Heroes - Season Three (1 Viewer)

September 22.

I'm probably not the best person to start this thread, since I was lukewarm to the show in its first season and was fairly critical of the second. I read an article in Wizard that makes me skeptical of the upcoming season as well.

A dystopian future that has to be prevented? Seriously? Again? Are we really going back to that well? I was actually enjoying season two until that came up. It was such a disgusting rehash, and here we go again.

Bigger spoilers, from a screening of the first two episodes. Avoid this section if you don't want some info from those eps! You've been warned:

Niki is dead for real! Yay! But, Ali Larter stays on as another character. Boo.

The wording was cryptic, but Mohinder gets powers? Ando may or may not get powers? Come on! Isn't it better to have some characters who are powerless? Doesn't it make more sense narratively, since development of powers is supposed to be rare?

Some of you will probably be mad at all this and say, "Why are you watching if you don't like it?" Good question. There's enough in there to keep my interest, surrounded by a ton of things that drive me nuts. I'll try to balance my posts as the season goes on and not just drop in to say negative things. If I can't find anything good to say, maybe it will be time to end my viewership.

I'm somewhat in the same boat as you, Greg, although I quite enjoyed the first season. However, had the second season lasted any longer than it did, I would have quit watching. The only reason I'm willing to give S3 a chance is because of how much I enjoyed S1, but that won't last long if S3 isn't a huge improvement over S2, and from the info in the spoilers, I'm not optimistic.

I liked s1, and actually enjoyed s2 as well. In particular, I like how the show replicates, quite well, the overall "feel" of a comic book. In that vein, I personally love dystopian or post-apocalyptic storylines - in fact, I think some of the best comic series were in that genre, and likewise some of the best TV shows. With more than one character capable of space/time-travel, I would expect, at the very least, glimpses into the possible future to occur every seascon.

I enjoyed the first season and found the second season a major dud. I'll give the third season a couple of episodes to get going otherwise hasta la vista!

I loved the first season, but the second was a major disappointment !!! I'm looking forward to the third season--maybe it will recapture the magic of the first season.

I'm sure almost anyone reading this thread already knows but Tim Kring (creator/executive producer of the show) has been brutally honest about the mistakes that they made in S2. While recognizing problems doesn't mean that they'll be fixed, it's certainly a better sign than him saying that everything was fine in S2. And apparently, he used some of the time after the strike ended and before S3 started production to hammer out a more detailed plan of events for each season (a la Lost).

It's been awhile, but as someone who loved S1 and was disappointed in S2, I'm still holding out hope for S3. I don't mind people pointing out issues as sometimes it gives voice to issues lurking beneath the surface of my own emotions. It does get a bit played out of all posts are negative, though.

I know shows have to go with their money characters, but as much as Sylar is deliciously evil, I was OK with him being gone at the end of S1. Now comic book villians do return, so I just hope they do it well.

The lady who cried tears of death irritated me most just because she was constantly whining. It was worse than those teenage girls in 80's horror movies.

I'm OK with Ali Larter. In fact, I can tolerate most of the actors.

To paraphrase an old phrase, I think what's wrong with Heroes can be fixed with what's right with Heroes.

At the risk of sounding like a blabbering fanboy, I just want to add that season 2 plays out, at least in my opinion, much better on BD/DVD, when viewed in 2-3 episode "chunks," along with reading the online graphic novel. There are still some major annoyances (I'm looking right at you, twins!), but they tend to blur together, while the good points stand out. I know a quality show should stand on its own and all that, but I just wanted to put that out there for those who may have purchases S2 for completion's sake, but might be holding off on the viewing.

Also, as I've stated in the past two seasons' threads, I know many people hate/loathe/despise/etc extra things to shows like the graphic novel. However, I would strongly urge anyone who wants to know a little more about the show, to give them a viewing every week. It literally takes 3 minutes to check it out, since they are all short - like 7-8 pages, usually. The artwork is often really cool, and there are some pretty neat storylines there, not to mention the extra little bit of backstory every once and a while. Plus, the comics don't go on strike or holiday, and have continued weekly since they started. You can't really ask more from a television show than a weekly, high-quality comic book!

My biggest worry is that they have made several characters too powerful. Its going to reach a point where they are indestructible and force a reboot or a reset.

This probably goes without saying, but I just want to say that if anyone is a huge Heroes fan and is nothing but excited for season three, don't be afraid to ignore what I wrote and just have fun with it here. This'll all be forgotten once the season starts, of course, but don't think you have to defend the show or your enjoyment of it in the runup.

I can think of only 2 characters that fit that description -- Peter and Sylar. They effectively reset both of them in Season 2 as Peter couldn't remember anything he could do, and Sylar lost his abilities. Unfortunately, the end of S2 looks like he won't just be able to get new abilities, but also recover what he had before (telekenesis with the can in the closing scene). They also seem to have reset Peter by using his healing abilities to recover his memory (and ability to use his powers). Of course his healing should have fixed his memory right away because that's never been a power that requires conscious thought, but I'll go with it.

It was at the very beginning. If you remember when the invisible guy pushes him off the building, he says he 'started thinking of a girl he met in Texas' or something along those lines, and that's how he survived it.

Of course that doesn't explain surviving the giant shard of glass in the head.

it's been discussed before: the theory is Peter needs to concentrate on a power if he's recalling it from his 'library', but does not need to concentrate on it if it's being absorbed from someone near him. in the scene with the glass shard, he happened to be near Claire.

Ah okay, that makes enough sense for me.

Elle was nowhere near Peter at the time he first used that ability in Season 2. He did it instinctively with no concentration. I don't see how anybody could have watched Season 2 at all and conclude that the show tells us Peter needs to concentrate to use his powers. He's constantly using powers by instinct without even consciously knowing he has them.

I liked part of season 2, the episodes set in old Japan, because how often do you see that?

My 11 year old son and I enjoyed both seasons when watched on DVD and are looking forward to season 3.

Save the chearleader, save the WORLD!

It was only when Peter was first being trained by Claude that he had to concentrate and figure out the 'filing system'.

Season 3 starts tonight at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC. There's a Heroes primer/party episode at 8 p.m. EDT tonight as well just to get people caught and a bit of sneak peaks for some of the new developments of this new season.

I can't wait (I was one of the few people who enjoyed season 2). Just finished rewatching the series on BD so everything is fresh in my mind. I wonder how long until a time travel episode, as a staple theme of the show seems to be future avoidance/history fixing. Though I'm sure a lot of viewers tire of the time travel plots, I like them