CHAPTER ONE: GENESIS

Plot Isaac paints a mushroom cloud over New York City. Hiro teleports around the world. Niki sees something very strange in the mirror, Claire films herself jumping off an oil rig, and Peter learns his brother Nathan can fly. And so it begins.

Best Moment That soon-to-be-famous cheerleader throws herself to her death — only to stand up, dust herself off, and eerily intone: ''This is Claire Bennet and that was attempt number six.''

Critique In a single, deftly interwoven episode all the groundwork is laid for the engrossing season to come. Looking back, of course, there was no way of knowing just how good those 23 episodes would be. (Though Hiro teleporting himself into the girl's bathroom at a karaoke club was pretty damn brilliant.) B+ —Dan Fierman

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