See also the Wild Cards series, where there are assorted characters that can only use their superpowers a) while inside an armored shell made of a car b) while making a gun gesture with one finger c) after having tantric sex and d) while under the influence of custom made hallucinagens. Mental blocks prevent each of them from unrestricted use of their powers.
Good to know that the first two episodes were original a 2-hour premiere, but then where did the missing 1/2 hour go? I don’t think they would’ve done all that recap in the middle of a 2-hour episode… I guess the eventual DVD set will have some deleted scenes.
The original was still two hours of TV time (which would be something like 84 minutes after commercials). I believe some re-editing was done and a few scenes or parts of scenes may have been removed for time, but not a full half hour.
It may not have been there to begin with… they showed the first episode with “minimal commercial interruption”. So, it’s like they added some scenes from the 2nd hour into the premiere in place of commercials and then they had to recap the 2nd episode to round out the time.
The online comics do contain “deleted scenes”, but they’re probably not filmed.
I guess the eventual DVD set will have some deleted scenes.