powers, his brother’s powers and his daughters. He even mentions he will make Nathan win the election and get him into the White House. The Haitian and Claire are on the run and have secret identities. Claire wants to hide in New York with Peter. Claire manages to escape from the Haitian and shows up at Peter’s door, where Mrs. Petrelli answers the door, and surprisingly knows Claire’s name. The Haitian is there waiting for her. Mrs. Petrelli informs Claire that she is her grandmother and she’s been trying to protect her. Isaac is with Simone, who had just been shot and the NYPD shows up (after Nathan made an anonymous call to the police). To the shock of everyone, Simone shows up. It turns out it is not Simone, but a shapeshifter (Candice) who works for HRG. Candice later impersonates HRG’s wife and gets the company on him. Isaac paints a disturbing image of him without his head. Peter shows up at Mohinder’s place where Sylar is waiting for him. Sylar holds him against the wall and starts cutting his head open. It seems Parkman is being used by the company to read minds against his will. Very good cliffhanger and a strong episode following Company Man.
---Disc Six---
19) .07% (43:13)
Original Airdate: 04/23/07
HRG is still captive of the Company. HRG talks to Parkman via his telepathy and instructs Parkman to take Ted and emit an EMP. They get HRG and leave. The trio of them need to get to NYC to stop the tracking device. Matt mentions Linderman and HRG didn’t know Linderman was behind it all. So now we have Ted in NYC, who can explode, and Peter there as well. Claire talks with Mrs. Petrelli and the missus tells Claire that Peter didn’t know about her. Nathan talks to Linderman and Linderman reveals he has the power to heal things. Linderman says if a bomb explodes in NYC, it would only destroy .07 percent of the population which would bring the nation and the world together in fear. Peter and Sylar fight, with each using their different powers. Peter gets stabbed with a shard of glass and Mohinder takes out Sylar. Mohinder leaves with Peter and the list, but Sylar finds Isaac’s name on the floor. Mohinder brings Peter’s body to his mother who tells Mo to leave. Mo calls the big boss at Primatech thinking it was HRG and he shows up. Both Nathan and Mama Petrelli think he’s dead. Claire walks in and finally meets her father but is more concerned about Peter. Nathan and Mrs. Petrelli leave Claire alone with him and she takes the glass out, and he comes back to life. Peter tells Nathan about all the coincidences that are happening and maybe Claire is there to save them. Nathan tells Claire she needs to go to Paris with her mother. DL tells Niki/Jessica he’s going to leave with Micah if she keeps working for Linderman. Linderman requests to meet Jessica personally. Linderman wants to borrow Micah to use his talents. Jessica tells them no way, but Linderman says it wasn’t a request. Jessica brings Micah to Linderman anyway, but it was actually Candice impersonating Jessica! Sylar shows up at Isaac’s apartment and Isaac says he can’t fight the future. He mentions something about painting how to kill Sylar and stop the bomb. Sylar kills Isaac and can now paint the future. The last segment shows Hiro and Ando in New York, 5 years later. Hiro says he won’t teleport back until he finds out what he did wrong and says he will search out Isaac. He goes to Isaac’s apartment and finds tons of strings with names and picture, possibly a timeline. He is very surprised when he sees his future self in Isaac’s room. Another good episode, especially the build-up of the Petrelli relationship and the stuff going on in the future.
20) Five Years Gone (43:10)
Original Airdate: 04/30/07
Future Hiro (FH) tells Hiro that it was Sylar who exploded in New York. FH tells Hiro he needs to kill Hiro on the day the bomb is supposed to go off. FH tried already but he regenerated since Sylar had taken Claire’s powers. Parkman bursts in with the Haitian and captures Hiro to take him to a holding cell in NYC. Parkman interrogates him but can’t get any information from him. He calls Nathan to tell him they captured him. Nathan tells Mohinder the news and asks him to go to NY. The heroes are tracked and are forbidden to breed but these heroes are popping exponentially. Nathan suggests genocide since they cannot reverse the process. They teleport to Peter in Las Vegas for help. They go to Peter’s girlfriend/wife (Jessica/Niki) to find Peter. Peter shows up to talk to Niki and has a big scar on his face. Micah died in the explosion, too. HRG is still in Texas helping hide other superpowered individuals. FH tells Bennet that they know Claire is alive and HRG tells Claire she must leave. She’s now a waitress waiting to get married. Parkman bursts in on FH to capture him but Peter bursts in, stops time and saves them. Parkman was informed by HRG. Seems they had some sort of arrangement which Parkman breaks so he can bring Claire back. Parkman shoots HRG then goes after Claire. Ando is told by Peter that he died in the explosion and it was one of the events that caused him to go mad. Nathan wants Mohinder to kill young Hiro. Nathan then goes home to meet Claire with the big reveal being its actually Sylar! He kills Claire and takes her power. Niki doesn’t know why Peter is so eager to leave and Peter says it was actually him who exploded in NYC. Nathan gives his speech on the 5-year anniversary of the explosion as Peter, FH, and Ando attempt to free Hiro. Mohinder decides not to kill Hiro and kills the Haitian instead. FH is killed by Parkman and can’t take Hiro back to the present so Hiro must go on his own. Nathan flies away after hearing this to handle things on his own. He takes on Peter and reveals he is really Sylar. Hiro and Ando teleport back to the present, to New York City, and Hiro knows he must take out Sylar. Awesome episode. This was probably in my top 3 so far, maybe even #2 behind Company Man.
21) The Hard Part (43:25)
Original Airdate: 05/07/07
We begin with Hiro and Ando back in NYC. They look for Isaac, but of course, he’s dead. Hiro is shocked to see the body and hides when Sylar walks out of the bathroom. They hide but Sylar has superhearing. Hiro teleports away then stays on Sylar’s trail. Sylar actually shows up at his mother’s house, accidentally kills his mother after getting an idea of being president and has a run in with Hiro. Hiro stops time to try to kill Sylar but cannot. Sylar breaks his sword and is about to kill Hiro when he and Ando teleport away. Nathan’s wife and kids come home as Mrs. Petrelli gets Claire ready to leave for Paris. Peter tells her she can’t leave, she needs to save the world. Peter says he explodes like a nuclear bomb and Claire remembers Ted and his powers. Peter tells Nathan he needs to call someone to stop it and he calls Linderman. Sylar paints and sees the radioactive man and thinks he will blow up and kill many innocent lives. Sylar calls Mohinder saying that many innocent people do not deserve to die. DL is pissed Micah was used as a job for Linderman and leaves Jessica. Niki pleads with Jessica to help him or else DL will die. They invade Linderman’s place and see their life has been tracked since the beginning. Mohinder goes to the company (at Kirby Plaza, where Micah is staying) saying he will not work for them but they will work for him to help him stop Sylar. He meets a dying girl named Molly (who Parkman saved) who can’t access her power and the main man says there was only one other case like this, Mo’s sister Shanti. The Man tells Mo that only Molly can stop Sylar. Molly’s power is that she can think of anyone and find out where they are. Nathan talks to The Man who admits he wants NY blown up by Ted. Micah is in NY with Candice who reveals she can create illusions so Micah can’t get away. Claire and Peter are at Kirby plaza at episodes end when HRG, Parkman and Ted show up (to stop the new tracking system: Molly). Peter starts absorbing Ted’s powers.
22) Landslide (43:25)
Original Airdate: 05/14/07
HRG tells Ted of a place in Nebraska they can go with a population of 15 so they can start over. They want Ted to go there so he doesn’t blow up NYC. They don’t realize Sylar is there listening in on them. Peter eventually picks him up with his telepathy and they run off, but the FBI take out Ted Sprague, thanks to Sylar’s tip. Sylar attacks the truck with Ted in it, kills him, and steals his power. DL and Jessica look for Micah and know they can get him through Nathan, who has just told Hiro that the bomb cannot be stopped. Micah is with Candice and she brings him a stack of comics (including Hulk Grey by Loeb and Sale, and the original Silver Surfer #1). Hiro goes to get his sword fixed when his father appears at the sword store. Hiro’s father tells him that he must fulfill his destiny and teaches him how to fight. Micah, it turns out, was needed by Linderman to fix the machines. Parkman and HRG look for Linderman and the tracker and run into DL and Jessica. Molly gets cured and thinks of the other hero (Parkman) and realizes he’s in her building! HRG is intent on killing Molly but Mohinder is there to protect her. DL and Jessica go to Linderman and Linderman offers Jessica $20 million to kill DL. Jessica refuses, Niki comes back and Linderman shoots DL. DL sneaks up behind Linderman and phases his hand into his brain, killing him. DL lays dying on the ground. Nathan Petrelli ends up winning in a landslide as the heroes prepare for the final confrontation with Sylar.
---Disc Seven---
23) How To Stop An Exploding Man (44:48)
Original Airdate: 05/21/07
Peter goes to Nathan despite Claire’s protests but Peter finally learns that Nathan is lying when he reads his mind. Claire has run off though and he runs, trying to find her. He passes out as his radioactive powers start to appear. Matt finds the tracking device (Molly Walker) and says he will protect her from HRG. Molly says she can find anyone (even Sylar) except one person who can see her when she thinks of him. She finds him and he is in Isaac’s loft. HRG calls Peter (on Claire’s cell phone) and Mrs. Petrelli answers. Peter wakes up and has a vision like the ones Mohinder had in India. He sees that Simone’s father knew Mrs. Petrelli and they had a discussion, months beforehand, about the bomb going off and Mrs. Petrelli saying this bomb will go off. Things get even more shocking when Peter starts conversing with Simone’s father! Niki goes looking for Micah and finds who she thinks is Jessica. She gets roughed up a bit and Jessica tells her that the other person is not her. She beats her up and who she thought was Jessica was actually Candice. She gets Micah. Hiro saves Ando from Sylar then goes back himself. The big showdown occurs at Kirby Plaza with Sylar taking on Peter, Matt, HRG, Niki and Hiro. Parkman shoots Sylar but he stops the bullets and puts the four bullets directly into Parkman’s chest. Hiro stabs Sylar in the chest and Sylar throws him with his telekineses, but Hiro teleports away. Peter starts going nuclear as Claire runs in. Claire takes the gun and is about to shoot Peter when Nathan flies in. Nathan tells him he can’t let all the people in NYC die. He saved the cheerleader so they can save the world. Nathan grabs him and they fly off. A few moments later the heroes see an explosion in the sky. Everyone goes their separate ways as Sylar escapes into a manhole, since we know villains never die. This ends Volume One. Volume 2, “Generations,” starts with Hiro landing in Japan, in 1681, during and eclipse no less.
Season Review
That was some season. I know a lot of people had problems with the fight scene at the end of the episode but it made sense. These are people who are just discovering their powers, set in a very real world environment, and clearly don’t have mastery of their powers yet. Of course, the villain gets away at the end which is a perfect comic ending. The season rode high for most of its 23 episodes and had very few boring moments. It fits the whole comic book environment perfectly, with all the cliches we fans know and love thrown in and a lot of surprising twists and turns. This was definitely one of the best debut seasons of any show I can remember in recent memory and I am pissed I missed this on TV when it originally aired. Season 1 was just awesome.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Unaired Pilot: The Tim Kring Cut (1:15:43)
The big additions in the unaired pilot include the inclusion of Matt Parkman’s story in the original episode. As you may remember, it was in the second episode. He hears a Muslim prayer service and finds them in hiding rather than Molly Walker. There is a Muslim man shown a few times who hangs himself. There seems to be some nuclear bomb on a train, the fruits of a terrorist plot. They make fun of Parkman for failing the test to the SWAT team. Parkman has an argument with his wife (played by a different actress). They also had chapter two start around the 38 minute mark. Mohinder goes to Sylar’s apartment alone, the voice of Sylar is different and seems to take a more religious approach. The Muslim man who tried to hang himself actually has the power of Ted Sprague, the radioactive powers, and it turns out that Parkman knows him. Mohinder runs into Sylar at episode’s end as he is trying to leave. Simone brings Peter to Isaac’s apartment where he has ripped his hand off, freeing him from the handcuffs. Peter sees the paintings there. This was a very good, though long opener. I like how they got rid of the terrorist storyline and focuses solely on Sylar as the main thread, as it may have gotten too bogged down with two major threads running.
2) Deleted Scenes (10:22)
---A) Chapter One “Genesis” (6:43)
------1) DL Escapes From His Cell (0:24)
In Utah, DL (Niki’s husband) is outside of his cell and he doesn’t know how.
------2) Meant For Something Special (0:30)
Peter tells his mother he knows he is meant for something special. His mother is giving up hope for him, though.
------3) Simone’s Breaking Point (1:43)
Simone is Isaac’s girlfriend and works with Peter. She and Simone argue and Simone insists on taking him to the hospital. She looks for a key which Isaac said he swallowed and he tells Simone he never loved her. She leaves.
------4) The Only Way Out (1:33)
Back at Utah, DL is put in solitary confinement. Another inmate tells him the only way to get out is to teach your soul to go anywhere it wants, and the inmate’s next door goes to Mecca. DL wants to go to NY to kill Nathan Petrelli.
------5) DL’s Promise (0:29)
DL promises someone he will find a way out of prison.
------6) The Terrorist (0:47)
This is a terrorist who walked away from his job on 9/10. He has to read an announcement about an engineer. Cryptic.
------7) Time’s Up (0:31)
DL is still in jail and walks away from the phone.
------8) Micah Saves His Dad (0:50)
DL is again outside of his cell and this time on the ground outside the gates, and Micah runs up to him and hugs him.
---A) Chapter Two “Don’t Look Back” (3:40)
------1) A Spark Ignites (0:40)
Mohinder narrates a bit in Isaac’s apartment with Simone and Peter making love.
------2) Niki’s Mistake (0:31)
Niki is about to open up her garage, right as a child custody agent shows up.
------3) Behind Niki’s Garage Door (1:57)
The agent grills Niki about her son, her gambling, not being in private school anymore, her stripping and he goes into the garage, which is empty.
------4) Blood On the Map (0:34)
The agent comes back to Niki, who puts the blood-stained map back into her car. He tells her there is an oil leak, but it’s just blood.
3) Audio Commentary on Unaired Pilot
Tim Kring does commentary on this unaired extended pilot. Tim talks mainly about the shows elements that were cut (the terrorist theme), the shots they used and so on and so forth. The cockroach was used as a big idea in the pilot, to bridge between scenes. He talks about the difference in having an 8pm and a 9pm show. He mentions the importance for having a seer in show, to prophesize events that will drive the season. The scene with Hiro and Ando in the bar with the original You Tube Backstreet Boy karaoke singers and mentions the goof of mentioning X-Men #142. He says he thinks it was #143, though I am sorry to say he was wrong again; it was #141 when it started. He talks about some of the other things that were cut, like Isaac cutting his hand off to get his drugs. It would’ve been too prohibited to have an amputee in the story for a story that took place over about a month.
---Disc Two---
1) Deleted Scenes (7:45)
---A) One Giant Leap (4:18)
------1) Hiro’s Book of Revelations (1:45)
Hiro shows his friend, Ando, the comic book that stars him called 9th Wonder. It’s a little more than what’s in the episode, but not much.
------2) Niki Confronts Her Mother-In-Law (2:34)
Niki confronts the mother-in-law after dropping Micah off. Niki accuses her of calling social services and they argue some more.
---B) Collision (:53)
------1) The You That Ain’t You (0:13)
Niki gets her friend to come over to babysit.
------2) Micah’s Plea (0:40)
Micah knows what Niki is doing and pleads with her, asking her not to go.
---C) Hiros (2:35)
------1) Claire’s Miracle (0:37)
The doctors say it’s a miracle Clair had no injuries.
------2) Strangers In Our Own Home (0:56)
Matt talks to his wife and says they have felt like strangers in their own home since they have argued so much. Matt says his misses his daughter.
------3) Brody’s Cheer (1:02)
The cheerleaders come to cheer for Brody and say Claire’s the reason he’s in the hospital. Brody has no idea whats going on since his mind has been wiped.
---Disc Three---
1) Deleted Scenes
---A) Nothing To Hide (9:37)
------1) Matt’s Voices (0:42)
Matt hears voices and needs Tylenol to help his headaches.
------2) Tough Love (0:55)
Nathan’s mother goes over the postcards and says he looks fat in the one that his wife eventually chose.
------3) Nathan’s Paternity Suit (2:28)
The journalist probes about Nathan’s accident, and inquires about a paternity suit involving Nathan while he was at Annapolis and of an affair he had. This makes the affair with Niki all the more relevant.
------4) You Can’t Tell Anyone (0:55)
Claire wants Lyle to talk to her and not be scared of her.
------5) Stakeout (0:36)
Parkman and Audrey stake out the Sprague house before Audrey goes in.
------6) Claire The Freak (2:09)
More with Claire and Lyle. Lyle can’t tell anyone. Mrs. Bennet comes home and Lyle gives Claire the tape back.
------7) Jessica Gets Her Gun (0:47)
Jessica gets her gun after getting the friend to leave the house.
------8) Lyle’s Secret (1:09)
Lyle tells Claire he’s not scared of her. Lyle says he will keep the secret.
---B) Seven Minutes To Midnight (2:54)
------1) Appearances Can Be Deceiving (1:14)
Eden talks to Isaac. Isaac can’t believe Eden is a doctor.
------2) Eden’s New Life (0:47)
Eden runs into Claire at her father’s job. Claire and Eden just chat a bit. Seems like they know each other.
------3) Matt and Janice Reminisce (0:54)
Just like the title says.
---C) Homecoming (1:00)
------1) The Battle for Claire (1:00)
This is an extended scene with Claire and Peter running from Sylar. It seems Peter throws Sylar and them off the balcony intentionally.
---D) Six Months Ago (2:32)
------1) Dad is Dead (1:43)
This is an extended scene of Nathan telling Peter that their father died. Nathan tells Peter he can’t be with now and that he gave up on Dad a long time ago. Wow, Nathan is such a prick.
------2) Jessica Takes Care of Business (0:50)
Jessica heads to a bar and talks to a guy who was planning a job with DL. Jessica offers to take part in his job instead of DL.
---Disc Four---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) Godsend
Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts and Sendhil Ramamurthy appear on this commentary. Sendhil plays Mohinder, Leonard is DL, and Jack is HRG. They joke at first with Jack asking Lenny if people come up to him asking if he’s the Haitian. They name drop the president of NBC Universal whose name was used as the reporter on the TV that Claire and HRG are watching. They talk about Hayden’s great acting, too. Jack talks about roaches being the ultimate survivor, and they are always around Sylar. They mention Noah (who plays Micah) can play piano very well. They mention they don’t know who is playing Linderman, but Gary Coleman is available. Sendhil says he doesn’t know if his character is on the list and he hopes it isn’t. Sendhil says he doesn’t see what he is doing the voice over for and its all done blind. This was a really fun commentary.
---B) The Fix
Greg Grunberg, Hayden Panettiere and Natalie Chaidez (Episode Writer & Co-Executive Producer) recorded this commentary. Greg plays Parkman and Hayden is of course, Claire. Greg says that the actress who plays Mrs. Petrelli played his mother on a sitcom years ago. Hayden and Greg discuss how Masi (Hiro) makes his faces when he’s using his powers. Hayden says the real Mr. Muggles (Lestat) was not here for this episode since he was off filming a movie! Hayden and Greg were lots of fun, then about 16 minutes in, Hayden leaves and Natalie arrives. Greg wonders where the plumber went in this episode and Natalie says that they cut it since they didn’t want to undercut the serious moment with his badge with a comedic bit. It’s odd that Hayden left halfway through (during a commercial break no less) and the commentary fell off a bit in terms of fun but Greg was a blast to listen too.
---C) Distractions
Milo Venimiglia, Zachary Quinto, Greg Grunberg, Jeanot Szwarc (Episode Director), Jack Coleman and Michael Green (Episode Writer and Co-Executive Producer) leant their voices to this commentary. Milo is Peter, Zachary is Sylar, Greg we know is Parkman, Jack is HRG and you know the rest. It seems that the commentaries are recorded seperately with Zach and Milo starting off on this commentary. So Milo leaves and Greg joins Zach. Greg says Milo isn’t too good on the show. At the next commercial break, Zach leaves and Jeanot and Jack show up. After Peter falls in the episode, everyone leaves and Milo returns with Michael. The constant switching back and forth of people on commentary is getting a bit jarring for my likes. This one wasn’t too interesting at all.
2) Deleted Scenes
---A) Fallout (1:46)
-------1) Mohinder’s Discovery (1:46)
Mohinder visits Isaac’s apartment and runs into Simone. He sees Isaac’s paintings and finds out Isaac is missing. Mohinder sees tapes of his apartment and sees Eden giving suggestions to Isaac.
---B) Godsend (1:54)
-------1) Claire’s Media Moment (0:26)
Claire heads to school and sees the media there.
-------2) Peter’s Awakening (1:29)
Peter wakes up and we actually see him leave the hospital. His mother talks to him, telling him he’s crazy. She leaves to get a doctor and Peter bolts out of there.
---C) The Fix (1:20)
-------1) The Dishonest Plumber (1:20)
Matt comes home from being suspended and hears a dishonest plumber in his head. He hears the plumber thinking that all he needs to do is clean the washer but tells them it’ll cost $25,000.
---D) Distractions (2:15)
-------1) A Shock to the System (0:19)
Mrs. Bennet asks why HRG has a gun.
-------2) You’re My Business (0:38)
Claire leaves her mother, but the mother says it isn’t goodbye.
-------3) Niki’s Homecoming (1:19)
Niki comes home.
---Disc Five---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) Run!
Greg Grunberg, Kevin Chamberlin, Adam Armus and Kay Foster (Episode Writers & Supervising Producers) recorded this commentary. Greg we know, Adam and Kay have their positions listen and Kevin plays Aron Malsky (the person Parkman protects who is killed by Jessica). Aron has been nominated for two Tony awards (Suessical, which he lost to Nathan Lane), and Dirty Blonde. Greg mentions that the woman who plays his wife on the show and is pregnant, is pregnant in real life. After Greg is thrown out of the window, he leaves the commentary and Kay and Adam join us. Not too much going on after they join to be honest. Greg was the life of the show and after he left it went downhill.
---B) Unexpected
Greg Beeman (Episode Director and Co-Executive Producer), Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Jeph Loeb (Episode Writer and Co-Executive Producer) appear on this commentary. Zach and Sendhil you know as Sylar and Mohinder. Jeph is a very famous comic book writer. I thought this would be pretty interesting since I liked Loeb’s comic work, but it was actually very boring.
---C) Company Man
Jack Coleman, Allan Arkush (Episode Director and Executive Producer), and Bryan Fuller (Co-Executive Producer and Episode Writer) appear on this commentary. They say this is based on a movie called Desperate Hours, a thriller piece. This commentary was fairly interesting and I enjoy the ones Coleman has appeared on so far.
---D) Parasite
Allan Arkush (Executive Producer), Jimmy Jean Louis, and Chritopher Zatta (Episode Writer) share their thoughts on this commentary. Jimmy Jean Louis is the Haitian for those who don’t know. They talk about the writing process, with 11 writers which Jimmy mentions seems to be chaotic. They talk about shooting the special effects as well, which is very interesting. This is a good commentary as Jimmy is sort of interviewing the producer and writer asking them questions like how many people work on the show (around 250). They bring up some very good points, like Linderman having a wedding band and who his wife may be, how Claire’s mother and father have powers and what about her grandmother (Mama Petrelli?). They joke about the hair falling at the end of the episode, to which Jimmy says, “It looks like a pigs tail!” Very good commentary, definitely the best on this disc.
2) Deleted Scenes
---A) Run! (3:26)
------1) Mr. Bennet’s Phone Calls (0:27)
Mr. Bennet gets a call about Sylar from his bosses and he says Claire has nothing to do with this.
------2) Janice Panics (1:26)
Mohinder calls Janice (Matt’s wife) regarding his special powers. Janice hangs up on him.
------3) The Haitian’s Talent (1:35)
The Haitian meets Claire on a bus and he tells her that she can’t leave. Claire finds out about the Haitian’s powers and learns that it is not HRG’s fault. Haitian says that “They” made them erase her memories but won’t say who “they” are.
---B) Company Man (1:48)
------1) Generation Gap (0:53)
Claire learns that Matt can read his mind. Matt says he would go back to not having his power and references the Twilight Zone episode where the guy can hear thoughts and Claire has no idea what the Twilight Zone is.
------2) The Cover-Up (0:42)
HRG tells Matt he didn’t give him his powers and that they need to put the cat bag in the bag.
------3) Thompson’s Mandate (0:14)
Thompson says the law cannot be told about this without consequences.
---C) Parasite (0:47)
------1) Lonely Wolf (0:47)
This is a funny scene between Hiro and Nathan where Hiro calls Nate a lone wolf and Nathan doesn’t understand what he’s saying.
3) Mind Reader Game
This is a game where you Matt must guess what hero you are thinking of. It is actually pretty cool. It worked 2 out of the 3 times I did it.
---Disc Six---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) .07%
Chuck Kim (Episode Writer), Andrew Chambliss (Asst. to Tim Kring) and Timm Keppler (Asst. To Dennis Hammer) appear on this commentary. The trio mentions they watched the commentary before for ideas which makes me wonder how they record these. Did they record it week by week? That may make sense since no one really tells any secrets that happened later on in the season. It may actually be during a telecast since there is a break where the commercials are. Pretty enjoyable commentary.
---B) Five Years Gone
Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Jack Coleman recorded this track. Sendhil says it took three and a half weeks to grow his beard. The funniest thing is the three of them talking about the strippers of the future. Sendhil says the commentary was supposed to be recorded by Masi and the writer of the episode but they cancelled since the writer’s wife went into labor. These guys are a lot of fun to listen and have great chemistry together. They are just awesome.
---C) The Hard Part
James Kyson Lee, Noah Gray-Cabey and Ian Quinn (Stunt Coordinator) are on this commentary. This is a very odd pairing to say the least. James plays Ando, Noah plays Micah and Ian is the stunt coordinator. Micah talks about having to take care of school a lot while filming, with teacher’s on set there and taking up a lot of their weekends. James talks about possible powers for his character, either he can talk to animals or he can make food appear out of nowhere, or to be able to glitter someone or make someone do the robot. Their commentary wasn’t too bad.
---D) Landslide
Masi Oka, George Takei and Matthew Armstrong recorded this commentary track. Matthew plays Ted Sprague. Masi says this is the second time they have recorded this commentary due to a technical glitch. This was actually a very commentary to listen to. They didn’t really reveal too much about the show and Matthew’s reaction to his death was funny. Masi does a commercial for the season finale in the episode’s waning moments.
2) Deleted Scenes
---A) .07% (0:30)
------1) Linderman’s Missing Sword (0:30)
Linderman finds out that his kensei sword was stolen.
---B) Five Years Gone (0:43)
------1) Old Friends (0:43)
Future Hiro tells Ando about Bennet and the two friends meet. Some woman follows behind them.
---C) Landslide (:54)
------1) Marty, That’s An Order (0:54)
Nathan isn’t surprised that he’s ahead in the polls, then he tells his advisor to leave town that night, knowing the impending disaster.
---Disc Seven---
1) Making Of (10:00)
Tim wanted to do a large ensemble saga and thought it’d be interesting for them to have powers. The cast gives their thoughts and opinions on the show. They all say they like how it was rooted in reality and not just a show about super-heroes. Sendhil’s character was actually written as a 55-year-old man but his reading was so good the character was reimagined. They also show footage of Jeph Loeb at the Comic-Con debuting the 72-minute pilot. Of course, the show became a Global Phenomenon and the cast gives their thoughts on that, too. It’s not a conventional making of, but more the cast and Tim talking about the show from its genesis to where it is now.
2) Special Effects (8:45)
Mark Kolpack is the visual effects supervisor of Heroes. He tells the difference between special effects (effects created live on set like fire and rain) while visual effects are things created after its filmed, like green-screen stuff. That was a really good explanation to clear things up, actually. They go over some of the effects, including Hiro stopping time to save the girl in Japan with the red bow in her hair. Masi even talks about helping out some of the crew with the effects since he used to work for ILM. Masi even spoke with Mark about the way some of the shots were set up. This was a very informative.
3) The Stunts (10:22)
Ian Quinn is the stunt coordinator for Heroes and he talks about the stunts of the show. They show some of the stunts that were performed in season 1 and how they were performed. They show Adrian flying from the car with his wife crashing, and Milo getting thrown off the top of the building, and then the sword fight between Masi and George Takei. Masi says he actually studied Kendo for like 6 or 7 years and was a black belt in it. Zachary Quinto talks about preparing for days when he has fight scenes.
4) Profile of Artist Tim Sale (11:26)
This is a profile of comic-book artist, Tim Sale, whose art represents the drawings made my Isaac Mendez. He mentions working most with Jeph Loeb, who is an executive producer on Heroes. Sale is actually colorblind and creates the painting quality of the art by putting it through a black, white and gray imaging program and then color is added later. He uses still shots of the film to create the pictures. Santiago, who plays Isaac, met with Sale and picked up his brushes to try and get a feel for the character. Pretty good feature.
5) The Score (8:58)
Michael Perfitt (Audio Engineer), Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman (Composers) talk about the score used on the show. They talk about the music being influenced by Shankar, a vocalist. This wasn’t terribly interesting, to be honest, but a nice addition to round out what makes Heroes, Heroes.
6) Audio Commentary on How To Stop an Exploding Man
Tim Kring, Dennis Hammer and Allan Arkush recorded the commentary for the last season finale. They really just joke around a bunch of shots and about filming of the finale. I wasn’t terribly interested in the commentary.
7) Sneak Peeks (6:11)
There are sneak peeks here for Friday Night Lights, House, Las Vegas, The Office, 30Rock, Miami Vice, Nissan and Bring it on: All Or Nothing. I don’t want to watch any of these so I won’t comment on any of these.
B) Audio/Video
The TV shows are presented in beautiful 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. They went all-out on the video here. It is many times better than when I watch it on network (non-HD) TV and is better than some movies I have seen recently on DVD. It’s just such a vivid picture. Audio is standard 5.1 Dolby Digital. When used it is very good, almost movie quality.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
The packaging is a fold-open case housing 7 DVD’s, 2 per page on 3 of them. The opposite side of the DVD’s contain a short summary of the show as well as extras on each disc. It’s housed in a very nice slipcase, sort of holofoil, highlighting the eclipse. No other liner notes, just a sheet of paper showing that Heroes starts on 9/24 on NBC and a car ad on the reverse.
D) Easter Eggs
None that I could find.
Overall Review
Disc one starts out with some previews; Bionic Woman (Wednesdays this fall on NBC), the movie Knocked Up, the movie Hot Fuzz, a Versa car commercial, an HD DVD commercial totalling 3:22. Also, even though this review has been posted about 2 weeks after the season premiere, I was able to knock out all 23 episodes before 09/24/07. It just took a while for me to get through all the commentaries and extra features while I worked. Still, what can I say about this series that hasn’t been said already? It is an amazing drama putting real people in real-life situations. The only difference is that these people have extraordinary powers. It’s not just for comic book fans though. There are some references for comic book fans but even casual viewers who enjoy a great story can latch onto this series and find enjoyment in it. The special features were great, there were a ton of commentaries and some nice, short, sweet featurettes that touched upon all aspects of the show. It’s a nice complete set, and well worth the price of admission.
Overall Rating
10.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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