Chapter 58 - "I Am Sylar" Discussion Thread - 4/20/09

[The Spawn]

"There are a lot of things on Heroes that are decent taken in isolation, but in the context of the show, they suck horribly."

On point.

 

[Ryudoz]

Did he not realize that he lived for the hunt when he scrawled FORGIVE ME in blood on his walls in S1?? Did he have any trouble when switching from Gabriel Gray to Sylar and back? To Zane Taylor? Agent Gray. No identity crisis of any type. Sylar has been a 'shapeshifter' from day one... where did this problem come from?

There are a lot of things on Heroes that are decent taken in isolation, but in the context of the show, they suck horribly. Sylar's character "development" is one of them.

Well said.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

Did he not realize that he lived for the hunt when he scrawled FORGIVE ME in blood on his walls in S1?? Did he have any trouble when switching from Gabriel Gray to Sylar and back? To Zane Taylor? Agent Gray. No identity crisis of any type. Sylar has been a 'shapeshifter' from day one... where did this problem come from?

There are a lot of things on Heroes that are decent taken in isolation, but in the context of the show, they suck horribly. Sylar's character "development" is one of them.

Agreed. Point well made

 

[The Spawn]

I wouldn't mind if the focus of the show wasn't Sylar... but Sylar has pretty much stole the show thanks to Zach's terrific acting.

I just wish they would bring in someone as a more credible threat. We were told about Villains under lockdown that were worse than Sylar, yet he dispatched them all in less than 10 seconds effortlessly. We were told that Arthur Petrelli was a guy to be feared, and Sylar killed him by letting a bullet hit him in the head (with the Haitian there, no less).

Sylar this. Sylar that. Sylar this.

Sylar is not the only thing keeping the show interesting - Zachary Quinto is just exceptionally good in that role. If the writers would focus more on making the other characters just as interesting and had decent actors to boot (like Greg Gunberg and Adrian Pasdar... even Christine Rose and Jack Coleman are all terrific actors) and let them play those roles without gumming up the writing, the show would be great.

Pretty soon, the show will be all about Sylar and how the Heroes just keep getting in his way.

They need to let him go his own way and find a new villain. Every season they have to stop Sylar. Every season it's an anticlimactic ending... his character was getting interesting when he was conflicted and changing sides... and now he's back to just taking more powers.

Seriously? How are you supposed to stop someone that powerful now? They dumbed down Peter because his powers were broken... but they took away some of the best powers in the show. Couldn't they just give him his old power back, but still make it so that he had to touch someone to get their power? No more invisibility, no more stopping time... Peter had so much potential and they've ruined it. The show is pretty much about Sylar and what power he'll get (and never use again) next.

Unfortunately, he's also the only reason people are watching Heroes right now. Quinto's a hot ticket. If he left the show, so would most of the audience because they drool over him.

Get some more interesting characters in there and kill some of the original cast (or write them out) and KEEP any new characters you make.

God, so many potentially awesome villains wasted because they kill them within a few episodes for no reason. Villains like:

Adam Monroe
Arthur Petrelli
Maury Parkman
Knox
Doyle
Echo

All these and more... Heroes suffers from the same problem it always has... it introduces a new character, gives them a quick story, then phases them out in favor of the original cast. Look, just because I like Nathan Petrelli doesn't mean I'll never like another character on the show. Just because Sylar rocks as a villain doesn't mean his time hasn't come.

They need to let go before the show becomes uninteresting.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I really would've liked to see Adam Monroe continue. The actor was fantastic and the way he went out was really, really lame.

Arthur Petrelli, on the other hand, was a terrible villain to me. If I never see another long-lost relative story, it'll be too soon.

 

[The Spawn]

Do you guys think Sylars' dad should have became the devil incarnate? Apparently the writers were gonna go that route, but Fuller came on and said scrap it cuz it was similar to the Petrelli dad thing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I agree with Fuller. Another villainous dad story would've been lame, especially when we just had that in the first half of this season.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

Now that you mentioned it, I don't think we're getting enough Noah.

 

[Ryudoz]

I think we're getting enough "I'm trying to protect my family" Noah but not enough "I'm a badass" Noah.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

I think we're getting enough "I'm trying to protect my family" Noah but not enough "I'm a badass" Noah.

That too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, given that the only real villains are Danko and Sylar, there's no one for Noah to prove he's a badass on anymore. As bad as the earlier part of this season was, I miss those low-level villains like Claire's uncle and that dude who got stronger off of fear. Comics are totally right: heroes without villains tend to become pretty boring.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

You have a very valid point. They need stronger villains.

 

[Booznian]

They never really went into detail as how many villians escaped in the Villians volume, so they can always introduce a new villian that, 'escaped'.

 

[nausicaa]

They never really went into detail as how many villians escaped in the Villians volume, so they can always introduce a new villian that, 'escaped'.

That story was such a missed opportunity. They had Francis Capra (who fans of Veronica Mars will know could've been great) and Jamie Hector (who fans of The Wire will know could've been great) but they did nothing with them, completely wasted. They brought Adam Monroe back and got rid of him in a poor way needlessly to show how part Arthur Petrelli was, only he then turned out to be a bit rubbish as well. Sylar's dad was pretty cool but probably better left as a one off from a story point of view. New villains definitely required.

 

[GL1]

That story was such a missed opportunity. They had Francis Capra (who fans of Veronica Mars will know could've been great) and Jamie Hector (who fans of The Wire will know could've been great) but they did nothing with them, completely wasted. They brought Adam Monroe back and got rid of him in a poor way needlessly to show how part Arthur Petrelli was, only he then turned out to be a bit rubbish as well. Sylar's dad was pretty cool but probably better left as a one off from a story point of view. New villains definitely required.

One other thing they didn't learn is that if you kill off villains, you have to kill off heroes as well. The lack of balance destroys the narrative.

 

[JPC4]

Well, given that the only real villains are Danko and Sylar, there's no one for Noah to prove he's a badass on anymore. As bad as the earlier part of this season was, I miss those low-level villains like Claire's uncle and that dude who got stronger off of fear. Comics are totally right: heroes without villains tend to become pretty boring.

Knox was a good character. I thought his part in the show was just getting interesting when he left Arthur's side to help Peter. That would have made a different partnership. Of course the writers squashed that idea and had Tracy freeze him to death a few minutes later.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

This series is like a monument to wasted potential, really.

 

[shoelessthunder]

I agree wholeheartedly with the last 4 posts in this thread...le sigh.