Heroes

Tim Kring’s Heroes earns our interest early and does not sustain it well enough across its four series. The first run is worth trying if people discovering superpowers is a premise that appeals; committing to everything is a harder recommendation. The writing approaches those powers with a seriousness that can be touching, making room for curiosity before the need to save the world takes over. The opening allows its separate characters time to become interesting, though some need rather more help than others.

With Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet, Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli and Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, the early ensemble offers several reasons to stay. Masi Oka is the easiest to warm to, giving the programme’s optimism a welcome human focus. We enjoyed Hiro’s company most, because that hopeful quality makes a refreshing break from the more solemn business of the larger mystery. Not every character commands the same interest, which makes the movement between their stories occasionally frustrating.

Adam Kane’s cinematography gives the opening a composed, serious look, an important choice for a premise that could easily look foolish. That visual confidence helps us accept the extraordinary before the different strands have gathered speed. The production design, credited to Ruth Ammon and Curtis A. Schnell, supports the coherence of an expanding ensemble without demanding attention for itself. The presentation is assured enough that the slower passages initially seem to be going somewhere worth waiting for.

The music by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman suits a drama prepared to take wonder seriously. That earnestness is part of the attraction, although it can make a slow passage feel more important than it is. There is pleasure in a superhero programme that allows excitement without immediately apologising for it. The early episodes leave room to enjoy the discovery of powers before making those powers everybody else’s problem.

More difficult to forgive is the uneven distribution of attention. The first series runs to 23 episodes, and the patient introductions sometimes tip into delay, particularly when a less compelling strand interrupts one gathering pace. Yet the developing connections reward attention, and enough questions receive answers to make the next question worth asking. The first run generally remembers that we need some satisfaction from the episode being watched, even while it encourages us to start another.

The later series are the substantial caveat, and a judgement of the complete programme cannot treat them as an incidental disappointment. They fail to sustain the first run’s combination of character interest and forward movement, making the early enthusiasm harder to maintain. The decline matters particularly because the opening encourages such investment in the ensemble and its developing connections. Strong casting remains something to appreciate, but it cannot make continued attention feel worthwhile on its own.

As superhero television, Heroes is most appealing when it takes an interest in the people discovering their abilities. Its first series gives those introductions enough time to make the gathering threat worth caring about, despite the uneven pace. The generous critical response makes sense when applied to those early episodes; it is a less reliable guide to the complete run. Begin for Hiro and the unfolding connections, and feel no obligation to continue once the characters stop earning the time.