A Recap of Volume Three
The third volume of Heroes came to an end this week.
And while we've been openly critical of most story lines this season, the concluding episode did leave our staff with a few reasons to hope for an improved fourth volume.
Therefore, as viewers wait until February 2 for new installments of Heroes, here's our take on what was promising and what was problematic about the conclusion to volume three...
PROMISING: Nathan's evil turn. Arthur was never a believable villain. He was too sarcastic, we had no background for his motives and his powers were never fully explained (or logical; he just showed up in the past and took the catalyst from Hiro? That was easy!).
But we bore witness to Nathan's conversion, as he saw the possibilities of powers first-hand during he and Peter's trip to Haiti. Sure, he turned to the full dark side rather quickly, but we can accept such an immediate conversion in exchange for a morally complex villain going up against his brother and former friends. Juicy stuff, indeed.
Fans are seeing a new side to Nathan Petrelli.
PROBLEMATIC: The lack of build-up for the third volume finale. It's Television 101: events throughout the season of a show are slowly built up, with momentum and suspense leading to an emotional and/or action-packed climax in the finale. Perhaps no show in history did this better than the first season of Heroes, as story lines converged for a world-altering battle in Kirby Plaza, remember?
For weeks, viewers were enthralled by the mantra of "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World," as well as by the deadline of an exploding NYC.
But what did we have in "Dual," the finale to Heroes' volume three? The main focus was on Sylar trapping HRG, Meredith, Angela and Claire inside Primatech. This came totally out of nowhere; heck, Meredith had literally not been seen for four episodes and now she was being thrust into the finale of the volume.
Remember a few weeks ago, when the show seemed to set the sides of Team Primatech vs. Team Pineheart? We were excited for a showdown between good and evil, but one never came about. The entire chapter was titled "Villains," yet new characters such as Knox and Flint were scarcely used. It all reeked of lazy, constantly-changing writing.
PROBLEMATIC: Anything involving Knox. First off, this character was played by Jamie Hector, well-known for his portrayal of Marlo on HBO's The Wire. Yet Knox/Hector was barely utilized. Secondly, wasn't Knox working for Arthur this entire time? Why would he have done so if he was against the use of the formula?
Lastly, the second-to-last episode of volume three ended - supposedly ominously - with a super-powerful Marine... who then had his neck snapped by Knox in about half a second in the finale. Weren't we supposed to be afraid of how the formula would affect those it was injected into?
PROMISING: The initial set up for "Fugivites." We have an established villain, Nathan. We have a simple story line: capture everyone with abilities. And we hopefully have a straightforward set up that won't require jumping from the past, to the present, to the future. Keep it contained. Keep it exciting.
PROBLEMATIC: Mohinder and Tracy are still alive. We don't wish unemployment on anyone, especially in this economy, but come on. What purposes do Mohinder and/or Tracy serve at this point? What connection do they have to anyone else on the show? Many of Heroes' problems are due to its ever-growing number of characters.
No offense, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Ali Larter, but we'll be happy if the car you're now sharing drives off a cliff.
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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Sylar: I can't bring Nathan back Peter, but I can sure as Hell swing a sledgehammer.
Rank: Guest Star
December 29th, 2008 10:59 PM
Maybe tracy will bring out a secret ability.... The WHIP CREAM BIKINI. This ability stops the thought process of all heterosexual men and lesbian women. Also with this ability she has mind control over said individuals and can get pretty much anything she wants. I love her
December 26th, 2008 5:51 PM
Im guessing Nathans main plan is to get Tracy tied up to a chair ...
December 26th, 2008 5:19 AM
Aww, nikilover they're not all so bad. Peter was lovely to Simone, and devastated when she was killed and he didn't deliberately leave Caitlin behind (although most wouldn't punish him had he as she was irritating), he teamed up with Adam to try to save her (one of the reasons).
If we're to believe the book 'Saving Charlie' (although it has inconsistancies, contradictions and paradoxes), Hiro slept with Charlie and didn't treat her poorly.
Don't tarnish all the guys with the same brush, they're not all bad.
December 22nd, 2008 5:02 AM
i agree, and everytime after the men have sex with the girls they always treat them like shit mohinder attacked maia peter left that girl in the future sylar murders elle arther tried to kill mrs petreli and now nathan petreli is going after tracy.they dont respect the women. they just have sex with them and then try to kill them.
December 21st, 2008 9:16 AM
Know what I miss? The "ordinary people" part of the "ordinary people with extraordinary abilities" premise. Does anyone remember when the show's multi-culturalism extended beyond Mohinder and The Haitian (who should really have been given a name by now)? Remember when our heroes had jobs? Peter was a nurse, Matt was a detective, Mohinder was a cabbie, Hiro was an office worker. Claire was a high school student. Now everyone is white, rich and works for an exclusive organization. Ordinary people, huh? They kill off the heroin addict and the single mother and replace them with an international thief (Daphne) and scaly scientists. Claire wields a gun, Peter can roam from location to location without any dough in his pockets. Do any of the characters eat, sleep? As an ordinary person, its hard for me to identify. I know its a TV show, but quite a few shows depict the characters actually LIVING while carrying out their storylines. And, um, most at least NAME their characters of color. Just
December 19th, 2008 1:15 AM
no bad stuff this season so far, i like that 'villians' was complicated, ive kinda liked figuring things out ever since i first watch heroes, season 1 was of thoses things where its drags you in and then you dtake it with you every show you watch, evry sci fi show i watch i now compare to heroes vol 1
December 19th, 2008 1:10 AM
has antone noticed the simialrites popping up between 'fugitives' and 'five years gone', cos i can see a few: !. heroes being hunted for morally gray reasons
2. Nathen (though the real one and not sylar) is leading the government to catch them.
3. this type of thing could all be why most of the characters opted for different styles in five years gone, eg, claires hair, hiro's badass look, and peters unregular serious face.
maybe what they have to do this volume is just do what they did in 'five years gone': stay hidden and save the world whenever they can.
December 18th, 2008 7:53 PM
Well were only half way through season 3 here in Kiwi land, but so far the season rocks. As for the 'unexplained' powers etc. Thats what gives the show its mystique, Arthur took all of Peters powers, which include time travel, painting the future, presumably mollies ability to find people... There are so many ways he could have found Hiro, the African dude... etc. Yes it would be nice to have every little thing explained but come on! Its a TV show. Anyone remember Star Trek and the thousands of plot holes! Heck one episode 2 crew 'phased' out of time and could walk through walls. Funny thing was they didn't sink through the floor or simply have the ship fly through them and leave them floating in space! Didn't stop it being a great show!
Season 1 was awesome. Season 2 suffered from the writers strike, your writers aren't going to show any enthusiasm if their looking to go on strike. So far everyone I know who watches the show thinks Season 3 is great.
Give these guys a break.
December 18th, 2008 5:01 PM
i think that: Tracy will use Mohinder because he might remember the formula, dont know what to do about the catalyst. Mohinder still has his powers but is sick and it looked like the formula only fixed half his face. Ando didnt zap Hiro in the future he might have enhanced his power somehow, peter got his original power back, the Hatian was chasing Sylar and then was not seen or heard of after, alternate futures are different now, at the end they show the african in Mohinders lab on front of matt and thats just a little of what i think
December 18th, 2008 11:01 AM
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I completely disagree with you. I feel Volume 2 was far better than Volume 3 and mainly for this reason. Volume 3 moved to fast, had to many characters/story lines, and never paid enough attention to the “main focus” of any given episode this volume.
Volume 2 was criticized for it’s slow and repetitious pace. People said that it was too much like Volume one in the sense that the beginning seemed to drag on. Sure the beginning was a little slow but I still feel it was better than the jumbled speedster speed of Volume 3. Why? Because you never really got the change to understand any of the characters in volume 3. One of its biggest flaws was in the failure to deliver these characters motivations… so many people are baffled on why Arthur was so bad. Had they taken time to develop these new characters and build on to existing characters stories then Volume 3 would have been much better then Volume 2. But they didn’t so you never ever get an idea of who Arthur is or why (a