The first episode of NBC’s Heroes Reborn, titled “Brave New World; Odessa,” introduces us to a current-day world where Evos, or Evolved people with special powers, have found acceptance and equality coexisting with humans.
In the first scene, a summit is held in Odessa, Texas where rainbow flags and balloons line the street proclaiming messages such as "Odessa Unity Summit," "Evos and Humans United," and "Evos and Humans Peace for All," while on the other side of the street stand angry people waving protest signs that say "God Hates Evos" and "Choose Human" and "Unnatural Selection." Sound familiar? Like every gay activist rally that has ever been stereotypically portrayed by the media?
Soon after, the tragedy begins as a bomb is dropped on the Unity Rally, which begins a series of news broadcasts taking us through the public’s sadness and eventually their rage over the loss of life. Soon, the broadcasts change from “Why did this happen?” to “It was a despicable and cowardly act” and “The dream of peace between Evos and humans has been shattered.”
Then, a familiar voice, one identical to President Barak Obama’s voice, enters with this message: “these are the seeds of hate that we cannot let take root in our hearts,” from a 2012 speech he made at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, then “make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this,” copied President Barak Obama’s words after the Boston Marathon bombing, and finally, “to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice” which came word-for-word from Obama’s speech after the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The show also invoked imagery from 9/11, referring to the the Odessa Unity Summit bombing in statements such as “June 13th changed everything.” Even the set design of the bombing site had a 9/11 Ground Zero-esque feel to it.
Isn’t it interesting how 9/11, and 9/11-ish imagery is found almost nowhere on modern American television. Except, of course, when the left realizes they can copy and paste sound bites from three different speeches to make Obama look like he’s saving gay people from radical Christian fundamentalism.
But that’s just a coincidence, I’m sure of it…
