My thoughts on Heroes, revisited (vague spoilers)

As of last week, the first major plot-arc of Heroes completed and I have to say that I've enjoyed it a lot. I genuinely think this is a very good show and I absolutely adore what they've done with most of the characters. I've collected my thoughts on the series thus far, below. (Some spoilers below)

Peter Petrelli: In the first few episodes, he annoyed the heck out of me. I've never really been drawn to the whiny, emo, over-sensitive characters and he has those qualities in spades. If you would have told me that by the end of the first story arc, he would have shot up to become my favorite of the cast, I would have laughed in your face. And yet...he did.

Really, the turn-around for me started when he got the future visitation in the subway. Up until that point, the character had seemed to be floundering, grasping at any sort of purpose to his life beyond the job that, while noble and altruistic, wasn't making him happy. However, once he had that purpose, I really started to like him. He didn't just sit around and angst, he got up off his ass and did stuff. I may not be much for whiny characters, but I tend to adore the characters that coordinate and keep everything together. His scenes with Isaac were definitely some of his best. And of course, facing certain death to try to save some girl he didn't know, without any sort of *useful* powers...that's pretty much THE definition of heroism in my book.

Besides, I like his power. It's neat.

Claire Bennett: The last episode of the arc pretty much cemented Claire as my second favorite character. Who didn't cheer when she punched that little bitch? I like her a lot as a young character, still growing and learning.

I never hated the attempted-rape as much as some. Claire is not a character that can be hurt in the standard manner, there needs to be a psychological element. Also, her revenge against the football player went a long way in redeeming it. Because as much as revenge for herself played a big part in her motivation, so did revenge for his other victim and the desire to prevent him from attacking someone else. Female characters tend to become heroes as a reaction to their own traumas, rape being commonly used. In contrast, male characters tend to become heroes to protect/avenge others. In this case, I found Claire's motivation to be refreshingly more "male" than stereotypically female. (I do think that both female characters being assaulted is a bit much, but Niki's assault seemed much more gratuitous and unnecessary to me than Claire's)

I don't even mind the "Save the Cheerleader...Save the World" theme, as I'm pretty sure that she's going to have a very active role in the world-saving part now that she's out of danger. With her powers, how can she not?

And I love Zack. He's a great sidekick.

Nathan Petrelli: He's an ass, but such fun! And I do think a lot of what he does is part of a misguided attempt to protect his family. He's never struck me as particularly villainous. Besides, who *didn't* cheer when he took over in the air?

Hiro Nakamura: I have to shamefully admit, Hiro does absolutely nothing for me as a character by now. He's cute and geeky, but honestly he's like cotton candy. There's no real substance there, yet. I do enjoy his enthusiasm and earnest desire to help, but he needs more direction right now. I'm hoping when he finally joins up with Peter and the others, that'll help with that. Right now, though, his schtick is getting old. I hope they are letting him evolve into something new.

I am liking Ando though, he's gotten a lot of growth lately.

Matt (whose last name I can't remember): He's a bit of a sad-sack, but I like him. I wonder if he and the blond lady will be called in to deal with the fallout from the end of the story-arc. I hope so. Right now, he's kind of like Mohinder for me: a character I find very appealing trapped in a godawful rut of a storyline.

However I do like that the pre-requisite fainting psychic is a man. :-)

Mohinder Suresh: Egads! Will you let his storyline start moving again soon, NBC?!?! I know intellectually his actions make sense. A lot of stuff happened in a very short time for him, with a lot of setbacks and humiliations and he's got the hapless exposition role anyway. But damnit. I really like him as a character. I like his wry humor and his flirtation with Eden (spy chick) and even his jumpy paranoia. And it doesn't hurt that he's damn pretty to look at. It's just since he got to India, his storyline's been a black hole of boredom. Bring him back to the states please.

I also think it might help if he developed powers of his own too. I keep anticipating that he might. Especially since the role I'd initially expected for him (coordinator/keeps-things-together man) has gone more to Peter instead. Besides, there should be more international/global heroes.

Niki: I hate to say it, but I find Niki incredibly tedious. Stripper with a heart of gold? Beleaguered single mother? Victim of her own (or someone else's) dark side? Whatever. Honestly, the woman wreaks of all the traits I find really annoying in standard female characters. She's such a standard, cliched heroine. Which is a shame because Jessica/Evil Niki is such a blast. The actress really seems to be having fun with that role.

I honestly think it's the Niki character's fault the show has a bad wrap for treatment of female characters. Claire is such a good character. Her assault, though still a little cliche had a point. Niki's really didn't. The mobsters could have easily just threatened to beat her (no bed involved) or threatened the kid and Evil Niki would have had their asses anyway. And the stripping really didn't add any sort of point to the character aside from a pointless interlude with Ando.

So down with Niki, up with Evil!Niki! Micah is cute though and DL has promise.

Bennett: Okay, I love sinister glasses-wearing guys. He's no exception. I love how he manages to be both vaguely or not so vaguely evil while still being a genuinely concerned father. He loves his daughter and, like any good dad, wants to protect her. And somehow that doesn't humanize him at all. I love it!

Eden's pretty interesting too and I want to know more about their operation.

Isaac: I want to like him. He's certainly nice to look at, but he's been terribly stagnant so far. I did like his interactions with Peter though, when he actively started getting involved with helping save the world.

So there we go. In general, I'm happy with the show. My favorite character was the one who annoyed me the most in the beginning, and that's very rare for me. I usually know who I like best from episode one. I like the plots, most of the episodes manage to surprise me somewhere along the way. The acting's decent.

But I still want them to let Mohinder do SOMETHING DAMNIT.