Pardon this Nerdy Indulgement.
Can someone maybe clarify for me how the season finale of Heroes didn't completely suck? I went and looked for reviews and whatnot right after being sorely disappointed with the episode and everyone seems to be buzzing about how satisfying and appropriate the ending was... I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here! It was convoluted, disjointed, and thoroughly anticlimactic. For all the clever plot devices that were included in the show, it appears the creativity and wit of the writers proved to be lacking in the end.
Tip #1: If you're going to build up suspense toward a single, major event in a dramatic series... don't resolve it PARALLEL to another, much less significant event that gets the same amount of screen time, especially if no one knows the latter isn't important.
Example: Nicki, DL, and Micah's storyline. Besides Micah being essentially pointless, I'm willing to overlook the fact that we were basically misled for 22 episodes into thinking they were supposed to be major players in the primary story conflict (Peter and Sylar's inevitable faceoff and the "bomb"), because hey, they had their own problems to take care of, and the writers did wrap it up for them. But why not resolve this 3 episodes ago so we can focus on what the obvious nail-biter is supposed to be?
Tip #2: Foreshadowing is stupid if nothing comes of it.
What was the single biggest "oh shit" moment of the entire season? Come on, it has to be the first time we see future-Hiro when he visits Peter in the subway. He's dressed like a motherfucking ninja, has a samurai sword, a badass goatee, and obviously has learned to use his powers with extreme precision. I was positively buzzing after this episode thinking of all the possibilities: this dude can stop time and teleport anywhere instantly? He's got to be the most powerful person on the planet! Not only that, it's a brilliant plot device, because suddenly there's lots and lots to explain about how Hiro acquires these skills, with the added satisfaction that it comes to exciting fruition.
And what do we actually get for all this? Future-Hiro is an ineffectual drama-queen that spends his time making art projects out of yarn in Isaac Mendez's old studio and ultimately gets wasted by a rent-a-cop bursting through a door. The excitement associated with his subplot to acquire the sword disappears when there seems to be no noticeable change in his powers before and after except that he can now do... everything he was doing in the first 3 episodes. How riveting! But wait, he still has to learn how to use the sword. Oh, his dad shows up and suddenly they're both in kendo gear! After what appears to be a single, 15 minute lesson in swordsmanship (just long enough for Ando to get bored and leave), Hiro now has the courage and skill to run Sylar through. Is that REALLY all it took?
More on foreshadowing: why did we spend multiple episodes on Peter learning to control his newly absorbed powers if he never uses them again? Was I the only one convinced that all this was building up to an epic clash between Peter and Sylar, Peter being the only one who can match Sylar's constantly growing power? We were even cockteased by a glimpse of this possibility in the future episode when they meet just after Hiro is killed. Which leads me finally to...
Tip #3: Cohesion and consistency.
All events are converging upon the epic final battle, and not only that... Bennett, who always seems to be the cool-headed, prepared one, arrives at the same conclusion that all of us did weeks and weeks ago: Peter is the only one who can stop Sylar. Finally, finally, we get to see the culmination of all the powers we've seen throughout the series manifested in these two characters. The telekinesis will be a stalemate, maybe Sylar will have to rely on his ice power or that one where he can command anyone to do whatever he wants (Gee, remember that one? You'd think he'd use that one more often.) Peter can read fucking minds or stop time for God's sake.
Instead, we get Peter being choked in the air, utterly helpless. All the other heroes take their turns sucking, especially Parkman... man that one actually made me laugh. And finally Peter resorts to, PUNCHING Sylar repeatedly. 23 episodes of a drama about superheroes and the two most powerful people on the planet are having a fist fight in the last scene. Did he suddenly forget about all his powers? At least turn invisible man, you've been doing that all god damn year! And did he also suddenly forget that he CAN'T DIE? He's been killed twice and survived and everyone's having an emotional crisis as Claire is pointing a gun at his head? I thought that was the whole point when he gave her the gun in the first place. Man, if I had the power to regenerate I'd just sit around shooting myself in the head all day. And if I had a friend that had it too I can't imagine the time we'd waste just coming up with creative ways to kill each other. "Wood chipper?" "Nah, we did that last week. How about boiling oil?" "Sweet."
And last, but not least, can't Peter fly? He'd already done it a couple of times before, right? You'd think this memory would surface when killing his brother is in question. All these characters are standing around in awe of Nathan's sacrifice, I'm looking at my monitor screen wondering why everyone's IQ just dropped below the temperature that day.
This so wasn't worth the time it took to write. Let's just say I'm far from confident about the quality of season 2, to the contrary of the dimwitted masses nationwide.
Tip #1: If you're going to build up suspense toward a single, major event in a dramatic series... don't resolve it PARALLEL to another, much less significant event that gets the same amount of screen time, especially if no one knows the latter isn't important.
Example: Nicki, DL, and Micah's storyline. Besides Micah being essentially pointless, I'm willing to overlook the fact that we were basically misled for 22 episodes into thinking they were supposed to be major players in the primary story conflict (Peter and Sylar's inevitable faceoff and the "bomb"), because hey, they had their own problems to take care of, and the writers did wrap it up for them. But why not resolve this 3 episodes ago so we can focus on what the obvious nail-biter is supposed to be?
Tip #2: Foreshadowing is stupid if nothing comes of it.
What was the single biggest "oh shit" moment of the entire season? Come on, it has to be the first time we see future-Hiro when he visits Peter in the subway. He's dressed like a motherfucking ninja, has a samurai sword, a badass goatee, and obviously has learned to use his powers with extreme precision. I was positively buzzing after this episode thinking of all the possibilities: this dude can stop time and teleport anywhere instantly? He's got to be the most powerful person on the planet! Not only that, it's a brilliant plot device, because suddenly there's lots and lots to explain about how Hiro acquires these skills, with the added satisfaction that it comes to exciting fruition.
And what do we actually get for all this? Future-Hiro is an ineffectual drama-queen that spends his time making art projects out of yarn in Isaac Mendez's old studio and ultimately gets wasted by a rent-a-cop bursting through a door. The excitement associated with his subplot to acquire the sword disappears when there seems to be no noticeable change in his powers before and after except that he can now do... everything he was doing in the first 3 episodes. How riveting! But wait, he still has to learn how to use the sword. Oh, his dad shows up and suddenly they're both in kendo gear! After what appears to be a single, 15 minute lesson in swordsmanship (just long enough for Ando to get bored and leave), Hiro now has the courage and skill to run Sylar through. Is that REALLY all it took?
More on foreshadowing: why did we spend multiple episodes on Peter learning to control his newly absorbed powers if he never uses them again? Was I the only one convinced that all this was building up to an epic clash between Peter and Sylar, Peter being the only one who can match Sylar's constantly growing power? We were even cockteased by a glimpse of this possibility in the future episode when they meet just after Hiro is killed. Which leads me finally to...
Tip #3: Cohesion and consistency.
All events are converging upon the epic final battle, and not only that... Bennett, who always seems to be the cool-headed, prepared one, arrives at the same conclusion that all of us did weeks and weeks ago: Peter is the only one who can stop Sylar. Finally, finally, we get to see the culmination of all the powers we've seen throughout the series manifested in these two characters. The telekinesis will be a stalemate, maybe Sylar will have to rely on his ice power or that one where he can command anyone to do whatever he wants (Gee, remember that one? You'd think he'd use that one more often.) Peter can read fucking minds or stop time for God's sake.
Instead, we get Peter being choked in the air, utterly helpless. All the other heroes take their turns sucking, especially Parkman... man that one actually made me laugh. And finally Peter resorts to, PUNCHING Sylar repeatedly. 23 episodes of a drama about superheroes and the two most powerful people on the planet are having a fist fight in the last scene. Did he suddenly forget about all his powers? At least turn invisible man, you've been doing that all god damn year! And did he also suddenly forget that he CAN'T DIE? He's been killed twice and survived and everyone's having an emotional crisis as Claire is pointing a gun at his head? I thought that was the whole point when he gave her the gun in the first place. Man, if I had the power to regenerate I'd just sit around shooting myself in the head all day. And if I had a friend that had it too I can't imagine the time we'd waste just coming up with creative ways to kill each other. "Wood chipper?" "Nah, we did that last week. How about boiling oil?" "Sweet."
And last, but not least, can't Peter fly? He'd already done it a couple of times before, right? You'd think this memory would surface when killing his brother is in question. All these characters are standing around in awe of Nathan's sacrifice, I'm looking at my monitor screen wondering why everyone's IQ just dropped below the temperature that day.
This so wasn't worth the time it took to write. Let's just say I'm far from confident about the quality of season 2, to the contrary of the dimwitted masses nationwide.
posted by Uzura at 9:44 AM
3 Comments:
okay so i'm dumb because i only noticed half of the nonsense things that you mention here and when reading this was like, OH MY GOD! HE'S TOTALLY RIGHT! PETER CAN FLY!
but still. i agree with you that the finale was stupid.
I pardon your nerdy indulgement, Jon.
Yeahhh Peter kind of loses at life, massively.
I was bitching about the finale to my siblings and you know what? Maybe he can fly, but not well. Like a little sparrow baby or something. He probably would have careened back into the atmosphere and THEN he would have compounded the explosion!!!
So I think the unnecessary death was a good idea. And the whole anticlimactic show down. Awesome.
Jon, I miss you! You should go do the Pomo job. Fuck what Audra has to say. THat bitch don't know shit.
As for your whole comment about Sylar using Eden's persuasion, didn't she shoot her self in the head to prevent him getting her power?
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