What should have been different for seasons 2 &3

[marukisu]

...

 

[PLAS]

season 2 should have gone through the whole way, but the writer's strike got in the way of that, thus we just got half the story intended to be told.
of course, people would have complained, but that's what some people do when they don't like something.
the problems I'm seeing with season 3 are several:
-too much time between productions got to the staff, they took the whole thing for granted (the story, the mythology, the fans, the characters, etc.) and let all those things get in the way of telling a great story.
-the viewers lost a little bit of the perspective set since the first season, for instance, the slow build ups, the apparent plot holes, the red herrings and most importantly, the patience a show like this requires to watch. one must pay attention and still have fun

at this moment, I'm starting to see a considerable improvement on the writing part, there's still some very apparent loose ends throughout, but I'd rather wait and see how the big picture folds out than passing early judgement.

 

[November Rain]

the magic of ordinary people with extra ordinary abilities has gone

they should have focussed on a plot half involving old cast members and half new ones.

lots of smaller stories interwoven under one story that will combine a large majority of them together.

they should have let the idea of averting the future slide as well. Introduce new powers and a wider batch of nationals, maybe set it in europe this time instead of the states.


also the idea of a freak of the week where a single character developing their powers is focussed on for the majority of the ep and once down, they become part of the easter egg crowd featuring in other people's stories. not to often, maybe four of these a season.

 

[SuperT]

I think the Fugitives volume came way too soon in this series. I don't think there was enough that developed between the end of Vol. 1 and the beginning of Vol. 4 that warranted the start of it.

Like, what's the storyline going to be after Fugitives is over?

 

[marukisu]

...

 

[PLAS]

something I've tried to take into consideration, since the first episode, is that it states that in the story's overall timeline, the series is about the events that lead to the outing of the specials, so maybe the overall story is about making this right for when they finally come out in the open, it's unlike all the future scenarios we've seen

or something like that

 

[stillanerd]

First of all, Nathan should have died at the end of Season 1 like it was shown. His character arc had already been established in that he started off as an opportunistic politician who made a heroic sacrifice to save New York, and his survival cheapened that. Not to mention it would have provided Peter with some guilt in that he survived while his brother did not.

Speaking of Peter, he also should have lost all the powers he gained after he exploded. After all, just as he absorbed powers like a sponge, he should have been able to wring out those powers like a sponge. This would force him to only absorb a power at a time just like he's doing in the fourth volume out of fear that, if he absorbs to many powers, he could overload himself again and lose control.

The family of Nikki, DL, and Micah should have essentially been written out of the series after Season 1 as well, as their story was also pretty much over and done with. Proof of this of course, is that Ali Larter's character of Nikki once again was forced into another personality and ends up dying anyway, and now plays a totally new character who is currently being wasted.

Hiro, I think, should have stayed in the past, and it should have been quickly established that HE, not Adam Monroe, was the Kensei of legend. He had already undergone the "hero's journey" in season 1 and the last two seasons have been desperate attempts at trying to recreate this. Maybe Masi Oki could have made a few guest appearances from time to time, but that would be it. Or better yet, hold off on that and have Hiro's go back to when the Company was formed and put together. That way, we not only get to see who these people are and what their actual powers were, but how characters like Hiro's dad, Angela, Maury, Arthur, Linderman, and others became the way they did.

As for the new characters, West clearly should not have been there, or at least have been masively retooled, as Claire's relationship with him was just utter fail and a retread of her not trusting her adoptive father in season 1. Same goes for Maya and Alejandro. And Matt Parkman's dad should have been the big bad seeking revenge against the Company in the second volume that should have been the enemy of the company and the heroes, not Adam. That way, you could have easily told the backstory of the Company and made an frightening and legitamate threat at the same time.

Likewise, Sylar should have stayed away for much longer, still kept as a prisoner by the Company to be used as a weapon of last resort by them, that the situation with the Nightmare Man becomes so desperate, they have to use Sylar in order to stop him, much to the objections of Noah, Peter, and the like.

Also, I think Suresh, Matt, and Molly should have gone out and looked for more Heroes. This way we could have been introduced to the new characters and thus promote the original idea of the cast being rotated or gradually phased out, while maintaining the premise that there are ordinary people with extraordinary powers.

Another big problem was the four month gap in-between volume 1 and 2, in which lingering plot elements from volume 1 were not adequately followed up on and eventually left to just wither away, e.g. as the Matt's troubled marriage and the expected baby. Why not tie THAT into Matt's dad in an attempt to have a second chance to be a proper grandfather that he failed with Matt as a father?

Of course, where things really went wrong is that Heroes was repeating the very plot elements from the first season: a huge threat that required the heroes to save the world, paintings depicting the future, time travel to a dystopian future, Claire not trusting her father, Peter and Nathan not trusting their mother, Sylar trying to acquire more powers, etc. It gave the sense that Heroes was just standing still instead of expanding it's premise and developing it's characters.

Then there was the real jump the shark moment (one of several apparently) in which the show decided to steal the plot device from the 4400 and make it so that normal people could potentially have powers. Thus the two normal characters who acted viewpoints from the audience perspective, Mohindir and Ando, became just two more superpowered people and lost their role in the series.

Basically, the show should have done what caught people's interest and made it fascinating in the first place--concentrate on character development and maintain a sense of realism rather than imitate comic books instead of be inspired by them.