I was pretty excited by the Heroes Season 3 premiere and have been watching the show progress over the last few episodes. Saying that the pace has sped up compared to last season would be a wild understatement – things are happening at a rapid-fire pace.
But is it all light and no heat?
(BTW, there will be spoilers below.)
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There have been so many revelations so far this season that it’ll make your head spin – it certainly keeps the “woah factor” up there (as in “woah, can you believe [insert crazy connection/item] just happened?!?!”), but has the pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction?
Last season the story moved very slowly, and due to the writers’ strike cutting the season short this ended up being a bad thing. Fans complained, the producers listened, and this season the opener was jam-packed with action and plot elements unfolding.
Since then, we’ve met yet more super-powered characters (despite creator Tim Kring stating there would be no new characters this season) including a female version of The Flash, a guy who gains super-strength from people’s fear, Nikki’s (Ali Larter) twin who has a freeze power. And of course we have Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) turning into the TV version of David Cronenberg’s The Fly.
We also have two versions of Peter (well, we’re back down to one), Sylar (ok, Gabriel) partnered with HRG as well as discovering our skull-slicing pal is the brother of Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar). Then we have future Claire “saving me didn’t save the world” Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) all decked out in black leather and acting like a bad-ass assassin. Oh, and now Peter has Sylar’s power and slices skulls, too!
I’m actually not clear on what exact power Peter needed from Sylar since he (Peter) absorbs the super power of others just by being nearby.
Then there’s our friendly police officer Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) out in the African desert on a walkabout running into yet another guy who can paint the future. Of course Hiro and Ando are still flailing about like a couple of Keystone Cops.
Geez, have I missed anything? Oh, yeah – another nuclear explosion, this time in Costa Verde, California. And everyone in the future that can afford it has super-powers.
And this is in just 4 episodes so far this season.
So my question to you is this: Is Heroes just throwing everything it can into the mix in the hope it will engage viewers, or does this seem coherent and like it’s actually moving towards a destination to you?
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172 Comments
Tim Kring said that Sylar lost all his power because of the shanti virus except telekinesis and his original ability. He has the painting precognition and induced radioactivity in the futur because he got them back from other people.
We don’t know if futur Peter still has regenerative hability so no problem here.
Finally you don’t know were the show is going so stop saying it is drowning or S***** comments like that. Also stop trying to figure out if everything is tied perfectly with a perfect flawless logic because this is a TV show not a mathematic theorem.
this season was the best season so far and I can’t understand what people hate about it. I guess it’s just become ahead of its time.
It seems so corny for Sylar to lose all his stolen powers except telekinesis (the one that looks cool on TV). He ought to have lots all his stolen powers (including telekinesis) or none at all. Is that a deliberate plot hole?
This show is great. One of the thing that make it so great is that the charachters are not black and white. They are more like real people, they can do good or bad thing. Suresh walk down the path of evil because his experiment turned bad. Now he thinks more about saving himself than anything else. Most people would probably do like him, there is nothing odd here. Think about HRG in season one, were is actions good or bad? It depends of your point of view…
I agree with you Dunwich.
Seun Osewa said,
November 14th, 2008
It seems so corny for Sylar to lose all his stolen powers except telekinesis (the one that looks cool on TV). He ought to have lots all his stolen powers (including telekinesis) or none at all. Is that a deliberate plot hole?
I don’t know but remember that in season one when the company capture Sylar and made test on him they could not find anything but telekinesis. May there is something special about this power…
We can’t find answer to everything because there is a lot that we don’t know. Things should become clearer as the show progress.
If you want some answers go here :
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=archive&type=kw&key=heroes
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
second link should be
http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page
sorry for the mistake
I gotta agree with Seun. If he lost his powers due to the Shanti virus, telekinesis should have gone with the rest as he got that ability from Brian Davis.
As for getting Induced Radioactivity and Precognition back in the future, it is unlikely since: 1. We don’t know anyone else but Peter and Usutu (dead) with those powers. 2. Sylar became good in the present already, so he probably wouldn’t steal more powers like that. However, this is up to the writers, I guess.
But I think the whole thing about bringing Elle in as a main character is stupid. She only appeared in Season 2 as a minor and then shows up like halfway through this season as a main character. And it was also lame to have the other guy that Sylar took powers from in front of her and HRG. We never see Sylar use that power, even though it might have helped him if it applies to all solids and not just fragile ones like glass. If it doesn’t, then it’s a lame power anyway.
We also find Flint and Meredith are brother and sister, giving Claire a third uncle with powers (Peter, Sylar, Flint, and her parents all have powers, though Nathan’s is synthetic). Why does everyone have to be blood related? Next we’ll find out that Usutu and Hiro are half-brothers and Ando is their cousin who is the long lost half-brother of the Ali Larter triplets, whose mom had an affair with Maury and is Matt’s real mom. >>
Although, even with the Season’s flaws, I have to admit that it is keeping me mildly entertained and, for some reason, I keep watching it. ^^;
from heroeswiki:
According to a response in the Sept. 30, 2008 Behind the Eclipse CBR Q&A, Sylar lost the previous abilities he had gained, except for intuitive aptitude and telekinesis, due to his exposure to the Shanti virus and had to start over in gaining other abilities. The lost abilities would include freezing, enhanced memory, melting, enhanced hearing, precognition, and induced radioactivity. However, Sylar was able to use induced radioactivity and precognition in a possible future (I Am Become Death). In a response in the Oct. 13, 2008 Behind the Eclipse CBR Q&A, it was clarified that Sylar reacquired those powers during the time period inbetween the present and the future shown in the episode.
lol in that case, it was a deliberate continuity error. They probably realized that Sylar would have sucked in Season 3 (when all the high-powered evolved humans show up) without at least telekinesis. I mean, Intuitive Aptitude isn’t as good a power if there’s nothing to back it up.
The show is simply ridiculous now. It has been officially erased from my DVR’s schedule. I cant believe that so much potential has fallen so steeply so quickly.
OH COME ON!!!
SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN “It’s Coming”!!!
Now they are just being ridiculous. Hiro somehow retains his powers (though Arthur has them too) yet thinks he is 10. WTF?
Then Sylar somehow is able to gain abilities without killing so he can cheat his way into being a strong good guy. Such bull.
Also, there is a store in Japan called “Sam’s Comics”… they are just not trying any more. >>
Oh man, it’s become such a BS, they’ve lost the plot. Too many stuff going on and seems that writers can’t pull things back together. Totally hopeless, feel sorry that I wasted another hour to watch the 9th ep.
KageLord said,
November 17th, 2008
Now they are just being ridiculous. Hiro somehow retains his powers (though Arthur has them too) yet thinks he is 10. WTF?
He got space time manipulation from peter in episode 6 Dying of the Light. And anyway in an interview, Chuck Kim confirms that Arthur has the ability of empathic mimicry. So he don’t need anymore to absorb power to gain them.
the season lacks verisimilitude within the world created by the last two seasons. yes, they are flying too high with wax wings. they are constantly contradicting themselves. now that the future is constantly rewritable (and the present can always be the future since characters can jump back in time) events no longer hold the weight they use to.
i don’t feel the stakes anymore.
bye bye heroes. I have been mourning your death. you were once a dear friend.
I still like this season, but after the last couple of episodes (the Eclipse), I am starting to worry a little bit again.
I think the season is ok, but they have to stop with so many flip flops all the time. I think most people like twists (I sure do), but when the whole plot is basically the twists themselves, the story loses its meaning. It becomes just a bunch of (seemingly) random events.
Like I said in my very first post here, I am worried that with all these twists and turns all the time, the show will take a turn for the worst. I liked season 3 better in the beginning. I hope things get better again. The last episode I really enjoyed was the one where Hiro dreamed about the past. After that, the show has been just so so, I think. I did not care much for the Eclipse.
I never seen any of seaeson 3. But i do own season 1 & 2. I just want to know why people are quitting on heroes. They should keep watching the show while their ahead. I know i will because it was totally worth watching.
Im like so so with this season.. The reason why most people seem to complain is that – they cant seem to figure out what direction they want to go in.. Too many ups and downs..
I wouldve prefered Sylar stayed good. Do away with Peter already, jesus. Do something with him or just throw him off a balacony.
Honestly, nothing really matters in the show anymore. One moron or the next can just go back or forward in time and rewrite the whole thing. I really have stopped caring if someone lives or dies
I kind of agree with you James, especially when you say that they cant seem to figure out what direction they want to take the show.
Also, I have an important question. How did Nathan survive being shot? I thought it was Linderman, but now we know that is not the case.
This last episode tonight I liked better, although I still have my reservations about where the show is going this season.
One thing that is weird is that I find myself sometimes agreeing with Nathan. I can see what he wants to do, although he is ignoring the fact that, in the future, the whole planet is destroyed.
Also, that whole thing with the eclipse did not make much sense to me at all. Whey would the eclipse take everyone’s powers, when originally it gave some of the “heroes” their powers? Do some eclipses give powers exclusively and others take them away? Or, did some people with powers lose them during the same eclipse that gave the heroes their powers?
We’ll see. I will try to be optimistic about the writers taking the season to good places and making sense of everything in the end. The main thing I would like is to have fewer ups and downs, which have been the bulk of this season so far, and more of the feel that Season 1 had.
So finally they have an episode (12/8) where they treat Hiro with some dignity, and they make Sylar the new Hiro. The piece with Sylar and Ms. Lie Detector, the “Happy Birthday” women, the blood DRENCHED hands (for the first time ever–why?) and “Cake!”–it was just pathetic.
Clair changing her own diaper, having conversations with her own dad, giving him her own nickname–pathetic.
Did anyone doubt that the marine’s power would be super strength?
And yet, I’m in it for the long haul.
What is with Nikki floating in the air, in the little NBC chime promo? Is there yet another sister?
I thought the scene where Sylar killed the woman to get her lie detector powers was hilarious. Claire’s scene in the past was whatever I mean it’s a surreal experience I’d imagine to see yourself as a baby. Sylar is back where he should be as well as Peter but Nathan has gone off the reservation thus making chapter 3 relevant and a launching point for an even sweeter fourth chapter. This has definatley been the strongest of the chapters with far less of the problems (like lame pointless romances) of the first two chapters and I know I’m not the only person to think this. I guess it’s just the very nature of this type of show to polarize people.
But still as usual I still have difficulty grasping peoples complaints with this season. What do you guys want to turn it into Knight Rider or the X-Men movies? cookie cutter good vs. evil plotlines and cardboard characters? no thanks.
I liked the last episode “Dual”, but didn’t expect it to be the end of another volume. I thought “Villains” was going to be the whole Season 3.
My Summary of Problems
1:) The actors are the same, the powers are the same, but the CHARACTERS are acting completely different! Most anyway. Matt, Mrs. Patrelli, and Noah are the only ones act the same. The others have all been so alienated from their archtypes I no longer feel any connection with them. They are like blank slates to be filled with whatever traits the writers feel like every episode.
I hated that in Season 1 Hiro got all bad-ass, which carried into season 2, but then in season 3 the Hatian subdues both Hiro AND Ando offscreen, simply because they have no powers. Couldn’t two grown men handle themselves against one other grown man? Especially if Hiro has undergone some combat training?
2:) Two many abandoned plot branches. They build up relationships and new characters, then unceremoniously end them. I don’t need to mention them all, but there are many.
3:) Time travel/apocalypse overdone. Nuff said.
3:) Time travel/plot holes
I’m assuming future Peter still has the bullets im him/hatian hangs by him. So I can buy that. And the facial scar could be voluntary metamorph power. But I don’t think the writers bothered to rationalize either the way the fans are forced to. Also, the problem of of writers alternating between using a single linear timeline thats changable, single linear timeline thats unchangeable, and infinite future timelines on a whim. Pick one and stick with it, paradoxes and all!
Season one was best, season finale being the exception.
I actually loved Season 1, pretty much all the way. There are always a few things I don’t like, of course. I didn’t like that Simone got killed. I liked her, but it still fits with the plot.
I agree with you about the “abandoned relationships”, for instance: Elle and Gabriel (only to a certain extent), where is Molly, and the girl who could learn to do anything she saw on tv, and why did Nicki and her husband have to die?
I do like to see that the heroes are just like anyone else in the sense that none of them is completely good or bad. Consistently in all seasons, they have all done good and bad things, especially Nathan, Peter, Sylar.
The future of the Heroes world looks like it is going to be as it was at the beginning of Season 3: all people with powers hiding and maybe Clair will become much darker, like on that first episode when future Peter came back and shot Nathan.
I am so confused by all of this. I agree with most of you who have written that season one was better and developed strong relationships. But can anyone tell me what happened to the girl that Matt Parkman was taking care of?
The one who could find any hero- she was sort of a locator. If Parkman is running around on spirit walks in Africa and is romantically linked to the girl that runs fast then where is the locator girl? (Sorry I forgot their names but hopefully you all know what I am talking about)
Also I loved the Mikah character and the fact that he was beginning to use his ability to talk to electronics as a way to rob ATM’s. So if his storyline had continued we would have definately seen his moral evolution, especially with both of his parents not there to help or guide him.
Also speaking of Mikah, what happened to his cousin in Louisana who would watch tv an get an imprint of it in her mind. For example she was watching a martial arts movie and knew how to mimic the fighting. She was a great character.
I agree with all of you that this Nikki / Freeze ray sister/ Unknown third sister story line is stupid. I loved the original Nikki and Mikah story line where she was a stripper trying to make ends meet while her husband was missing. I like the mother- son dynamic. It was loving and interesting to watch, especially with the complexity of the fact that she was married to a black man and had a interracial son. Now she is dead and her twin is some sort of public relations guru. I am all for the Nikki character moving up from her downtrodden life to a better one, but that story line is just crazy.
I miss Mikah’s dad and thought that he left the show too soon. I mean c’mon a guy that walks through walls, but becomes a firefighter. It had the potential to go far.
Okay enoughh ranting on that- what about Claire’ s mom meridith dying in a fire at the comapany. That’s crazy, because she handeles fire everyday- that’s her ability. And how come after Meridith and her brother got seperated they did not reunite and try to take down the company and become some sort of vigilante fire duo. I mean the both of them have reasons for hating the company- Meridith becasue they took away her baby and her brother because they locked him up.
And can some one tell me Papa Petrilli’s power? IS he some sort of taker of all power? If so they why can peter mimic him and take away his power why did skyler have to kill him?
Skyler, Skyler Skyler what more can I say about that. He is the ultimate of all villians, but I really liked how he became good in the future that Peter saw. He has a son. Before Elle died I though that maybe it was their sone, but I guess not. I all fairness Skyler can’t do everything- can’t be everything. There has to be another evil villian as bad as he is- that we the viewers become invested in. We are not invested in Papa Petrilli, because we don’t know his back story or some of the villians, because we don’t know their back stories, but we are invested in Skyler. So I think that the writers have to write another villian in that we become invested in.
And I am sad that they killed off the characters that Hiro loved like that the girl he traveled back in time to help Adam Monroe fall in love with Or the girl at the coffee shop that had accelerated learning. Hiro needs a love interest. He has the bromance, but that’s not enough.
The catalyst storyline is stupid.
The fact that Dr. Suresh has totally moved from one side to the other and has forgotten everything that his father worked for is sad. And isn’t Suresh supposed to be looking for his sister and trying to find out her power? Or am I wrong on that?
And if the eclipse gave everyone back their powers then Maya must have her making people dead power back right?
We need to see more one of them one of us company duo’s more.
I think I wrote too much but hey I love the show. I hope the new season answeres at least some of my questions.
Yeah, I do love the show, in spite of some stuff. Two things I did not care for, like you say, were definitely the catalyst thing and the whole eclipse taking/giving everyones powers, especially the taking away part of it.
I don’t get it. Whys everyone saying Tom this Tom that. Dunno who that is then I find out they’re talking about Matt Parkman. At least get ur names right.
I wish they would finally kill off the actress that played Niki. I was so happy when Niki was killed off then they brought back the actress for another role. I really don’t like the actress she annoys me and I don’t find her very talented. She plays Niki nearly the same as her new person but they are nothing alike. I actually liked DL so they had to kill him off.
I actually feel the complete opposite about Niki. I think Niki getting killed off was a bad move. Actually, neither Niki nor DL should have got killed. Yeah, their story was not directly related to everything else that happened with the other “heroes/villains”, but it gave the show a different dimension, a more personal one, and not everything has to be related to the main characters/plot. It never made sense to me that they had Niki and DL die (maybe there was a reason regarding the actors themselves that I am not aware of?).
I still love the show, but can’t always agree with the decisions made by the writers, just like basically any other show.
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