Care to weigh in on Heroes? ...
Question: Care to weigh in on
Heroes? Do you find it quite mediocre in comparison to former times? With an arc entitled "Villains," one would expect a juxtaposition of good versus bad with the introduction of a series of antagonists. But I think the writers would rather have us care about Peter being trapped in Weevil's body (forgetting that Peter has spent the last year being an annoying amnesiac) than working on the themes of heroism the show has been so sorely lacking for a while now. In its defense, I'm enjoying what they're doing with Hiro and his speedster nemesis Daphne. And speaking of bad blood, Cristine Rose was the single best thing about the premiere! But there are still many holes. Doesn't Sylar's acquiring Claire's ability not undermine the "save the cheerleader, save The World" principle we were working with in season one? Wasn't the whole point of saving the cheerleader so that Sylar wouldn't become unkillable? I guess they can pin it on the so-called "Butterfly Effect" (aka scapegoat). And the insertion of Ali Larter's new personality presents us with yet another unrelatable character on the show, which doesn't help. I wish the writers would start delivering introspections into their vast array of characters and return to the stepping-stone approach of telling a story about normal individuals ascending a path to heroism, rather than simply having a load of action figures pointing at each other.
Answer: To be honest, even at those times when I've enjoyed the show, I've found it to be mostly mediocre in its writing and acting, including during the overrated first season. (Production values, that's another story.) I'm not hating the "Villains" arc because I've come to peace with
Heroes being a flashy but rather hollow live-action comic book that so breathlessly churns out plot it leaves little space for the kind of introspective depth — and Mohinder's hopelessly pretentious voice-overs don't count — you seem to desire. I'm enjoying Hiro's pursuit of his "nemesis" Speedster and all of the foreshadowing of his possible-future estrangement with his sidekick Ando, but otherwise, it's the same old jumble I could never understand the popularity of in the first place. This is a show with such arbitrary plotting that I can't even begin debating issues about who lives, dies and are resurrected and what it means for whoever to possess whatever powers they have at the moment. I truly do believe this is one of those shows that makes it up as it goes, which can make for a fun if incoherent ride. For the moment, I'm just settling on the "fun" part and refuse to take any of it very seriously.
