I never did finish season one during its run. At the halfway point I never returned for reasons I don't recall. I'm sure my schedule had something to do with it. I recall enjoying it and a friend just got it on DVD. I borrowed it and watched all the episodes in about a 10 day span. I feel like having now seen all of season one that it was rather anti-climatic. As I watched and enjoyed each episode as a journey to the end that had been foretold I was sad to actually get to the end. When you know how it ends and rather specifically how many episodes before it happens a sense of non-anticipation developed for me. I was more curious about things they didn't show us. Syler's acquisition of telekensis or his Iceman like ability. Its not that I feel the show was over hyped but I do feel that despite being well told it was quite anti-climatic. Anyone else feel this when they saw it either in broadcast or DVD? I'm going to borrow Season 2, see I'm not dettered, but I hope that the same story structure does not play out. I'd rather not know how the end happens this time.
We did see how he acquired the telekinesis...it was the first special that he killed, as depicted in the flashback episode "Six Months Ago", after he stole the person's information from Chandra Suresh. The freezing power we never saw the origins of, but he'd already garnered FBI attention by the beginning of the series, so he'd clearly been busy in the intervening six months. I think most of us were somewhat disappointed by the actual season finale, after the excellent build-up. I think it particularly suffered from coming right on the heels of two of the season's strongest episodes, "Five Years Gone" and "The Hard Part". It was because of this disappointment that the creators switched to the idea of doing two "volumes" per season, ostensibly so that the lesser amount of build-up would result in less disappointment at the climactic episodes of the volumes. The second volume of Season 2 was aborted due to the writers' strike...and reportedly would have been more of what viewers found disappointing about the first volume of Season 2. None of which should deter you from continuing. They've shown the Season 3 premiere at a convention, and it was really well-received. The creators have stumbled a bit, but they are trying to give the viewers more of what they loved about Season 1.
The scene where Matt discovers Molly implies that Sylar got the freezing power from one of her parents, iirc. I liked the finale - but I didn't expect the Mother of All Battles between Peter and Sylar right then. I understand it's just the first round of many.
My brother let me borrow season one and two. I had seen some episodes during season one but I couldn't get into it. My roommate at the time would record and watch them. He tried to get me into it but at that time, they where half way into the season and it's hard to get into a show like Heroes half way through. Now after watching the show from the beginning, I can see why it was so popular. The last episode was anti-climatic but the rest of the season was good so that made up for it for me. The writing was good, actors great, the plot was very interesting. It seems like maybe it was anti-climatic because they are trying to save some of the best stuff for later on. I don't know maybe that’s not true or a sorry excuse. The second season how ever was not so good. Did they get different writers? The quality just seemed to drop big time. I can see why they decided to take a break after the writers strike.
Pretty much agree with everything that romulus said. It was a great show in the first season that had a rather bland season finale. The second season seemed to be spinning it's wheels a lot. If it has been the originally intended length of 24-25 episodes, it might have been better.
I really enjoyed the first season, but let's be honest here, we all knew where the characters and storylines were going. It was like Iron Man -- still fun to watch, but no surprises. Plus there were some "24" moments where it was clear they shifted plot points toward a direction they hadn't intended. I wish they'd do a better job casting extras though. Why does everything happen on completely abandoned city streets?
Good point. I had forgotten but Molly's dad was frozen sitting in that chair. Perhaps that was done by Sylar after absorbing the ability. I expected more than what we got. After being told about it, shown it on canvas I wanted more than what we got. Unlike other fare, prior mentioned Iron Man, or other things where its a foregone conclusion the good guy wins(McClane, Indy, Bond, Batman) you are not specifically told how they win or in what manner. Which makes the journey to that point more exciting. With HEROES s1 you're told both. How it ends(stopping Sylar) and then how he's stopped(run through by Hiro w/a sword) several episodes prior. Which makes only the journey fun and the ending anti-climatic. Whereas the prior examples have typically both. A satisfying journey to the end and more times than not a good conclusion. I'll be starting HEROES s2 in a few days time. My friends brother was in a wreck over the weekend and she had to get to Atlanta and she has 4eps left to view before I can get it. I look forward to seeing how Sylar survives since he hasn't acquired the ability to heal. At least I think I do many think S2 is a let down and that has been expressed here as well already. My friend likes it so far though. Maybe the compressed viewing makes it more enjoyable.
Sylar knows how things work, ie. the human body with his telekinetic ability he can use his telekinesis to accelerate his natural healing, or so I think this was implied.
Heroes Season 1 is one of the best 1st seasons i ever saw.. maybe on par with Galactica season 1. It's got so many WTF and WOW! moments like Ninja Hiro from the future.. (awesome ) or the Noah Bennet centered "Company Man" episode which in a mere 42 minute turned a character i was a best ambiguous about (and at times despised) into one of my favorites. All the little things in season 1 that built the mystery, expanded it a tiny fraction at a time, building to a huge climax (glimpsed at in the future episode where Sylar and Peter duke it out behind a closed door).. only to fail so miserably in the season finale. I've never felt such a huge letdown.. i understand that sometimes the creators of the show don't choose the obvious way to resolve a situation, i.e. a huge, special effects laden fight between Peter and Sylar but what they chose felt so utterly flat and unworthy that i really felt pissed off for the summer. That's how i felt and feel about season 1.. season 2 is still too fresh to talk about it in depth but suffice to say that my interest in Heroes after season 2 has greatly diminished. It will take a herculean effort by the writers and producers to re-ignite my interest and elevate it to "drop everything right here and now and watch the newest episode".
I've never seen the show on live TV. I've seen both of the first two seasons on DVD, however, and I did space them out a bit more than you did. Rushing through watching ANYTHING has the effect you're talking about. It's much more fun to see it, and actually sort of "digest" it for a while before moving on to the next part. The same thing came up in some of the recent "Watchmen" threads. I always tell people that if they're going to read it, the way to do it is to read each chapter alone... then reread it at least once, trying to catch little details you missed the first time (there are a LOT of those)... and don't read the next chapter for at LEAST a few days. "Heroes" isn't as deep or involved as Watchmen, but it clearly is meant to be in the same sort of vein. If you watch the DVD set for S2, you'll find out that they had a much deeper and more involved story that they planned to tell. Without going into too much "spoiler" stuff here, suffice it to say that the "virus" was going to NOT be stopped. But because of the writer's strike, they had to truncate the season and they changed that so that they could at least get a partial season in place.
No spoilers, guys! Let's just say that Sylar doesn't survive entirely on his own and leave it at that.
A couple of reminders: 1.) It isn't necessary to quote the entirety of one post only to reply with one, relatively short line. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind. 2.) Please avoid the multiple consecutive posts. Two, we'll probably let slide if they are distinctly different in aim. But more than that? Uh uh. Either use the Edit button or wait until someone else has posted. 3.) Be very careful about spoilers. The guidelines are pinned ot the top of each SFF forum, so there isn't really an excuse.
Am I the only one who loved the finale of the first season? There was enough sacrifice that the victory did not feel cheap, and evil was stopped in an exciting showdown. I was not as happy with what the second season did with the fallout from that episode, but there were some cool future possibilities contained in that finale.
I thought it was a good ending, yeah. I think some folks were disappointed by the fact that NYC didn't, once again, get toasted. But the idea that it was his brother who essentially gave his life (no spoilers for S2 here!) to save him... that was the big event IMHO. It was an emotional, rather than a violent, climax.
I initially was disappointed with it until I rewatched the whole season on DVD. While I'm not totally in love with the episode I do like it a whole lot.
Hmm. I saw S2, and I don't think that even happened. I don't recall any implication that Sylar has healing ability, telekinetic or otherwise (tho I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility.) So that's not a spoiler at all. I liked it!!!
Heroes has turned out to be a big let down for me and my family on par with the let down with Lost. It was great TV but then it turned into something I didn't want to see anymore. I don't think i am going to watch the next season like I stopped watching Lost. I really don't think there will be another TV show that I will watch again. I mean if a show about people with super powers can't get me to watch then I don't know what can.
How ironic! If Heroes gets half as good as Lost did in S4, I will be very very happy. Lost is one of the best TV series of all time. A worthy goal for Heroes to aspire to.