Héroes

I am writing after a mere 4 episodes in season one and I probably have nothing to say that has not been said by others in terms of praise and admiration. Still, writing this review 13 or so years after it ended, I am aware of the various doom and gloom disappointments in the show as it progressed. And I am here to either defend this or to heap additional blame. For years if not decades, the Hollywood habit has been to destroy beauty. I am not talking about sucking franchises dry with woke agendae, although that certainly is one of the symptoms. I am talking about the deliberate or accidental process of adding needless complexity, darkness, conflict, and unhappiness of all kinds. This even happens, remarkably, with sitcoms. It happens in every genre. But Heroes was destined for this destruction from its inception, because Hollywood hates virtue. What is most interesting about this process is that Hollywood will actually break its own craftsmanship rules, ie, continuity, in order to pursue the goal. Whether this is laziness, stupidity, or contempt for the consumer probably doesn't matter. From Young Sheldon to Game of Thrones, from New Girl to House to House of Cards to Cheers to Friends, this mechanism runs from fairly subtle to brutally obvious. I don't know when this started but I don't think, for instance, that Bonanza pulled this crap. In more recent times, Big Bang may have actually reversed the formula, moving from sad selfish characters to radically improved versions of themselves.

Anyway, most say that Heroes started well and couldn't maintain. Some say it pulled out of the nosedive in later seasons.

I shall see.

Season One was excellent, but the writer's strike Mid-Season Two made for a clumsy unanticipated finale. Unfortunately, the series suffered as a result and never fully recovered with many writing inconsistencies that followed. My rating reflects the goodwill and potential based on the first season and took -1 per season that followed.

This show started with an incredible premise. Everyday people starts to have superpowers. Each one discover their power and try to deal with it. There is also serial killer Sylar who discovers a way to kill these special people and take their powers.

Like the brightest of stars, they burn hottest but don't last. This show fizzled as the story got more and more complicated. The vast number of characters with unique superpowers gets out of hand. There are too many to maintain. Like a truck overloaded, it just couldn't continue and rolled over. By the 2nd or 3rd season, this show gets increasingly convoluted and becoming almost unwatchable. They try to reboot the 4th season by adding a whole new set of people and a circus. Of course, it didn't work and the show was canceled. The first season is a 9 or even 10 but it's a long slide into 4 territory at the end.

Nice premise, modern-family oriented with just enough edge to keep it interesting. For prime-time network its an ambitious undertaking and very entertaining. For a while..... Sure, the premise is pure fantasy and whimsical, but after a while, it become commonplace so they had to stretch it beyond acceptance.

We get so many back stories and flashbacks, time-jumping with endless new characters thrown in, it gets muddy fast.

Everything that needed to be said should have ended by season-2, but you know the story, NBC enjoys its ad-revenues so they beat this one to death, heavily over-played and labored."Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" was great premise and it was all this series needed.

In season-3 things start to get darker and mean-spirited, the characters become more unlikable, and if I have to hear Claire's father say one more time" I was doing it to protect the family" I was going to throw a brick into my set. Everybody betrays each others trust, yet they constantly say: "trust me." In equal annoyance was the character Hiro. His wimpish-ways were cute for a little while, but they started to get on my nerves, and the music Wendy and Lisa (of Prince fame) composed/implemented was kind of cliche'd Japanese soundbites that played every time Hiro and Ando had a scene (until season 4). The writer(s) made Hiro's character one big Asian cliche. By the end of the 4th season I was just waiting to see who would be killed(written)-off to put me out my misery. Recap: 1st-2 seasons YES, seasons 3 &4- NO! The series gets yanked before the story resolves,so be warned, before you invest all of this time.

Actually, this is no good for anything less than binging. Unlike many serries' which have the standard formula of each episode or two completing a start and finish problem with a tad of long-term problem for the next episode to the end, this presentation of "Heroes" 2006-2010 is one long narrative.

There is a fun side to this program as it does not take you long to notice that all the supposedly "foreign" people are in reality American actors.

Many of the actors come from other series some are: Masi Oka (Max Bergman in Hawaii Five-0) James Kyson (Sean Leung in Hawaii Five-0) George Takei (Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek) Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in Star Trek) Zachary Quinto (Spock in Star Trek movies 2009, 2013, and 2016) Sendhil Ramamurthy (Jai Wilcox in Covert Affairs) Many others will surprise you.

Unlike the episodes the season year ends do take the time and energy to wrap up the story just in case that is the last season. The exception of courses the last season that was getting a little long in the tooth and quits while in full fun. Still watch to the end and you will not feel they left you with a cliff hanger of the feel that this has been a pilot all along.

The series is split into something called "Volumes" that do not match the episode numbers.

The series gets to be a tad Hallmark near the end and they start doing weird skit and too many time travel episodes towards the end; if you can call it an.