The pacing of last night's Heroes seemed really slow. Slower than molasses... more like glass. Other than introducing Grunberg's character, I don't recall much progression beyond the first episode. And I agree that I thought we'd have figured out what the premise was by now. Hopefully it picks up a bit or I think it's going get old fast.

I'm disappointed mostly because I assumed that the freaking premise would be more or less established by the end of the 2-hour pilot. In a more specific way than "There are people with powers who are important for some reason, and some other people want to kill them."

Too true. We really didn't see anything we didn't suspect about the characters and their powers. The only real plot advancement was the algorithm for locating genetically advanced individuals.

I was relieved to see that the comic book was drawn by the seer and not by someone outside the story. Last week's previews gave me the impression that it would be something like the Will Farrel/Emma Thompson movie "Stranger Than Fiction".

I think the pacing of Heroes is slow to us, who are used to this people-with-special-powers fantasy genre. But having talked to some of my co-workers who normally eschew genre television, it seems right on for them. Most of them got pulled into the fantasy setting by Lost, and now they're ready to give other fantasy-based television a try, but they don't have the training in fantasy/SciFi/comics that we do. One of my friends at work was all, "Now what did that cop do? He could hear what they were thinking, right?" and she was utterly confused when Hiro went forward in time as well as moving around in space. I realized it was taking her longer to get up to speed with the concepts than it took me (which was basically, y'know, instantaneous). I think this show is being written for people like her, at least at first - it's moving slowly, giving them a chance to adjust and catch up. If it makes more genre fans, I'll be happy to wait on it.

The only real plot advancement was the algorithm for locating genetically advanced individuals.

But even that, we didn't really learn about. We were told in one line that it existed, and we saw that it kind of looked like the Matrix, only sideways. We didn't learn why it's worth being murdered over, or what exactly can be done with it, or why.

I was relieved to see that the comic book was drawn by the seer and not by someone outside the story.

DH and I were both rolling our eyes at the comic book. We decided it must have been self-published (and that the artist is a personal friend of the newsstand owner). It seemed the only possible way to explain the writer's name and home address being printed in the back of the book.

But having talked to some of my co-workers who normally eschew genre television, it seems right on for them.

Huh. That surprises me -- I'd have thought that the talkiness would turn non-genre fans off.

But even that, we didn't really learn about. We were told in one line that it existed, and we saw that it kind of looked like the Matrix, only sideways.

There's also this weird wavy line symbol that's showing up everywhere. It was in the Matrix-code, it was on some of the paintings in Isaac's place, in the pool outside the crime scene, flyboy's stick figure drawing, and some other places I don't recall. Which makes me go "Okay. Do people with super-powers somehow force random objects into this shape by their presence? WTF?"

It's not a good sign that two episodes in and I can't remember most of the character's names. I normally pick up character names pretty quickly.

If the comic book artist has some kind of special pre-cog, it's possible he could have snuck a stack of specially-printed comic books into that spinner on that NYC street so that it would reach Hiro at just the right time. So I'll be happy to hand-wave at it for now....

(the guy in Mohinder's apartment,

On another board, there was some speculation that the neighbor is eeeeeeeevil, and the bugging thing was a set up for her to "save" him, to gain his trust.

DH and I were both rolling our eyes at the comic book

So I'll be happy to hand-wave at it for now....

My wank for now is that because he teleported forward in time to the big explosion, then (I think) back to the current time, he meets the artist guy sometime during the intervening time and puts the comic book there for his future self, but then my head goes all 'splody because of time travel, etc. and I can't take it any further.

So far, the mirror image chick is the creepiest for me, I think. Although Claire's injuries are pretty creepy too.

I think "a bunch of dudes with powers have to stop the apocalypse whilst avoiding some evil dude" is a good enough premise for me.

On another board, there was some speculation that the neighbor is eeeeeeeevil, and the bugging thing was a set up for her to "save" him, to gain his trust.

But she's cute, and has a big gun.

My wank for now is that because he teleported forward in time to the big explosion, then (I think) back to the current time, he meets the artist guy sometime during the intervening time and puts the comic book there for his future self, but then my head goes all 'splody because of time travel, etc. and I can't take it any further.

A brand new comic book written, drawn, and published in five weeks? Bwah ha ha ha ha... (Not so fondly remembers waiting for months and months for the final issue of Fray.)