I think the idea was that they would start out as disaffected and rediscover their hope and heroism. Where characters start a series is not supposed to be their permanent state throughout. Look at Supergirl. It started with Kara hiding her powers and being shy and unasssertive, but by the end of the pilot she'd ditched that and embraced her heroic potential. Or look at Deep Space Nine, whose pilot started with Sisko grieving his wife and trapped in the past and ready to resign from Starfleet, and ended with him finding renewed hope and committing to the future. Characters often start out in a bad place, but that's not meant to define the entire series.
