Here are the top five moments from season one of “Heroes,” as selected by the A&E editors:
5. Nathan-Claire-Peter: So, they’re related. When Claire visits her pyrokinetic birth mother in “Distractions,” Meredith Gordon calls the father of her child to ask for money ““ to keep quiet. We learn that the man she has called is flying man and prominent politician Nathan Petrelli, which means ““ uh-oh ““ Claire and Peter are niece and uncle. There goes that romantic relationship we thought we saw a glimpse of in earlier episodes: “You’re totally my hero,” with an innocent smile. Even the Peter-Claire fan sites thought they saw something there.
4. The Death of Simone: At the end of “Unexpected,” Isaac the painter and Peter partake in some hero-on-hero action in the New York artist’s studio, as Isaac picks up a gun instead of his normal paintbrush and Peter darts frantically around the room ““ sometimes visible, sometimes invisible. But instead of killing each other, the bullet manages to catch Simone ““ the object of both Peter and Isaac’s love ““ straight in the chest. Simone’s death is startling, yes, but more so it represents the destructive nature of even the most well-intentioned heroism, a theme explored more deeply as the series continues. And it also gives us the opportunity to, a few episodes later, witness the true power of the beautiful shapeshifter Candice.
3. Future Imperfect: When we first met “future Hiro” near the beginning of the season, it was natural to wonder what a future in which the heroes failed to save New York would look like. This was answered in the episode “Five Years Gone,” in which Hiro and Ando travel five years into the future. The world we’re presented with is one where Nathan Petrelli (or someone looking like him …) is President, Matt Parkman is an evil Homeland Security agent, Hiro is a terrorist, Peter has a scar and is dating Niki, and Claire is a brunette. The episode ended with Hiro and Ando escaping this seriously scary world, but one can only wonder whether we’ll actually see this scenario come to pass.
2. Claire Will Never Forget: “Tell me Claire, can you keep a secret?” The mysterious, silent Haitian continues to erase the memories of those around her, but spares Claire and tells her that she must simply pretend to forget the recent traumatic events at her high school, which include her (and now Peter’s) ability to self-heal. This moment begins a web of lies that grows stickier and stronger as the season develops.
1: The “Company Man” Episode: The best overall episode of the season told the backstory of Mr. Bennet, Claire’s adoptive father and employee of an agency that monitors superpowered individuals. Through sepia-toned flashbacks, this episode fleshed out Bennet and also transformed him, in the eyes of viewers, from a villain into a man in a tough position whom we can’t help but root for. Plus, it had an explosive climax involving radioactive Ted Sprague and Claire. Here’s hoping the show employs additional flashback episodes in this same style.