Thursday, March 24, 2011

Why Heroes Should Have Stopped After Season 1

I guess you can say I am a bit judgmental when it comes to entertainment. Most of the time, I won't even give things a chance. The minute a tv show, movie, or a musical artist gets popular, I instantly consider it garbage without a second thought. Sure it sounds a bit harsh, but the few times I have given something a chance, I find that my initial suspicions have been confirmed. It is as if creativity has escaped from life and the media just gives all the simple minded population what they think they can understand. Instead of making people think, entertainment is just raunchy and just has no substance. I am of course speaking generally. There are a few exceptions, luckily, for the less brain dead folk out there.

The television show Lost for instance took people on a wild crazy adventure full of mystery, mythology, and enough theories to fill the Grand Canyon. The show went on for 6 seasons and I watched it religiously. Each season, though, viewers seemed to drop like flies. I have come to the conclusion that it was because the story was too complicated for most people to follow. Sure, I get it. American Idol was on at the same time. To think or not to think? I am not saying that I am smarter than most people. I am not claiming to be above them on any level. I am just one of those individuals who enjoy being challenged.

Enough about Lost, though. The show Heroes was all the rage when it came out. Naturally, I did not watch it. My mother watched it and tried to lure me in but I would not give in. Lost ended eventually, and then I had nothing to watch so when I got Netflix, I decided I needed a new show to invest in, and so Heroes became my new thing. To my surprise, the show got me hooked. It was well thought out from the start, filled with drama, action, mystery, and a handful of was-that-too-gory-for-tv moments. It was the type of show that you had to watch every episode to understand what was going on, much like Lost. None of the episodes were boring. They kept my heart pounding and my mouth watering for the next episode. It was spectacular and I knew I had found a new friend.

When I got to the Season 1 finale (which did not take long at all) it seemed, shall I say ...over.  The build-up throughout the show took us to the climax, and it was awesome. The antagonist seemed to have been defeated and the main threat that the show revolved around seemed to have been resolved. Much like an ending to a horror movie, the bad guy ended up surviving and got away, hinting at a sequel. Was that supposed to be the cliffhanger? Oh no wait. Hiro appearing in ancient Japan was supposed to be the cliffhanger. I was confused because neither of those "cliffhangers" made me excited for another season. I am just saying they could have been stronger. What I got out of the finale was closure. I could have done without the cliffhangers. There was no need. Heroes could have ended there and the story would have been perfect and complete.

I have yet to begin Season 2, and I will watch it, of course. Rumor has it, though, that it goes straight downhill. I have heard from many people that there just wasn't a strong enough story and the point seemed to have gone missing. I will watch it, but with my hope not-so-high. Who knows, though? I could be pleasantly surprised!

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