Heroes – A CLoser Look

Mohinder’s starting voice-over:

I personally don’t like the Mohinder voice-over too much. It feels like trying to get some ‘mysticism’ in but it fails in my humble opinion… for various reasons. “Why are we here?/What is the soul?/Why do we dream?” kinda ruins it for me.I think they’re bad examples and I don’t see how those are “simple questions” either. Also, nowadays I’m not so sure about the human nature-thing, since most people couldn’t care less about solving life’s mysteries. I do feel the mood they’re trying to create with all this though, and to be honest, it isn’t the writer’s fault that people got dumb over the centuries.
Another thing I felt being akward is Mohinder trying to discourage from looking for answers, and although he probably says it to prove his point, I don’t feel like it’s something a scientist would say… of course I could be terribly wrong. It might have been better if someone else said it perhaps, not that I complained when I first saw it. The music alone could’ve been pretty khool though, it’s good at building suspense and everyone is fixed on Pete anyways.

Peter’s dream sequence:

The way they shot Peter’s dream sequence is brilliant. The eclipse from the logo zooms out to be Peter’s eye and Milo Ventimiglia (the actor that is) shows great emotion with nothing but facial expressions. Outstanding! The up and down camera angles are great and the total shot with the bird is bloody brilliant!!!
If you look at the details you might think they messed something up here, though. I had the feeling that the wind was changing angles or something when I was looking at this scene but couldn’t really put my finger on it. In reality, they reversed the shot which makes everything that tad bit more mysterious if you know where to look.
The angle that I suppose is meant to be looking trough Peter’s eyes is nicely done too because you’re not sure what to make of it. It ends with a flare which becomes the light shining trough an open door in the next scene. Nice.

Mohinder killing the cockroach:

I always interpreted this as Mohinder leaving the old theories behind him and following into his father’s footsteps.

Madras:

Mohinder tells his class about the Human Genome Project and how it discovered cells that evolve in an increasingly rapid rate. Since these things have been ‘discovered’ I think it’s strange that Mohinder uses the phrase “How crazy as it sounds” not long after when he’s talking with Nirad on the streets.
The streets of Madras have to convince the viewer of being in India, in which it succeeds… not that I’ve ever been to India before. The 2 CGI-temples help a great deal of course.

Nikki (Ali Larter):

Ali’s acting at Tina’s place is great. First she’s breaking down, then she gets a grip on herself. Doesn’t sound special but you have to see her play it out. Very good actress!!! Of course, we already knew that, didn’t we?

Isaac (Santiago Cabrera) & Simone (Tawny Cypress):

Although Tawny’s first scenes with Milo (Peter Petrelli) play out quite well, it stops right there. In her first scene with Santiago, who is doing a great acting job, she totally kills all realism. She doesn’t react how I think a normal person would. If it’s a case of bad acting or casting, I’ll leave up to you. I’m not going to say she’s a bad actress because I’ve never seen her in any other role. Maybe you don’t even have a problem with the character at all. Let’s hope so. To me, Simone Deveaux feels inconsistent troughout the entire series… and that, together with the surreal touch, is a bit too much.

Slow-mo scene when Peter sees Simone:

The slow-mo scene when Peter sees Simone before taking a taxi doesn’t do anything for me. What’s the point in seeing her there?

Entering Isaac’s loft:

When entering Isaac’s loft with Peter, Simone tells him that “she saw it with her own eyes” that Isaac can paint the future. She didn’t seem to believe him when she walked out before, though.

Mohinder’s ending voice-over:

The first lines feel forced to me. Everything from “They’re here…” on feels allright,though. At least that part is making sense and is more relevant to the series.

Details:

-Chandra’s place: the lights are on as Mohinder walks inside, showing someone is inside.
-Mohinder removes something/someone from the map in India. Himself perhaps?
-The streets of Madras have a giant billboard in the background with a text that partly reads: “…dead body anywhere…anytime…”. Quite freaky.

-The music Nikki is stripping to comes from her pc. I always like it when the characters hear the same music as the viewers.
-We see Nikki’s site in a flash. It has quite the nice background and handwriting really. There’s some text on the left side in a banner: see funny stuff.
-There’s like a second mirror image attached to Nikki’s normal one. The facial expressions and the timing feel a little out of sync. (first garage scene)
-In Micah’s room the timing is definately out of sync.
-Nikki has lent 30,ooo dollars from Linderman, is two weeks overdue and has to pay 50,000 back. That’s 10,000 a week. The point? Don’t borrow from mobsters, people!
-The taller guy breaking into Nikki’s house was actually the assistant-director on ‘Crossing Jordan’… CAMEO!
-Ali accidently puts the car in reverse when she tries to get away, nearly hitting camera. They left the shot in.

-First time we see Nathan (in his office) he hangs up the phone. He was talking to Linderman.

-Chandra’s apartment, India: various things can be seen here:

-a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on a book.
-a map labelled GENESIS that has submaps in it:

-human flight potential
-rapid cellular regeneration

-an audio tape labelled TELEPORTATION.
-a picture of Chandra & Mohinder
-a world map with a bunch of memo’s attached and strings all over the continents.

-The fireman putting the flames out on Claire is actually the stunt co-ordinator.

-Hiro’s pc has a Samsung screen. On it is the drawing from the ‘9th Wonders!’-comic that Micah is reading soon after. On his desk are 4 figurines (2 females, a dragon, and a headlike dude) and a li’l sword on the right (I think). What’s akward here is that, when they film the clock alone, you can see a blue piece of paper hanging in front of the Samsung screen which wasn’t there before. You can only see part of it and it seems to have a single curved line on it. It might very well be the ‘Godsent’-symbol.

-Micah is holding a ‘9th Wonders!’ comic, the front cover was on Hiro’s desktop but now there is text added to it. The drawing is that of a dragonlike monster and a man in front of it, both of them are talking. The man’s last words are: “Now I’m humanity’s LAST HOPE!”. In the upper left corner is the text: I FOUGHT ULURU! The back is a commercial page for something called ‘DOGS ON MARS’.

-In the police office, Angela’s hand is on Peter’s, not the other way around. This might very well be the only sign of true emotion the character shows in the entire first season.
-Have a look at Angela Petrelli’s clothing and jewelry. It totally matches the character and shows that she indeed… didn’t have to steal the socks.

-Chandra’s apartment, Brooklyn: The apartment is numbered 316 and the owner has the text ‘NO FUTURE’ on his t-shirt. Once again, various things can be spotted here:

-2 globes, 1 map: also memo’s, more strings
-map labelled GENESIS that has submaps in it:

-dynamic camouflage
-parapsychology
-rapid cellular regeneration
-human flight potential
-Mohinder takes out a map with pictures of a man with a ‘burned’ back and a hand. The following text is written inbetween the pictures: RADIATION POISONING (15 years exposure) skin slips, connective tissue dissolves

-audio tape labelled SYLAR

-Isaac’s paintings:

-the eclipse
-a hand holding a glass of bubbling water. This is the painting that got destroyed and is most likely related to Theodore Sprague.
-suicide bombing in Israel, bus number 9. The bus might have been blown up with a carbomb since there’s a car in flames next to it.
-train derailment, Odessa, Texas (the one from Claire’s scene).

-eclipses: We can see the eclipse:

-as Peter leans back in the taxi, it is reflected on his glasses too.
-The next scene in the taxi it is reflected in the back window.
-when Claire and Zachary are looking at it.
-in the pinhole camera Nikki’s looking trough, and in her eye afterwards.
-in Peter’s eye in the beginning of the episode.
-in the title logo just before that. It’s the same one, really.
-on Isaac’s painting.

-the big guy in Nikki’s house is eating oatmeal coockies. He probably stole them from her.
-There’s a Las Vegas poster on the inside of Nikki’s garage door.
-After the killings, there’s no blood on her face… but there is in the mirror though.
-After the killings, there are things on the floor that a human being should keep inside himself at all costs…

-Timer in train: starts at 11.43 / ends at 01.00
-Lots of details in Times Square of course: Virgin, McDonalds and Bank of America can be seen. At least I think that’s what the signs say.. never been there. None of it’s real, though so I guess it doesn’t matter anyways.

-Isaac’s loft, 215 Red Street, number 7: paintings:

-Peter falling/flying from rooftop.
-Explosion in New york (on the floor).

-Also in that scene, there’s a tv-commercial running about Nathan Petrelli. The word SOLDIER can be seen for a moment on the screen. To see the full videoclip, click here.

-Very maybe we can see Peter flying for 2 seconds just before he tries to pull himself closer to Nathan, but it’s hard to make out. His legs aren’t hanging like they were before on that moment though.

-Petrelli posters:

-The first one is on the bus when Peter wakes up in the taxi. it reads: “For A Better Tomorrow/ Nathan Petrelli/ For Congress”.
-There are like six of them to be seen in Nate’s office. On the pillars and the walls all around.
-The second time seven or eight can be seen. There’s a stack of them on a desk, I’m only counting the first.
-Poster count up to now: 15 and counting…

Funny stuff:

-Mohinder’s God/cockroach-joke. They seem to think he’s serious.
-The red light in the background of Mohinder’s place feels out of place in a funny way… it could be me though.
-Chandra is the wrong actor on the picture.

-Nikki’s nickname on the web is xxxNikki4u. Ando’s is Huggerz69. They call each other bitch and pervert, which is kinda funny since they’re both right.
-We see Nikki’s site in a flash. The left banner reads: I’LL SHOW YOU EVERYTHING!/SEXY TALK/NAUGHTY-ONE ON ONE/LET’S GET-STARTED-RIGHT NOW! CLICK HERE. Who comes up with this?
-Micah explains the word ‘eclipse’ to his mother. Is someone looking down on someone here?

-How they use Nathan’s face to switch scenes from a dream sequence to reality. (the bus when Peter’s in the taxi)

-Claire saying: “No, I don’t think!” was pretty hilarious and she’s so serious when she says it.

-Hiro’s entire first appearance is quite funny. His run trough the office, Ando quickly closing Nikki’s site and pretending to be working and parts of the conversation. “Death-Grip-O” is hilarious.

-Angela Petrelli’s rudeness makes her funny in some sinister way. From the socks and the ‘alpha-dogs’-remark to her (improvised) waving and slapping, this character comes across as a real bitch. It’s amazing how the actress pulls it off this easily.

-There’s a cactus in the frontlawn of Tina’s place that’s bigger then Micah.
-Not really funny, but in a sadistic way perhaps: How Micah gets welcomed where he has to stay: The woman totally ignores him at first, asking Nikki: “How looong?” Sure, traumatize the kid.

-Ando: “No one ever got laid by stopping the second hand of a clock.” Like he’d know This guy needs to get his priorities straight
-Hiro’s stance after saying the words: “…called to greatness.” It reminds me of a peacock more then anything else.
-Chinese Backstreet Boys.. ’nuff said!

-Claire trying to tell her mother about the fire and getting misinterpreted is funny in a way. Nice interpetation, though.

-Hiro-Ando: conversation outside bar. See quotes.

-If Peter would’ve hit Nathan on the head with that cellphone at the end, he would’ve died tragically.

Special effects:

-Peter’s dream sequences use reversed shots and greenscreen.
-Nikki’s mirrors were also greenscreen. Must’ve been hard for Ali to act that way.
-All special fx on Claire are superbly pulled off. The facial cut that heals is totally convincing and the ribs later on are decent enough. I must admit I’ve never seen ribs from that close before so it might look even more real then I think. Also,the prosthetic hand has me totally fooled.
-The CGI temples in ‘India’ are convincing.
-Hiro on the rooftop. That’s 2 images blended together. .
-Tokyo subway. The panels are greenscreen.
-Times Square: none of it’s real. Amazing!

Camera work:

-The up and down camera angles in Peter’s first dream sequence are great and the total shot with the bird is bloody brilliant!!!
-When Nathan & Peter are outside, they get filmed trough a window very briefly when Nate takes out his phone. Nice touch!!!
-They used a special taxi (more then 1 actually) for Mohinder to get more shots from different angles.
-In the trainwreck scene there’s a very khool close-up of Claire’s face with flames in the background.
-When Hiro & Ando are talking in the alley in Japan, the background is thrown out of focus so that it looks like they’re in a big city. The magic of Hollywood!
-Hiro has a camera going 360 degrees around him in the ‘virtual Times Square’ scene. Great shot.
-The shot of Isaac’s floor with the painting should be a good one too, but right now I’m too lazy to doublecheck.
-The overview shot of the city at the end is great.

Music:

-Peter’s first dream sequence had some nifty music on it. Good for building up suspense.
-The song ‘Mustang Sally’ from ‘Wilson Pickett’ is being played on Nikki’s strip scene.
-Claire’s trainwreck scene has great music/sound backing it up.
-‘Eyes’ from ‘Rogue Wave’ is a good choice to put on the eclipse scenes. Also worth mentioning is how they go from the song to the creepy music in Nikki’s house. Nice job.

Quotes:

Isaac to Simone: “I’ll drag you down with me, I swear to God, I will!” -Right on!!!
Claire to camera: “I am Claire Bennett… and that was attempt number six.” -what an intro line.
Nathan to Peter: “Say what… you think you can fly? Why don’t you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge? See what happens.”
Brooklyn landlord: “Man… I thought I was a slob.” -upon seeing Chandra’s messed up apartment.
Hiro to Ando: “I have discovered powers beyond any mere mortal.”
Mohinder to Peter (sarcastic): “Yes, we’re aaall special.” -Probably thinking a madman entered his cab
Mohinder to Peter: “It’s destiny.”
Noah Bennett to Mohinder: “Like Smith. Or Anderson.” -Someone has been watching The Matrix.
Lyle to his mother (about Mr. Muggles, the dog) : “He still humps my leg when I watch tv.” -end of subject
Ando to Hiro: “Beam us up, Scotty!”
Hiro to Ando: “Homogenous! Yogurt-o!
Ando to Hiro: “We are not special! We are Japanese!
Hiro: “I wanna boldly go where no man has gone before.” -Star Trek quote.
Nathan to Peter who is on a rooftop: “Come on Peter, quit screwing around!” -who wouldn’t say that?

Best moments:

-Claire’s first scene.
-Claire cutting up her hand.
-Finding out Claire’s adopted, then right after discovering who her surrogate father is.
-The entire conversation between Angela & Peter on the way out of the police station. That’s topnotch acting there.
-Nikki getting caught in her house. The music and blue colour make it a great scene. Creepy!
-Nikki & mirrors. ‘Nuff said.
-Isaac saying “We have to stop it” as we see the painting on the floor.
-The last scene. Up, up… and away!