Heroes had an amazing first season.  It was an impressive mix of cool visuals, inventive characters, and most importantly, compelling storylines.  We got to meet lovable Hiro and Ando, the fascinating HRG, the evil Sylar, and many other cool characters along the way.  Then something happened to Heroes in season 2.  It started to suck and suck badly.  Lots of unnecessary characters (Season 1 had some lame ones to begin with like Nikki, we didnt need the bleeding wonder twins and a young Black woman (who lives in the hood and works at a fast food place…uh, great progress, guys) who can imitate pro rassling moves), storylines that went nowhere (Hiro in a forest wandering around with a White samurai for eons), and flat visuals.  Yes, even the comic-book cool camera angles went flat and the effects looked crappy.  The biggest problem I had though with Season 2 was that the pacing was off and whole storylines went nowhere.  There was also a severe lack of interesting stories and stand-alone episodes like the brilliant HRG-centric episode called “Company Man” from Season 1.  That is still Heroes finest hour.  With the ratings sliding into the abyss, season 3 came along promising big changes and a faster pace.  After a promising start, Heroes is right back where it was in season 2.  Its starting to suck, and worst of all, I’m considering dropping the show. 

What once was a pleasure has now become a weekly chore.  Season 3 of Heroes thus far has been a misguided mess.  You have more storylines going nowhere (Clairebear, Mohinder Fly, Ando and Hiro, to name just a few) and some weak-ass villains ripped off of X Men.  Last week featured some sad dude who created portals to suck people through…..huh.  After proving useless, he kills himself…….huh.  Who is writing this crap ?  By killing himself, the show didn’t even have the guts to go through with the scenario it set forth to kill off the sinister and asexual Sylar.  The show is jumping around through time like a weak version of Donnie Darko, minus the cool, giant bunny.  There’s no rules and no stakes.  The acting has always been a problem with the show, this season its really sticking out though.  Milo is a brooding wuss as Peter.  Clairebear has all the emotion of a reject from The Hills, and Ali Larter is less interesting than the fashion wannabes on The CW’s Stylista.  Malcolm McDowell hams it up and generally tries not to look bored whenever he appears on the show to collect an easy check.  There have been a few positives though.  The earlier episodes in the season weren’t bad, Daphne is cool,  and Robert Forster is a terrific actor and looks to be an imposing villain.  His appearance and deadpan delivery during the final 5 minutes of last week’s episode was the one and only highlight of the episode.

The most striking aspect of the failure of Heroes isn’t the lackluster ratings, lousy critical or viewer response.  It’s the lack of passion I see for the show in general.  It’s lost its mojo and buzz.  Say what you want about Lost, but at least the fans are passionate.  Heroes fans are in hiding as the show’s ratings shrink week by week.  Maybe they lost interest last year and have moved on to newer, shinier toys.  I’ve decided to continue (probably) watching the show for the rest of the season to see if the show improves.  They’ve saved the cheerleader and saved the world…….but can anyone save the show ?

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