Christos Kalohoridis/NBCSave Thursday nights, save NBC.
That's probably what the Peacock told creator Tim Kring when they gave a Heroes revival series the greenlight a short five years after the original went off the air. But for fans burned by the declining quality over the original series' run, is Heroes Reborn, premiering tonight, worth the very real risks? After all, for some, those wounds are still fresh!
E! News' resident Heroes fans (one who stuck with the series until the very end, while the other gave up mid-way through season two) break down their thoughts on the new series in an effort to steer you in the right direction. We do this all for you, people!
But first, a quick primer: Evos (the classification given to people with powers) are no longer welcome in today's world, following a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas a year before that left the city in ruins and claimed the life of Claire (played by Hayden Panettiere in the original series), as well as many, many more. Blamed for the event, the world is not safe for evos, who are either in hiding or on the run from those who mean to do them harm. Naturally, though, the world will come to need them more than ever.
New Character We're Most Intrigued By:
Billy: Tommy, played by Once Upon a Time's Peter Pan, Robbie Kay. The high school student coming to terms with his burgeoning powers, and dealing with the ostracizing that comes with, feels a little Claire 2.0, but that's a good thing. Heroes always worked best when the "powers = otherness" allegory was applied to the life of a teenager and that's no different here.
Tierney: Ditto what Billy said, I am definitely interested (and invested) in Tommy. Coming of age stories, they get me every damn time, especially when you add in powers.
New Character We're Least Intrigued By:
Tierney: Oh man, sorry Chuck fans, but Zachary Levi and Judith Shekoni's married couple on a mission for vengeance after the death of their son are basically the worst. And not in a fun way. Like in a worst of the worst way, to the point where I found their actions offensive. (Oh, how I miss the days of early Sylar, a kind of villain this reboot is desperately missing and needs.) That being said, I like Levi's Luke A LOT more than Shekoni's Joanne.
Billy: Okay, look, Levi is a fave forever because of Chuck, but his storyline here as Evo-hatin', vengeful father Luke, alongside wife Joanne, isn't fun. At all. Heroes lives and dies by its villains (Wherefore art thou, Sylar?!) and these two aren't cutting it.
Tierney: Piggy-backing off Billy, I wonder if they are even meant to be villains? Not sure of the intention with these two quite yet...
Old Character We're Most Excited to Visit:
Tierney: MICAH (Noah Gray-Cabey)! Seriously, I got ALL the goosebumps when he showed up in the extended trailer, and it sounds like he could be a Mr. Robot-style hacker? (I totally made that up, but am hoping that happens. And you should totally be watching Mr. Robot.)
Billy: Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose). Besides HRG, there was no character who toed the line of hero and villain better than Mama P. The Petrelli family was so important to the original run of the series that the absence of both Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) stings just a bit. At least Angela will be able to fill us in on what's happened to them in the last five years.
Old Character We Hopes Stays Away:
Billy: Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg). Wishful thinking, I know. (Grunberg's involvement in the revival series is already confirmed) But the mind-reading cop never felt essential to the show at any point in its initial run. In fact, his presence never really amounted to little more than an annoyance. Please, the little the Matt, the better.
Tierney: Claire. I really hope the show doesn't pull off some fake death storyline. It's kind of cool that we are seeing a world where they didn't save the cheerleader.
What Intrigued Us the Most:
Billy: Noah Bennett's (Jack Coleman) new life. We know Claire is dead, but where are his wife Sandra and son Lyle? Why did he abandon them in his quest to start over? That doesn't feel like the HRG we know and love, so there's got to be more to it.
Tierney: Without giving too much away, there's a major thing Noah did that I am REALLY curious to know the backstory on and his intentions for doing it. Gee, can I vague that up anymore for you? And, like with the original series, I am curious to see how all these different storylines will (or won't) come together.
Answer We Hope We Get:
Billy: Consider this one "Answer We Hope We Get (Really Soon)"! What's going on with that damn eclipse? Heroes has always loved itself a solar event and there's one all over the key art for Reborn, but it's barely even touched on in the premiere.
Tierney: Who came up with the nickname "Evos"? Just kidding. I do really want to know what the hell happened to Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who seems to be an integral part of Reborn…without even being in the first two episodes yet.
Heroes Series Premiere vs. Heroes Reborn Series Premiere:
Billy: When Heroes premiered in 2006, there was nothing like it on TV and I was riveted. Watching Heroes Reborn nearly 10 years later, it felt overly familiar and not always in a good way. The O.G. felt like it had something to say while also knowing how to entertain us in a way TV hadn't for a while. The revival feels like it's relying on nostalgia to hook us.
Tierney: Heroes' original series premiere just had a level of heart and emotion that Reborn is somehow lacking. It's hard to recreate that magic, and Reborn tends to feel a little dated, a little stuck in trying to recreate the past rather than bring Heroes into the modern-age of TV.
So Are We On Board?
Billy: That above comparison may sound overly negative, but consider me on board for a few weeks, at least. I want to see where Noah's story takes him, so maybe Tim Kring and Co. know what they're doing after all.
Tierney: For 13 episodes, I'm in in a I-can-put-this-on-while-I-do-other-things kind of way. I am still recovering from vertigo of the insane decline from season one to season two of the original, so you know, fool me once…
Heroes Reborn premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC.
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