Oct 28 2008
Heroes Kicks Back Into Action
Heroes had a brilliant first season. Every episode was more riveting than the last, and we the viewers came to care about each character with an intense love or hatred. The cliffhanger episodes always left us wanting more. I had a particular fondness for Peter and Claire, and of course the lovable Hero.
Then the writer’s strike pressures and complications apparently killed the second season. It had its moments, for sure, and we still got some inspiring moments from characters we liked, but it also was many times an unappealing mess. We could hardly keep track of the characters we had before more were added, and then done away with. They totally jumped the shark with Parkman and Suresh, turning them into domestic partners of sorts with guardianship over Molly.
*SPOILERS* Season 3 wasn’t giving me much hope when it first started. Turning Suresh into some sort of power hungry fiend hasn’t exactly been pleasant. I realize there’s been a tinge of a dark side to Suresh from the beginning, but for the most part I always considered him the character we were supposed to identify with. He didn’t have powers, he was both fascinated by and fearful of those who were. I don’t like the change to him being unlikable, and I didn’t like the way Peter seemed to be going down that path as well.
I’ve also lost some love for Claire. She’s making all these rash, headstrong decisions without thinking anything through, and it doesn’t seem like that’s the right character growth. I know she’s a teenager, but with all she’s been through, it seems she would get smarter rather than dumber. The threeway Russian Roulette with here two moms and the puppet master was a pretty good set-up, but I worry when character motivations seem only based on getting us to a cool set-up.
Last night’s episode, however, was more of a turn in the right direction. They’re doing some complicated twists with the Petrelli family, and for the first time since Season 1 I felt completely invested in what was happening. I wasn’t groaning so much about confusing plots or annoying character traits. The fact that Sylar turned against Peter as soon as he had saved him was unsettling, but then he didn’t kill him when he easily could have. So there’s definitely still a struggle there. Peter being w/o his powers is very disturbing to me, because Peter had to be one of THE coolest characters on Heroes with his range of abilities. I don’t want Syler to be the only one with the goodie bag now.
See, I’m invested. And so I’ll be tuning in to the next episode to see what happens to Peter, and Nathan, as well as Parkman and the Speedy Girl–who’s predicament right now was not something Parkman saw as his future. *play suspenseful music*
