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Heroes 3.9: "It's Coming" |
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| In a recent convention appearance, Tim Kring provided some insight into the writing process for “Heroes”, and some of his frustrations. Over the course of the presentation, a number of issues emerged, many of which explain the current state of the series. As it turns out, Kring does understand some of the problems with how the story has evolved; his responses just don’t quite make the grade.
Apparently “Villains” has been his response to the realization that several characters had become so powerful and unbeatable that some plot device was necessary to mitigate that drawback. It’s the “Superman” effect times ten, only with only one apparent source of kryptonite (the Haitian). Peter, Sylar, Claire, and Hiro were all overpowered, and the writers routinely had them make stupid decisions to ensure those powers were out of play. By the end of this episode, Peter is “normal”, Sylar is becoming another Peter, Claire is the Chosen One, and Hiro has mentally devolved into a 10-year-old (so that, of course, he has the priorities of a kid and therefore won’t just end the whole threat in a matter of seconds, as he certainly could).
More disturbing is the contention by Kring that so many of the show’s problems have been caused by its serialized nature. On the one hand, I understand his frustrations. The show has too many divergent plot threads over the course of a volume, and by the time they come together, at least half of them have lost momentum. And like “24”, it’s all too easy to fall into patterns and become too focused on plot over character.
Ironically, one show has struck a near-perfect balance: “Lost”. “Heroes” was supposed to be the anti-“Lost”, the show that provided better and more timely answers with more action and fan service. There’s one major difference. Early in the first season, the showrunners of “Lost” determined the road map for the series and conceived an ending. That sense of purpose has been evident, especially once the series was given a definitive end date.
Kring admits that “Heroes” has no plan, and certainly has no ending. There is no ultimate purpose to what is happening from volume to volume. Part of the problem is the decision, driven by popularity and the network, to abandon the original premise: each season telling a new story with new characters. Once again, this is very similar to what “24” has faced. That show was also supposed to reboot every season, but thanks to the popularity of Jack Bauer, those plans were tossed aside.
So now Kring has found himself on a series with too many characters with too much power, sticking around way too long, and with much more history and continuity than he had ever anticipated. And I think the strain is showing. It’s fashionable these days to bash “Heroes” for its faults, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bandwagon. It means that Kring has made a number of mistakes in adjusting from his original plan to the current reality, and it has taken too long for those adjustments to take effect. As he said himself, this third volume was already filmed and in the can by the time it premiered. As much as he discounts some of the criticism, he has yet to actually make changes based on the reception of “Villains” that can be seen on the screen.
Circling back to the question of whether or not this series is too serialized: this episode is better for it. Whatever criticisms might be made about how the characters arrived in their current state, one can see the threads coming together. I had hoped that the heroes would abandon Primatech and Angela, given their questionable history, but it’s still interesting to see how the battle lines have been drawn.
I liked Matt’s attempt to save Angela, how it intersected with Daphne’s ethical quandary and led to a moment between Angela and Arthur. It took the most obvious plot choice and turned it into something a bit more character-based, however slight. I also liked the tension between Peter and Claire, and how his time in the future factored into that. Claire’s ability is profound, yet here we see some of the limitations. And I liked Mohinder’s conflicted work on the metahuman serum, since it feels more authentic than his self-experimentation.
Surprisingly, my favorite part had to be the interplay between Sylar and Elle. Accepting what has been revealed previously without further judgment, the scenes in this episode were quite well done (no pun intended). Kristen Bell and Zachary Quinto are both very strong, and I can accept that Sylar would run through this particular gauntlet to find some way to replicate powers without killing. It might appear to drive him firmly under Arthur’s influence, but I think it’s more likely that this will give him the courage to stand on his own.
I don’t want the series to lose the elements that make the end of each volume so satisfying. No matter the issues that plague the continuity of the series, there is a sense of resolution. If the series lost much of its serialized nature, that strength could be lost.
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