Mutants, a Long Way From Neptune

Drugs, date rape, and murder were no problem for Veronica Mars, but is she ready to face super-powered humans?

The petite, blonde, and deliciously dangerous Kristin Bell will begin her 13 episode run on Heroes tonight. The show chronicles the lives of seemingly ordinary people who discover they have superpowers and are destined to save the world. Discussing many themes such as evolution, family, and fate, the show has garnered a huge fan base over the last year.

Bell is one of several new faces added this season to the already densely populated cast. Not all the new characters have superhuman powers, but they all play an important part in the show’s complex plot. In a recent conference call, Heroes creator Tim Kring cryptically said, “The audience should fully expect to see characters leaving in the near future.” Last season, Heroes killed off several characters and one main cast member, and the trend will apparently continue. For now, the show boasts the newly added names of David Anders from Alias, and Nichelle Nichols who played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek. Even though it seems a little too convenient that stars from other cult shows (Alias, Star Trek, Veronica Mars) just happent to continue to join the cast, Kring simply says in lieu of an explanation, “It in a strange way has been an odd coincidence.”

Tonight, the coincidence lives on with the arrival of Bell, better known as Veronica Mars. “I was a huge fan of the show. I watched it from its premiere episode,” Bell said on why she went for this role. But do not expect to see the same witty, good-natured teenager she portrayed in the teen mystery series, Veronica Mars. The 27 year old is all grown up and playing a different kind of character. Bell describes Elle as “a little off”, and with “an inability to decipher between right and wrong.” She contiunes: “She’s so conflicted and sort of comes across as such a vixen, it’s so much fun to play with.” According to Bell, the audience “will love to hate her initially while they’re confused about her intentions... the more you find out about her... the more you’ll sympathize with her.”

Kring shed some light on the history of this new character, saying, “Elle’s character is actually raised within the Company. And it’s in some ways a cautionary tale.” On Heroes, The Company is a mysterious organization with unclear intentions that is somehow connected to several of the main characters without their knowledge. It is one of the many plot devices that highlights another theme of the show: interconnectedness. Whether it is via the Company or familial bonds, there is noticeably some kind of connection between most of the characters. For fans, a fun part of Heroes is waiting to see how, when, where, and why these links exist. Not an exception to this theme, Elle will somehow be connected to Peter Petrelli, Noah Bennet a.k.a HRG, Claire Bennet, and Mrs. Suresh.

Although Elle makes her first appearance tonight, she will not return until the eighth or ninth episode of the season. Why such a long absence? Kring explains that this season each episode is “telling fewer stories... which allows for a more - a deeper sort of experience with the show...” He concludes: “So not everybody can be in every episode.” Heroes’ first season had complicated, interconnected story lines that, as Kring said, “had to be paid off in that final episode which made for an episode that the expectations are so high that, you know, it’s hard to meet everybody’s expectation.”

To avoid this pressure again, Heroes will have multiple volumes. The first is called “Generations” and will end on the eleventh episode of this season, answering “every question that is raised... within these eleven episodes so that it’s one complete volume.”

With the addition of several characters and the focused storytelling, Heroes this season may appear different than it has in the past. Will these changes help or hurt the show? Only time will tell, but for now, the buzz is all about Kristin Bell’s premiere tonight.

Having received many accolades from critics and fans alike, Bell is a welcome addition to the cast of Heroes. A fan of comic books and superheroes, Bell said that if given a choice, she would be “like a Harley Quinn or like Lost from Avengers.” Since Harley Quinn is the disturbed and dangerous sidekick of the Joker, perhaps it is not a coincidence that Bell is playing a conflicted and morally ambiguous character. Watch tonight to see how this little blonde makes being the bad girl look oh so good.