Heroes recap

I finally saw the last half of the season of Heroes. A few thoughts & spoilers for season 1 finale after the break…

I’d liked the show enough to watch it as it aired up to episode 15 or so, then sort of just gave up because too many things about the show irked me. For example: that damnable opening voice-over explanation of what happened the episode before (just how stupid do they think the audience is? Flashback scenes aren’t enough? We have to have it told to us? Grrrr), some plot weaknesses that bothered me enough that I couldn’t get into the story as much as I wanted to, and what was to me very annoying casting (Mohinder, Simone, that pixie girl, the FBI woman Parkman worked with at first, Parkman’s wife, and too often Peter Petrelli needed a slap upside the head).

What kept me watching up to ep 15? Hiro & Ando. Sylar. HRG. Claude. Hiro & Sylar really are fabulous characters, from their writing to the casting.

After seeing all kinds of announcements about season 2, I got curious as to what happened in the last half of season 1, so I downloaded & watched the rest of it. I was actually pleasantly surprised…it seems they finally hired better directors who got *much* better performances out of Peter, Mohinder, and a few others (at least they stopped annoying me and became more enjoyable to watch, lol). Several annoying characters were killed off (not that I was cheering their deaths. No. Not at all…). The story got nicely twisted and muddled and I looked forward to each episode, despite the various weaknesses (for example, Simone gets killed and Peter, who has all this “heart” and love in him, seems to get over it pretty quickly. Uh, ok.).

Then the finale. Blah. Blah, blah, blah.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but more than we got. There had been such buildup…to nothing! Why were there no people in NYC when all the “action,” such as it was, was happening? Why did Sylar stand there and let Hiro come at him with a sword (especially since he knew it could/would happen)? The first time Sylar and Peter faced off was really well-done (that glass trick was cool!), and in the flash-forward episode where Peter looks like Neo from the Matrix Reloaded, the promise of an even greater face-off between them, hands glowing, really upped the ante. So I was expecting much more mayhem and damage and…conflict! Instead, Sylar, who has all those abilities, is quickly gotten out of the picture, Peter just stands there as the power builds in him, and then minutes are wasted while Claire builds up the courage to shoot him. I mean, YAAAWWWNN. The entire season was all about this bomb…and it’s too-easily done away with, and I never felt like there was any real threat to anyone. I understand the “sacrifice” Nathan supposedly made, but really, how was it a “sacrifice”…why hadn’t he planned days before to swoop in, fly Peter to a remote location, drop him there to explode so he wouldn’t hurt anyone, let him heal, then come pick him back up? I mean come on. Nathan can fly *really, really fast*. Peter can heal himself. I felt there was no sacrifice at all, no threat to anyone, and that Nathan was a bit slow for not having thought up that solution ages before. Blah.

When the show hits its potential, I love it. But that doesn’t happen enough, which is frustrating. It seems to be very up & down in its consistency. Yeah, I’m a tough critic lol, but I’ve been spoiled by shows like Battlestar Galactica. ;-) Here’s hoping season 2 can do better.