I. AM. PISSED. OFF.
Oh, Tim Kring, how could you do this to me? How could you do this to us, your loyal fans, who have supported and followed this show since Day One? How could you end one of the best seasons of television ever with one of the single worst finales I’ve ever seen in my life? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS ME?
If you are a fellow Heroes watcher, than you have my deepest sympathies because no fan should have endure crap like this. Let’s break it down:
STUFF I LIKED:
1. Hmmmmm. I actually have to think about this. Ok. Got one.
Good power uses. Every single hero used their power (well, not including those whose powers we don’t know like Mama Petrelli, Charles Deveaux and Simone– believe me, she’ll be back). Nathan flew, Claire regenerated, Peter read minds, was invisible and blew up, Hiro teleported and time traveled (more on that later), Micah restarted the elevator, DL went through another wall, Nikki used her super strength to hit Sylar with a parking meter, and Molly located Sylar. Even if the rest of the episode sucked, at least no one is shy about using their abilities anymore.
2. Some cool new information was dropped on us. According to Molly, there is a villain even worse than Sylar on the horizon, a villain so powerful that when Molly thinks of him, he can “see” her. This has fantastic potential and is a great hook for the second season. Also, we learned that Charles Deveaux has some sort of ability (time travel? dream talking?), which should hopefully play out next season.
That’s it. Time for the tirade.
STUFF THAT PISSED ME OFF:
1. SO many inconsistencies I don’t even know where to begin. I think its easier to do them in list form.
a. Sylar– He is powerful enough to kill dozens of heroes, and he has supersonic hearing, but Hiro is able to jog up to him and smite him with a samurai sword? HUH? Really?
b. In one scene, Hiro is able to teleport across a room, grab Ando, and teleport to Japan before Sylar can even turn his head. But when Sylar throws him in the final scene, he accidentally travels to 17th century Japan? Come on!
c. Where is the damn Haitian? He’s around all season-long and then when all the shit goes down, he’s nowhere to be found?
d. Isaac’s comic book– In one page of the book, Hiro is stabbing Sylar. This comes true. In another page, Ando is dead. This does not come true. How can it be both? Ando being alive or dead has no effect on whether Hiro succeeds?
e. In one scene, DL is collapsed on the ground with a bullet in his stomach, unable to move. Moments later, he’s running around and then chillin outside with his wife and kid. Give me a break.
f. Last week, Candace alluded to the fact that she hides her true form because she is really fat and ugly. But when Nikki knocks her out, she reverts back into pretty Candace form, not into some behemoth dogface. If Kring and Co. try and pull some crap move in the future where Candace is not actually the pretty brunette, I will be more than pissed.
OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT UPSET ME:
1. Veronica Mars- 2 hour finale. 24- 2 hour finale. Lost- 2 hour finale. Heroes – 63 lousy minutes.
2. Matt Parkman gets hit in the chest with like 5 bullets and he isn’t dead?! I know he’s best friends with Tim Kring, but that shouldn’t matter! If you don’t want him to die, don’t shoot him with 5 bullets! Damn you and your nepotism, Kring! Damn you!
3. Mr. Bennet’s name is Noah. Whoop dee frickin doo. Now I can die happy. Thanks, Kring, you giant ignoramus.
4. Sylar gets stabbed! But wait, he’s not dead, don’t worry. Oh no, DL got shot in the gut! Oh wait, he’s not dead either. Holy moly! Matt Parkman got shot several times in the torso! Oh hang on. HE’S NOT DEAD EITHER. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???
5. If there’s one more speech about love or family or hope on this show, I’m going to stop watching and instead, I’m going to watch Sesame Street, because at least on that show, they have musical numbers and giant puppets to accompany the saccharine cliches being rammed down my throat.
6. I’d like to quote a few lines for you here, to illustrate one of the most preposterous moments of this ludicrous show:
[The scene-- Kirby Plaza. Sylar has been temporarily defeated. Peter is about to explode. Claire is pointing a gun at him.]
Peter: Do it. Do it! You’re the only one, Claire.
Claire (in tears): Tell me there’s another way please!
Peter: Shoot me. There is no other way.
[Suddenly, Nathan flies in from night sky, landing in between his brother and daughter.]
Nathan: Yes there is, Claire.
Aaaand scene. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Does Nathan have supersonic hearing also? Or is this like the episode of Arrested Development where Tony Wonder just waits in the dumbwaiter for an hour until someone says the word “wonder”? Do they really think we’re so stupid and so absorbed in this terrible finale that we won’t notice someone finishing a conversation they could not possibly have heard? If I had Ted’s power, I can assure my hands would be turning red right now.
7. I start a new paragraph here because I want to now discuss the most important disappointment of all. This finale was fecal matter, my friends. Pure feces. They spend the first 45 minutes wasting time, jerking us around until the last 5 minute showdown (think about it– nothing happened in the first 45 minutes. Nothing.) And you know what? I could’ve forgiven them for that if they gave me the epic final battle we were all expecting and deserved. Save the cheerleader, save the world, right? Well, what the hell did Claire have to do with anything? Why didn’t Peter even use a single power to stop Sylar? Why was the final showdown between the ultimate hero and the ultimate villain less exciting than an infomercial for the Magic Bullet? And think about this– aside from Nathan flying Peter away (because for some reason, Peter couldn’t do it himself), not one hero did anything that actually had to do with saving the world, and in the end, the evil villain got away.
And you know what? I could’ve even forgiven that if the preview for next season had been mindblowing, like we were all sure it would be. But then we get Hiro on some grassy knoll with a bunch of ancient samurai? As David Spade would say, “Really, Tim Kring? Really?”
Before I close, let me leave you with some info and questions about next season:
1. SPOILER ALERT– As the laws of tv can tell you, if you don’t see a character die on-screen, they aren’t dead (We’ll see how true this law is if Peter is still alive on Weeds). Plain and simple. And so, as you can all guess, Nathan isn’t dead and has a contract for next season to prove it. What a load of garbage. Think about it– in the episode before the finale, we had 3 deaths, but in the finale, not a single one. How lame can you get?
(If you don’t believe me, check the latest Ask Ausiello. Thanks to Greg for the heads up.)
2. Speaking of people not dying, even though the name of the last Heroes graphic novel is “The Death of Hana Gittelman” (also known as Wireless for those of you keeping score at home), Hana “dies” but is still able to communicate through wireless communication. So that’s a cop-out too.
3. Next season, we will find out what Sylar does to peoples’ brains. We will also be introduced to the even worse than Sylar baddie to which Molly alluded.
4. What is Mama Petrelli’s power? I must know!
5. What’s the deal with Sylar and cockroaches? There was one in his cell when he was first captured by Noah Bennet and now there’s one crawling on the manhole through which he escaped (which, by the way, makes me wonder: did none of the 8 other people standing around doing nothing notice a stabbed man drag himself several feet across the ground, open a manhole, and climb into a sewer? COME ON!)
As this blog can attest, Heroes was my favorite show of the year. But like a final exam, the finale is worth 50% of the final grade and this finale gets a D for being worse than the episode that preceded it, the worst episode of the season, and the most anti-climatic episode of tv I may have ever seen. When I average this grade with the rest of the episodes, the first season of Heroes, a season that had the potential to go down as one of the best first seasons of television ever, finishes with a respectable, but unremarkable B+
Pretty please, if you watched the finale, share your thoughts! Do you agree with me? Disagree? Let me know!
Stay tuned for posts on the VMars series finale and tonight’s Lost season finale!
Hillarious! and completely correct.
i liked it but i still agree…nothing really happened. parkman not dying after getting FIVE bullets thrown back at him pissed me off more than the lack of an epic battle btw sylar and peter. that’s just ridiculous. also, it makes no sense that nathan wouldn’t let claire just shoot peter. then no one risks their life – they can temporarily disable peter and then just get the bullet out of him and let him heal. nathan’s grand gesture basically had no purpose.
the only other thing i liked was seeing the different generations of heroes…it was cool..kinda..
also, don’t know if you’ve seen this website: http://heroesnn.com/
good day good sir.
- deb
Jambonah…this was the first time I read your blog, and I am rather impressed. Great writing man…
I’m right there with you, nothing happened this episode, however I still love all the characters..
Overall, Nicki is the shit.
Although this episode was not the best one, I can’t wait for next season…and a little romance between Molly and Micah (..ok it won’t happen, but it would be one of the first shows to have an inter-racial relationship between individuals under the age of 15..)
xoxo
Jonah
I couldn’t agree more. I hope the next season is more like the other episodes than the finale. How could Nathan possibly be alive, he blew up! And also, good point about the fact that Peter can fly on his own, he doesn’t need Nathan to carry him up there. Also, isn’t the hatian dead? or was that in the future?
Ben
Thank you all for your comments! That’s what fan criticism is all about!
To respond, glad we’re all on the same page here. I was worried I was overreacting, but from your comments, it seems like all us fans were equally disappointed. And yes Deb, I too think that Matt not dying is by far the most ridiculous aspect of the episode. How stupid do they think we are, right?
And no, the Haitian isn’t dead. He gets killed in “String Theory,” the episode in the future.
Check back later tonight for a post on the Lost finale!
I love these kind of posts as they point out stuff I agree with, but couldn’t put into words myself.
It just wasn’t what was expected. It had some ok moments, but I felt that it was dragged out a bit too much. It just seemed to undo all that had built up over the season with confusing stuff that didn’t really need to happen or be shown.
I’m just hoping that the Lost season finale isn’t as disappointing (I’m just about to watch it).
Dude, Jonah, I could not agree more. Although in Spain, I have watched every single episode. They literally were the highlights of my week, but then the finale happened. Yeah, it was like “well dip me in poop and roll me in rainbow sprinkles!” — That’s the most perfect summation of my thoughts that I can offer.
My friend Tony and I talked for hours about this final disappointment and I’m glad you took the time to call out Kring, although knowing something about TV, we have no idea if the ending went down exactly how he planned. Maybe certain characters tested so well with audiences that they weren’t allowed to be killed, etc. Maybe they were running overbudget and couldn’t shoot the final fight scene the way they wanted. Maybe none of my theories are true – I’m just applying wishful thinking because I still want to respect Kring. I still think Heroes was ridiculously good, it’s just that we have to ignore the finale.
Glad to hear from you, Danny. And glad you agree with my thoughts. You raise a good point, that perhaps it isn’t all Kring’s fault. I think you are most definitely right with your theory about saving characters that test well because I know for a fact that Ando was not supposed to be a major character, but people loved the Hiro/Ando duo so much and I’m sure that played in to the decision to keep him alive. Good call.
However, I don’t think we can ignore this finale. As I mentioned, I think a finale, like a final exam, is worth a great deal more than any other episode, aside from the premiere. So it certainly knocks Heroes Season One down a peg, at least in my book.
Hope to hear from you again soon!
I was a big fan of the other 22 episodes – downloading and watching every week. I was able to get over the somewhat rediculous premise (a few genes in you’re DNA can cause you’re clothes to phase through a wall, or someone you’re holding on to to travel through time) to enjoy the seemingly well thought out characters and story. That was untill episode 23.
Worst.
Episode.
Ever.
I hear ya, Rattus. I hear ya.
yo. first timer. love the site. love the musings. particularly love 1b (re: hiro in samurailand).
also – what happened with nikki/jessica? since when is her alter ego on board with being nice?
what’s the deal with the swirly symbol thing – some people have tattoos of it, it was on some flag somewhere…?
why is molly such a bad actress?
when are they gonna reincarnate the hot persuasive girl? she was dope and it was lame that she died.
and why does sylar never use that power (persuasion)? like how about convince all the other heroes to go take a long walk upstate while he blows shit up?
and finally:
what good is regeneration if you don’t have super strength or something else to go along with it? people just use you as a human shield or something? this is why wolverine is such a sucky character in x-men. he just heals. whooptidoo.
it’s funny – i’m a sucker for filmed entertainment. i didn’t think about any of these things during the episode. but after reading here and thinking about it, of course, the finale lacked majorly in imagination (read: sucked). so why am i such a sucker? cuz tv is pretty?
Hey Gabe, so happy to have your comments! So many questions, I’ll see if I can knock some of them out for ya.
1. It seems like Niki/Jessica finally came together towards the end when they both had the same goal and Niki alone was strong enough to obtain it (saving Micah from Linderman). Though I agree, this was very sloppily executed.
2. Swirly helix symbol– it somehow unites all the Heroes. I believe it will come to have more significance in the future. At least let’s hope so…
3. Molly is cute! And good I thought! She’s like 8!
4. Persuasive girl a.k.a. Eden, is sadly never coming back. And if you’ll recall, Sylar does not have her power because she shot herself in the head rather than allow Sylar to take her ability. In the government facility, remember?
5. And finally, regeneration is helpful because it makes you supremely reliable (it’s not like you’re going to die mid mission or something), you’re able to face bad guys whose powers are too strong for anyone else (like when Claire was able to tranquilize Ted when no one else could enter the building, or how Peter has been able to live through multiple Sylar battles). And as for Wolverine, he’s the man! He can regenerate, plus he has an adamantium skeleton that is indestructible and can cut through anything!
As for being a sucker, that’s what network execs are paid to do: sucker you in. Lots of flash to catch your eye, but unfortunately here, little substance beneath.
Thanks for your comment!
I finally just got around to watching the final episode online, and you have listed all of my grievances with this dreadful finale. Especially the part about Peter not being able to fly – that makes no sense. Since Peter could have flown, Nathan did not need to fly him away. I guess they assumed no one was paying attention all season long to the facts of the story, which makes me care even less about season 2. And Sylar sliding away down a manhole in front of everyone………sigh. Really?
Well I’m also disappointed.
Last episodes in general tend to disappoint so often. There seems to be no learning effect going on in the industry!
There was really no sense in Nathan’s action. The cheerleader could have just shot Peter, as mentioned above! But no! She’s all tears and stuff…like it will actually kill him. Did she have silver bullets in that gun? Or like kryptonite shells? Was the gun cursed by…god or something? Peter had a glass shard the size of a kitchen knife in his skull and to what effect? Well, he had a mild cough! So why should a bullet be any worse? Just shoot the guy, problem solved.
Seems to me everyone arrived at that conclusion, so how come they just went with this huge flaw?!
I think the only reason they did is that they thought the viewers wanted to see this nuke go off, at least somewhere. WRONG, like we haven’t seen cheap special effects like that a thousand times already. They sacrificed the whole plot for that?! Don’t they get the fact that people want to be told good stories, not see cheap effects that every second grade action movie pulls off way better?
And there were just so many other inconsistencies.
I hope some producers/writers read this stuff as I will happily lay out the facts for them in simple words:
lots of inconsistent events = bad story telling => the audience is pissed => people stop watching the show => no more money!
Glad to have your comments, K and Dominik. And glad we’re on the same page here. I think its safe to say that Heroes fans all across the globe are pretty darn unhappy with the way the finale turned out.
Let’s pray season 2 starts off better than season 1 ended!
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I imagined the fight between Peter and Sylar to be around at least 5 minutes longer. I wanted to see Peter use all those powers he friggen spent all that time learning damn it! It was like all that training was in vain.
In my opinion, I liked the idea that the comic book told the future, but they should have had Hiro more like catch Sylar (and us for that matter) by surprise.
One more thing, I really wanted to see Claude (Invisible Man) one last time. I really liked the character and considering he was in Peter’s vision of blowing up, he really should have been there. Personally I think we deserved a better fight cause in my head I’m imagining it alot more like that fight 5 years in the future if you recall.
most of your points remain standing , and it sure as helllll was a fun read, but having been one to have seen most of series 2 already, a lot of it makes more sense, like Nathan not dying because of Claires blood (or was it adam monroes ? ) AHHH SPEAKING OF, who agreees with me, adam monroe is like, the best looking guy EVER?!? am soo happy nathan got rid of his hair, and his top in some scenes
anyywayy yeah,, good writing,, all set to be a movie critic when your older i hope! XX
I’d just like to add to the tally of disappointed fans. And respond to some of the comments.
gabriel mann
July 8, 2007 at 2:46 am
what good is regeneration if you don’t have super strength or something else to go along with it? people just use you as a human shield or something? this is why wolverine is such a sucky character in x-men. he just heals. whooptidoo.
————————————————–
I think it’s one of the best abilities in the show. It doesn’t matter what happens to you, you come back good as new. The episode where Claire had to tranquilize Ted shows just how good it is. There was barely anything left of her and a minute after coming out of there – hey presto. What’s “sucky” about that?
Something else I’d like to point out though, seeing as I’m on the subject of healing. How did ‘future’ Peter get a huge scar on his face? Couldn’t it just have healed up? I can’t think of a single thing that could have caused such a perfectly straight scar right across his face that he couldn’t have healed in a matter of minutes. Meh.
Impostorzim
August 12, 2007 at 2:28 am
In my opinion, I liked the idea that the comic book told the future, but they should have had Hiro more like catch Sylar (and us for that matter) by surprise.
—————————————————
I liked the idea too. I was holding my face in my two hands in shame when I saw the scene. He got Sylar’s attention, took a ten minute run up and stabbed him in the gut and in all this time, Sylar did nothing? He even saw the comic strip beforehand!! Unbelievable.
K.Dickerson
July 13, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I finally just got around to watching the final episode online, and you have listed all of my grievances with this dreadful finale. Especially the part about Peter not being able to fly – that makes no sense.
————————————–
I’ve seen this posted here a couple of times. I actually can make sense of it. Peter was focusing all of his effort on containing himself from exploding. He couldn’t fly and hold it in at the same time.
Okay, heheh, I know the second season is already over, but I wanted to comment on this.
First, the Candace thing was perverted, when she’s unconcious in the first season she goes back to the form she usually used that season. But when she dies the next season she’s all fat. Unless she unconciously reverted back to that or could use it as her ‘default form’ or something, that was just totally stupid.
And how DL got shot and then is totally fine is also impossible and totally stupid.
And Nathan’s super hearing was a painful mistake.
And I didn’t realize it when I watched it, but nobody seeing him crawl into the manhole was also completely wrong.
And that Peter for some reason just couldn’t fly is also stupid. But they did have a good explanation for them both surviving.
But I don’t agree that there were to many love/family/hope conversations on there.
And I also don’t agree that it was a horrible season finale. In fact I thought it was great. Super great. I enjoyed it out the butt!!!!
Even though as you pointed out there were many many mistakes…
My wife and I just finished a whirlwind week watching all episodes from season 1 on DVD. We went to bed last night so disappointed with the season 1 finale that we found ourselves making up excuses for what was a major letdown. I kept thinking of TS Eliot’s final lines from “The Hollow Man”,
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Jonah, I feel much better having come across this page today. You put into words a great deal of what I was thinking. A couple points:
- Why would Peter get into a fist fight with Sylar? If you can go nuclear you don’t punch somebody, do you? There could have been so much more done here.
- Why did DL’s son have to call his mom away just as she was just starting to bash Sylar… Geez…
- Why is Sylar so seemingly ineffective and ‘unpowerful’ in the end?
- Why did Hiro’s big moment seem so unheroic?
And so on.
Maybe TS Eliot had it right. Whimper.
I know nothing at all about season 2. My wife and I already have it on blu ray, but I think we’ll wait a couple weeks before we fire it up.
Great writing. Thanks for the page. Keep it up.
Hey Chris, thanks for your generous comments! I wish you would’ve commented before you bought Season 2 on blu-ray– it stiiiiinks. If I were you, I’d read some episode recaps on TV.com or something and save yourself the 10-12 hours of frustration that are Season 2.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news like this, but I feel its my duty to warn you– if you read any of the posts I wrote about Season 2, you’ll see I found it to be one of the worst seasons of television I’ve ever had the misfortune to watch.
But if you must watch it, make sure you wrap it up in time for the Season 3 premiere on the 22nd!
Thanks for this! I hope you have a awesome night!
Cool Blog, I enjoy it.Ive always enjoyed comics but not until I got a job was I able to collect.
Hey, I know this is 4 years late, but I just watched the full season of Heroes for the first time and I agree with everything you said, but had some other complaints as well.
Wasn’t it that Peter couldn’t die or be harmed, so if Claire shot him and killed him, he would lose the bomb power thing, and then he’d come back to life? And yeah, I thought Peter could fly as well, so why in the world did he need Nathan’s help?
I was so pissed off about this episode. I’ll still watch the second season though. I still like the characters
It only gets worse Aanika. Get out while you can! Season 2 is decent, the rest are just awful…