I loved this season and enjoyed the ending but my question is why did they only make 13 episodes. Is this the original completion of the 3rd series? I was very pleased that they kept the price of the last season to under 30 bucks. I hope that they do the same for this one. I was very disappoint when my other favorite show Supenatural charged full season price for a shortened season. I enjoyed the beginning of the series very much and the last two started to go to where I was not happy with the whole government conspiracy thing. I think that Pinhurst and the company were enough and were unique.I also would be really upset if this turns into a government takeover series, there is too much of that type of material out there. To me I want it to be as far away from shows like CSI, The Mentalist, Without a Trace, and even NCIS, which are all great shows but too much government. I love the unique stuff that to me started with Charmed and Smallville and went to Supernatural and Heroes. I think the show is much better keeping the powers limited to a few people and having the heroes a mystery to the general public in the show. I don't want a Hulk vs the Army type of scenario. Oh well, We'll have to wait and see.Feb is right around the corner.. I can not wait.
6 Reviews
Volume 3: An increasingly tiresome mess thanks to awful writing
bob the moo1 March 2009
Somehow Nathan survives the assassination attempt on his life and the killer gets away. While Nathan discovers religion, he is approached by the supposedly dead Linderman and steered towards a woman who looks a lot like the supposedly dead Niki Saunders to re-enter politics. Meanwhile Matt figures out who the killer was and finds himself overpowered and transported a world away from North America. Hiro manages to perform a task set him by his late father for about 5 seconds before a powerful and secret formula is lost into the hands of a thief. Peter travels back from a future ripping itself apart and Sylar hunts down Claire in order to steal her abilities while the Company finds itself under attack from an equally dangerous organisation.
Heroes season 2 was pretty weak and, reading my review of it again I spotted the following sentence: "I am worried that the makers think that the issue was lack of action and will just throw lots of stuff at the screen instead of really getting down into the substance". I claim no credit for saying this because it was pretty obvious that they were going to go down this way, in particular in relation to the slow plot and over-serious attempts at development. The problem is that the first part of season 3 (volume 3) feels like you're playing a board game against a child because it is constantly changing things to suit itself, without a great deal of logic only its own interests at heart. So we get this constantly flowing stream of plot contrivances that move like lightening the whole time. He's dead in the future but he's not, he's their son, but he isn't but then maybe he is, he's in Africa, he's here, she looks like her but isn't but might be, he was killed wasn't he oh but here he is again and he is dead in the present but alive in the past and now we are in the past and the future and the present and they need to go here but he needs to do something else and she is over here now but they have to stop those people over there from doing that but it might be a double cross because he wants their powers but he doesn't really want their power. Sorry for that but that is what Volume 3 of Heroes felt like to me.
The die-hard fans will embrace the complexity of it I'm sure and say that it is just too dense for some viewers but that is pretentious nonsense. OK, say it is wanting to be complex then allow me to point you to The Wire that is complex but yet draws you in and engages. What Heroes Vol 3 is doing is trying to engage through swift movement and action much like 24 does when it works. However it only takes a few episodes before the viewer starts to stop caring about the countless faux "revelations" served up among all the messy plot movements. It is not that I didn't follow it, it just felt like everyone who had ever worked on Heroes had written an idea on a post-it note, put it on the wall and all the writers did was put them in a sort of order. Because as a sweep the narrative around scientists, politicians, villains and sinister corporations, it offers potential but there is nothing below the plot nothing at all. So I never cared, I never cared who died or who had come back or anything, it just all seemed to be a mess of "things" happening to distract the viewer for that moment rather than trying to build characters or a plot.
Some will say that trying to be serious and develop things was the problem with season 2 I would disagree because I personally feel that doing those things really badly was one of the problems with season 2. Doing it well could have saved the show, giving us this ambitions and complex story but doing it with a patience and emotional complexity beneath it that makes the plot work by way of engaging so much more. This doesn't happen at all here as the writing is such a mess and the attempts at "development" or depth are just left to some "soft music" moments and the usual unwarranted air of "serious importance" that this show has always held. Another clue is the sheer volume of famous faces that the show has recruited again seemingly trying to add names in order to get publicity and viewers; my cynical view perhaps but few of these names add much to the show other than their names so what else am I to think? It is a bad sign when you are glad a show takes a break. Volume 4 has just started in the UK now and I will record it and watch it all once it is finished because I'm not sure if I can bother to watch it week-to-week so much as just "get through it". Of course there is talk of another "reboot" but I will wait and see I hope they improve the problems but it just seems that they have so many issues to address and have so far failed to build on the potential that I cannot see them doing it now.
Heroes season 2 was pretty weak and, reading my review of it again I spotted the following sentence: "I am worried that the makers think that the issue was lack of action and will just throw lots of stuff at the screen instead of really getting down into the substance". I claim no credit for saying this because it was pretty obvious that they were going to go down this way, in particular in relation to the slow plot and over-serious attempts at development. The problem is that the first part of season 3 (volume 3) feels like you're playing a board game against a child because it is constantly changing things to suit itself, without a great deal of logic only its own interests at heart. So we get this constantly flowing stream of plot contrivances that move like lightening the whole time. He's dead in the future but he's not, he's their son, but he isn't but then maybe he is, he's in Africa, he's here, she looks like her but isn't but might be, he was killed wasn't he oh but here he is again and he is dead in the present but alive in the past and now we are in the past and the future and the present and they need to go here but he needs to do something else and she is over here now but they have to stop those people over there from doing that but it might be a double cross because he wants their powers but he doesn't really want their power. Sorry for that but that is what Volume 3 of Heroes felt like to me.
The die-hard fans will embrace the complexity of it I'm sure and say that it is just too dense for some viewers but that is pretentious nonsense. OK, say it is wanting to be complex then allow me to point you to The Wire that is complex but yet draws you in and engages. What Heroes Vol 3 is doing is trying to engage through swift movement and action much like 24 does when it works. However it only takes a few episodes before the viewer starts to stop caring about the countless faux "revelations" served up among all the messy plot movements. It is not that I didn't follow it, it just felt like everyone who had ever worked on Heroes had written an idea on a post-it note, put it on the wall and all the writers did was put them in a sort of order. Because as a sweep the narrative around scientists, politicians, villains and sinister corporations, it offers potential but there is nothing below the plot nothing at all. So I never cared, I never cared who died or who had come back or anything, it just all seemed to be a mess of "things" happening to distract the viewer for that moment rather than trying to build characters or a plot.
Some will say that trying to be serious and develop things was the problem with season 2 I would disagree because I personally feel that doing those things really badly was one of the problems with season 2. Doing it well could have saved the show, giving us this ambitions and complex story but doing it with a patience and emotional complexity beneath it that makes the plot work by way of engaging so much more. This doesn't happen at all here as the writing is such a mess and the attempts at "development" or depth are just left to some "soft music" moments and the usual unwarranted air of "serious importance" that this show has always held. Another clue is the sheer volume of famous faces that the show has recruited again seemingly trying to add names in order to get publicity and viewers; my cynical view perhaps but few of these names add much to the show other than their names so what else am I to think? It is a bad sign when you are glad a show takes a break. Volume 4 has just started in the UK now and I will record it and watch it all once it is finished because I'm not sure if I can bother to watch it week-to-week so much as just "get through it". Of course there is talk of another "reboot" but I will wait and see I hope they improve the problems but it just seems that they have so many issues to address and have so far failed to build on the potential that I cannot see them doing it now.
excellent
joshc61616 December 2008
Why all the hate? Only 5.9? This was a great way to wrap up the season. It was suspenseful and satisfying.
From the mind games with Sylar, to Ando's new power, this show has redeemed itself. I'm not going to elaborate on much for those who haven't caught it, but its chopful of action.
Peter gets a new power!
The new series in February looks a little iffy, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Awesome, awesome show.
11/10 stars
From the mind games with Sylar, to Ando's new power, this show has redeemed itself. I'm not going to elaborate on much for those who haven't caught it, but its chopful of action.
Peter gets a new power!
The new series in February looks a little iffy, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Awesome, awesome show.
11/10 stars
Heroes...but not all
jogannet25 December 2008
It is easy to understand how many people won't get what complexities of human mind they want to approach. First of all the series may be named HEROES, but it has only two people that fulfill this aspect, Hiro Nakamura and Peter Petrelli, they are so alike, they will always fight for the well-being of their families and friends, the other characters are just humans with powers, I agree that maybe the way they present this changes is sometimes too superficial and fast, maybe because every volume is too short and has too many things to show, but they can improve that. Dual was a chapter in which they present the characters as humans, capable of anything, could Sylar be good? can Nathan be evil?, of course, just like we can, the cliffhanger is not only if Sylar will come back, I guess the most important part of next volume should be how to return Hiro his powers, because he is the balance of the show, of the whole plot, he grew up to be a hero, and should have his powers back.
Everybody is a hero
mkools19 January 2009
I never liked show's like this, with all the hero/superpower stuff in it, so I didn't look at heroes at all until some day I was bored and decided to watch the first season and I think it was great.
But now, coming in to the third season, this show isn't getting anywhere. At the beginning of the show there were only some people with superhero powers, only a few guys were special, now it starts to look like there are more people with superpowers than people without and that kills the show.
You can compare it to the Matrix, in the first Matrix there was agent Smith, a guy with powers who scared the crap out of every viewer. In reloaded, there were like 1000 agent smith's which took away the scare factor, you couldn't take it serious anymore, the same thing is happening to Heroes.
At first, Peter was the guy with all the power so it was great seeing him in action. Now there are like 3 or 4 people that have his power or even beyond that and that sucks. Peter has now become a regular guy just like the others.
A movie about superhero's can be great, but in my opinion there should be always one superhero that can beat everybody else, no matter how much power they have and they should've given that role to Peter. It would make the show so much more exciting.
Although season 3 becomes a little bit better, this show will die if they don't start to fix things right now.
But now, coming in to the third season, this show isn't getting anywhere. At the beginning of the show there were only some people with superhero powers, only a few guys were special, now it starts to look like there are more people with superpowers than people without and that kills the show.
You can compare it to the Matrix, in the first Matrix there was agent Smith, a guy with powers who scared the crap out of every viewer. In reloaded, there were like 1000 agent smith's which took away the scare factor, you couldn't take it serious anymore, the same thing is happening to Heroes.
At first, Peter was the guy with all the power so it was great seeing him in action. Now there are like 3 or 4 people that have his power or even beyond that and that sucks. Peter has now become a regular guy just like the others.
A movie about superhero's can be great, but in my opinion there should be always one superhero that can beat everybody else, no matter how much power they have and they should've given that role to Peter. It would make the show so much more exciting.
Although season 3 becomes a little bit better, this show will die if they don't start to fix things right now.
*Groan!*
sarastro718 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I liked the previous episode (the stuff with Hiro as a 10-year-old provides a lot of much needed comic relief, and the thing with his mother was genuinely touching), but this one was back to being bleh. People change from good guys to bad guys without adequate explanation, and Peter inoculates himself despite working against a future with powered people - it doesn't make sense. The story is becoming too convoluted because it has to be about the same few key characters, so some of the heroes have to occasionally become villains. That completely undermines any heroic message. At the end of this episode Suresh delivers some cock-and-bull story about how we're all capable of both good and evil. We have to ask ourselves, then, does heroism mean anything at all? That's a heck of a poor message to send in a show that's supposed to be about... heroes. Too bad.
5 out of 10.
5 out of 10.
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