I've spent the past month or so watching the first three seasons of Heroes - and as I've explored the web for fan reaction, I've found it rather mixed. People lauded the first season to the skies, and now, many of the fans speak of the series with increased loathing over the second and third seasons. I wanted to post a reaction and analysis to my watching of the series - mostly because I feel a similar sense of frustration with it, but, I get the impression, for very different reasons from many of the fans.
(Warning: these are as many of my initial reactions and thoughts I can compile, as well as some of my more long-term reactions to the series, so this is very long.)
A couple of statements to begin with: I began watching the series as a direct result of seeing the new Star Trek movie. Meaning I had one very specific motivation is watching the series, and that it was all but foreordained that Sylar would be my favorite character (which, yes, he was - and it continued for the duration of the series). Also, my overall opinion of the series would be: fun and engaging, but immensely flawed. I feel like it's an enjoyable series on the surface, but when you start to dig deeper, much of its foundations begin to crumble even under the barest of scrutiny.
Season One
What I liked:
Of the three seasons, it probably had the strongest foundational arc. It was well-established early in the season that all the events would ultimately be pointing toward the nuclear bomb that destroys New York. Plus, Isaac's painting of it on the floor of his loft was so haunting and cool.
It's an obvious reason, but Isaac's paintings. Not only is it a great way to hark to the very comic-book nature that the series notably draws inspiration from, but it created a fantastic backdrop for the season as a whole. I thought this became no more true than when, late in the season, characters would come and essentially scan through the events of the season by looking at the loft of paintings.
Time travel as a plot device - before even Lost started physically jumping in time in its 4th and 5th seasons, having Hiro jump back and forward in time, and using that jumping to show flashback and flash-forward for all the characters, I thought, was brilliant. And is also demonstrative of the fact that Six Months Ago and Fears Years Gone are among the strongest and most engaging episodes of the season.
It's a bit repetitive of me to state that I love Sylar, but it remains true. I love all things Sylar. In first season, he makes for such an awesome, creepy villain.
HRG. I think he was one of the strongest and most surprising elements of the season. I spent the first half of it wondering if the man even had a conscience - and then, in one episode (Company Man) they managed to completely flesh him out and give full explanation for his actions that made perfect sense. From that point on, it was a given that HRG was going to be one of the most interesting characters on the series.
What I didn't like:
This season is slow. More than that, the series itself is just slow, slow, slow. I could barely get through the first third of the season. If I had watched it while it was on (rather than on DVD) I'm sure I would've given up after a couple episodes. And even on DVD, if I hadn't had the motivation of wanting to meet Sylar, I likely wouldn't been all that interested in continuing.
Plot is your friend. I mean, I get the appeal of character development - I really do. I love series that take time for serious and deep character development. But when it gets so much in the way of everything else that the series essentially has no plot for the first third of the season, you've got a problem. (It probably doesn't help that, for me, not all the character's stories in the first part of the season were all that engaging.)
The unfortunate nature of the anti-climax. Particularly in the first season, I felt there were multiple instances of the series demonstrating its extraordinary ability to create build-up - and then fizzle that all out with an anti-climax. Isaac and Peter spend how many episodes anticipating the confrontation of Sylar coming to get Claire - and when we finally see it, the whole thing abruptly ends with Sylar and Peter falling off a roof. The season finale was even more the case - other complaints aside, I thought the final showdown of Sylar vs. all the heroes should've been epic. Instead it was...kind of boring. And lame. Even the introduction of Linderman's character; we had been hearing so much about him for so long, and how he had his hands in the lives of pretty much all the main characters, and then we meet him he's...nothing special. I felt he should've been a character that was larger than life - but due partly to the writing, partly to the casting, he came off as...pretty average.
The last three episodes. So in Six Months Gone (yes, I enjoyed it, but it has holes) Hiro and Ando travel to the future, where they meet Future Hiro, who explains the importance of Save the Cheerleader Save the World: Peter saves Claire from Sylar, Sylar won't be able to regenerate when fighting the heroes at Kirby Plaza, and the world is saved. Only problem is, that same episode also establishes two things: Claire had been saved, and the explosion had still taken place, resulting in Sylar killing Nathan and becoming President - meaning Sylar likely would've triumphed regardless of whether or not he had Claire's regenerative abilities; and Peter always was the exploding man. Even furthering the fact that whether or not Sylar or killed Claire didn't really make an difference - thereby negating the entire Save the Cheerleader, Save the World. And the season finale demonstrated that the key in changing events wasn't Claire - it was Nathan. Unfortunately, the show never really seemed to realize or acknowledge this.
Also, Sylar has a vision of the exploding man, at which he balks; he visits and accidentally kills his mother, to which he comes to the conclusion that destroying New York is his destiny. So in the next episode, he captures and kills Ted to acquire his nuclear powers (good job on getting Ted to New York for that, HRG). And then...he conveniently waits around for an episode for a confrontation with Peter. Instead of, you know, just destroying New York. It could be argued that he, thanks to his acquiring of Isaac's powers, he wanted specifically to bait Peter into doing that - except he didn't paint that confrontation with Peter or know about that until the start of the next episode. I'll never understand why Sylar was looming over New York at the end of the second to last episode and not just destroying the city like he believed he was destined to do.
So, like I said, I feel the season starts to crumble if you analyze it too deeply; no matter how enjoyable it is to watch on the surface.
Favorite episodes: Company Man, Six Months Ago, Five Years Gone (mostly for the reveal that Nathan was really Sylar and had been all along - I had to go back and rewatch all of Nathan's scenes, it was so awesome)
Favorite quote: Sylar to Ando - "Please! What would I want with your brain?"
Least favorite character: Isaac. Bland, unmemorable, and barely had a personality. I thought the most interesting thing about him was the fact that Sylar killed him.
(And, in all honesty, I would love for someone to come along and, respectfully, explain to me why it is that the fans all love season one so much. I wasn't crazy about it myself, but I'm sincerely curious and open to hearing the reasons why others were.)
Season Two
It's pretty much a given among most the fans that season two had struggles, and I think a lot of those reasons are pretty obvious why. The biggest one: it was slow. Even slower than the first half of season one (which I didn't think was possible). Honestly, I almost wept with utter boredom when the show spent fifteen minutes on the Awkward Dinner Conversations of the Bennett House instead of doing something like, oh, say, trying to establish any kind of a plot.
Also, Maya and Alejandro are (or were) totally the new Nikki and Paulo. Though at least they got the eventual introduction of Sylar into their story - who automatically makes anything he's involved in 100 times more interesting. Too bad they were both such annoying characters. And really - weeping poison? What kind of a power is that?
I think I really did cry when Hiro told Ando, via notes-in-the-samurai-sword, that he had decided to stay in rural China a while longer. And that's when I stopped watching or caring about Hiro.
Fortunately, the show picked up, and I thought the last three episodes were great. Too bad the series got hit so bad by the writer's strike. It would've been interesting to see where things had gone had the virus been released (as they obviously planed). But even in spite of that somewhat abrupt end to that storyline, I still found the last three episodes cohesive and engaging on every front. (Heck, I even enjoyed the Sylar-less third-to-last episode, and that almost never happens.)
My favorite thing about second season: I didn't know who to root for. I mean, the underlying assumptions about The Company was that it was always subversive, but did that really mean rooting for Adam? I wasn't really sure who was Good and Bad in that whole scenario, and I honestly don't think I was supposed to. And even more incredibly, I think the show managed that on purpose (which is pretty impressive). My only beef is that I wish we had been given more development toward Adam reaching the point of wanting to wipe out the human race; a plausible explanation, but not very developed, and painful indicative of how lacking Adam's character was as a villain. (Well, maybe they did explore that in the Hiro-time-traveling; I never could go back and watch that plotline, it was so boring.)
Favorite moments of the season: Sylar tormenting Mohinder. Mohinder started to become something of a self-righteous prick in second season, so I found it pretty satisfying to watch him cower in fear and confusion when Sylar returns in the last episode. The first scene where Mohinder returns to his apartment to find Maya cooking him breakfast is hilarious. Also, nothing in the series has given me quite the same amount of joy as the scenes in Isaac's loft. Maya, with Molly's help, realizes that Syler has killed Alejandro. While Sylar and Mohinder are figuring out that he's infected with the Shanti virus, Maja stands and is on the verge of another of her weepy breakdowns over the revelation when Sylar gets a hilarious "you've got to be kidding me" expression on his face, turns and shoots Maya dead. It was brilliant and awesome, and I think I watched it a dozen times.
Season Three
Here's where I imagine more of my opinions will vary from other fans, because I thought the first part of the Villains volume was awesome. (A word I never would've used to describe the first two seasons.) Granted, a lot of it probably had to do with my enjoyment over how much they managed to inject Sylar into the main story without him necessarily being the primary villain (and really - I thought Sylar and HRG as partners for The Company might've been the awesomest thing ever and totally deserved its own spinoff). Which was also a relief because the character was bound to get repetitive if all he did was continue on a brain-eating/stealing rampage that we saw the first season. (Though I had mixed feelings about Sylar-is-a-Petrelli! No, he's not!)
But what I also loved was how much it demonstrated the potential for so many of the hero characters to be evil. I mean, we had already seen Matt becoming a bit of an amoral prick in the future in Five Years Gone. But then, seeing who Claire became in the future in the third season finale - not to mention Nathan's distasteful presence. Tracy has often proved more of a question mark than Nikki ever was (also, I suspect Ali Larter would just be an awesome villain, no matter what). Even the future Peter, though fighting for what he thought was the Side of Right, was doing some very questionable things. Mohinder gains powers and, in the process, absolutely loses his mind. And Elle and HRG both became more muddled and uncertain.
Though there is some question as to its credibility as to its injection into the continuity of the show, I enjoyed the episode Villains quite thoroughly; a big reason being for how it fleshed out Angela Petrelli. Much like Company Man for HRG, it gives huge and sudden revelation to so many of her actions, and made her almost on par with HRG as one of the most interesting characters. (Though I felt third season rather demonstrated that the villains and those characters leaning toward villainy tend to be way more interesting than the "good guys.")
Unfortunately, the Volume's ending was led up to with some convolutions (the whole catalyst thing was just abrupt, ill-conceived and slightly bizarre) and the only really good thing about it was that Sylar killed Arthur Petrelli (which I hoped he would be the one to do).
But I would say the same for the start of Fugitives as the start of Villains - it began really strong. Unfortunately, Fugitives completely went off the deep-end in its last few episodes...but I'll get to that in a moment.
One of the most interesting aspects of Volume Four was the role of Nathan. Though I've never particularly liked or disliked the character, I do feel he's always been one of the most interesting and compelling characters. And the decisions he reached for the start of the Volume I found to be credible and completely in character for him.
Volume Four did feel to get a bit more...lost along the way. Also, I started to feel like outside of Sylar, the Petrellis, HRG and Claire, the writers were struggling to keep any of the other characters on the show. Was Mohinder even in Volume Four? I honestly can't remember anything he did.
And while I enjoyed the Sylar storyline (because I tend to enjoy pretty much all things Sylar), I can understand why others didn't. I mean, ultimately, what did Sylar's daddy-issues have to do with anything - particularly in regards to the main plot of Nathan and the government rounding up people with powers? I so wish they had had Sylar captured along with all the others at the start of the Volume, and force him to work with the other characters to escape, etc. That could've been so interesting. And even more importantly, wouldn't it have been so interesting had Nathan remained the villain up through the finale? I wish they had kept on that track. It would've been more in keeping with the season's loose theme of "anyone has the potential for evil," it would been a welcome, more interesting change from having the Adams/Arthurs/Sylars of the world as villains, and it would've been completely in keeping with Nathan's character.
Jumping ahead to the season finale (because my reaction to that tends to overshadow much of the season), at the most base, I have to say: I have never been more irate after watching an episode of television in my life.
I felt like the show spent the season exploring the morally gray of all the characters...and then suddenly realized it was in over its head and jumped back to the black and white of things because it didn't really know how to handle the complexities. Having Sylar being the big bad again - and after spending a season fleshing out the character and making him more sympathetic, only to have him spontaneously and rather inexplicably revert back to Big Evil, thereby undermining all of his character development from the season was painfully illogical, to say the least! I know it's awesome to have his as the villain and all, but if I'm not supposed to at least somewhat sympathize with Sylar's character, then why did you spend so much of the season fleshing him out???
And not only did Sylar's spontaneous turnabout about drive me mad, but the season finale gave me endless amounts of distate for so many of the other characters I enjoy. Primarily HRG and Angela. I used to find them two of the most compelling characters; but now, I can't express the frustration I feel with the both of them, and the way the show treats them.
HRG really started to lose me this season, as his "I'm doing this all to protect Claire" became repetitive and one-note. Also, getting into the Fugitives Volume, when it was very clear that he was doing it even though it was very much not what she wanted, ultimately demonstrated how selfish that action is. Which undermined even more of his credibility. Also, arguments of logic aside, I lost most of my sympathy for him when we learned of his involvement of pushing Gabriel Gray into becoming Sylar. A man who has spent so much time working for The Company, capturing, using and manipulating people with powers, and then who does turn-about and thinks he deserves the moral high-ground in condemning those people - all the while demonstrating absolutely no remorse for anything he has done - is not deserving of sympathy. I find him so distasteful and despicable, I didn't even feel anything for him when Sylar essentially ruined his marriage. The show is way too easy on him, and I rather, judgmentally, feel he deserves much worse.
Not to mention that I find Angela and HRG forcing Matt to force Sylar to become Nathan so painfully amoral, I want to claw my eyeballs every time I think about it. I am absolutely appalled and incensed that the show lets Angela and HRG get away with using another person like that - especially a monster that they both helped to create. Angela and HRG do not get to be on the Side of Right - ever! They are both amoral and despicable creatures, and even have admitted to as much!
Am I over-sympathizing with Sylar? Probably. Has he done despicable things and deserves retribution? Definitely. But it doesn't change my irritation over the way the show and characters handled his attempt at redemption. Even though he's still ultimately to blame, if you deny a person's right to redeem past wrongs, you yourself are undeserving of sympathy, IMO. Yet another reason I find distaste at HRG's character (and Claire's).
But if we're going to condemn Sylar for past actions, can someone please explain to me why no one in the finale is making a fuss over Nathan (putting aside the fact that he's not really Nathan)? When they're burning "Sylar", how come not one of them walks up to Nathan and says,"Hey! Remember when you turned us into the President and ordered a team of people to round us all up and send us away to be caged!" No, they all conveniently forget. Just like Nathan and Tracy conveniently forget that Mohinder kidnapped and attempted to experiment on them both (and that he may have killed more than one person).
Which gets to the crux of why I'm so frustrated with this show: I feel like its morals are completely screwy. One of my biggest beefs with all of the "good guys" is I feel like so many have done so many amoral things, but with the exception of Nikki, not one of them ever takes responsibility for their actions or ever seeks retributions for past wrongs. Even in the future, in Five Years Gone, I didn't see Peter ever rushing out to people saying,"No, it wasn't Sylar - it was really me who blew up New York." He never even had a desire to take responsibility for what he had done; he just let all the blame fall to Sylar.
How am I supposed to sympathize and root for characters that have such screwed up morals? That all get to be forgiven at the end of the day (off-screen, of course) for past misdeeds, simply because they're "the good guys." If Sylar needs to answer for his actions, HRG needs to own up for all the evil he's done for The Company and all he's manipulated his family, Angela equally needs to own up on both grounds, Matt needs retribution for all the times he's gone off the reservation, Nathan needs to answer for all the lying and manipulating and using he's done of others with powers, Mohinder needs to answer for all the selfish acts he did with his powers, and so on.
But the show probably never will. Because they're "good guys" - so, apparently, they get away with murder.
So the question is, do I keep watching when the show returns for the Fall? Possibly. I spent days fuming over the rage-inducing season finale, and have been tentative ever since. And even in spite of that, it's still a show I enjoy watching - at least on the surface. Also, I have a somewhat morbid curiosity about how they're going to handle the whole Nathan-is-really-Sylar storyline. I'm not optimistic, but I may not be able to find myself about to turn away from the horror.
A couple of things I think the show needs to do (taking more than one cue from Lost):
Set an end date. It worked spectacularly well for Lost. And it might also help the show better tie together much of its exhausting disparate nature.
Get rid of excess characters. Volume Four made it quite clear there were some it had a hard time keeping in the story. And the show really has too many characters as it is. (Yes, I'm sure some people would say get rid of Sylar; though for me, personally, if there's no Sylar, there's no more reason for me to watch the show.)
I also wouldn't be against them reviving some of their dead characters. Nathan, most specifically. I know it would probably be jump-the-shark for some fans, but I watched five seasons of Alias, I feel these shows are in the same league, and I could go with it. Also, they've effectively ended Nathan's storyline, even with Adrian Pasdar still on the show. Whatever happens from here on out is Sylar's story and experience - not Nathan's. And Nathan was one of the few consistently interesting characters. And I'd really like him to experience some retribution for everything he did in Fugitives.
Final words:
Favorite character: Sylar (duh), followed by HRG (seasons 1 and 2), Angela (Volume 3), Peter (season 3)
Most boring character: Hiro. He's one-note, he's demonstrated time and time again, his motivations for wanting to be a hero are not altruistic, but rather wanting all the selfish glory. Also, I swear, he and Ando have the exact same argument every three episodes.
Most annoying character: Claire. Sweetheart, you have had a painfully good life; you have not two, but four parents, not to mention your grandmother and Uncle Peter, all of whom are constantly telling you how amazing you are, and giving you endless amounts of emotional and physical support. And the fact that you dare look down your nose at other people who've had it harder just serves to demonstrate how much of a spoiled, selfish brat you really are.