My husband and I jumped on the Heroes bandwagon only one month before the second season came out. We rented the first season out of sheer boredom one night and quickly buzzed through the episodes. Only a few short hours later we were racing to the movie store for the next disk. Yes, Heroes plagued out home swiftly.
By the time we finished watching season one on DVD season two was only days away from starting. Our home did not have a connection to watch regular TV. We are movie fans and so only had a projector, DVD player, and surround sound. When that fateful Monday night came along we forsaked Monday Night Football and traveled to my parents house to watch the season premier with the rest of my family. Of course, we were not disappointed. Not that we expected to be after the intense roller coaster ride season one took us one.
Monday after Monday we gathered together to watch the next episode, certain not to miss a second. Each of us had our favorite hero that we cheered for as the series went one. But come on, who could deny the child-like awe we all had as we watched Hiro go back in time; when it was revealed episodes later that Hiro was Takezo Kensai, his childhood hero?
Our elation was sadly short-lived. As the writer’s strike went into full swing we were no longer able to watch our favorite Heroes try once again to save the world and bring down the big bad guy Sylar. There were rumors that the show would not come back once the strike was over. I, however, held on to hope. I remembered those last three words I read on the screen as they brought season two to a premature end.
To be continued…
I had faith and fought steadfastly on the side of their return. After all, true heroes would never let their fans down.
And they did not disappoint.
You can imagine my glee as I watched Sunday football and saw the first preview for season three of Heroes. I jumped up and down in my chair and started cheering. My husband, thinking Green Bay had scored, came running back into the room. Though he was disappointed that it was not a touchdown cheer, he was also excited that it was a Heroes preview.
The weeks leading up to the premier seemed to crawl by. When at last the night came we all watched, together again, for the next great Heroes adventure to begin.
Now, I have to say in candid honesty that I was disappointed. The characters were far different from the way they were at the end of season two. Peter, who I enjoyed watching for his wholesome, boy-next-door, ready to sacrifice himself to save the world, had become dark. The same happened with Claire. Even Hiro was different! Despite my several disappointments I trudged on. After all, they are called Heroes for a reason, right?
As long as there are heroes there is hope…
As a writer I understood that diving headlong back into a story after months of nothing is not feasible. Fans have to be eased back into the story. They have to start feeling compassion toward the characters all over again. Old habits die hard, but feelings are easily dismissed. For that reason I waited patiently, week after week, for the story to start to blossom. Friends and family alike stated that they had started to lose interest. The story had just not caught them. Afraid, I once again rallied for Heroes, begging that they just give it a couple of weeks, insisting that my experience as a writer was sound. Thankfully, they listened.
And they were not disappointed.
Sure it took five weeks to get the story moving, but they had a lot of ground to cover, a lot of plot to refresh, and a lot of characters to introduce. But once that was said and done, the Heroes began to return to the normal heart-rending/gut-clenching excitement they were known for. And let’s face it, some of the twists — like what happened between Claire and Sylar — were far overdue. After all, a villain can only chase his prey for so long and still keep viewer interest.
If Heroes, Season Three, has one fatal mistake, it is leaving Hiro at the end of an episode — after spending weeks creating tension between him and his sidekick Ando — having just murdered his one and only friend. Now, I know that Hiro could travel back in time and do what he needed to do to change it, but I was so disgusted by the act regardless that I almost refused to watch again on principal alone. Even though I knew as well as everyone else that Hiro would just travel back in time and set things straight. It was a corruption of the last “pure” character on the show. What a relief it was to see him go back to being himself again the next week.
Entertainment Weekly says that Heroes has fallen from grace. You know what I think? I find it hard to take seriously a weekly magazine that is obsessed with the personal lives of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. ET, you need to phone home and get a clue. You are a gossip magazine. Don’t try to do reviews. Your assessment is too harsh and premature. Us fans know the truth.
Heroes are not susceptible to newspaper and magazine print.
True heroes never leave their fans hanging. They will always come through, in the end. All we have to do is have faith.
