I’m giving Heroes one more chance

November 18, 2008 | Justin

The best storyline possible to write is that of an ordinary person put into an extraordinary situation. The original episodes of Heroes nailed that idea. There was the cheerleader who couldn’t get hurt, the congressman who discovered he could fly, and the geek who could bend space and time. All of these people didn’t know what it meant and thought they were completely alone. Because of this, I was a fan of the show since it debuted.

Then, once everyone was introduced, the Heroes writing staff decided it was time to show that all of these ‘heroes’ needed to come together in order to save the world. Visions of the future and the introduction of an villain lead to the season one slogan: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” The ‘heroes’ found themselves, came together, defeated the villain, lost some people along the way, and saved the world. Then came season two.

Season two started out with yet another chance to save the world, what with the butterfly effect and all. Season two also showed that not only was the villain from season one still alive, but a ton of new ‘heroes’ were waiting to be found. However, instead of focusing on these ‘heroes’ being ordinary people in extraordinary situations, their extraordinary abilities became much more ordinary. Season two was also interrupted by the Writers Strike. Instead of pausing the storyline mid-season, the Heroes team decided to wrap up the storyline early leaving a few large plot holes along the way — Peter’s Irish girlfriend anyone?

Season three promised villains deeper and darker than any yet to be introduced. But deeper and darker villains brought many more characters into the fold — so many that keeping track of all of them grew quite difficult. The line between good and evil was blurred at the beginning of the season leaving questions about who was a hero and who was a villain. All of this was set against another vision of the future that required the world to be saved. Basically, season three was repeating season one.

In tonight’s episode the lines were finally clearly drawn between who is a hero and who is a villain. There is still that pesky ’save the world’ issue lingering about though it looks like it’s going to be taking a backseat — which, given season two’s decisions, isn’t surprising.

I’ll be frank, the show has gotten bad. Really bad. Possibly jumped the shark bad. So bad I’m tempted to give up on the show altogether. However, one thing in the preview for next week is going to keep me watching. Evidently an eclipse is coming that’s going to remove the ‘heroes’ powers leaving them ‘normal’. Considering them having abilities has become ordinary, it looks like they could once again be put into an extraordinary situation. If this is the case, they might have a good thing going. If not, well, the show is no longer worth watching. I guess we’ll find out what happens next week.

Has Heroes jumped the shark? Is there still some good in it? Let me know in the comments.

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Heroes, strike, thoughts, TV, WGA