Heroes

It is well known that NBC just fired two of the writers for Heroes, and honestly I can't blame them.

I am a complete Heroes fangirl, but even I have to admit that something has to change. It kind of breaks my heart to write this entry about a show I love so much, but sometimes the best way to prove your love and your investment in something is to be brutally honest.

The first season was everything you could hope for in a series. The characters were well developed, the story lines interesting, and the plot was just twisted enough to keep you coming back for more. There was romance, intreague, adventure, and a journey of discovery happening for character and viewer alike.

The second season did not fair as well. They introduced new characters all willy-nilly without attaching them to people of plot lines that we were invested in. Good characters were killed off, and not enough time was spent with the characters we liked. The only new characters brought on in season that anyone really loved were Adam Monroe and Elle. The Shanti virus was kind of a lame way to wipe out the entire world, sure they were probably trying to explore broader themes of biological warfare. For some reason a specific disaster hitting a specific area, or group of people is a lot more investing to a viewer then a broad world wide disaster.

While the second season simply wasn't up to snuff, the third season is just too complex. I am someone who has watched every episode (often more then once), I have read all the graphic novels, and I am even involved in the heroes online community Heroes Evolutions; sometimes it even takes me a minute to figure out how things are tieing together. the story is very complex, heaven help the person who is attempting to just jump into watching season three without doing their homework. The major threat on the world this season is that a serum will be made giving any normal person super powers.

Even going back and rewatching this seasons episodes it's hard to see how the future shown connects to what is going on now. How does giving everyone powers result in the world splitting appart? Why are people born with authentic powers being put into camps while people who got their powers from injections allowed to walk free? How and why does Claire turn evil? Why have Elle's powers gone haywire? Why is Mr Petrelli trying to do this?

So far what I like about season 3 is the character development which has been occuring. We can now see Syler as more then a serial killer. We get to see more of Mrs. Petrelli and what she is about. We get to see Claire becoming a stronger person because of the hardships she has suffered. We get to see Parkman for the sweet romantic guy he is, and we can see the posibility for a good relationship in his future. I like getting to find out a bit more of the backstory and charater insight, but a series like heroes can not run on backstory alone. I feel like much of season three would be better served as the extras portion of a DVD set, or added to their online videos section.

Speaking of their online section. This summer heroes graphic novels came out,as did hints on heroes run websites, and text messages. Almost none of them had anything to do with the current plot, or characters that were going to be introduced. I feel almost as if I wasted my time reading so much about Evesdropper (I know they spell it differently chill out) when I can't see how he fits into the plot. Durring the first season there was more interactivity. The week after we were asked to call HRG's voice mail we saw him hanging up a phone and looking annoyed in an episode, we "heleped" keep linderman from rigging the election of Nathan Petrelli, and we got to see a lot more backstory on a small but important character. I am really missing that this season.

I guess the bottom line is, the show has become pretty dificult to digest for anything less then hardcore fans. The show needs to have a less convoluted plot, a more easily understood threat, and better connections to how the present is effecting the future. I think it's great thet they are exploring the fine line between Hero and Villian, however I feel like they are leaving us in the dark about too many things.

Lets hope the next few episodes answer a lot more questions, and let us fall in love with our favorite characters again. the show was great once, and I believe it can be great again.