Save the cheerleader, save ‘Heroes’?

However, waiting until the next "Heroes"”  episode to learn if D.L. phased Jessica’s bullet is a lot more engaging than waiting for Locke’s latest crisis of faith on “Lost,” or wondering who gets killed next on the mysterious island because the writers ran the character into the ground. Networks bombarded this season with myriad “Lost” rip-offs, where viewers are expected to invest in the serial storylines rather than neat episodes that resolve in an hour. If you missed one, and nobody taped it at work, you’re up a creek.

“Heroes” is in this category, but the show ups the game with its comic-book storytelling style of small story arcs which follow a larger story, but also resolve somewhat at the end of each episode. Further, even if most of the characters don’t get how cool their newfound abilities are, the audience sure does. And that’s part of the charm.

Hiro Nakamura is the one character who aptly channels the audience excitement about becoming “super.” Face pinched and glasses vibrating from his intense concentration, Hiro can bend that old “Star Trek” chestnut, the space-time continuum. That’s the term he uses (in Japanese, via subtitles) to describe his ability to freeze time, time travel and teleport. Thrilled with his gift, Hiro convinces his co-worker that they must travel to America to save the world. As a comic-book geek who's properly schooled in Spider-Man, Hiro knows that with great power comes great responsibility.

A glimpse of future Hiro sporting a soul patch and toting a sword lets the audience know that wide-eyed Hiro is headed for a big time loss of innocence (and perhaps Lasik surgery). Being a hero ain’t always pretty.

Unfortunately, being a hero doesn’t mean you’re in every episode either. While Hiro is the fan favorite, he has only one small, unclimactic scene at the end of the allegedly hero-defining “Homecoming.” It seems Hiro overshot his attempt to travel back in time and save the waitress who recently developed the ability to memorize everything. But viewers knew that last week.

Meanwhile, “Homecoming” was chock-full of the only character whinier than male nurse Peter, genetics professor Mohinder, whose own superpower seems to be tedium. Actually, Mohinder is one of the few characters who hasn’t been genetically altered in the way his mysteriously deceased professor father predicted. He spends the majority of “Homecoming” in a Hamlet-inspired sulk, wondering if he should follow dad's (woefully misinformed) genetic work and fretting over the newfound knowledge that he has a deceased (and genetically special) older sister, Shanti. (Though you can bet your Vulcan ears she’s probably alive somewhere, hanging out with Fox Mulder’s sister.) Guided by a super-kid who shows up in his dreams, Mohinder hacks into his pop’s computer and finds an address for every “hero” on the planet.

As the one guy without superpowers, Mohinder is meant to represent the incredulous audience. But who wants to be that dull? Meta-character Hiro is the guy to whom audiences can relate. He already was living in the comic-book universe of his brain pre-abilities. Now that he’s got the power, he’s ready to go. If only Hiro could use it to time-travel into “Homecoming” and give himself a better role in the overhyped episode. It would have made for a much better show.

Helen A.S. Popkin is a writer in New York.

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