Heroes Commentary: Let Them Die!
Elle returned to Heroes this week.
And while we're fans of Kristen Bell and of the character, our immediate reaction was an audible groan. After all, does the show really need more characters?
In our latest critique of the show, we focus on some seriously tough love: it's time to kill off a few Heroes.
Please, kill someone, Arthur. Make viewers actually afraid of you.
Long-running dramas such as Lost and 24 survive for numerous reasons; but a major appeal of these shows is that they are unafraid to do away with significant characters. The killing off of major players has a double appeal:
- It ensures that the show doesn't get caught up in too many confusing story lines;
- It raises the stakes.
Let's focus on the second point first: Heroes is a show about the fate of the world... yet not a single major character (no offense, D.L.) has been subject to that fate yet. Sure, Niki died last season in a noble act, but the show still felt obligated to bring Ali Larter back. For what purpose? Wouldn't it have been more effective to prove that these characters might perish in their efforts to save the universe?
There's no drama remaining. Did anyone think Hiro really killed Ando last week? Or that Parkman or Peter had met their demise in the latest episode?
This lack of intrigue ties into the problem that most critics agree plagues the series as a whole: there are far too many characters. This chapter is shaping up as a battle between Arthur Petrelli's villains and Angela Petrelli's heroes. And that's promising. But do Mohinder and Parkman really serve a purpose in the grand scheme of the show at this point?
Mohinder, once again, is working for the enemy (seriously, for a scientist, the guy is a moron); and Parkman was relegated to Africa for a few episodes. Since then, he's befriended a turtle and formed a fragile alliance with Daphne, a woman he's intent on saving... because he saw some vision of a future we all know will never exist.
If the show wants us to be remotely afraid of Knox, it would be nice to see him actually accomplish something sinister. So far, he's been fooled to think that Hiro killed Ando; and that he took the life of Parkman. If either of those events had actually come to fruition, wouldn't the stakes this season be instantly raised? Wouldn't a volume titled "villains" actually resonate more?
As it stands now, I yawned at the notion that Daphne might turn on Parkman. After all, the series has given is no reason to think any of its characters' lives are actually in danger.
Agree? Disagree? We'd love to hear feedback!
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14 CommentsRelated Posts
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November 2nd, 2008 7:28 PM
well somebody should kill of you for saying that!
All characters are needed
I cant even explain why they are important because the season is not over! You stupid assholes. Don't base your opinion on something that may or may not happen. And definetly not on a so called fansite. And season 3 of heroes is just like season 1 jumping from character to character. If you dont like the storyline so much stop watching it and stop saying you are fans jackasses.
October 30th, 2008 10:45 PM
If you want show that tells a single story that you are most likely to forget 13 minutes after watching it, i suggest you watch Law and Order.
The series has help from Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, two men responsible for some of the best known and best selling Batman tales of all time. Rather than second guessing these men, sit back and watch the show. It's a very simple premiss.
October 30th, 2008 9:37 PM
Wow. I can't believe you people.
Heroes has been like this since the very beginning: Plenty of characters, a few minutes here, a few minutes there, one big story. Although the stories may not be connected at first, they always somehow wind up together.
How could you want to kill Claire, Nathan, Hiro? I just don't understand!
I personally don't mind Claire's storyline. I see how you guys are annoyed by it, though. Still... it's Claire!
In my opinion, if the story had a 'main' character, it would be Peter. Right behind him are Hiro and Claire (not necessarily in that order).
A few of the characters I understand, and the article makes a great point. Ali Larter is also now fairly useless, although she is a big part of Heroes. Had a great storyline in the first season.
Mohinder's storyline sorta sucks right now, but it just started. Its still unraveling. It might turn out good!
Personally, I don't like him having powers and going all phsyco. He is no longer the man he was at season one. Not in the slightest bit (and this is further added to with his new 'abilities')
October 30th, 2008 12:06 PM
Yeah i agree some of these characters are in dire need of some either dying or changes, just throwing it out there since I know the writer's idea's are much better than mine but anyways;
Mohinder: I think a side story could be Mohinder's unperfected formula. It shows in use that is increases the agression even in a wimp like Mohinder (OK passive character but come on what a wuss)and gives then a variesty of Phisical powers. What if his formula was "accidentally given to a bunch of people and we have some superhuman misfits, who are highly agressive, out and causing a huge problem on society. Bam here some some heroes to clean up that mess (Primatech, Pineherst, or even a group put together by Matt or someone)
Nathan: falls madly inlove with Tracey and they become soul mates, we see they are together in a possible future, and then is killed off (looks like everyone is looking forward to this) therefore driving to Nathan to do things that he may not do with his considerable power (and mean political power not flying). With the US Army at his back maybe someone to rival Pinehearst and Primatech.
Tracey: Kill her off (see above). The quicker we are introduced to the third sister the quicker we can kill her off. (BTW is Niki's dead sister jessica supposed to be the third triplette? I thought I heard somewhere that Jessica was older?).
Otherwise I just want to see more, I think they should put out 2 hours a week to progress more plot. But that is me being greedy.
October 30th, 2008 8:50 AM
I agree, but problem has been around since Season 1 lol. The show DID do good by getting rid of Maya, a character whose story ultimately did nothing for Heroes. (Though the writer's strike may be part of that reason, I admit)
My candidates for a speedy kill/leaving/whatever:
1. Claire. This one will NEVER happen because Hiro and her are the "mascots" of the show but she should go. For 3 seasons we've had the same crap: "Wahhhh! I'm different!". ENOUGH. All of us are sick of her whining. I think think them trying to "toughen" up Claire is hysterical, because as much as Claire tries, ultimately she's can just heal and can't be a badass fighter. What they need to do is kill her off and leave her father. Two birds with one stone; it gets rid of Claire and gives Bennet (and the other characters) more screentime.
2. Mohinder. Oh, how this man needs to go. If you had to pick any character whose deteriorated as time went on, this guy gets the award. Was great in season one, not as great in season two but bearable, and a train wreck in season 3 so far. First of all, I didn't like he got powers at all and much less the fact that he got multiple powers at once. I can tolerate that compared to the absolute butchering of his personality. Compare Mohinder to the Mohinder in SSN2 and SSN3. You wouldn't even know they're the same. Mohinder went from being a caring, mild-mannered, good-natured guy to a mad, twisted, obessed scientist who is the living embodiment of the mad scientist character. I realize people change, but this wasn't just a slight change, his personality did a complete 360 these last two seasons.
Oh, and he served his purpose anyway. At this point it's laughable at what he has done because the Company has beaten him twice. Trying to create something to negate/rid the power of someone: Company did that. Create a formula to give powers WITH no side effects: Company did that. He obviously can't bring anything to the table anymore, off him.
3. Nathan. He's ultimately overshadowed by his powerful brothers and father, quite a joke compared to them. He really doesn't contribute much anymore. The keep bringing politics with him but twice now they've done it and haven't done a thing with it. As much as Adrian Pasdar rocks, his character need to die.
October 30th, 2008 7:51 AM
Note: There are too many blondes on the show.
Blondes that could be killed off:
1. Meredith
2. Tracey
(both of whom were/are Nathan's women)
I don't think Claire should be killed. Remember "Save the cheerleader, save the world"? One of the best catchphrases on Heroes. It would be stupid if they saved her back then, only to have her killed in this chapter.
I do agree, though, that Mohinder in all his stupidity should be killed.
October 30th, 2008 7:07 AM
About slyar's futer son:it seems that yes the boy would have had to been concieved already to be the age he is in the futer.My guess is that in the flashback ep we'll see that sylar and elle had a relationship before telling her about his power.if she was already with child,fear would have set in for bouth herself and the baby.it could explaine why she's so hell bent on getting rid of him.she wouldn't ever want someone like him to know he had a child out there somewhere.if the writers plan on keeping the story of the son this could be a way to do it.
October 30th, 2008 4:55 AM
Well, I have to disagree with you although there are points you made I have to agree with. One thing is for certain, DEATH IS NEVER WHAT IT SEEMS and THE CATASTROPHIC FUTURE WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
The future we saw in Volume 2, where 93% of the world is dead did happen, if not for the writer's strike. It was supposed to happen and if it did, I am sure this article wouldn't include the sentence "he saw some vision of a future we all know will never exist." The show would have stamped its authority that they dare to show us that Villains do prevail. But due to the strike, we were proven that Heroes ALWAYS prevail.
Death is never final. Although I am caught somewhere in between agreeing and disagreeing with you. I have to agree that none of us though Matt or Peter is going to die in the previous episode, but, BUT, there are a couple of characters that have either died or excluded from the storyline since season 1.
Maya, West, Bob, Niki/Jessica, D.L, Monica, Takezo Kensei/Adam Monroe, Maury Parkman, Audrey Hanson, Ted Sprague, Isaac Mendez, Molly (appears only in the future), Candice Michelle and Simon Devaux. Micah also made less appearances. All these characters gone pave way for more new characters, and therefore it doesn't seem so crammed up.
Characters introduced should be part of a major character's journey. For example, that is West, Monica, Maury, Adam, Arthur, the 12 villains and Daphne. Perhaps the worst way of introducing new characters is the Maya and Alejhandro storyline. A new storyline takes up more space while a continuous storyline doesn't. Therefore new characters doesn't seem so bad after all.
There are deaths in Volume 3 we didn't expect, like Bob's or Adam's, and I wouldn't be surprise if a major character dies along the path.
October 29th, 2008 9:30 PM
Characters needed for the story to progress:
Arthur Petrelli - Seriously, hes the only guy whos ruthless enough to kill people off randomly. Best villain this season. Wasn't expecting the Maury death at all. About time we had some unseen futures ;). Isn't it funny that the most surprising things so far this season have revlved around this man. Example, being alive for one, taking peters abilities, killing adam, killing maury.
Peter Petrelli - If, with his powers gone, he can finally return to his roots as the man with "unconditional love for living things" and finally lose his "THE WORLDS GONNA END AGAIN" persona that he rants about every 5 seconds, maybe he can be come the peter that we love from season 1.
Sylar - I seriously just want to see sylar kill off all of Ali Larters characters. Shes just not needed any more. If sylar can get back to the mysterious shadow as seen when he attacked claire, it will be more than enough of a fan service.
Mohinder - We have yet to see the full extent of what is happeneing to Mohinder. As long as its some jawless huge eyed part-cockroach then Im all for it.
Matt - Becoming Maury Parkman and killing off various goodies will suffice.
The Turtle - Nuff said.
Unneeded Characters:
Hiro Nakamura (with powers) - Hes a fun character, yes, he shows comic relief aspects. But theres only so much predicatble time travelly stuff a man can take. Give Ando the electricity powers and have Arthur take Hiro's away. Might teach him a lesson or two.
Tracey Strauss - Any character Ali Larter plays is no longer needed, Micah isnt there for her to rant about any more. Theres no DL to hide from and we already know about the origin of her powers...what else can they possibly do with her characters. It would have been better if her power was the ability to be posessed by the dead. Then at least it would have explained why she could commune with her dead sister.
Maya - She has no powers, hooray, that means shes gone for good? Lets hope so.
Claire - Lets hope angela's dreams come true pretty soon and claires head is rolling along the floor of level 5. Either that, or at least make claire some renegade genocidal person who just can't be stopped.
Footnotes:
In season 1, when Hiro sees the explosion, Ando is in Japan. Why is it that in the dark uber future Ando died in the explosion. You can't really say that the future changed, because Hiro only created that timey wimey string thing to go back and save Ando.
Why does the explosion happen in the day for Peter's dream, Isaac's painting (the only one that has never come true) and Hiro's time travel and yet Peter explodes at night.
Surely if Sylar has a son of that age, he should have already concieved a child with someone already. Considering its only 4 years previous.
Why wasn't Claire shocked to see peter alive at the start of volume 3. Surely she still thinks he died at the end of season 1. They never have contact in season 2 and the only time claire and nathan share a scene is when she calls him in the first episode.
Lets hope season 3 can clear this stuff up for us.
October 29th, 2008 9:15 PM
Look, the problem isn't that there's too many characters, it's that they feature too many per episode. I like all the random peripheral people - it makes it cool and special when one shows up unexpectedly.
And I like both Mat and Mohinder.
The sorta "super secret connection" they all seem to share one way or another gets kinda lame though. Pretty soon, they're all going to be related.