Heroes Reborn
Season 1 Episodes 1.1 & 1.2: “Brave New World” & “Odessa”
Directed by Matt Shakman (1) & Greg Beeman (1.2)
Written by Tim Kring (1.1) & Peter Elkoff (1.2)
Created by Tim Kring
Starring Jack Coleman, Zachary Levi, Robbie Kay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Kiki Sukezane, Judith Shekoni, Danika Yarosh, Francesca Eastwood
NBC
Air Date: Thursday, September 24th, 2014, 10pm

Where are the Heroes? In hiding, playing vigilante, making plans, fighting back… they are on NBC on Thursday nights on Heroes Reborn, and I am glad. I was afraid that I was just so excited for this reboot, I would love it even if it was terrible, much as I would love LOST, should it ever return.

I should not have worried.

Heroes Reborn premiered with enough new characters so as not to be a stale reboot where everyone is much older, but enough old ones to satisfy the nostalgia. At least… it will have the old ones. Only Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) was here today. He was always my favorite character, and he is front and center during these episodes. Tim Kring introduced us to a world where Evolved Humans or EVOs are hunted. Five years after Claire Bennet came out to the world, EVOs all over joined her, but it wasn’t long before the prejudice came too. Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and the EVOs were blamed for an explosive terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas, where Claire was killed. It is a year later and people are coping (or not) the best they can.

Would you like to meet them?

There’s Miko (Kiki Sukezane), a young Japanese girl who can enter a videogame via katana sword (where have we seen that before?), and kick a bunch of ass. An avid gamer helps her once he realizes who she is. There’s also Tommy (Robbie Kay). He can make things disppear at the touch of a hand. Where do they go? Don’t worry. You’ll find out before the 2 hours are up. His crush knows, but keeps his secret. Carlos (Ryan Guzman) takes on the mantle of El Vengador for his brother. He has a nephew that can pass through solids. We also see a grownup Molly Walker (Francesca Eastwood), although she’s in a bit of trouble at the moment.

So who is after them? Who isn’t?

The primary EVO enemies seem to be Luke Collins and his wife Joanne (Zachary Levi and Judith Shekoni), bent on avenging their son’s death, by ridding the world of all EVOs. They have a run-in with Tommy and guess what happens? I never watched Chuck, but I know of Levi’s character. This is a much darker turn for him, and the turn looks good. Quentin Frady (Henry Zebrowski), of the Dark Matters web series, finds “Ted” to get some answers about the Odessa tragedy, and possibly find out what happened to his sister, Phoebe. Ted aka Noah cannot remember what he has forgotten. He has been wiped, so he makes a surprise visit. Noah and Quentin go back to Primatech to find info on Claire, hopefully Phoebe, and the conspiracy that Noah hid from himself.

Heroes Reborn has started off really interesting, with all of the characters seemingly connected somehow (even the flower-in-the-lapel-penny-in-hand weirdo). I’m looking forward to next week.

I’m now wishing for the power of bringing back characters from the past – Sylar? Peter?

Heroes Reborn airs Thursday nights at 8pm ET on NBC.

Video

HEROES REBORN | Official Trailer