Heroes Season 4 (Spoilers!)

[Flamesguy_SJ]

Watched the premiere earlier tonight, and have to say I was impressed. Really seemed like they took what momentum they had built toward the end of season 3 and put it to good use. The Sylar/Parkman and Sylar/Nathan arcs should be fun to watch and follow, as well as the whole deal with the carnival specials. I just really hope they can keep this up!

[Radically Red]

I didnt mind the show. The guy from Prison break should make for an interesting character.

[Matata]

I thought the 2nd season was terrible and quit watching early in the 3rd, has the show redeemed itself since then?

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Matata

I thought the 2nd season was terrible and quit watching early in the 3rd, has the show redeemed itself since then?

Meh...

[JohnnyFlame]

Originally Posted by Matata

I thought the 2nd season was terrible and quit watching early in the 3rd, has the show redeemed itself since then?

That is funny as it's almost exactly my experience. My oldest son was watching the premier and I thought about sitting down for a few minutes. But nah, Monday Night Football and the Flames game.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Matata

I thought the 2nd season was terrible and quit watching early in the 3rd, has the show redeemed itself since then?

I'd say it's not nearly as bad as season 2 but also not nearly as good as season 1. I do like that they have tried to get back to a more structured plot like they had in the first season with the threat of New York exploding which all of the subplots tied into. Season two and the start of season three were really bad for having massive amounts of completely unrelated plotlines.

The other thing that I thought really dragged down season 2/early season 3 was the constant personality changes in the characters (is Sylar good or evil this week?) which has mostly gone away.

[BlackEleven]

I wish they'd do a hard reset between seasons. Start fresh.

Season 1 was exciting because we had a mysterious villain and a conspiracy unraveling at the same time. Each episode we'd be dropped a few more breadcrumbs to follow to unlock the mystery while at the same time be able to share in a sense of wonderment and feel some empathy as a character would discover his ability and how to use it.

As it stands now, there's a bunch of story lines going on from earlier seasons, that weren't that great to begin with, woven in with some new story lines with the same characters but with new motivations (that are really clear either). Add a couple new mysterious characters to make up the "bad guys" and mix it all together and it gets confusing to follow and only mildly interesting.

In my opinion, they need to start a season from scratch, and in the season opener start by defining the problem to be solved, and concentrate on a couple characters that are good guys and a couple that are bad. Then slowly add in new characters with new abilities and gives us a few more clues to what the bad guys are up to as the season goes on. Some ties back to earlier seasons as the plot progresses are fine, but they shouldn't be central to the plotline of the current season.

The way it is now, it just feels like a mismash of a bit of everything as they jump between old storylines, new ones, characters that we're not really sure are good or bad, main plot, sub-plots, and the same time wondering what problem the main characters are trying to solve.

[Flamesguy_SJ]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

I wish they'd do a hard reset between seasons. Start fresh.

Season 1 was exciting because we had a mysterious villain and a conspiracy unraveling at the same time. Each episode we'd be dropped a few more breadcrumbs to follow to unlock the mystery while at the same time be able to share in a sense of wonderment and feel some empathy as a character would discover his ability and how to use it.

As it stands now, there's a bunch of story lines going on from earlier seasons, that weren't that great to begin with, woven in with some new story lines with the same characters but with new motivations (that are really clear either). Add a couple new mysterious characters to make up the "bad guys" and mix it all together and it gets confusing to follow and only mildly interesting.

In my opinion, they need to start a season from scratch, and in the season opener start by defining the problem to be solved, and concentrate on a couple characters that are good guys and a couple that are bad. Then slowly add in new characters with new abilities and gives us a few more clues to what the bad guys are up to as the season goes on. Some ties back to earlier seasons as the plot progresses are fine, but they shouldn't be central to the plotline of the current season.

The way it is now, it just feels like a mismash of a bit of everything as they jump between old storylines, new ones, characters that we're not really sure are good or bad, main plot, sub-plots, and the same time wondering what problem the main characters are trying to solve.

I believe that was the original concept for the show; that every season would focus on a completely new set of characters that are discovering and developing their abilities with cameos from season 1 characters (Sylar, Peter, Parkman, and Hiro). Thing is, the show got so insanely popular, particularly the characters mentioned above, that the network pretty well nixed the "start fresh" idea.

Season 2 is a bit of an enigma. Yes, the finished product was pretty terrible, but I think it could have been a lot better with a full season. Really, the shortness of season 2 affected the first half of season 3. From what I understand, season 2 was supposed to consist of "Generations", which would end with the virus getting out, then move into "Exodus", and then finish off with "Villains", with "Fugitives" starting the third season. So when you look at it like that, that's an awfully big adjustment to make when you lose a complete arc of a story.

I was fairly happy with how "Fugitives" went, and felt that it was definitely the strongest volume since the first. The only real exception for me was that god-awful 1960s episode.

From early indications, "Redemption" seems to be really getting back to what made the show successful: the storylines that each of the characters are involved in all seem to be connected, yet not at the same time.

Regardless of how the season turns out, I'm in it for the long haul.

ETA: A friend of mine who watched all of Heroes for the first time in the summer made a pretty funny observation: Heroes really is like a comic book -- just look at all the retcons they've done since the series started

[Machiavelli]

Decent premiere. The Nikki/HRG and Sylar/Parkman storylines are the most interesting.

And once again Claire's storyline is boring and generally weak.

[awildermode]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Decent premiere. The Nikki/HRG and Sylar/Parkman storylines are the most interesting.

And once again Claire's storyline is boring and generally weak.

agree, they need to work on her story as she is suppose to be one of the "main stars" of the show.

...oh, Tracy Strauss, not Nikki Sanders. And there is also a third sister Barbara yet to make an appearance.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by awildermode

...oh, Tracy Strauss, not Nikki Sanders. And there is also a third sister Barbara yet to make an appearance.

Don't you mean fourth sister Barbara?

[awildermode]

^third sister. they were triplets.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by awildermode

^third sister. they were triplets.

You're forgetting Jessica.

[swo2k1]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

You're forgetting Jessica.

Jessica may have been a sister, but wasn't one of the triplets.

[Phanuthier]

Little late, re-watched the 1st and just got to say, I think Claire's new friend has a power and killed the roommate. (obvious?)

I'm glad Parkmans wife is back, she is hot.

[Machiavelli]

What's up with the new character?


Oooh, I can play music in pretty colours! Big deal...hopefully there's more to her. Same with Claire's annoying roommate....there's got to be a purpose there.

[Flamesguy_SJ]

I thought tonight was a pretty solid episode. Great stuff between Peter and Samuel, and the end of the episode showed how powerful Samuel really can be. I am loving the Sylar/Parkman stuff; I have a feeling that, after a slow and deliberate build-up, Parkman is going bad.

I'm pretty sure Gretchen is the daughter that Lydia (tattoo girl) alluded to having in the beginning of the episode. Thought it was interesting how they played Claire revealing her ability a lot like the stereotypical "experimenting in college" scene (complete with "I've never done this before...").

The pacing this season seems to be much improved; I didn't even notice that Hiro and Ando, nor Nathan and Angela were featured in this episode.

Oh...and did I see HRG drinking a beer!?

[awildermode]

Originally Posted by Flamesguy_SJ

Oh...and did I see HRG drinking a beer!?

i think it was tea.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Flamesguy_SJ

I thought tonight was a pretty solid episode. Great stuff between Peter and Samuel, and the end of the episode showed how powerful Samuel really can be. I am loving the Sylar/Parkman stuff; I have a feeling that, after a slow and deliberate build-up, Parkman is going bad.

I'm pretty sure Gretchen is the daughter that Lydia (tattoo girl) alluded to having in the beginning of the episode. Thought it was interesting how they played Claire revealing her ability a lot like the stereotypical "experimenting in college" scene (complete with "I've never done this before...").

The pacing this season seems to be much improved; I didn't even notice that Hiro and Ando, nor Nathan and Angela were featured in this episode.

Oh...and did I see HRG drinking a beer!?

I agree. It was definitely an improvement from the season opener. They picked 3-4 storylines and concentrated on those. It made it feel much less scatterbrained and all over the place. I hope they keep them same storylines going for a while before they start to introduce too many new elements (or past elements resurfacing) at once.

It definitely seems like Gretchen is going to betray Claire in the near future.

[DrJ]

Much improved over season 3 already. Could barely make it through last season. Sylar/Parkman story arc is the best so far. Not really a fan of the Gretchen/Claire story.