Heroes

Season One was excellent, but the writer's strike Mid-Season Two made for a clumsy unanticipated finale. Unfortunately, the series suffered as a result and never fully recovered with many writing inconsistencies that followed. My rating reflects the goodwill and potential based on the first season and took -1 per season that followed.

I was awestruck watching the way it took off. One character at a time, it kept developing. The fantasy was top-notch, plot like never before. It gave the traditional save-the-world genre, a new look. Season 1 was magnificent. Few characters, mostly Hiro, were impeccable. It did look stretched in the second half. The first 4-5 episodes of season 1 were exceptional. Soon, it started slowing down. Episode 10 was the greatest of them. However, yet again, it started slowing the pace and awesomeness. Only the last couple of them were magnificent after the 10th. The climax was stunning. I enjoyed the complete season 1 and it was a package full of fantasy, emotions, creativity and wonderful characters.

Season 2 never looked the same. It couldn, even for once, keep up to the level of the first.

I eneded in the middle of season 2 until things started making no sense whatsoever. Hiro wasn't hiro either.

Nice premise, modern-family oriented with just enough edge to keep it interesting. For prime-time network its an ambitious undertaking and very entertaining. For a while..... Sure, the premise is pure fantasy and whimsical, but after a while, it become commonplace so they had to stretch it beyond acceptance.

We get so many back stories and flashbacks, time-jumping with endless new characters thrown in, it gets muddy fast.

Everything that needed to be said should have ended by season-2, but you know the story, NBC enjoys its ad-revenues so they beat this one to death, heavily over-played and labored."Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" was great premise and it was all this series needed.

In season-3 things start to get darker and mean-spirited, the characters become more unlikable, and if I have to hear Claire's father say one more time" I was doing it to protect the family" I was going to throw a brick into my set. Everybody betrays each others trust, yet they constantly say: "trust me." In equal annoyance was the character Hiro. His wimpish-ways were cute for a little while, but they started to get on my nerves, and the music Wendy and Lisa (of Prince fame) composed/implemented was kind of cliche'd Japanese soundbites that played every time Hiro and Ando had a scene (until season 4). The writer(s) made Hiro's character one big Asian cliche. By the end of the 4th season I was just waiting to see who would be killed(written)-off to put me out my misery. Recap: 1st-2 seasons YES, seasons 3 &4- NO! The series gets yanked before the story resolves,so be warned, before you invest all of this time.

The concept of this show is about people with special powers similar to mutants in the Marvel universe. And how the characters cope with it and what they decide to do with it. The main drive of this show isn't necessarily the the superpowers, but the subconscious and the philosophical aspects that revolve around power. Unfortunately this is one of those shows that has a very captivating and entertaining first season, but goes downhill from there. It probably has to do with the fact that after the first season it was first planned to introduce new characters with brand new main characters with just Suresh (who is sort of the Beast character from the Marvel universe without the furriness). Which didn't go into effect because they wanted to keep the main cast that become dis-likable and annoying as the seasons drags on. The writer strike could have been a big factor why the show started to go downhill after season 1. I think season 2 was the most boring season of all. Season 3 it sort of picks up, but just about everything is so inconsistent with the story and the character that it takes away a lot form the experience. The 4th season revolves around a mutant carnival and they just seemed to drag that on way too much. And the constant love, hate relationship between Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) and Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) gets really really annoying...Like super annoying and irritating. As a matter of fact most of the chemistry that starts out strong in the first season goes downhill. The story gets poorly written for each season after one that even the characters decisions and motives makes no sense sometimes. Especially the villains in the shows, including Sylar. And to increase the running time of the show, it has multiple story arcs that doesn't go anywhere. One of the most disappointing part about the show is the showdown between Peter and Sylar. The constant plot-holes and tons of time paradoxes when it comes to time travel doesn't make things better. Overall this is a show that has a good start but gets worse and worse with each installment. Who knows, maybe just maybe the fifth season could have been a boost with the world knowing about super humans and might go in the direction like "True Blood" except people with super powers going out into the public. And Sylar's redemption might have been cool to watch. To sum it up it's one of those shows that soars skyward with the first season and spirals downward. I give this show a 6.4/10 because I found some of the philosophical aspects to be intriguing.

6.4/10

I'm writing this review now even though I haven't seen an episode since it got canceled almost 15 years ago. My brother and I were recently talking about this show and it drudged up some old memories I've had for this show, both good and bad. The good: the first season was brilliant. I remember early reviews and word of mouth talking how about how this show was going to be a classic. And it might have if the quality box the first season carried over to the rest. I didn't hate the other seasons, it just wasn't as good as the first. It has an original feel for a superhero show. It didn't have any costumes or anything like that, it was ordinary people reacting like real people who were getting super powers. Some good and some bad. If you're a fan of this genre then give this a try because it's worth a watch.