Heroes: When did it get bad for you?

[Mister J]

For me it was from episode 1 of season 2. Tim Kring had made a statement over the summer about the show expanding in both cast and scope, that Volume 2 would not necessarily be about these same characters. Between that idea being betrayed for fanwanking

I thought I recalled something along those lines (an allusion to the series being more anthology-based, with a rotating cast). That was part of the allure. 'Fanwanking' is a pretty good way to put it. It seemed as if overnight, Peter, Hiro and Claire became untouchable. It's worn thin.

For me the first early warning sign was season 1's complete dud of a finale.

Great Zeus, yes. It was so anticlimactic and uneven. There was so much wrong with that scene.

around the point in season 2 where peter and caitlen travel to the future to find 90% of the worlds population dead from the shanti virus, it became obvious the second season was a watered down retread of season 1.

Despite the mentions of the above, this is about where I really lost my zeal for the show. Combine that with repeated instances of character stupidity, do-nothing side plots, the inevitable plot holes and what I perceive to be a general lack of direction and the show has become an afterthought to me.

 

[DIRECTOR]

when Nathan decided to be Hitler

 

[Silverstein]

For me the first early warning sign was season 1's complete dud of a finale.
Like lot's of people, i'd been watching and enjoying s1 on the assumption that it was all going to come together in a really *****in' final super-powered confrontation... Instead we got a badly coreographed 2 minute scuffle that ended on an incredibly, unsatisfying, confusing note.


It was all down hill from there.

Agreed. In fact, I agree with most of the comments made in this thread. November Rain said it best. Kring really is a one hit wonder.

Awful plot devices, uncharacteristic character developments and motivations, bad dialogue, and a lack of forward momentum keep this series from captivating. The current saga is so lackluster and unimaginative, I stopped watching. I've honestly read better fan fictions.

Ali Larter is the biggest "starring" "star" they have on the show...well...until Star Trek comes out and then maybe Zachary Quinto. So the "Nikki Sanders triplet" idea was just a bs way of keeping her around. And with movies like Obsessed, she was glad to stay on probably.

And what happened to the idea of Claire turning into an angry vigilante? Nothing really happened to stop that. She's still mad at her dads, she's still disillusioned by her world. And for the most part she still wants to be involved in everything.

The zig-zagging and total disregard for us, the fans, is outstanding. I'm suprised that the drop rate isn't larger. The show had a lot of great ideas, and they let most of them slip away. They killed off characters that were interesting and kept ones that should have died chapters ago.

 

[GL1]

I thought I recalled something along those lines (an allusion to the series being more anthology-based, with a rotating cast). That was part of the allure. 'Fanwanking' is a pretty good way to put it. It seemed as if overnight, Peter, Hiro and Claire became untouchable. It's worn thin.

That's the way a lot of people read the statements, and that's what wigged so many of them out. The idea that the cast would be completely changed, or even mostly changed unnerved many, probably including NBC execs, who may have ordered some changes which led to Kring taking an uninvolved stance in the show's writing. His five year plan went out of the window, and the show has been crappy ever since.

The plan was that there were going to be new central characters, and many of the current central characters would become peripheral characters. The Peters, Hiros, HRGs and Sylars were going to become the Haitians, Micahs, Angelas and Claudes. At least, the ones that survived. Every volume would be a new and different and exciting storyline. People would learn what had happened to their favorites, but the show would not center on them.

Claire was always supposed to be long term, Hayden was the only one that I know that had a five year contract. However, HRG, Sandra and Lyle were NOT so designed, and the removing Claire from the typical suburban lifestyle would have made her an interesting character, imho.

I made the mistake of trying to explain this on the 9thWonders message boards during the first few eps of season 2. Those guys tried to crucify me. How dare I say that Nathan and Matt should be dead? Ugh.

 

[Silverstein]

That's the way a lot of people read the statements, and that's what wigged so many of them out. The idea that the cast would be completely changed, or even mostly changed unnerved many, probably including NBC execs, who may have ordered some changes which led to Kring taking an uninvolved stance in the show's writing. His five year plan went out of the window, and the show has been crappy ever since.

The plan was that there were going to be new central characters, and many of the current central characters would become peripheral characters. The Peters, Hiros, HRGs and Sylars were going to become the Haitians, Micahs, Angelas and Claudes. At least, the ones that survived. Every volume would be a new and different and exciting storyline. People would learn what had happened to their favorites, but the show would not center on them.

Claire was always supposed to be long term, Hayden was the only one that I know that had a five year contract. However, HRG, Sandra and Lyle were NOT so designed, and the removing Claire from the typical suburban lifestyle would have made her an interesting character, imho.

I made the mistake of trying to explain this on the 9thWonders message boards during the first few eps of season 2. Those guys tried to crucify me. How dare I say that Nathan and Matt should be dead? Ugh.

I just said it in another thread lol...But here goes, quoting the Zero Puncuation guy:

Fans are clingy, complaining dip****s who will never ever be grateful for any concession you make. The moment you shut out their shrill tremulous voices the happier you'll be for it.

They would have complained and whined, but loved it all along. And more people would have gotten into the show.

I sincerely hope they end the show before it turns into something like Power rangers, that keeps going despite everyone's hate of it.

 

[GL1]

Power Rangers runs because its SUPER cheap, and it makes a ton of money on toy lines because every year they get a consistent new fanbase of children who have become self aware enough to have a favorite TV show. Heroes has no such luxuries.

It hurts my head sometimes to think about how epic Heroes could have been... ugh.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I see now that the season finale of Heroes was where it started to go downhill. I held out hope during season 2, made excuses, saying the strike messed up their plans. However, mid-way through "Villians" I realized things were getting really bad, Villians just had too many people changing loyalties on a whim for no reason whatsoever. Then they completely destroyed Sylar, trying to make him a hero, excusing his psychotic behavior as the "hunger". I wanted to give the show one last chance this season after all the shake ups behind the scenes, but after the mess of this season, is there any plot at all, I'm giving it up. The show just has absolutely no direction, this summer there'll be all kinds of talk about what they'll do to fix the show, but it'll be exactly the same. It's a shame this show will go on while Chuck is most likely gonna be cancelled.

 

[GL1]

Did you miss the last four eps? Or they just weren't that good for you?

 

[Infinity9999x]

I starting to watch season 3 right now, and I have to say I'm a bit annoyed. There are a few things that just don't make sense to me.

This is a spoiler warning for those who haven't seen season 3, but I'm assuming most have.


1.) The episode where future Peter takes normal Peter to the future. Future Peter gets killed....by being shot. I just sat there going "WTF?" Peter has Claire's healing abilities, so why in the hell did getting shot kill him?

2.) When Clare is cutting normal Peter....normal Peter bleeds....and the cuts don't heal...again....I was going "WTF?" I mean, doesn't Peter HAVE CLAIRE'S POWERS? Can someone fill me in on that? Did he lose them at some point?

3.) Future Peter has to ask Sylar for his power, and then put together a watch to get it....yet in the first season it's clearly shown that Peter only has to touch, or be close by someone to get their power. Not only that, WHY DOES PETER NEED SYLAR'S POWER ANYWAY? He can already do what Sylar does...WITHOUT KILLING PEOPLE.

It's just very frustrating and annoying when they contradict and change things established in the other seasons.

I'm very depressed to be honest. Season 1 of Heroes was one of the best seasons of tv I've watched. Season 2 was....well it wasn't very good. But season 3 looks to be just as bad.

 

[bullets]

The first season when Isaac killed his gf accidently.

 

[Swordmaster]

I haven't watched Volume 3 since it aired, but I think the first two are explained by the presence of The Haitian. And as for the third, he needed Sylar's ability to make things work, not his *sigh* empathy. Him needing to have it explained was just lazy writing, methinks.

 

[Deaths Head II]

I'm very depressed to be honest. Season 1 of Heroes was one of the best seasons of tv I've watched. Season 2 was....well it wasn't very good. But season 3 looks to be just as bad.

Nope, its way worse.

 

[marukisu]

...

 

[Infinity9999x]

I haven't watched Volume 3 since it aired, but I think the first two are explained by the presence of The Haitian. And as for the third, he needed Sylar's ability to make things work, not his *sigh* empathy. Him needing to have it explained was just lazy writing, methinks.

I forgot about the Haitian, but still, shouldn't future Peter have come back to life the second the Haitian got far enough away from him when he was lying in the morgue?

And I'm still a bit confused on the Sylar thing. He needed Sylar's abilities to make what things work? His own powers?

 

[Koz]

And I'm still a bit confused on the Sylar thing. He needed Sylar's abilities to make what things work? His own powers?

They claimed Peter needed Sylar's power to understand things so that he could see all of the variables involved and figure out what needed to be changed in the timeline so that the terrible future didn't come to pass. It never really amounted to anything, though. I don't know why they even had Peter get Sylar's power.

 

[Ryudoz]

They claimed Peter needed Sylar's power to understand things so that he could see all of the variables involved and figure out what needed to be changed in the timeline so that the terrible future didn't come to pass. It never really amounted to anything, though. I don't know why they even had Peter get Sylar's power.

I honestly think it was to give Pete a reason to go all crazy and then make it seem "okay" when his powers were stripped as it was very much out of character for him to act that way.

 

[cronosred]

For me it was mainly season 2, I hated the amnesia storyline in which Peter had to discover he had powers again which probably wouldn't have been as bad had it happened in a later season but the fact that it was the season before that he was discovering his powers made it feel redundant. I also didn't care for the Hiro storyline. Also a big problem I had was I felt they made Peter and Syler way to powerful and with Hiro having the power to go back in time makes you ask "Whenever something bad happens why doesn't he just go back to fix it?". And finely I think they rely on Syler way to much, I felt they should have let his character die in season 1 and bring in new villains but it's like they became to afraid to let him go and take a chance with something new.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I think the one thing that really made me roll my eyes was in season 2 when they introduce the fact that Claire's blood can heal anybody. Not only do they throw logic aside (because if she has a different blood type then the person they put her blood into...it could kill that person...if they're not already dead), it lessens the drama for everyone around. When Nathan was shot at the end of Season 2, I wasn't worried at all. I just sat there going...ship Claire out there and do a little blood transfusion.

If anybody dies, you can automatically bring them back with Claire's blood. It was just a stupid idea.

 

[Krozee]

when they killed D.L. in the dumbest way possible. and they killed off Knox. the 2 coolest characters got the ax

 

[Deaths Head II]

Black characters don't seem to last very long on this show. Neither do romantic interests.

 

[chamber-music]

When every single character has parent issues. If its not Claire having an issue with Noah its Sylar with his Dad or Nathan/Peter with Aurthur or Matt with Muary or Hiro with his dad it old a long time ago and the ground has already been covered.

Next there is the long lost dead relation turning up and not being dead this has been repeated too.

 

[Antrax255]

When Matt survived I mean come on hes been useless ever since the finale of season 1.
Claire trying to be a badass and her stupid lame powered boyfriends.
Killing cool characters like Adam, Elle, Knox, Meredith,etc...
Not showing epic battles come on its Season 4

 

[shoelessthunder]

Um, I withdraw my previous answer.
Heroes got REALLY bad with last night's finale. I can seriously only take so many letdown, dud volume/season finales. For real.

Well, actually, '1961' was a lot worse but at least it didn't have the higher expectation that is kind of expected with a finale (I'll never have that again for this show but was hoping maybe they'd finally have one since it seemed to be getting back on track.).
And at least '1961' didn't have the balls to finally have Sylar fighting Peter and have it ALL HAPPEN O.C. WTF?!?! That almost seemed like a deliberate blow to the fans...lol...ridiculous, are their budget troubles so unmanagable? Christ.

 

[GL1]

Black characters don't seem to last very long on this show. Neither do romantic interests.

Who are you tellin?

 

[Deaths Head II]

Just pointing it out after Krozee mentioned both D.L and Knox got offed.