SF Signal: How Do You Like Heroes Season 2 So Far?

How Do You Like Heroes Season 2 So Far?

Three episodes into the new season of Heroes and I can't seem to shake this love/hate relationship I have with the show. These episodes have done nothing to dispel my overall feeling of "good but not great" left over from Season 1.

Here's why...

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

Episodes 1 and 2 were appealing. Episode 3 had Nikki. You do the math.
It is too soon for Sylar's return. And he's powerless? Did the writers finally realize that he (like Peter) was getting too damn powerful? Wasn't there supposed to be some new bad guy this season?
Speaking of Peter (HEL-lo!), did he lose his intelligence along with his memory? Why not use his powers to take the identity box instead of committing a crime? Bah!
The Maya and Alejandro story: Bo-ring! Move it along, please. One way to redeem this story line: They arrive in America and kill Nikki!
Tim Kring should take a cue from the supposedly-inspirational comics and introduce some new powers. Do we really need another character with invulnerability and another flying character? C'mon!
Oh, did I say Heroes was inspired by comics? Because it's beginning to play out like a soap opera: short, go-nowhere scenes ending in mini-cliffhangers that result in stories moving too slow.
And speaking of flying, someone please pass this along to the special effects department: in the scene where Claire is being flown through the sky by her creepy, horny classmate (who must also be invisible since nobody saw him fly up in the sky in broad daylight)...Claire's flat @$$ (thanks to the blue screen method used to get the shot) is an FX killer. Not that I was looking, mind you.
The Hiro storyline is fairly predictable so far. Nice use of the time travel gimmick to have Hiro send a message to Ando in the sword, though.
The story of the "Original 9" seems interesting, but also needs to get where its going. Who is the mysterious hooded figure? Given the tendency to cast Trek actors, I'm hoping (please oh please oh please) that it's Shatner. You heard it here first.

BOTTOM LINE: Heroes is good, but not great. It's overrated but watchable. It still annoys me but it's good enough for me to keep watching anyway, and that's all that matters. To the suits at NBC, that is.

See also: Heroes commentary and predictions from Jayme Lynn Blaschke. I love the reference to Maya and Alejandro being "south-of-the-border Wonder Twins". Classic.

It seems like every episode is just tacking the course and padding until there can be one grand revelation at the end, this weeks being a particularly fine example. So while I'm going to keep watching just to find out what happens, I'm starting to get a little bored with it as well.

The Maya/Alejandro powers interest me because of the way they play off each other, but the characters absolutely don't, and after three episodes of trudging through South America I've got the idea of what they're doing. Can't we just ignore them for the next three or four episodes and come back when something has actually changed?

I agree completely with the FX killer as well, although I noticed that West was lying down on exactly the same plane as Claire was sitting on, and how unnatural that looked. Flat ass sounds funnier, though.

Posted by Matt on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 6:38 AM

Last night I'm pretty sure I let out a few audible sighs. I'm not a big TV watcher but occasionally the storyline of a show can keep me in for a season or two. Unfortunately I'm starting to feel the same way about Heroes that I felt about David Lynch's Twin Peaks which started brilliantly but then after they realized it was a hit they seemingly had to make up the rest of the story. I worry that's what's happening with Heroes as well. "Oh crap! We did it! People like it! Err, now what happens in the story?"

I believe there is room for televised stories that are conceived as 3 season productions and that's it. While each episode would not need to be written prior to filming the first one, somebody better have a good idea of where it's going.

Posted by Dean on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 7:20 AM

I find that while I recognize every contrived plot contortion for the base manipulation that it is, I still enjoy where the show is going. Peter's story is the one that interests me the most, but I'm looking forward to finding out about the original heroes.

The problem with bringing in new superpowers is that there are no new superpowers. Outside of the Wild Cards series I haven't seen an original power since the 60's. Heroes is locked into a biology/psi based suite of abilities (although DL stretched that to the breaking point) so there isn't as much wiggle room as there is in DC or Marvel. Any new power they unveil is going to remind you of some comic book hero, so they figure why bother?

It would have worked much better if they'd introduced Maya and Alejandro in the first episode, left us with the image of the truck full of people bleeding black gunk out of their eyes, and not come back to them. "They're coming to America. They do this creepy thing. Stay tuned." And I would have.

Posted by Matt Jarpe on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 8:04 AM

Matt, good points! BTW, when I said "new powers" I meant ones other than what is already being demonstrated on the show. There are plenty of comic book powers they could crib from...and they should.

I might also re-mention that I still think they need to be more organized. Suresh should be their Professor Xavier and they should be using their powers in concert for the greater good. None of this "looking for a cure" nonsense.

Posted by John on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 9:16 AM

Come on people, Heroes is better than most Sci-Fi on TV right now. Sometimes you just have to let the "art" wash over you versus analyzing every plot line.

I actually agree with all the criticism in the thread, but you know what? I don't care. Heroes is more entertaining than any other Sci-Fi on TV right now so "it's a wash."

Look at it this way, Heroes is holding up better than Battlestar Galactica did at this stage of the game. Thats a plus.

Posted by tditto on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 10:06 AM

The difference between Heroes and a comic book is that they don't get in that many fights, so comic book superpowers don't work as well in this story. They're all about solving the mysteries and evading/bringing down "The Company." Every time they've had an action scene they pan away so they don't have to overspend their special effects budget.

So they need to add some new powers that will feed into the storyline and not cost a bundle. Maybe they could introduce a "jumper," someone who can jump around from one body to the next. All that would require is for some of the actors to play different characters for a while. Which leaves out Niki, since that actress can't even play her own character.

I like Jayme's idea that the mysterious hooded assasin is the immortal Kensei. He survived a fall off the building and the symbol he scrawled on the pictures is his own mark. Question is, is he a good guy or a bad guy?

Posted by Matt Jarpe on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 10:38 AM

John, you had some of the same thoughts I did. You got soap in my heroes! And, with reference to Claire's boyfriend, I, too thought creepy. I also thought 'smarmy' and 'jackhole'. Seriously, what does she see in that guy?

And the whole flying thing was just....terrible. Not only were the SFX horrible, but I'd already seen that before, in the original Superman movie. It's a good thing Claire's BF doesn't have X-ray vision too, or else he'd never stand up.

And when are we going to see a Hero who has the power to nullify others' powers? And I kind of like how Alejandro and Maya's powers play off each other, but good grief, move it along already.

Posted by jp on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 11:31 AM

Hmmm...thinking about Matt's last reply..."comic book superpowers don't work as well in this story..."

Maybe that's the source of my love/hate relationship with the show: what it is and what I want it to be are close, but not the same. I like some of the stuff they do, but I also want it to be more. I want those superhero moments. I want a live action comic book that's not campy. (Cue Tim Kring: "[Sniff] Can't you just love me for who I am? [Sniff-sniff]")

RE: JP's comment...
Heh-heh...you conjure up images of the Superman III movie poster where Superman is flying with Richard Pryor. Calling Trent...we could use your photoshopping skills right about now...

Posted by John on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 12:42 PM

I think the biggest problem with the show is that they have too many characters. Heroes is still faster paced than LOST, because the "secrets" are revealed a lot faster. If Heroes were LOST we would still be waiting to find out what Sylar looked like and we would have to wait another 3-4 seasons to find out who Linderman was.

Overall, I still think it's a good show, but the first three episodes have been a little slow. I think things will pick up if Sylar ever gets his powers back or when we meet the "new" bad guy.

PS. Alejandro and Maya... I was hoping Nikki's assignment would be to kill them off.

Posted by George on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 1:20 PM

Everyone is much too critical of Heroes.

Do you sit in front of your TV and wait for the episode to get over so you can stop watching? Than don't watch it!

I am always surprised and disappointed (when the end of the episode hits) because it is one of the few tv shows on television that actually makes me want to sit down and watch it. It has its mistakes but what show doesn't?

And about the Superpowers being reused I do wish they could come out with new powers but really there are only so many multiple application powers. Healing has a number of different applications, as does the ability to fly, read minds, steal abilities, or time travel. A lot of powers are one hit wonders, do you want to see the adventures of the guy who can turn things into gold or the guy that can melt metal?

Posted by Patrick on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 4:27 PM

I don't think everyone is much too critical of Heroes and I don't think that just because Heroes may be better than anything else on TV that I should watch it. It has to compete with a number of other things in my life and that includes reading, running, gaming, and many other diversions.

The question is whether or not it's a good show that is worth the time investment. Some will think it is and some will not. After these new episodes, I'm questioning my time investment and I appreciate the criticism of the show that either reveals why it is good or why it may not be.

Dismiss certain points made by others or make your own points but don't dismiss criticism of the show.

Posted by Dean on Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 9:49 PM

Patrick,

We don't watch Heroes to be critical of it, we watch because it's been good in the past, and we want it to be good in the future. It's frustrating that that the writing is as uneven as it has been. That's why we complain, out of a desire for good SF on TV, not because we want to run it off the air.

I'll still be watching. It takes a lot to get me to leave a show I've become involved in, which is good in the case of LOST. But I found myself on Monday night with this dilemma (I DVR the shows to watch later): watch Chuck, watch Heroes, or play Battlefield 2142 and whack Tim a few times? Killing Tim almost won. But I watched Heroes and questioned whether I should have.

Posted by jp on Thursday October 11, 2007 at 9:54 AM