What Happened to NBC’s “Heroes”?

by Chris Vegvary

Anyone remember back in 2006 when a little television series by the name of Heroes existed? It was inspired by classic comic book storylines like X-Men: Days of Future Past, where superheroes from the future went back to alter the past to keep a devastating event from ever taking place. It started out great; ordinary people were discovering they had extraordinary powers which were genetically bestowed upon them, yet are only just now coming to fruition in their lives. While some had mundane powers like super-hearing or eidetic memory, there were others who had the ability to fly, or phase through solid objects, or even mimic or steal the abilities of others.

Sylar

The first season saw these individuals discovering their awesome powers, sometimes with the help of a man named Mohinder Suresh, whose father was murdered by one of these people after writing a book about the evolution of some humans into super beings. This murderer, who calls himself Sylar, uses telekinesis to remove part of the brain (as well as the top of the skull) from these gifted individuals in order to somehow consume their special abilities. The “heroes” of the show end up banding together like the Avengers at the end of the first season in order to stop Sylar, and after 23-hour long episodes, the first season left us with questions unanswered, leaving us wanting more. It was one of the most perfect TV series I’ve ever known, and I, like a fool, resisted it at first.

Peter, Nathan, and Matt after Peter catches the virus

The second season was released during the 2007-08 writer’s strike, which caused some pretty crappy things to happen to television shows, as well as seeing the release of horrific movies that were put on the backburner because they were so lame, such as Over Her Dead Body. I still can’t get over that. However, the strike also caused the plans they had for season 2 of Heroes to go straight to hell. For those who remember, the virus vial that Peter Petrelli caught in the last episode of season 2 was supposed to hit the floor and shatter before he caught it, thus causing the nightmarish future shown (also similar to another X-Men comic storyline) throughout the season. I can’t help but imagine that it would have been much more excellent if they’d had the time to show the story the way it was supposed to go.

Arthur Petrelli, villain

The third season started off great. There was a story arc called Villains, where bad guys with super powers started taking over. Sylar was convinced by Peter’s mother that he, Peter, and Nathan are brothers, which would have made so much sense, considering that Peter and Sylar basically have the same power; the only difference is how they acquire their abilities. Unfortunately, about halfway through the season, it’s revealed that Sylar is NOT actually a Petrelli, and he kills the best villain on the show: Arthur Petrelli, Peter and Nathan’s father who was thought dead long ago, and who had just returned at the beginning of the season.

The moment before Sylar kills Nathan Petrelli

While that definitely sucked, I thought that the final episode of season 3 made up for all the nonsense that most of the rest of the season put us through. In it, Nathan Petrelli faces off against Sylar, but Sylar slits his throat and kills him. Unable to accept his death, his mother, Angela Petrelli, makes telepathic cop Matt Parkman brainwash Sylar into believing he is Nathan. In my opinion, when Sylar wakes up believing he IS Nathan, that was a great moment in the series.

The travelling carnival

Then season 4 came out, and the plot was just so ridiculous (a travelling carnival full of people with super powers) that audiences couldn’t get past it. I was one of those who couldn’t bear it, but the way it ended kind of left us hanging. I wouldn’t mind if they finished up this series with a TV movie or something, just to tie up all the loose ends. I want to know how things are working out with Peter and Sylar now that Sylar has remembered who he really is, returned to his evil ways, was trapped in a room in his head with Peter Petrelli for something like 20 years while only hours passed in the waking world, and now the two are best friends, even though Sylar murdered his brother. Good times. Let’s see what became of these people.