Well, one of the most tumultuous and uneven seasons of television I’ve ever seen has finally come to a close. Thank the lord. I’m so happy to see this giant misstep of a season come to rest, not only because it was mostly awful, but because now we can (hopefully) get back to a more compelling, well thought out narrative arc. Let’s look at the specifics of last night’s episode, and then we’ll take a step back and see what this season as a whole has meant for Heroes and its future.
1. Nikki/Micah/Monica — So Nikki is dead, right? Psyche! If there is anything Heroes is not, its ballsy. Since when is anyone dead for real on this show? Nathan had his skinned burned off by radiation: Not dead. Parkman shot in the chest 5 times: Not dead. HRG shot in the eye: Not dead. Maya shot in the throat: Not dead. D.L. shot in the stomach: Didn’t die until he was lamely shot by some weird dude in a club several months later (btw, how stupid was the introduction of “Gina,” a third personality for Nikki, that lasted all of 10 minutes?). Plus, there’s my rule about on-screen deaths. Unless you actually watch the person die, especially on a lame show like Heroes, chances are good that the person is alive. Hell, on this show, you have a better chance of living if you ARE shown dying because it means you’re likely to come back to life! Also, Monica couldn’t think of a single skill she learned to help her escape? Really?
2. Elle — Poor, poor Kristin Bell. So talented, so beautiful, and so stupid on this show. Heroes is slowly chipping away at Bell’s coolness, as her character Elle could not be more one-dimensional and stupid. I was hoping she would be killed by Sylar so her suffering would end, but sadly, this was not the case. Will she be back for Volume Three? Let’s hope not.
3. Sylar/Maya/Mohinder — Mohinder is so freaking dumb. He’s willing to shoot HRG in the face to protect The Company, but he isn’t willing to destroy the antidote to the virus in order to stop Sylar, the most villainous man on the planet, so Nikki can have a cure? Come on! Grow a pair, Mohinder! Plus, just when we thought we were rid of Maya for good, they fake killed her! By the way, if there was any doubt about it before, there can be no doubt now: Maya and Alejandro are DEF the new Nikki and Paulo. Maybe it’s the Latino thing, maybe its the whole “introducing unnecessary characters into already-huge ensemble shows and then killing off said new characters as quickly as they arrived” thing, but whatever it is, it ain’t workin.
4. Matt/Nathan — Hilarious piggyback flight to Odessa. A nice touch of humor from a typically dour show. It was nice to have Nathan come save Peter…again. And all it took was a brief chat and wam! world is saved. Way to tie up all the narrative lose ends in a hasty, ridiculously unsatisfying manner, Tim Kring! Yes, this ending was prematurely forced due to the writer’s strike, but I expected a bit more than “Adam drops virus, Peter catches it, world saved.” Didn’t you? Also, how come Peter hasn’t used his Parkman abilities at all? Wouldn’t it have been easier to read Adam’s mind then to blindly trust him? Yet another narrative dust mite swept under the Heroes carpet of dropped plot points.
5. Hiro/Adam — Will somebody just kill somebody else already! Sylar might be a villian, but at least he’s got the resolve to kill someone when he needs to! Why not teleport Adam into some room, teleport out, teleport back in with a gun, freeze time, and shoot him in the face? Come on! You think he’s going to chill in that coffin forever? Please. I see Sylar and Adam teaming up in volume 3. It is called “Villains” right? Maybe throw Parkman’s dad in there?
Not much else of interest to discuss. And now, whether you watched Volume Two or not, here is my distillation of the important events that occurred over this volume, and will impact the coming one:
1. Maya, Monica, Elle, West and Adam Monroe exist. Monica has a cool power she doesn’t use, West is a tool, Adam Monroe is trapped in a coffin, Elle is irritating and Maya is the most useless character in the history of the world.
2. Sylar is evil and enjoys taking abilities from other heroes.
3. Peter is good and doesn’t come close to fully utilizing all the powers he has. He cannot make a rational decision unless Nathan tells him what to do.
4. Peter’s girlfriend Caitlin was taken to a future that no longer exists and left there. No one seems to notice/care.
5. D.L. (shot to the stomach by extra from Blade), Papa Nakamura (willing fall off a balcony), Victoria Pratt (shotgun blast), and Alejandro (shot by Sylar) are dead. Nikki (trapped in exploding building) and Nathan (two gun shots to the chest) are most certainly not dead.
6. HRG works for the company (again). Claire, mom and that brother guy will try to live a normal life.
7. No one cares about Nikki, Ando, or Lyle Bennett. Molly and Micah have yet to hook up.
And that’s about it. Isn’t it exciting? Aside from the new characters, we’re looking at pretty much an exact copy of the way things were in Season One! Way to hit that reset button, Tim Kring! Think about it. Did a single character develop, at all? Is anyone remotely different from how they were at the end of season one? No! When is a good guy going to turn bad? He might be annoyingly naive, but at least Mohinder is unpredictable. You never know what team this guy is on. But what about everyone else? How interesting would it be to see Parkman’s powers unleash a dark side of him? Or to see Peter go after The Company in the wake of Nathan’s assassination attempt? Or to see Hiro turn in to the badass from the future in Season One? Change something! Develop something!
Until Heroes figures out a winning formula, I don’t see the show getting any better. There’s so much corner cutting when it comes to narrative and emotional development, and yet the plot is never engrossing enough to have been worth all the cliches and coincidences that allow it to progress. Other than changes in their abilities, these characters haven’t changed one lick since the pilot. The only character to have undergone any significant personality change is Nathan (he used to be selfish and political; now he’s selfless and wants to save the world), but he’s so boring and unimportant (they must really regret giving him flying as an ability, since he can hardly ever use it) that it’s easy to overlook his character’s growth.
And think about it: were you really entertained by Heroes this fall? I don’t mean distracted or occupied or intrigued, but entertained. If you had to pay $5 an episode, would you have gotten your money’s worth? I’d rather have my 11 hours back than sit throw this mess of a season again.
I feel more conflicted about Heroes than any other series. The show has so much potential! It has the opportunity to be one of the most unique shows on television, but rather than carve out its own way of doing things (the way Lost has, for example), it mires itself in familiar and formulaic drivel that we’ve seen a dozens times before. I can’t give the show any more leeway. It needs to make the leap from run-of-the-mill melodrama with a cool premise to fully-realized, one-of-a-kind series NOW, before all that potential is exhausted. Last year, there was such a buzz around this show; the actors felt it, the media pounced on it– everyone was asking, “Is Heroes the next Big Important Show?” This season, so far, has answered that question with a resounding NO, but it ain’t over until it’s over, and maybe, just maybe, Tim Kring can pull an incredible Volume Three out of his butt and bring back that sweet television magic we’ve all been craving.
But like any typical Heroes cliffhanger, I wouldn’t hold your breath for anything remotely satisfying.
Episode: B- Volume Two of Heroes: D+
While I think your grade is too generous, I would agree with many points on how stupid our favorite Heroes turned out. The WGA strike has really hurt the show and forced us to watch this mess. I think the show should have stopped production all together after the 4 Months Ago episode as this would have gone on a high note and then re-group later.
I’m still bitter.
Thanks for the comment, monster. The strike had nothing to do with the first 10 episodes of this season. The only episode it affected was episode 11, which was tweaked to serve as a finale (since there should’ve been 13 episodes in Volume Two, though God knows we didn’t need two more episodes).
I feel your pain. I truly do.
I’ve been following your Heroes reviews over the course of the season. Initially, I found them a tad harsh, but as the season wore on I found myself agreeing not only with the new reviews but the old ones as well! This one pretty much hits the nail right on the head. Too many gaps in logic, too few answers for all the questions, sloppy writing and generally poor character development have killed Heroes for me. It used to be a fresh, intriguing and intellectually engaging show. I still enjoy the episodes individually, albeit in a soap opera kind of way. However, the arcs (if they can even be called arcs) leave much to be desired.
just like last season’s finale where once the Five Years Gone episode aired, the following episodes were a big let down.
I’m starting to like your blog. I don’t always agree with your television viewing philosophies, but you’re spot on here.
I never bought into the whole “Heroes is the new Lost!” sentiment that was popular last year. I knew from the pilot episode’s dinner table discussion between Claire and her mom that this show was probably not capable of being something special. But I never hated it, and it kind of grew on me the first season. I still don’t hate it, in fact I feel bad for it. They truly need to clean house in the writing department, hire some truly fresh talent, and maybe even go execute a tabula rasa.
Thanks for commenting JT and James. Glad you guys are starting to come around to my point of view!
I think during the season, some people were holding onto their memories of and affections for season one, reluctant to accept the crap that Heroes truly was. But now that all the chips are down, its much harder to ignore, right?
I’m with you James– they need a fresh start. Need to bring in some more writers like Bryan Fuller (who left to create Pushing Daisies) who are willing to explore new ground.
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I don’t agree with everything you say about this season, much less this episode, but hands down MAYA IS THE MOST USELESS PERSON/CHARACTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD indeed. And what has happened to Elle? Thank goodness Peter and Nathan get along, else Peter would forever be making bad decisions. And god forbid if Monica’s portable video player ever ran out of juice. And since when do mutants think it’s a good idea or would work to their advantage to reveal themselves to the rest of society?
…OK, maybe I do agree with you completely.
Hey Haroldmaude, thanks for commenting…and for agreeing
I too am disappointed with the second season. What a letdown. And what is up with annoying characters popping up into all the shows I like???? First, Lila on Dexter (although maybe she’s just really a good actress that makes you hate her because of her character), Chuck on Pushing Daisies…and now two on Heroes?? Maya and Elle, seriously, my husband and I were actually happy when Maya got shot in the chest. I know that sounds awful but it’s true. Figures they’d bring her back to life..ugh. And I never watched Veronica Mars but everyone was so hyped when Kristin Bell was going to be on Heroes. Pffft. She’s absolutely the worst character. I seriously can’t stand watching any scenes either of them are in. I’m so happy to know I’m not alone. Besides my hubby that is…since he seems not to like the same characters as me.
I don’t understand what Mohinder was thinking either…he’s acting like such an idiot this season. As is Hiro. He couldn’t stop time and just remove the freaking vial from Adam’s hand??? He couldn’t stop time and really explain everything to Peter instead of just saying “he killed my father” and then running with his sword to kill him? Duh.
Media Maven: Did Peter know he had that ability to read minds? I don’t remember. It’s just that I thought his abilities were coming back to him over time and maybe he didn’t know he could do that until Matt read his mind. I could be totally wrong, being that my mind has been wandering this season. I’ve even started thinking what I’m going to make for dinner the next night while watching. HA!
Hey J, nice to hear from you here. Peter knows that he has the ability to read minds, but he doesn’t know about any of Matt’s recently developed powers (such as the ability to manipulate the sense of others or plant thoughts in their heads). He read Victoria Pratt’s mind when he and Adam were at her house, remember?
yes. i really don’t have much more to say other than…i must second (or third) the whole deal with maya. i was so happy when she got shot and really disappointed when she was revived. the monica thing bugged me SO much. she goes from knowing karate to being a helpless idiot? ugh. i also think your final grade for the episode was pretty generous.
and no, i would not have paid $5 to watch heroes this season.
Oh Deborah. You’re hilarious. I love getting your comments!
We’re lucky. Tim Kring has announced he’ll listen to the painfull comments made by many viewers about the second season, which was a truly disaster.
He’ll pay more attention to a stronger, longer and a good story line over the whole third season. He’ll probably pay less or no attention to useless characters and he announced his regrett over this season. He is sorry. He should be.
However, I don’t fear for Heroes future. Like you said, it has a huge potential. Like every Scfi show it faces the problems of creating abilities and timelines all over the place, but it also creates much oppurtunities of changing plot-lines, developping charachters and simple entertainig moments.
The 4400 suffered but came back in the final episodes of the third and fourth season, Heroes suffered and learned and will come back.
Can’t wait for Volume Three.
Thanks for the comments, Ivar. Let’s hope you’re right!
Hi!
I took a Heroes quiz – which Hero are you? – (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20057452,00.html). I turned out to be Hiro. I know, my life sucks…
So now you know that, I’m gonna let you like me even less. I really, really, really enjoyed Heroes season 2. I know that you’re right at some points (there was no action at all in the beginning of this season and Hiro was stupid), but in spite of it all… I loved it. I must say that I also enjoyed reading your opinion about each episode. You’re just hilarious. So I just wanted to say thanks. I hope you’re gonna watch season 3 as well… I’ll watch it for sure.
Suus
Hey Susan– I don’t dislike you! I would never base my opinion of you as a person on your television preferences…well, not completely. You’re entitled to love whatever tickles your fancy, but I must say, Season 2 of Heroes was one of the absolute worst series of television of all time, and your affinity for the season puts you squarely in the vast minority of fans. Let’s hope Season 3 kicks it up a notch.
Season 3 has begun, let see ….
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.