Good Question - How Would You Fix Heroes?

Topless Robot points out that Heroes has gotten to the state where commercials for the show point out it's been sagging - and I have to admit that I haven't watched the show since Sylar put on a suit and started acting like a bad Men in Black impersonation.

So I don't even know if I could answer my own question, but I know one thing - at this point it would be painful. Just a few personal notes:

- Some of the ensemble has to go. Take an existing character and revamping them just to fit the plot better is plain stupid and gets rather insulting to the viewers after a while. Kill some people, bring in fresh blood.

- Along with that ... remaining characters need to become internally consistent. Hiro should use his powers in one episode similar to how he does in an another, and not conveniently forgetting he can control time simply because he has a inconvenient power.

- On the inconvenient note, it should be added that in general ubercharacters are pretty dull (and generally inconvenient to your plot). The entire "power sucking" concept got out of hand quickly in the show and only got worse. Characters who can't be killed and can kill everything are just problematic.

- Plotwise, the show has always been hackneyed for me. It has decent themes, but relies way to much on nascent subplots that never really go anywhere and character development which seems like it can turn on a dime. I haven't watched lately so I don't know where the whole "creating superpowers conspiracy" core plot went, but the show needs to find themes which can work season to season, and not feel like it is picking up the pieces each time.

So basically: Kill some people off. Add some new ones. Be consistent. Get a trailer which convinces me you have a story worth saving.

TV Watch: Heroes, Our Father

Seriously?

OK, first - Sylar is one of my least favorite characters in television history. I am so tired of his melodramatic nonsense, and in particular this season when he is whatever the hell the story needs at the moment. Bad guy, good guy, soccer mom, yada freaking didn't we kill him a couple times already?

Second. Did someone mention to the writers that Arther Petrelli was not actually conveniently located sixteen years in the past? That has to have been one of the worst plot twists ever put to print. OK, so perhaps it wasn't broadcasted - but it also simply didn't make any sense. Let me guess? Arthur had snuck in as the chef?

The show still has its moments, but the plot is just unraveling at the seams. Sure, I say this a lot about Heroes - so I guess it would be better put as "I'll be fascinated to see how they pull this one out."

TV Watch: Heroes, Villains

I was not, in general, a fan of this episode.

While I agree with The Girl that seeing past moments interwoven with each it often a pretty neat idea, and in some parts this works pretty well in this episode - the only real meat here feels like the scenes with the Petrelli family. Everything about Sylar just feels a bit surreal and potentially unbelievable. Why would The Company risk keeping him out "in the wild" when their entire reason for being is a deep paranoia about the potential dangers of the superpowered? It kinda undercuts all those "can you imagine letting Generic Example X walk around freely" moments when you know someone was thinking "let's keep psychokiller who steals powers off the hook for a while". It was clearly a forced setup to get more Gabe and Elle time.

It was nice to get more depth on Ma and Pa Petrelli, though, as it gives them some added weight as the prime motivators for the plotline. I would have liked to have know more about the experiments, the "artificial" heroes versus the "naturals" as it were - but I get that they have to save stuff for later.

I do think it's interesting that two of the most overpowered characters are the clinch of the cliffhanger...

TV Watch, Heroes: Eris Quod Sum

A pretty even episode, all in all - more of a bridge episode than anything else as with the exception of Sylar and Suresh, very little moved. And in Suresh's case, his flip to Pinehearst happened so fast that I blinked and nearly missed it.

But really my pain point is Claire at the moment. I'm just not buying the whole "going painless breaks me" routine. It feels forced and overwrought. Honestly I would think it would be more logical to become afraid of not being invulnerable than not feeling pain.

A close second is Black Fear. For one thing, the show should avoid any character that is required to describe his power every time it's used. Second, the whole bogeyman routine just doesn't cut it for me - there's not much reason I see for people to actually be scared in the first place.

The plot hangs more or less together and the show is starting to dip into the backstory pretty well. The formula and how it ties into the characters makes for a nice container to the events in general. Heroes confounds me a lot, but I still find it pretty compelling overall.

TV Watch: Heroes, Angels and Monsters

Spoilers warning.

Once again Heroes proves how it can spin a great beginning only to get tangled along the way. For the last couple of episodes, we've been bouncing between timelines and getting a moderately interesting peek into how some of the characters might diverge and change - and interesting take on character development in general.

The problem is - the main plot continues to unravel in simple bizarre ways and this week's episode seemed to explode with questions about what's going on with the show.

To start with, I couldn't agree more with Hiro and Ando's lament about, well, Hiro and Ando. Hiro can control time and space and here in this episode we see him able to essentially teleport Adam back into a coffin without a problem, but he's been unable to keep track of a few lousy pieces of paper for some time now and his "nemesis" is simply a hot chick who runs real fast. We're a far cry from future Hiro decked out leather for sure.

Hiro's problems with Ando have seemed pretty odd, to be honest - for a guy who has hopped around time as much as he has ... his reaction and treatment of Ando felt forced. Course, that was nothing compared to seeing Hiro shove a sword into Ando's chest for what seemed like very little reason at all. I'm guessing weird "fear is my strength" guy had something to do with it - but either The Girl and I microslept there a second or we couldn't figure out what Speed Girl and Fear Boy were doing there at all. They were looking for a job? What the hell? Hiro and Ando have been the prime motivator of pretty much this entire season's plotline - so it be nice if they started making at least an ounce of sense.

Thankfully if history has taught us anything it's that if Heroes can't make sense of itself, it will always at least make itself interesting in the end. So I'm still pretty positive about the show in general, just puzzled as usual.

TV Watch: Heroes Season Two "Year End" Finale

In what is the industry favorite euphemism for "we wanted to cheap out on Internet royalties so our writers stopped writing and he only had half a season so the story just ends here", Heroes had the "Year End" finale last night. It's a little hard to tell with a show like Heroes just what that actually means since the plot generally goes from one cliffhanger to another anyway.

The second season of Heroes feels very much like a sequel to the first. Some of the good elements remain while several hoops are being jumped to maintain focus on characters who only peripherally really deal with the plot anymore. Nikki's entire storyline feels grafted onto the show largely as an excuse to keep her in the show and while Super Cousin might have some potential, major stumbles like the iPod Of The Future kinda makes it a groaner. The whole revelation that an injection of Claire's blood apparently makes one Wolverine also adds a slew of needless complications. Why can't anyone's powers be transferred this way? Claire has what ... mutant red and white blood cells?

At least the core story clicks pretty well. The conflict between Nate and Peter, Hiro and Adam, and ... oh, somewhere that cop guy keeps showing up too. Least he isn't moaning on about his wife. Heroes still delivers some slick looking scenes and pretty decent action numbers, not to mention being one of the better looking shows on right now. The main plot not only hangs together - but maintains a level of intrigue even if it too feels a little rehashed from last year as well (time travel to foresee a terrible event, Peter being the catalyst between good and evil, etc.)

So while we end on a high note, with the virus plot being well flushed out - now we're stuck with Sylar again. Still unclear as to why the Company left him in a shack in a Mexican outland with basically one person and an unlocked door to guard him ... Sylar is quite possibly the most lethal living being on the planet and The Company guarded him with all the care of a pet hamster. So, gee, surprise, he's back.

Which, while I'm liking the show more than I did early in the season, I'm rather dreading its return.

TV Watch: Heroes Season Two

To say that Heroes has been backsliding a bit seems to be becoming an understatement. I was already a bit annoyed when Sylar clearly escapes the end of season one - but it's more than that. We can't escape season one.

Last season we had the pointless subplot with angst and emotion. OK, so last season it was Psychic Cop, his wife and a bunch of other stuff nobody cared about - and now it's Claire, her boyfriend and a bunch of other stuff we don't care about.

And one might think that with Nikki getting the old hospice treatment from The Company, we might be lacking in a desperate but dangerous female character looking for salvation. Except, we're not - because we've got Maria and Pablo or Estaban or whatever Aquaman's name is. They picked up Sylar after what seems to be The Company's "drop off the most dangerous people on the planet in remote locations and see what happens" plan oddly goes wrong so that he can fulfill Hiro's role from last year - the wandering superperson who can't quite seem to figure out if he has powers or not or how to use them.

And apparently Peter is just Isaac these days, without the cool loft or heroin.

Worse than any of this is Claire's dad. Remember last year when he was lying to his family while he was supposed to be holding down a real, albeit mind-numbing, job? Yet what he was really doing was wondering around the world in increasingly implausible means doing fairly evil stuff with a Haitian who can swipe minds? Sound familiar at all? Whereas Claire's dad possibly had the most development from last year - going from nemesis to hero - he seems to have completely reverted at this point. Sure, he's now doing evil stuff to destroy The Company, but considering they've gone from being controlled by the guy from Clockwork Orange to Bob The Bureaucrat, I'm really not sure they had much to be afraid of in the first place.

Course, Bob does have an ipod with every training video ever made - so ... well, they must at least have a killer IT department.

If there was ever a term for character undevelopment - Heroes would be an example right now.

A Miss Universe For Heroes?

Tokyomango points out that Heroes might get prettier face:

Less than a month after being crowned Miss Universe, Riyo Mori is hoping to land another job _ a role on the NBC sci-fi series "Heroes.""As soon as I won Miss Universe I had this big chance," Mori said in an interview Monday. "I've never acted before. I went to the casting audition and read a script in English and Japanese, and they said it was really good. So I hope I can be in the show."

Mori said the role of Yaeko would be a love interest for one of the main characters on "Heroes."

-- Miss Universe Hoping for `Heroes' Role

Heroes: How To Stop An Exploding Man

The first volume ended last night with something of a bang and a whimper. The finale was good in a very straightforward way - it just brought everything together very smoothly and succinctly. It didn't feel like anything had been left by the wayside as we finally got the showdown between Peter and Sylar.

The "Generations" epilogue (is that what it was) was very classic setup for the next volume. Reminded me of Army of Darkness more than a bit, actually.

My only real complaint is the Sylar pulling a Joker on us. I can't think of a villain who made more annoying "swept under the waves" or "we think we exploded but can't find a body" or ... well, "pulled his near lifeless body into a sewer to get away."

OK, sure, we've seen Sylar fake death once before. Still, I think he had a good storyline which got a good ending. Pulling out one of the oldest comic cliches in history wasn't terribly endearing as a footnote to me.

Oh yeah and... can someone explain to my Peter couldn't fly on his own?

Still, the show totally sold me for next season.

Heroes: Landslide

What's impressing me about Heroes is that they've managed to put all their pieces on the playing board, make the story flow smoothly, everything is making sense - and they still find opportunity for a little angst and emotion. I had wondered if the "tracking device" Glasses Dad was searching for wouldn't turn out to be "tracking girl" Indian Doctor was trying to cure. I mean, how many similar objects can you have in the same plot - so not really a Sherlockian deduction.

The Girl brought up an interesting point though - did Indian Doctor's sister provide Indian Doctor's dad with parts of "the list"? Does this power cause this unique illness? Is there some dialogue I'm forgetting here?

I wasn't a huge fan of Time Otaku's training montage. I mean, I get that Sulu is a badass and all - but he learns how to be an expert swordsman in an hour? It's not quite as much of a stretch as Invisible Doctor Who being able to train Absorbing Little Brother to use any power in the universe within minutes ... but it's pretty close. Still, if you spin it that Sulu was just giving Time Otaku the confidence he needed, then fine.

I love the Illusionary Hot Chick might not be a hot chick at all. It's actually pretty brilliant character development. Who wouldn't use such a power to hide behind a beautiful mirage? Course we know from the future episode that Incredibly Evil Watchmaker will run into her at some point, though we aren't sure when.

And I was a little sad to see Malcolm McDowell get the rear delivery brain operation. He was a pretty interesting villain and always fun to watch.

I'm guessing next week Sylar will get his due. Next season might focus on the "generation past" and all the little details we don't know about the origins of these powers.

Heroes: String Theory (AKA Five Years Gone)

String Theory appropriately managed to culminate all the good work that Heroes has managed produce over the last month or so. When the show started I was rather concerned with its ability to open plot gaps and jump right through them - where this episode showed a remarkable sense of itelf, the characters and the events that had lead up to it. It even managed to do one thing I think the show hasn't been able to provide to date - prove that Sylar can not only be a formidable villain but a rather interesting one at that.

Linderman was noticeably absent from his own mad scheme - although we might guess that a certain watch repairman didn't necessarily feel he should be around. Heroes now officially echoes some of the best concepts of the comic genre it emulates - from Moore's concepts of evil to the Claremont's fear of mutants.

It's also beginning to feel like this season is going to end with a ... well, proper ending. I had assumed that a la Lost the show would drag out the conclusion of New York for at least a season or two, but it seems like they might wrap up the concept of stopping the tragedy and the next season would be a whole new storyline.

Which would be nice.

Major Heroes Spoiler Online

I can’t take credit for this — several regular readers sent me email this morning about it — but it appears the online graphic novel version of “Heroes'’ has given away a fairly significant plot twist involving this Monday’s episode and the final race to stop the destruction of New York City.

-- Who is the bomb man on “Heroes'’? [Mercury News]

Said graphic novel can be found on NBC's site. I haven't looked yet.

Yet.

Heroes: .07%

Last night saw the return of new episodes for Heroes and the show definately kicked things off in a very strong way. Gone is the backpedalling of narratives - now we get just short, concise recaps or slight rewinds of previous scenes. Even the weird city hopping effect is a thing of the past. The show is maintaining a tight focus on the characters themselves and the cast is beginning to feel more like an ensemble and less like a rabble.

Course, much of that was becoming true prior to the hiatus, it's just good to see that no steam has been lost. I kinda thought the show was overhyped in the beginning but now have some serious faith in it.

My only beef was have Shuresh walk away from Sylar while Sylar was knocked out. Given how powerful, dangerous and psychotic he is - why do people insist on not clubbing him repeatedly when he's knocked out? I do like Psychic's Cop role in the story at this point, a definite improvement from his previous job as domestic whiner.

Also, Linderman's description of a "good thing" is highly reminiscent of an Alan Moore storyline - cause a major event which appears to be a catastrophe in the hopes of installing new faith and leadership. Anyone who saw the recent V for Vendetta (or better yet, read the book) will know what I mean. I suppose that's a good thing on it's own ... if someone is going to be borrowed from for a comic plot - Moore is a good way to go.