New Favourite Show

We don't have a TV here in our apartment, but I get my occasional fix by downloading episodes of shows that people recommend to me, or that I randomly hear about, from our campus network. I tend to focus on one or two shows at a time; House is one that I watch regularly, but my new favourite, and one that I only started watching recently, is Heroes.

I don't know what it is about the show that has got me so hooked! It's a number of things, I think. Firstly, the characters are fascinating people in and of themselves, aside from their powers, and the writers do a great job of making you care about them as people. I love Hiro and Ando! A number of the faces are familiar (like Milo Ventimiglia, who used to be on Gilmore Girls, Ali Larter, who was in Legally Blonde, and Greg Grunberg, who used to be on Felicity). Another thing that makes it fascinating is how slowly the story arc is progressing. We found out about what was going to happen on November 8th close to the beginning of the season (when Hiro teleported into the future), but the current storyline is still happening in October, so we're still in suspense about November. Nothing ever resolves itself at the end of an episode either, which really makes you want to continue watching and see what's going to happen. The creator, Tim Kring, has apparently plotted the show's main story arcs out for at least five seasons; if they're as good as the ones so far (I'm up to episode 109), I'll be watching for a long time to come. The lack of resolution at the end of each episode means the fact that they all end with "To be continued..." makes sense, but I still think its a bit of a silly conceit.

Another thing that I think makes Heroes so interesting is the whole concept of super powers. I think that everyone at some point fantasizes about being special in some way, whether that is in a hero kind of way or not. This show gives you a place to explore the idea of being a normal person who is suddenly extraordinary. Imagine finding out that you could fly, or paint the future, or spontaneously regenerate! Sure it would be freaky, but it would also be fascinating. I think that a lot of people are also interested in the idea of what they would do with their powers, if they had them. Save the world, or go for personal gain? Heroes has both kinds of characters, which is refreshing (because you have to admit it, but completely altruistic people are really kind of boring!)

The show is on hiatus until January 22nd, but luckily I haven't finished the first half of the season yet, so by the time I do, the new episodes should be on. I can't wait to see what happens!