Heroes Review: It's Finally Over!
For months on end, season four of Heroes has caused us nothing but anger and anguish. It's been an abysmal, illogical, slow-developing series of episodes.
But we were finally able to laugh out loud at the conclusion of this week's episode, which revolved around Claire and HRG fighting. Yes, again. If that doesn't get your heart-racing for another season of this show, nothing will!
Before I get to my review, allow me to ask, in all caps no less: WHY WAS THIS VOLUME TITLED "REDEMPTION?!?" WHO WAS REDEEMED? Or, as is most likely the case, did the writers simply forget this was the title as early as the second half hour of the season?
Overall, "Brave New World" was simply weak and uneventful.
As always, it was filled with utterly random actions - hi, Tracy, thanks for stopping by out of nowhere, slithering through mud and disappearing again! - and storylines with no exciting pay-off. But more than anything, it was simply... there.
There was no suspense and no emotional attachment to anything going on. There was nothing especially awful about the hour, but nothing remotely season finale worthy, either.
Seriously, did anyone think HRG was gonna die? Did anyone feel as though the carnival storyline had a worthy conclusion, when Samuel's people simply walked away because a of couple people said so... and then Samuel squared off with Peter for six seconds, a character that was involved in an entirely separate storyline for the duration of the season?
Nothing could compare with the utter nonsense of Hiro, of course. Let's review his arc from season four:
- He came down with a brain tumor as a result of time traveling.
- It was magically cured because he had a dream.
- His true love was sent away by Samuel, ignored for numerous weeks, and then showed up again on the same hospital floor as Hiro, following his nonsensical cure.
- She's now an old woman with a family because Samuel sent her back to the 1940s, so Hiro said goodbye and... that was it.
We know the economy is poor and we don't wish harm on anyone - but every person associated with Hiro's storyline should be fired immediately.
The show created two supposedly pressing issues for the character (a brain tumor and an abducted girlfriend) and solved each by simply, literally making crap up. We'll have his dead mother kiss him in a fantasy! We'll have Charlie appear in the same hospital as an older woman!
It's legitimately incomprehensible that the show's producers have jobs.
If anyone was inspired by this episode to be psyched for a fifth season, we'd love to hear from you.
Was it Hayden Panettiere's terrible acting that roped you in? Ando's ability, which can seemingly be used for whatever is most convenient at the time? The mystery of Sylar, who was bad, then suddenly wanted to be good, especially after he was stuck in a dream for what felt like five years and is now - as that profound, dynamite quote of his revealed - a hero?
A couple questions about Samuel, meanwhile, are worth asking:
- Why did he ever give Claire a compass to begin with? Or play games with her and HRG's past? If the guy was such a monster, why not just kill HRG?
- If his ex-girlfriend hadn't rejected him... would the show have simply canceled the final few episodes? As noted previously, he never had any actual plan until he got dumped.
Think about how the carnival storyline played out: Samuel told everyone they had to show the world what they could do, and everyone agreed. Edgar and Eli then showed up and told everyone else something different... and they agreed. And that was it. That was actually the way this season's major plot wrapped up.
These carnival folk are more gullible than Sarah Palin supporters.
We scarcely have the energy at this point to go on about all the negative aspects of this show, so let's leave it at this: it's boring. It's painfully, painfully boring.
Please, NBC, you've caused Conan O'Brien and his followers enough pain. We beseech you: don't torture the rest of us by keeping this show on the air.
Heroes: "Brave New World"
User Rating: 3.3 / 5.0 (203 Total Votes)
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August 10th, 2010 5:46 AM
The show cant be canceled. Not yet anyway the season finale was left with many unanswered questions... And the promise that the show will continue to the next season... We are simply curious to find out what will happen... Please dear NBC don't cancel Heroes until it get a proper ending...
May 17th, 2010 12:17 PM
How did anyone think that would be a good ending? Ages and ages of introductions and build ups of new characters and side plots, then everyone runs away? Seriously, what. the. fudge.
May 12th, 2010 11:08 PM
Ok these critics are killing me....Im a big fan of supernatural/science fiction shows, Smallville, Supernatural, of coarse Hereos. The show is about people with super powers trying to keep the world safe, isnt that usually how these supernatural show work? This show is kick-ass and if it gets cancelled then I hope Tim Kring has since enough to take it to another network, that's all it needs anyway is another network.
April 4th, 2010 12:13 PM
The season finale was lame, but the season as a whole had it's moments. It would be nice if the writers would look at some of their strongest episodes from the past (A Company Man, The Cold Snap, etc.) and realize why they worked so well. Basically, those episodes focused on one character throughout the episode and had a beginning middle and end. Basically, making a short story out of the episode vs. these year long story arcs that become more convaluted than the yarn webs on Mohinder's wall. I have no problem having the episodes connect (they should) but it seems the writers get a sense of ADD and forget what is going on when and where (which is apparent by the number of comments mentioning vast plot holes.) The plot holes are insulting to the viewers and make it harder to suspend disbelief in the future any more than the viewer has already been asked to (I am looking at you random Irish girl stuck somewhere in a dystopian future never heard from again.) Now that they have a plethora of characters they need to focus on fleshing them out to characters we care about. They seemed to have rimmed the fat after season 2, but now they have gone and packed on the uneccessary weight. I think the show still has promise, but it needs to be re-focused into tight episode length stories that are interconnected.
February 25th, 2010 2:47 AM
Guys - when something is given to you in an an out-of-the-world form please take them with a philosophyical view. many of your Amercian series have plenty of it. Heroes, Dead like me to name a few. For example Hiro leaving Charlie at her old age ( as per her wishes) means " do not medle with things that you would be better left alone " Samual Sullivan's ability leaving with others means " do not depend upon others or simply do not 'leech'" I can go on - So keep your vision on the screen with focus on the inner mind. ( Incdenally I am in India )
February 17th, 2010 1:52 AM
First of all, I am a huge Heroes fan. I've watched every episode and I love the series. However, I think that M.L. House has made some good points. I know that it's painfully clear that Heroes has become a hit-or-miss every episode. When you hear yourself wondering 'will it be a good episode today?', you just know that something's wrong.
This season finale was fairly anti-climatic, but it did succeed in making me anticipate the next season. First of all, it seems as if Hiro's horrifying stale love story is OVER. That was one storyline that should've been ended a long time ago. I began dreading the appearance of Hiro and hoping that the loveline would just end and finally, it seems as if my prayers were answered. Secondly, the fight between Claire and her dad seems to finally be over and the writers need to keep it that way. That is if they are actually planning to write out a complete story ahead of time. Honestly, do they actually think that they can BS the story without anyone noticing? Let's hope not because that will be just one more thing added on to their list of failures. But I digress... I loved that Sylar has decided to turn good. If it were up to me, I'd like to see him stay good and have a new villian introduced that can rival Sylar. Every time I see someone fight Sylar, I find myself thinking that 'he's no match for Sylar'. It's getting really tiring.
I want to see some more traditional superhero things. I want an epic battle scene with Sylar in it. They really need to make some more exciting powers. I liked Emma's musical ability, and it would've been more likeable had there been some more exciting abilities to balance it out with.
Overall, I say that you, M.L. House, should keep criticizing because I love Heroes so much that I want to see the show finally improve. I am not so optimistic that I'll expect Heroes to return to Season 1 quality (it would take a miracle), but I want a story that doesn't feel like it was put together the day before shooting. Actually, just give me an actual story, not a billion side-plots randomly linked together and I'll be plenty happy with it. Keep criticizing so the producers finally correct what they've been doing wrong and give us an awesome fifth season.
February 16th, 2010 12:26 PM
If you hate the show so much why keep watching? i just think your too negative about the show. sure its not the best it has been, but its better than you could do i bet. Im not having a go at you, i agree with alot of what you say but there is only so much you can do with heroes before everything becomes a walking cliche.
yes the carnival heroes are a little easy and quick to agree and could have been rectified by them not believing what they were told, then dreadlock guy showing the truth.
"it's boring. It's painfully, painfully boring." - please stop watching this show then.
i still find enjoyment, frustration and entertainment from this show - just as i do from lost.
but i do think that would be a good ending for the show. unresolved. last fifteen minutes was the best 15 minutes of this season.
February 14th, 2010 10:59 PM
I'd like to see another several seasons of Heroes. Even though the addition of the carnival cast took a lot of screen time away from the core characters, Samuel was an interesting and complex villain, following the show's recurring theme that no one is all good or all bad. He needed serious therapy to get past his adolescent fantasies--staying fixated on Vanessa and their dream house and a need to be special and powerful instead of doing the psychological work needed to develop emotionally. But I liked the fault line in his character, and the wish to feel important and to "get the girl" coupled with a vulnerability that Robert Knepper communicated very well when his charming-people smile would break away momentarily to an uncertain expression and then resume.
I agree that it seemed strange to bring Hiro, Peter, and Sylar together with Samuel only for a few moments at the end of the episode. But I did like the Peter-Sylar time spent behind the wall and wish it had been stretched out over more episodes. And I didn't mind the Hiro courtroom dream. It was a great venture into Hiro's psyche (as was his brain-fried fanboy babble a few episodes earlier), and I wonder if the tumor healing wasn't Hiro's own space-time manipulation of that bit of tissue, cloaked in dream symbolism. The wrap-up of his relationship with Charlie was a bit too quick, but believable in the way that it engaged his sense of honor and his true concern for the happiness of others.
Tracy's rescue of Claire and Noah, I think, was done by her water force eroding the soil around the buried trailer, and then they were carried back up by Tracy inducing a strong upward current.
Some of my favorite moments in the whole season came when Sylar was in Matt's head. Their dialogue was very clever. I wish the show as a whole would spend more time on fewer core characters, though I've read somewhere that Kring's original intention was to bring in a whole new group each season. And the writers seem not to know what to do with Mohinder; I'd like to see his character featured more consistently.
The only character to be redeemed was (possibly) Noah, in that we and Claire got to understand his backstory and he reconciled with his daughter. Less probably, Hiro with his favorable court verdict, but that was more of a side plot. Mohinder was searching for some kind of redemption by poring over the Coyote Sands files. Matt was searching to reinvent himself as a family man. Sylar, of course. Maybe I'm using the word "redemption" too broadly.
February 12th, 2010 6:18 PM
Their main problem is that they are not planning an entire season it seems. Another problem is that they decided some characters should get more screen time than others. Why is Claire the center of the universe? They need to be focusing on the characters, and while they tried, they still failed. I think the problem is they are trying so hard to get back to season 1 standard and storyline greatness that they are afraid to move forward. None of their characters are having closure in any of their problems. Claire still has daddy issues. They did succeed in some parts, such as the thanksgiving scenes at Petrellis. The characters responded naturally.
February 12th, 2010 1:17 PM
@Mark Not so. Samuel took down an entire Mansion in N.Y. on his own, with no Heroes to draw power from. He also went to TX. on his own and took down the Sherriff's Building. He also took on HRG in the streets of LA on his own.
So why is he completely powerless in the last episode of the season, once the carnies leave? There are still very powerful Heroes all around him. Like Sylar, Peter, Emma and Doyle. It doesn't make sense. He couldn't even get away from the cops at the end.
As far as the Graphic Novel goes, why is it a different ending? You should look at it again. Angela wakes up from the precognitive dream and looks out the window of her high rise and sees something burning and a ton of destruction. There was no burning and destruction in the T.V. show. The carnival was still standing, and not much of anything happened. Just amazing plotholes to fill.