I just finished watching the season finale of Heroes, and it seems like they’ve managed to botch things up once again. They continue to rely on the standby plot devices of “kill a main character” and “bring back an old bad guy” in lieu of truely creative writing. They also feel compelled to set up “cliffhangers” with ridiculously predictable outcomes—as if Sylar-as-Nathan isn’t going to slowly emerge and resume his former “bad guy” activities?
There are also some glaring issues with the new shape-shifting power they’ve introduced. They had this once before in the past, only they explained it as an ability to project illusions. The character didn’t really change at all, but everybody around her saw her as changed. This time, they’ve tried to say that Sylar is “shifting his DNA,” and that the more he does it the more problems begin to occur (like finding an extra tooth). Yet that supposed issue never resurfaces, even though Syler continues to shift through multiple identities in a single scene. Also, if he’s shifting his DNA, that should change his body alone—so why is it that when he shapeshifts, he magically is wearing the other person’s clothes as well? Even Mystique (at least, pre-2001) has some limitations—she forms clothes out of her own body, and even as she changes her overall mass remains the same.
The “fight” between Nathan, Peter, and Sylar was a ridiculous cost-cutting measure. Rather than put money into special effects for a fight scene, they left it as flashes of light through a crack in the door. Seriously? Part of what makes Peter so awesome is that he can absorb Sylar’s powers, making them more or less equally matched in battle. Building up to a fight between those two characters and not showing it is a real letdown. They’d be better off not making the fight happen than hiding it like that.
There are a lot of decisions like this that have really disappointed me with Heroes over the past two seasons/three volumes, and I don’t think I’m alone. I’m not excited for season four, and after limping from episode to episode for so long, I’m ready for them to put this show down for good. If it’s anything like its characters, though, there’s no worries—it will magically reappear a few weeks later.
2 responses to “Oh, Heroes, What Have You Become?”
Way to be late to the party. All the cool kids quit watching heroes at the end of last season. Do you know what I did with every hour I could have wasted watching Heroes? I built a harness for riding dinosaurs. All of them. Next season I’ll use my extra hours to build a time machine and then I’ll go nuts with the harness. Don’t worry, I’ll twitpic that shit for you.
I don’t remember reading this comment, but it is excellent.