I’m going to be completely honest; I had no idea that the season finale of Heroes was on last night. What’s worse is that it might not only be its fourth season finale, but a series finale if the show doesn’t get picked up for another season… and with the ratings down, that’s a definite possibility.

This past season has been pretty much (somewhat) hit or miss for me. While there’s been a sufficient amount of episodes decent enough to keep me watching, I still had to fight through all the poor storylines and singular character episodes just to get to them. I guess that’s why I needed my DVR to remind me that Heroes was even on.

With the season finale we’ve got Robert Knepper’s psycho carnival barker hell-bent on destroy the world, Claire and HRG buried 40 feet underground, Hiro still being annoying, Parkman seeking vengeance & Sylar with a heart. Is there any way they’re going to wrap up everything nicely with a pretty little bow?

Review

As with any episode of Heroes we’re presented with a “previously on…,” this time it’s voiced by Robert Knepper which made me realize how much I enjoy him as an actor and how I wish he was given a better character. After that we’re met with the usual “popping in” on the various characters to see what they’re up to and like always, they’re not really doing much… well, at least not anything to progress the overall plot or their individual stories. Why give the audience an entire 42min of progression when everything can happen in the list 15min?

When something actually does happen, it soon becomes obvious that it’s all smoke and mirrors. The characters shown to be in peril are no more in danger of dying than Jay Leno is to leave NBC. For every “this is it” moment there’s always someone to jump in and save the day. (I still have no idea how Tracey’s powers allowed her to pull Claire and HRG out of a trailer buried underground. She water moved them? I literally described what she did and it doesn’t even make sense.)

Then we get to the “heart-warming moment” with Hiro and old lady Charlie… or for anyone who’s seen the Doctor Who episode “Blink,” the moment where you realized they completely lifted that whole time traveling love/death scene. Sure, it was great… it was great when Doctor Who did it, but NBC just couldn’t let her die. Not on screen, at least. That would be too dark… and Southland knows what happens to series that are deemed “too dark.” Although, I’ve got go give credit to whomever cast the old woman version of Charlie. She was spot on…

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Finally, we get to “the moment.” The showdown that we’ve been waiting to see this entire season. To say it was anti-climatic would be nice. It was at this moment that I finally realize just how much of a crutch the various characters powers are to the writers. Instead of using them to tell a wonderful story, they see whatever loop-holes they can use to quickly get it over and done. If I have to see the crazy puppet master guy just come out of nowhere and control people, I will quit watching television forever.

He was a great one time character and even the second time it was neat-o, but I’m sick of him jumping in and controlling things. As he enters the screen I can just see him dragging the story with him. “Oh, the really important character that we needed this entire season won’t do something? That’s alright, we’ll just make them.” If “we’ll just make them” was going to be the endgame all along, just do it from the beginning and save me 3 episodes of nonsense.

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Oh, and Peter? Gotta give props to whatever writer decided to give him the power of having whatever power he touches. Why stick him with just a single power when he can nab whoever’s power he wants just by touching them? “Oh, there’s a really big bad guy that’s going to destroy the world? Well, Peter will just touch him and cancel out that power.”

While I enjoyed Robert Knepper in this season of Heroes, I think it was more because it was something new than because his character was all that great. On the other hand, the good guy Sylar was a pleasant surprise and one of the few good things to come out of this season and finale of Heroes.

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Final Thoughts

Maybe I’m coming off a little harsh, but after so many years of mediocre storytelling and promises of things being better, I’m over it. Nice going NBC and Heroes, you got me… Now just bring out Ashton to tell me that I’ve been punk’d and we can all move on to something new.

Oh, and Claire showing the entire world that she can heal herself… who cares. The Haitian will probably just wipe the minds of the entire world or something else will come along to completely negate this supposedly huge cliffhanger.

Discussion

Am I being a little too harsh? Did you enjoy the past season of Heroes and loved the season finale?

Maybe I am being a little Negative Nancy, but don’t have the right after the huge drop in quality after the first season?

Do you think Heroes will get another season and be back next fall?