Heroes 1x01: Genesis

[andraste]

From my poll yesterday, I get the impression that there might be a few people out there who want to know what I thought of this ;).

(Don't worry, Bartlett fans, I will start on The West Wing just as soon as I'm done with the first season of Heroes. Which, going on current evidence, will not take me long.)



My general impression so far is positive; this was a fun episode that introduced a lot of interesting plot threads and characters. Great cliffhanger, too. I'm so glad I avoided finding out what everyone's powers were before watching, because Nathan flying caught me completely off-guard!

I like everyone so far, but I think I love Hiro a little bit already *g*. That X-Men #143 reference damn near killed me, and he made me laugh out loud several other times in the course of Genesis with his adorable dorkiness. While everyone else is angsty or at least confused about their abilities, it's refreshing to have a character react with 'woohoo! This is so awesome!'

The only thing that bothered me was that we have two women with powers so far, and not only are they both blonde, one of them is a stripper and the other a cheerleader. Now, obviously there's a lot more to Nikki and Claire than that even in this one episode. (Two of my favourite moments were Claire pushing her ribs back in, and reaching into the garbage disposal. Gross but hilarious!) The show also seems to be starting with stereotypes - slick politician, Japanese salaryman - and expanding upon them.

It still bothers me that those were the templates they picked for the female heroes. The men with powers have more diverse backgrounds and none of them are taking off their clothes for money or dancing around in tiny skirts to support the football team. I'm not going to dismiss the show's gender politics on the basis of one episode, but I do think it's an issue.



I have the day off today, so I imagine I can get through at least a couple more episodes.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You're right about the gender balance (very much in favour of males) and roles. Sigh. I suppose I'm so used to that, I didn't notice it that much, though Niki annoys the hell out of me. I will tell you however that the characters are much more complex than they look at first, and many of them will surprise you.

Hiro is utterly adorable and sweet and geeky and you will love him more and more.

[adn-heming.livejournal.com]

As much as I love Heroes, I agree. It's one of the things about the show that IRKS me to no end. Right, fine, you've got your men of color. Where are the women?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Great cliffhanger, too. I'm so glad I avoided finding out what everyone's powers were before watching, because Nathan flying caught me completely off-guard!

Oh, me too, when I got hooked during the show's last hiatus and watched the first 18 eps in a row. Until then, I liked but wasn't sure, and I thought this would be the very predictable scene where Peter does the typical Marvel heroes thing and flies, but Nathan flying - Nathan having a power at all, because he's so much NOT the typical comics superpowered character - was such a great twist I knew I'd keep watching.

(Also, it might amuse you that I could see the Nathan = Quark, Peter = Rom, Angela Petrelli = Ishka at this point already.*g*)

Women and their roles: I took Claire being a cheerleader as a clear homage to Buffy who also was a deliberate take on the blonde dismissed as a ditz and ending up as an early horror movie victim (and who was a cheerleader in ye olde days before Slayerness made it impossible), so I didn't mind that, and expected her to transcend the cliché from the start, as indeed she did. However, the gender writing is on occasion rather questionable.

Hiro: is beloved by everyone, and rightly so. If you don't love Hiro, you have no soul. Iron rule of the show.*g*

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind Claire, because her powers are used in such an icky way - I took her role to be satirical. But Niki, and the lack of other major female characters is a big, big problem for Heroes.

[apathocles.livejournal.com]

It still bothers me that those were the templates they picked for the female heroes.

Between this and some of the things you've said in your other Heroes posts, it is possible that we both watched the show with THE SAME BRAIN.

(No wonder I've been so out of it the past few days, what with you being in possession of the brain and all. Can I have it back at some stage?)