Is it just me or does Heroes suck now?
I have begun watching only to see if it will actually get better instead of the story or characters. Here is the problem – when the show began it was all these regular people with special powers. Because of that the audience was able to relate with them/envy them. Over the course of the last two seasons however, we have seen the “heroes” become self involved unrelatable characters that apparently suffer no real consequences. Beyond that, instead of sticking with a fairly typical comic book format. (i.e. – Have one central villain that is targeting normal folks and normal folks need to be spared all the while keeping secret identity and hero pressures hidden) the writers have opted for a much less interesting form of infighting where normal people really have no stake or danger.
To solve this dilema I have put together a very scientific, mostly biased list of what I think should change.
1. – Kill people. Learn from Lost or 24 – It raises the stakes, makes things more interesting, and provides at least some form of reality. And the first person to kill should be Mohinder. For the love of everything good and holy get rid of him. He serves no purpose but to aggravate the viewer with his whineyness and relative moral center. Also, I would encourage you to kill Peter, Claire’s (real) mom, Maya, and that dude who gets stronger from people’s fear. Peter because he has been at the center. It would make a statement that no one is immune. Claire’s mom for emotional purposes (and should be done by Claire). Maya because she is useless. And that dude who gets stronger from peoples fear because he is a horrible actor and the power is kind of lame.
2. Individual stories with an overarching arc of mythology. The mythology is so twisted no one can follow it. Make episodes stand alone with an overarching mythology tying them together.
3. Focus on them actually being heroes. Seriously. One of the reasons Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc are engaging is because they help normal people while dealing with their own issues. Instead what we get is a super hero soap opera that has no relevance to the viewer.
4. Stop the time travel. This method of story telling has single handedly made this show less watchable. it’s cool for an episode or two but not for an entire story arc.
5. Bring in a love story. I know it sounds cliche – but the aspects of love are a powerful storytelling perspective that is if it is handled well.
6. Painting the future – Stop it. Again, if used once or twice it is kind of cool and a great way of foreshadowing. But if you use it as foreshadowing than follow through, don’t make it some this might happen crap. Also if everyone can paint the future what is there to look forward to? There is no element of surprise and it takes away any uniqueness one might posses.
Well, there you have it. Is there anything I left out? let me know.
