Heroes capped off its whirlwind freshman season last night with the showdown they’d been hinting at since the very first episode. Given the high bar they’d set with handful of seriously edge-of-your-seat awesome episodes that rivaled most theatrical sci-fi fare, the finale wasn’t all that it could have been, but it was far superior to last night’s other offering. Thoughts, recaps and speculations follow, so if you haven’t seen it, you should read no further…
I’ve been on Team Nathan since chapter one, so it pained me to see him leaning more and more towards the dark side. But by last night, I had accepted it. When properly executed, there’s nothing greater than a charismatic villain with a lingering possibility of redemption. Most people like their good and evil clearly defined, so it’s not the type of character you see on TV too much. Picking up where Linderman left of was a sweet setup for Nathan in the second season, but such will not be the case. Just when we thought he’d been fully corrupted by his new power, he swoops in to prove his character to his daughter, save the Manhattan and be the big brother Peter always thought he was. In doing all that, he probably left the show. The visual and the dramatic gesture all screamed stellar season finale, but I just didn’t click with it. Somewhere the season was ending with a bang, but all I heard was a whimper.
So what is still uncertain? And what new questions have been raised? Well, first of all, the brothers Petrelli can’t both be dead. Peter will definitely stick around for next year, but what about Nathan? It doesn’t seem like there is any way that my favorite character survived an outer atmosphere nuclear blast, but the very nature of this show means that nothing is certain. As for our other critically injured heroes (DL, Matt and Sylar), one can safely assume they all survived.
Hiro’s accidental journey to 17th century Japan in the beginning of Volume II: Generations brings us back to one question that has nagged at me since the beginning. What the hell is this symbol? It’s shown up sporadically in almost every episode (most notably on Jessica’s back), and now it’s donning Samurai flags hundreds of years ago. The history of the heroes and the efforts and powers of the previous generation will probably be the focus of the next season. Even if her sons really are dunzo, I’d like to see more of Mama Petrelli. We don’t know her powers or why she so suddenly went from ship-lifting, alcoholic socialite to villainous mastermind mid-season.
Heroes greatest success so far has been its consistent ability to defy expectations, so one could argue that it will be able to defy the dreaded sophomore slump that is almost guaranteed with a show like this. Sylar’s likely persistence and Nathan’s likely demise don’t do much to support that theory, but it doesn’t mean that I will be waiting for next season with breath that is any less bated.
boy do i have things to say about Heroes. Last two episodes were good…but i have two big bones to pick with the writers
(1) Hiro trained for some unusually short period of time to become a ninja and he killed sylar by charging at him like a stand in at Medieval Times? How…terribly anticlimactic
(2) Why did Nathan have to fly his brother away? What was wrong with the shoot peter in the face plan? The dude fucking heals. And why couldn’t Peter fly away himself. And what couldn’t Nathan fly him up and drop him before he was going to explode? Really, my point here, is once again, while entertaining, the writing makes no fucking sense. The show defies expectations by consistently defining logic. No one knows how to use their powers well except the one dude who could explode and he’s gone now. Now we’re stuck with a bunch of card carrying misfits who wander the earth making bad decisions matched only by their inability to figure out the extent of their abilities. Frustrating…and the one obstacle that really prevents my totally loving this show…but that’s kind of a lie. Because I still love it
nothing about that last moment with peter and nathan made any sense whatsoever. fixing things with “love” is the absolute worst cop-out that any show can throw at us… ever. and if either of them are actually dead from that buffoonery, i’m going to be really sour on this show.
also… if they don’t explain what the hell Nikki/Jessica’s split personality has to do with her/their power – i’m gonna go nuts.