Episode Report Card Erin: B- | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT We Can Be Heroes, Just For One Day.
By Erin | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.24.2006
Peter says that something's happening to him, and for some reason, he thinks that Nathan's the only one who's going to understand it. Nathan's like, dude? Say it with me: I. Am. A. Politician. Park your crazy bus in the loading zone and deliver your insanity to someone else who gives a shit, okay? Nathan's phone rings and it's their mother. She's been arrested. For shoplifting. Wow. One brother's a self-centered politician, the other thinks he can fly, and their mother steals shit? That is one Thanksgiving dinner I want to be invited to.
We switch back to Claire and her nerdy videographer. She's depressed. Nerdeo doesn't know why; he thinks this is the single coolest thing to happen to their town in years. "Not if nobody finds out, it's not," she says. He asks why she wanted him to tape her if she didn't want anyone to know. She just says she has her reasons. Also? It's much cooler to introduce a character through a videotaped stunt than it is just through them falling to their death via a rusted-out piece of architecture. "It's not like you're not going to be popular anymore," Nerdeo says. Claire's disgusted with him for some reason. The idea of popularity never occurred to her. Her life is over, she says, because she's got a game tonight, homecoming in three weeks and she's a total freak show. She's broken every bone in her body, stabbed herself in the chest, shoved a two-foot steel rod through her neck and she doesn't have a single scratch on her. "Whaddya call that thing that's sticking out?" he says, pointing at her side. She lifts her sweater and sees two ribs poking out through her skin. "Oh, great," she sighs, shoving them back in as the skin closes over them. Hee. Ew. And hee. Claire requests the tape from him and he hands it over. She starts to walk away, but he offers her a ride on his handlebars and she turns around with another sigh. "Look... thanks, okay? I'll talk to you in front of other people at school tomorrow. Promise." He smiles at her, and she and her broken bones shuffle off this mortal coil. I can't decide if she's a suicidal bitch or just a bitch. Neither one is very promising.
Tokyo, Japan. A large clock on a desk is ticking. The screensaver on the computer screen shows a big blue rock monster thing. (Look, I don't know what's going to be important later or not, so I'm mentioning EVERYTHING, okay?) Hiro Nakamura, a gently nerdy young man, sits staring at the clock. He's staring so hard that he's breaking out in a sweat. Nothing happens. He closes his eyes and breathes and then throws down another stare at the clock. Again nothing. Finally, he lets out all his breath and quivers his face at the clock, his cheeks shaking, his brows furrowing. And that's when it happens. The clock? It goes back one second. Hiro jumps up and shouts in Japanese, "I did it! I did it!" Then he runs down a cubicle aisle and chatters at everyone in Japanese. He stops at his buddy's cube and tells him that he broke the space-time continuum. His friend's all, greaaaaat. Wanna go get some udon?