“Villains,” the third volume of the NBC sci-fi drama, Heroes, is hurtling toward a stunning conclusion. In just five days, we will finally learn whether anyone can thwart the evil Arthur Petrelli (Robert Forster) and save the world from his grasp.
It’s all very exciting – or it would be, if the show was still worth watching.
Two years removed from the magic of its gripping first season, Heroes has lost its touch with audiences and critics alike. The series’s initial volume used a balanced combination of character-driven episodes and mind-blowing plot twists to garner both high ratings and a 2007 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.
Time travel, flashbacks and intersecting plot threads meticulously built toward an intense finale that year. The program’s comic book roots gave Heroes a distinctive style, and who could forget the popular slogan, “Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.” But this season – which is split into two volumes, titled “Villains” and “Fugitives” – hardly resembles that stellar first campaign.
The decline for Heroes started last fall, with its strike-shortened second season. The show’s writers relegated enthusiastic time-bender Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) and murderous villain Sylar (Zachary Quinto) to underwhelming subplots, while far less interesting characters took center stage.
Crucial scenes filling the gaps between volumes one and two were held until late in the season, leaving viewers simply baffled for many of the episodes. With too much going on at once – a problem Heroes has had since day one but gotten away with in the past – the show deteriorated into little more than a convoluted mess.
Even creator Tim Kring recognized Heroes was in the middle of a major downward spiral. Returning to the show after limited involvement during season two, he pegged the third volume as the program’s triumphant comeback. Although “Villains” has been a slight improvement from that second volume, “Generations,” Heroes is still a far cry from the suspenseful storytelling of its mysterious first season.
Nothing can make a good show grow tiresome faster than overusing old plot devices, and Heroes certainly shows this to be true. Every season to date has followed the same formula – Hiro and Peter Petrelli (the angsty Milo Ventimiglia) go to the future, see what would happen if a certain crisis isn’t prevented and then go back in time to save the world.
It’s the same exact story – again and again. Sadly, that is just the start of Heroes’ many frustrating narrative missteps. For one, the fact that both Hiro and Peter can freeze time creates an unfathomable number of plot holes, and finally made the writers take away their powers. And apparently, whenever Kring decides they need to inject a little shock value, the show finds two characters who aren’t family and reveals – gasp! – that they’re related.
Heroes has also struggled with finding its focus during the last two seasons, wasting time introducing a slew of thoroughly forgettable characters (Caitlin, Monica, West, Alejandro and Maya, just to name a few), only to awkwardly cut their arcs short.
Heroes mainstays, meanwhile, have been working with subpar material for a while now. In “Villains,” Sylar’s tumultuous redemption storyline feels predictable, forced and tedious, while Suresh’s (Sendhil Ramamurthy) sudden turn to evil came across as completely implausible. As if those ridiculous plot threads weren’t bad enough, a romance blossoming between Elle (Kristen Bell) and Sylar – just days after he murdered her father – is so absurd, words can’t do it justice.
Though seemingly no one was safe from the Grim Reaper during the first volume, the show has monotonously continued with all of its regular cast members since then. Just to ensure they completely take away any semblance of true life-and-death stakes, the writers have pretended to kill off pretty much every main character by now.
While Niki Sanders actually did die in the season two finale, Heroes brought back actress Ali Larter as – get this – her newly discovered twin sister. Once a heavyweight on the primetime drama scene, Heroes currently has the plot developments of an afternoon soap opera.
Nowadays, only three things have made it worth flipping to NBC on Monday nights at 9 p.m.: Hayden Panettierre, Brea Grant and Bell. And if you’re a girl – or a guy who hates beautiful women for some reason – even they probably won’t do it.
Interestingly enough, it’s now Heroes that’s in need of saving. Go figure.
tfloyd1@umd.edu
