Things to Love About Heroes

The more I watch Heroes, the more I like it. The real question is why? What makes me like it so much? Here I list a few of the reasons I feel it's worth watching.

Last night's episode was written by one of the show's producers, Jeph Loeb, who is a comic writer and a former producer for Lost.

The artwork we see that was done by Isaac the painting prophet is actually done by Tim Sale.

Loeb and Sale collaborated in the past on many comics including the best Batman graphic novel to date, The Long Halloween. (Yes, I realize that I'm going to get called out for not saying Batman: Year One, but I prefer TLH.)

It's sort of like X-Men, only not. It's darker, grittier and definitely not made for kids. (Though sometimes a bit too gory. Claire waking up after the autopsy? Yikes.)

When Claire, the Cheer-verine, gets her neck broken and twisted so that her head is on backwards for a moment before she turns it back around and is completely fine, I get to wonder if that was a small reference to the film Death Becomes Her.

Hiro. He's great. A geek stuck at a desk gets the super powers he's always wanted. He reacts just like a geek should. Besides, he referenced the X-Men story Days of Future Past in episode 1. He's already trying to figure out how to use his powers for good. First, he saves a child from getting hit by a truck, and now he's going to try to save a city from destruction.

We don't know who's the good guy and who's the bad guy yet. Sure we know some things, but at this point, most people who appear good could be bad and those appearing to be bad could be good. (For example: Niki is not exactly looking like a good guy right now, but we don't know enough to say which side she'll be on.) Then again, we don't know enough to know if there is a good side and bad side.

These are just ordinary people to start with. Cops, high school cheerleaders, office workers. Once they begin realizing that they have powers, everything changes.

Mostly importantly for a serial drama like this, it gives that feeling of "how much longer until the next episode?"

I hope the show continues to improve and that we keep learning more about these people. While their powers are what brought me to the show, it's the characters themselves that will keep me.