Heroes: The Downward Spiral Continues
Few would argue that the first season of Heroes didn’t suffer from a certain lack of consistency, but even with all of the loose ends, vague explanations and annoying filler, we sure did love it. Hopes were high for the follow-up. Expectations were realistically low.
Not low enough.
Last night’s conclusion to “Generations” was so anti-climactic, so frustratingly pointless, it just doesn’t make sense that it was the culmination of 11 episodes and probably the end of the season. All of the new characters, the lack of focus on established ones, the ambiguous efforts of the company, the “virus”… they could have come together in the end for some grand purpose, but they didn’t. And they won’t. The plan on Heroes is just not fleshed out very well, and based on this season, it may not even exist.
So what sucked the most? I would have to say that the apparent deaths of Niki and Nathan top the list. Plugging the episode with the promise of two fallen heroes, I was hoping that at least one of my four least favorite characters would have gotten it (Matt, really? Are we still trying to make Matt happen?). Instead, I lost my favorite. Poor Nathan Petrelli. He spent the last three months either hiding in the shadows or looking at his messed up reflection in the mirror and moping. One of four heroes who tried to out themselves in this episode (might that be the new arc?), he assembled a giant press conference on short notice and was shot as he tried to tell everyone he could fly. He might as well have died at the end of last season. At least then it would have been, you know, heroic.
Far less sad, but equally as frustrating, is the death of Niki Sanders. She spent this season just as unused. Her confusing abilities got even more confusing. And as of now, I’m still not exactly sure if her power was super-strength, the ability to be a functioning schizophrenic or a bizarre combination of the two. Either way, she got the virus and blew up before it could kill her. Her awesome, orphan son is now free to be raised by the crazy lady from Star Trek.
“Generations” was supposed to be an interesting take on the old “sins of our fathers” bit, but it almost immediately dissolved into the ”stupidity of their children.” That’s out of the picture now though, because Sylar, the most effeminate, unconvincing villain since Jim Carrey’s Riddler, has apparently returned to once again cut people open and steal their powers. I want to ponder where they could take that, but I’m too tired and bored. Really, the one thing left for me to do, Heroes, is to forgive and forget. I want to forgive you, and I want to forget you.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Michael O'Connell on December 4, 2007 at 3:03 pm, and is filed under heroes, nbc. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 2 years ago
Alright LC, I see your point, but really, it wasn’t as earth shatteringly bad as you’re making it out to be. I won’t deny that it hit a snag this season. It absolutely did, but it managed to pick up steam about 3-4 episodes ago. Tim Kring and the crew gave it a good solid effort. No, it didn’t hold up against it’s freshman version, but honestly, how could it? We, the fans, made it out to be larger than life. It was the new Lost. What happened to Lost? It lost its fans with the following season. It happens. Heroes, like Lost, will dust its knees off, and (fingers crossed with writers in tow), it will once again become the great major network sci-fi soap opera thriller that we’ve grown to love.
Chin up kid..
And ps.. Niki may be gone, but Jessica- that crazy bitch- lives on….
about 2 years ago
Oh I have to agree with Mikey, here. Heroes was bad this season…and it was bad last season. In fact, more often than not, Heroes disappoints. It suffers from a chronic lack of creativity, an underdeveloped sense of direction, and a full barrage of characters that have the ability to be remarkably disinteresting.
I kill people when I weep? Deep.
Even the greatest of Heroes episodes were islands of entertainment in a sea of frustration. Viewership was up because people were waiting for greatness to happen – because when you give people super powers, the potential for creative story writing is literally limitless. What did we get instead? “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” “Someone will die, someone will fly.” The marketing staff of retarded kittens really had to work overtime on those ones.
And why did I have to spend an entire season – and ENTIRE SEASON – waiting for Peter to be strong and powerful again. Didn’t we do that last year? And then – when he finally does remember, he’s still a fucking idiot. Of course the same guy that thought he should head to New York to stop himself from exploding in New York would be the one to align himself with the most predictable villain of the season. And of course it took three people that he totally trusted to convince him that the guy who has admittedly killed at least three people is not the boy scout he promises to be. Someone needs to put him in room with some high functioning adults so he can absorb some IQ.
Any why did Adam need Peter to break into the Vault? Two powers he used to get in there…and one was to shut off the alarm.
Honestly, the whole season was just this bad…3 episodes in ancient Japan, Peter blindly following the man who says his identity is in a box, Matt (a detective) forcing Molly (a hemorrhoid) to pinpoint the exact door in an apartment building so he can track someone down, and Mohinder…Christ, Mohinder.
When you find out that the guy next to you isn’t half the threat he used to be, and to your left is a gun, and to your right is a knife, which one do you grab. The knife.
But that’s just one of his many failures. He’s another one that thinks every one of his most recent decisions is “the only way.” The company is bad, the company is good, the virus must be destroyed, I must shoot Noah Bennett – IT’S THE ONLY WAY! Which puts his mental capacity on the same level as Claire, who tried all but 5 seconds to come up with a plan before she settled on “I’ll just tell everyone.” IT’S THE ONLY WAY!
The only winner of this season is Hiro, who managed to lead the charge in the “episodes with stupid plots and poor costume design” category. At least he fucking figured out how to use his power. That officially makes 2 good guys who have fully realized their potential – him, and Micah. (Honestly, I only need to “accidentally” lift you with my mind once before I’m out back practicing on cars – why can’t these people figure themselves out?!)
And finally, Sylar – who actually said the words “I’m back.” That’s how the series ended. “I’m back.” Like we didn’t have eyes. The voice over is bad enough – Mohinder reminding me daily about the evolution of mankind and the choices between good and oh my god shut the hell up. But now, we actually have to have characters explain what we’re seeing right to our faces. “I’m back.” As if that hadn’t been happening since the very first episode…or rather the last of last season, which was equally disappointing.
It was really that bad – and I only hate myself more for knowing I’ll watch it when it comes back – because of it’s potential. When, oh when, will they team up? Do we really need to wait until Micah grows up before someone starts making good judgment calls?
As for Lost, and idea which isn’t mine: the plot in Lost is driven by characters making bad choices – we need Locke to do blindly follow his gut feeling so that he can screw up, and be redeemed. Do we really need that in Heroes? Can’t someone just…write a good story?