Heroes
Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4
Heroes Season 3- 
Overview
First HalfEpisode 1: The Second Coming |
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Second HalfEpisode 14: A Clear And Present Danger |
Brief Review
Heroes Season 3 is a step in the right direction after the shambles of Season 2 but the fast paced first half of the season, although good, offsets the balance of the season. The story leaves gaping plot-holes throughout and the lack of death to any of the central characters is beginning to cripple the series. The second half returns to the normal pacing of the series but it looks like its a little too late for this in-danger series.
Full Review
Heroes Season 3 was always going to be a tough one to try and lure the fans back to the series after the dreadful second season. What we get here is a two-part season split into two volumes, Villains and Fugitives, which is a mixed bag to say the least with half the season a pacing mess and the second a decent return to normality for the series.
Villains is the first volume for the returning season and the story is good with Arthur Petrelli as the main antagonist who, although slightly wooden, is a decent villain overall despite his poor acting. The beginning of his character's story is well done but quickly deteriorates to a mess of ideas as the story progresses.
This plot is all about villains combining together to create a super-formula where every single person becomes a superhero. It's a nice idea and its good to see the idea evolve over the episodes although the intertwining characters start to become a confusion as the list of characters increase. Some of the characters are needlessly exploited here and bog down the standard of the season as a whole.
Mohinder Suresh was good in Season 1 and bearable in Season 2 but in Season 3 he's more of a hindrance than anything else. His scenes with the equally dreadful Maya are a bore to watch and his transformation into 'The Fly' isn't even remotely interesting to watch. The other characters all struggle to catch up to the breathtaking pace and almost every character is unnecessarily toyed with.
Sylar does the best he can with the non-sensical plot lines he's given but once again his acting is excellent and makes his story believable. Going from evil to good and back to evil again in such a short space of time is not only disappointing for the character that should have stayed as an antagonist, it's actually more of an insult to the series as a whole. After the excellent build-up for Sylar and his believable motives, turning him into a hero makes no sense at all-especially for a couple of episodes and then back to being evil again.
I won't go too much into how bad the character stories are but Ando and Hiro result in nothing more than humour that isn't even funny. Hiro's character is another one that gets messed with a lot as well as Nathan Petrelli. I won't go into details but suffice to say both characters lose their edge and result in victims of dodgy writing and horrible dialogue to work with.
The second half of the season is so much better than the first with a much better emphasis on a character-driven story than a plot-driven one. New villain Danko is deliciously evil and excellent in his role as law-enforcer in the new plot about rounding up the heroes and putting them all in jail.
The acting is much improved in the second half of the season and Sylar is finally back on track as the antagonist he should have remained in Volume 3.
I could go on about how much of a mess the first half of this season is but I won't as to do so would be to sour the excellent second half. Question marks are surrounding Heroes' future and for the second time Tim Kring has disappointed fans of the series with a mess of a season which is dipped in pinches of brilliance. Worth a watch simply for the second half of the season.