Heroes is a brilliant concept executed as poorly as possible.  It’s of of the worst written, poorest plot-bearing, illest planned, silliest scripted series ever to grace Sci Fi.  Everything about Heroes stinks except the actors and the core concept.  The rest blows.  Let’s examine:

1. Firstly, we’ve got a science problem  

The science of Heroes is always screwy.  Some might argue that there must be a certain suspension of disbelief with science fiction, and I’d agree.  We suspend disbelief about the fact that there, for example, is space travel in Star Trek, but we expect the writers to follow the known laws of physics in space.  We expect the ship to be sound.  And we expect that when the rules are bent, there’s a reasonable and semi-believable explanation.   With Heroes, we have a day long eclipse that occurs everywhere at once.  We have someone who can run REALLY fast who can apparently bring anyone with her at the same speed.  If you can fly, you can apparently lift anything through flight.  

2. Second, we’ve got a motivation problem

A “volume,” which runs about half a season, takes 13-16 weeks to unfold.  But it occurs in much less time for the characters.  And yet, they go through major emotional changes in a short span.  Just look at Sylar.  He went from villian to man seearching for redemption to soon-to-be loving father to angry to ruthless villian in the span of this story.   Why would he change so quickly? His actions make no sense.  Going from “No, Sylar, I *am* your mother” to ‘I’m working for Dad’ to ‘I’m going to kill Angela’ was too rocky and didn’t give the character time to understand his own actions or emotions.   Let’s not even get started on Mohinder, who makes no sense at all, or Angela, or worst of all, Arthur, who could have avoided this entire series by simply making Nathan not investigate Linderman in the first place, which means no need for Angela to kill him, which means no revenge, which means no Pinehurst, which means no Nathan vs. Peter.  Which leads me to…

3. We’ve got a logic problem

Aside from things like “Why is Sylar changing his motivations so quickly?” there are much bigger logic flaws, like for example, ”Why does Clair hate her father one minute but then love him the next ALL SEASON LONG?” Sorry, but this is central to the show.  The Bennetts – Clair and Noah- are core characters.  So making their emotions so whimsy is not just a character motivation problem, but rather a major logic flaw.  These characters are inconsistent.  Is Clair a cheerleader, a kid, or a company warrior? How can someone work for this elite “Company” with no real training other than smacking a stick around for a few minutes? Why does Clair – and Noah – think  that regeneration abilities makes someone a natural for fighting this huge “war”? 

4. We’ve got plot problems

What was the point of the eclipse? Why did they make a big deal about the catalyst if it was resolved so readily? Where would the catalyst gone had Hiro not shown up to take it?  Why did Parkman have to have the spirit walk? What about HIro? These things were required for nothing other than killing time.  There was barely anything happening this arc.  When you introduce information and plot points that have no real value to the story, it’s your first clue that your writers are in over their heads.  Suckage. 

5. Lastly, we’ve got a concept problem

This concept is so brilliant, the idea of following “specials” around.  But the implementation is flawed, because you’ve decided to commit to your cast.  This concept would have been awesome if, as we followed each volume, we moved to new, interesting characters.  A built in reboot every half season.  But unfortunately, now this show is like any other serialized drama, and I don’t trust it.  I don’t believe Sylar is dead.   I don’t believe Arthur is dead.  I didn’t believe Hiro was stuck in the past, I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of Hiro’s dad.  I don’t know if I believe Meredith is dead.  Elle might be dead, but she was always peripheral.   So nothing is believable, and I’m not ready to be burned again.  

Yeah, I’ll end up watching volume 4, but not because it’s a good show.  Because no one can turn away from a good train wreck.

Firstly, Peter, Sylar, and Parkman’s dad, at a minimum are all extremely powerful, yet none of them really “use” their powers, even when it would make sense.  Sylar, for example, didn’t hear something whispered just 20 yards from him, yet it was explained in season 1 that he had super-hearing. Hiro makes the dumbest mistakes in the world, and doesn’t use his power to fix them (like going back in time to just not open the safe, or better yet, putting a fake version in his hand before Daphne swiped it.)

The entire story arc often feels like a bunch of ninth graders writing a “wouldn’t it be cool if” story, without really laying out the entire storyline.  Peter is impetuous and rarely thinks before acting – not in a realistic way, but in an “it’s a good plot device” kind of way.  Nathan’s family just… evaporated.  Hiro digs up Adam Monroe rather than just zapping him out of the coffin, which, by the way, is how he got him in there.

The truth is, the massive cast, which includes useless Mohinder, pointless Maya,  and  wants-to-be-interesting-but-just-isn’t Parkman needs to be trimmed down.  And why ignore cool characters like The Haitian? The last truly great episode was “Company Man” in season 1.

Although I’ll still watch it for now, Heroes is just, sadly, not that good of a serialized drama.

Peter’s “amnesia?” This “Elle” character? Nathan and the burn-faced dude? Niki and her crazy antics? The “twins”? Everything — explained!

Tim Kring, well done. Now – please!! – keep it up.

Heroes, where it was cool last year, is just dull this year. We have several storylines, but none are advancing with any meaningful devices. Let’s examine:

* Mohinder is working with HRG to infiltrate the company. He gives them Molly, and they… uh… lie her down in a bed.

* Nicki is working with the company because… uh… I have no idea. They want to help her, or something, but I don’t know what they’ve done other than make her a bit of a bodyguard.

* The “twins” are the most hated new characters – the Paulo and Nicky of “Heroes,” I think – but I find the whole power between them kind of interesting. Too bad their “coming to America” plotline has gone on about 4 weeks too long.

* Sylar lost his power for unknown reasons we’ll likely never be told, but is still so ridiculously and obviously evil its comical.

* Micah is still a complete tool who is way too positive for a 12 year old and is still using his powers for… nothing in particular — hacking pay-per-view and stuff.

* Monica has a “photographic muscle memory ,” and one of the first things she does is pick up from supporting her family and go to New York to “train,” no doubt leaving her family hungry.

* Peter is the least convincing of all. I know if I had amnesia and woke up and found my entire life in a box, I’d probably ditch my whole life for a 50% cute chick and not bother Googling my name. That way I would never have to find out that my brother is a New York state senator. Also, I wouldn’t suspect there’s an interesting back story with the FIRE THAT SHOOTS FROM MY HANDS.

* Matt Parkman is professionally annoying and is creepily attached to a little girl he’s known for 36 seconds.

* Nathan Petrelli is a drunkard; apparently, senators don’t do publicity and no one recognizes him.

* Claire is kinda hot and actually has the most convincing storyline, along with her a-hole friend West, who behaves more like a real person than anuone else in the entire show.

* HRG has suddenly decided the best way to hide is to trek around the world and murder his ex-mentor in order to find the paintings that show his demise. When he finds them, he can’t make heads or tails of them.

* Someone sent Veronica Mars after Peter, but she didn’t find him in the first 10 seconds, so they recalled her. Haven’t seen her since.

* Who can forget Hiro, who has the silliest story of all. He goes back in time and finds a nasty drunkard theif, who, despite the fact that he’s known a Japanese girl for about a day, goes to the enemy when Hiro kisses her. Lame, get Hiro back to present day. Anyway, if I could bend time, even though I went back to ancient Japan, wouldn’t you just return to the present when you finally do come back so there is no “gap” when you’re missing??

Heroes had better coalesce quickly, because it’s currently just wandering aimlessly. Once your story is just filling time, which I think this one is, you’ve losing people’s interests. The fact is that this story is creeping along at a snail’s pace in order to fill a season. Viewers don’t appreciate that.

Heroes, on the other hand, was a masterpiece for former comic-collectors like me. It was a self-contained storyline, and presumably, the writers knew where they were going with the season since episode 1. I LOVED Heroes, and there were some scenes during this season that inspired the “WTF?!” moments that I was missing from Lost. When HRG (now “Noah Bennett”) had the Haitian shoot him and wipe his memory, I was stunned. I leaned up in bed and said “Holy @%!” And then I wrote this piece on why Heroes was better than Lost. But the funny thing is that, despite my little rant, the episode that I called “just dumb” ended up being crucial to the finale storyline, since Hurley’s appearance in the van dramatically altered the action.

Whatever Lost …er …lost in the mini-season of season 3, it certainly regained the second portion of the latter half. With answers coming faster and faster – facts on the purge, Dharma, Rousseau, Mikhail, the hatches, Jacob, the hostiles, Juliet, etc. – the show picked up and hit its stride. This finale did not end with me being as mesmerized as the incredible season 2 finale, but it certainly gave us a ton of information and raised a slew of new questions. Sadly, I was a little disappointed that I noted Jack’s RAZR-esque cell phone, because it seemed a pretty big detail for the producers to have missed, so I wasn’t caught by surprise when Jack’s story ended up being a “flash forward.”

As far as answers go, this finale probably gave us more understanding into the characters, especially some of the Others, and gave us more plot movements, than any other Lost episode… arguably ever. Even Ben’s flashback – a treasure trove of information – didn’t give us as much action as the finale.

Heroes, on the other hand, is the perfect kind of show to which I can commit. I knew, from the get go, that the writers had said that rather than serialize over years indefinitely, they would wrap up the storyline in one season. To be brief: they did, mostly. Of course, several of the Heroes survived, some improbably, and it looks like many will be back, including Sylar.

As much as I loved Heroes, the fact is, the season final was mostly a snoozer, necessarily. We all knew how it had to end. We knew the bomb had to go off. We knew that it ended in New York. So a lot of it was winding down rather than ramping up to a *one massive cliffhanger.*

Sadly, I was let down by Heroes, though. First of all, some gripes: what in the blue hell was with Peter showing up on the Devereaux building? And when he asked for an explanation, he gets “it doesn’t matter.” What? Do the writers honestly believe that’s enough for us?

Secondly, deaths. Mohinder died. But then didn’t. Peter died, but then didn’t. Claire has died a few times, but then didn’t. Parkman died. DL died. Linderman died. Nathan died. Peter died. Sylar died. But sadly, I don’t buy it. As far as I’m concerned, Tim Kring and crew might bring any of them back, no matter how bizarre the explanation.

And then there’s the issue of action. Heroes has, for most of the season, built up the action only to let me down – big time. Peter from the future, who claims, “I haven’t had a big battle in a while,” fought for 2 seconds without breaking a sweat. The final showdown with Sylar was just pathetic. He smacked Peter around, who, despite having a million powers, decided to… punch him? And not use any other power? Not even invisibility? And Hiro ran Sylar through with a sword from a distance of 10 feet. Can’t Sylar stop time, or bend the sword, or hear him coming from that distance with his super hearing, powers he’s already demonstrated? When Hiro tried to kill him from 2 feet away, he failed, but from 10+ feet, he succeeds. Ih… what?

Then a few things: if the storyline was truly about love, why did Peter have Nathan sacrifice himself, rather than just fly into the stratosphere himself? Or better yet, why didn’t Claire kill Peter in the name of love – romantic love, familial love, whatever? Now THAT would’ve been a shocker. I’m afraid – really afraid – it’s because we’ve been duped and Peter and/or Nathan are both still alive via some scheme the writers have cooked up.

Heroes was a great storyline, but the constant rule bending, improbable actions, and lack of utilizing the powers have left me a little cold. Ultimately, I felt a little cheated by Heroes, and it’s their own doing. The long hiatus from February through late April killed it for me, and I was sold hook, line, and sinker. A hiatus doesn’t work; it actually accomplishes the opposite thing, and often ends with a viewer losing steam. Heroes slowed down as the conclusion approached.

Heroes was a great show marred by some simple problems, bad timing, primarily, amongst them. Lost, on the other hand, has left me on a high note, opening up a big mystery while revealing a ton of information. While I enjoyed the entire season of Heroes, I’m remembering it in my head with some disappointment. While I was often frustrated with Lost, I’m looking back on it with satisfaction. With more and more viewers turned off by serialized drama that may or may not see a conclusion, Lost is doing right by its fans now by giving us breadcrumbs of the mystery while keeping the questions coming at a digestible rate.

This season goes to Lost. For the sake of the 12 million plus loyal viewers, I hope I can say the same for next season.

Now the show is getting silly. They answer no meaningful questions at all, but raise even more with props like a car in the middle of the island. The room that Karl was in. The “mark” that Juliet got. As great as the Juliet episode was – where we actually learned a lot, even if it answered no real burning questions, even the Desmond one was cool, but the Jack one was really kind of silly and this Hurley one was just dumb. The backstory is just too unbelievable now with all the possible “curse” stuff. I mean…. a meteorite? Come on, Lost producers.

Here’s what I think the LOST producers should do: slowly reveal answers. Dig deeper into the Mythology and let us in on the stuff that actually addicted us: who the heck are the Degroots? What happened to them? What’s with Dharma and where did it go? What the heck are the Others doing on the island and why on earth have they approached the survivors as hostiles?? Tell us about Radzinsky and Kelvin and why they were there and what they were doing. The entire thing is now so complex and so bulky that no explanation could possibly address all of the mysteries that have been laid out. So we are doomed to be disappointed.

Heroes has replaced LOST as my #1, mostly because the plot advances comfortably. This Monday I was just blown away when HRG let the Haitian shoot him and then the Haitian reached forward to give him the mind wipe. I haven’t felt that way about Lost in a long time. Maybe when Michael shot Libby or the first Desmond flashback. But nothing has recaptured me like the first few episodes of season 2 as we explored the hatch and met Desmond.

Anyway, enough about Lost. I pray that as this season advances, we get a little more on track and focus on letting us in on the actual story. It’s just not a show worth watching if all we’re going to get is a little levity about a heavy guy riding a truck down a hill. If Hurley flashes back and we meet Cheech again, I’m turning it off. Now, if Hurley flashes back and we meet Libby in the hospital, that’s a different story.