I enjoyed the series. But the ending was weak. Had the finale been amazing, it would have elevated the entire mini-season. Unfortunately it highlighted the sundry problems.
Notably, the narrative indicated that Tommy spent eons in the virtual world, recovering memories, learning his skill, becoming a master of time and space beyond what Hiro had ever imagined. But the show only displayed him watching 90 seconds of memories, completing the time loop in a few minutes. The show failed to evoke the interminable Groundhog Day experience.
Overall, the finale seemed to have surprised the writers: suddenly the holidays were over and they had two episodes to cram four-shows worth of narrative into to finish it off. And they had to retcon motivations onto a "villain" who was without motivation the entire series.
And, at the end, I was wrong: Tommy's power made no sense. I was expecting Tommy to steal his sister's power and merge time/space power with Gaia magic to thwart the HELE. That would have made sense and marginally fit the rules established. Instead, he stole a power when he touched someone, except when he didn't. Because, plot. And then when he and his sister held hands with a third person in between, PLOT MAGIC, person dies and world saved. It made no sense and verged on Ex Machina.
And they didn't even have the decency to end it. Instead, they lurched into a last-ditch cliffhanger never to be resolved.
It was a fun show. Noah Bennet elevated every scene he was in. Hiro, always a treat (too many butterflies, indeed). But it stumbled across the finish line, leaving me a little more sour instead of little more ebullient on the one-off.
Notably, the narrative indicated that Tommy spent eons in the virtual world, recovering memories, learning his skill, becoming a master of time and space beyond what Hiro had ever imagined. But the show only displayed him watching 90 seconds of memories, completing the time loop in a few minutes. The show failed to evoke the interminable Groundhog Day experience.
Overall, the finale seemed to have surprised the writers: suddenly the holidays were over and they had two episodes to cram four-shows worth of narrative into to finish it off. And they had to retcon motivations onto a "villain" who was without motivation the entire series.
And, at the end, I was wrong: Tommy's power made no sense. I was expecting Tommy to steal his sister's power and merge time/space power with Gaia magic to thwart the HELE. That would have made sense and marginally fit the rules established. Instead, he stole a power when he touched someone, except when he didn't. Because, plot. And then when he and his sister held hands with a third person in between, PLOT MAGIC, person dies and world saved. It made no sense and verged on Ex Machina.
And they didn't even have the decency to end it. Instead, they lurched into a last-ditch cliffhanger never to be resolved.
It was a fun show. Noah Bennet elevated every scene he was in. Hiro, always a treat (too many butterflies, indeed). But it stumbled across the finish line, leaving me a little more sour instead of little more ebullient on the one-off.
I was expecting that she wouldn't be strong enough, or tapped out, or mortally wounded, and he would take her power to finish the job, which would have made sense. But Tommy's power hasn't made sense since the beginning, and if he was a minor character it wouldn't matter as much, but when the whole climax is built around something that doesn't quite work, it lessens the impact of the whole. The power stealing or threat of power stealing from Tommy seems like a contrivance whenever it's used. He steals Claire's power but not his sister's in the womb, but the more I think about it, the more it seems that's not really about plot sense, that's about not wanting to pay Hayden Paniettiere to come back. Stuff like that has a way of bugging me because it doesn't feel like characters evolving or growing with time, it feels like writers sitting in a room coming up with something. And speaking of Tommy's powers not making any sense… if he was truly that powerful where he could change anything, why not simply go back in time and reset the entire thing? Or why not do the thousand or million things you could do if you weren't burdened by the constraints of time and space? 
