I am arriving fashionably late to the ‘Heroes’ party. What can I say? As a rabid comic fan, I planted my flag in the naysayers’ camp early on. All that I had heard offended me. The fact that every character and plot point seemed cribbed from the greatest hits of all of comic history soured my opinion without ever having watched a single scene. As time went on, I felt more secure with my initial reaction. Season 2 seemed to falter out of the gate. Maybe it was due to the unfortunate writer’s strike, or maybe it really as bad as I imagined. When Season 3 limped onto the screen, even my friends who were fans seemed to be making excuses for it’s faults, striving to convince themselves that it was still worthy of time and attention.
How then, you may ask, would I ever be convinced to lay down my arms and open myself to this TV experience? It was a combination of a few friends wearing down my resistance like water slowly smoothing a stone, and the fact that we honestly had nothing better to watch this week. Fine, I thought, I will watch a couple of episodes just to prove my hypothesis.
I must admit it is not nearly as horrible as I feared. At first, it was a fun time pointing out what comics they stole the storyline from, or what character they ripped off. However, over time I just let it go and actually starting enjoying it a bit. And it is mostly due to Masi Oka and his performance as Hiro Nakamura. He is the nerdy everyman who is handed great power and responsibility. I dare you to find one geek worth his salt who has never dreamt of that! His wide eyed wonder and high spirits have kept me watching what is otherwise just an average show.
We tore through the first season and just started the second this weekend. The finale was a big disappointment, and so far the second season is letting me down. I am already over Hiro being back in time and meeting with the not so legendary Kensei. Horn-rimmed glasses guy working at the copy shop has been the only amusement so far. Otherwise we have huge plot holes, flat characters and bad dialogue. Exactly what I had feared from the outset. Again, I am pulled out of the show, and am actively calling out plot points before they happen on screen.
Yet, I find myself actually wishing for the show to get better, a complete reversal from where I started out. For now, I will keep on watching, but am wary of where this will all lead.