(S04E08) As promised, this week's episode of Heroes took us back to the heydays of the first season. Back when this was a world of wonder filled with new and exciting characters and mystery. Their futures lie before them, and it all centered on Charlie, the poor waitress that Hiro failed time and again to save back then.
Now that he's working on his bucket list before he kicks it, the time has come to head back three years and try to undo her death by Sylar's hand. Which means we got to see HRG, Claire, Hiro, Ando, Sylar and even Isaac as they were three years ago.
The question was whether or not he could change the past and save Charlie, when he failed to before. Furthermore, could he do so without changing all the subsequent events that had happened. He'd already had a taste of success with Ando and his sister, but this sojourn had much higher stakes.
It's no secret that Heroes has been slipping in quality and in the ratings since the end of its first season. Things have improved a bit this year thanks to Robert Knepper's fantastic turn as manscara-wearing carnival boss Samuel Sullivan. Watching Sylar torment Matt Parkman with some Tyler Durden-esque head games has been a hoot too.
But, as we TV critics like to bring up every now and then, the current season isn't nearly as good as that great first season. Maybe that's why Heroes is taking us back to season one, sort of, with the Nov. 2 episode, "Once Upon a time in Texas."
The ep follows Hiro as he travels back in time to try to change the events of season one's episode 8, in which he fell in love with Texas waitress Charlie, played by Glee's Jayma Mays. Fans of the show know that Hiro was unable to save Charlie from Sylar's clutches even though he tried more than once. Will he be able to change history this time?
(S04E06) If there was a theme this week, it's about nurturing and guiding people with abilities. We followed up with Sylar, now in the nefarious embrace of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, as well as Peter and Hiro, and by extension Emma. The quest to save Hiro's life from the brain tumor that's killing him even affords Noah the opportunity to atone for his cold past by providing support to a former kid he and the Haitian had "visited" back in his Company days.
We got some very nice character moments this week. I like Hiro in the role of mentor to Emma, as it gives him a focus for his crazy optimism. Plus, we got to see how stopping time makes a magic show even more awesome -- I know that's the kind of crap I'd be doing with that ability. Screw saving the world, watch me make this woman vanish.
(S04E05) I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but sometimes I wonder if we don't have more people reading TV Squad than Heroes has viewers. And so I want to keep reminding fallen fans who may have jumped ship over the past two not-so-great seasons that things are going much better this season.
There's a better balance in each episode than there's been. In the past few weeks, we've been sticking to mostly three storylines per week. This time around, we checked in on Peter, Claire and Sylar (after his unearthing last week). They're allowing the characters room to breathe and be themselves, rather than just rushing into the next adventure.
It was character growth and development that I'd missed the most, and we're finally getting it. Zachary Quinto was fantastic this episode, and even Hayden Panettiere showed an inkling of range. Oh, who am I kidding, she was as wooden as ever, but that's why we like her ... right? That kind of looks like a cardboard cut-out up there, doesn't it?
(S04E04) What are you doing with your life? Are you happy with what you do every day, 40 or more hours a week? If not, then you're not truly living your life, you're living someone else's. Only when you realize that this life is a gift and it's so much shorter than any of us can possibly realize, can you truly start to live for yourself. Take a risk. Do what you want. Do what makes you happy.
That's pretty heady stuff, but it was apparently on the Heroes writers' minds tonight, because that's exactly what this episode was about. And it turned out pretty well. There were moments of true growth for several of our characters, some good and some probably not so good.
(S04E02) Things are definitely getting interesting again. I'm glad Heroes went with a two-hour premiere, because it wasn't until the end of this hour that we had enough to really grab our attention again. As expected, Samuel Sullivan and the Sullivan Brothers Carnival are right at the heart of the mystery right now.
There's another mystery brewing at Claire's college. Or maybe there isn't. Could what happened with Annie be as straightforward as everyone seems to want us to believe? But now that's the least of Claire's problems, due to her little impromptu experiment.
This episode focused primarily on four main storylines, and it progressed very smoothly for it. It wasn't too confusing, and I came out if it with a sense of confidence that there's a plan for the season. I'm still not sure if it's accessible enough for new viewers, but you never know. Maybe people are smarter than I give them credit for.
A new volume and new faces ... on the show, that is. At this point, I think it's a bit of a pipe dream by NBC to think they can nab new viewers. And as much as I was hoping they'd make this as accessible as possible, things are still pretty hopelessly complex. The situation with Nathan/Sylar alone is enough to make any new viewer change the channel. Maybe see how House is coping with life in the asylum.
On the other hand, Robert Knepper has joined the cast as Samuel, the leader of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, and I couldn't be more excited. No matter how ridiculous Prison Break got over four years, Knepper was just deliciously villainous as T-Bag. And he's just as enigmatic on camera here.
Tonight's premiere is a two-hour extravaganza, including the first two episodes of the new season. Look for my review of the second hour in a separate post.
Everyone has an opinion about how Heroes has been the last couple of seasons. Even NBC. In the new promo for the show (two-hour season premiere on September 21), it seems that even the network knows it could be better. The clip is titled "Back At Their Best," Noah says the lines "you have to remember who you were" and "maybe we're looking for redemption," Tracey says "I'm back," the words NEW BEGINNING appear on a wall, and the song that plays in the background is "Second Chance."
Heroes fans who think the show has gone downhill would probably say this is the third or fourth chance, but we get the point, we get the point.
Remember Charlie, the cute and spunky waitress who stole Hiro's heart in the first season of Heroes? (They even released a novel about their short-lived relationship.) Well, she's coming back to the show next season, but reportedly only for one episode. Glee's Jayma Mays will reprise her role as the Texas waitress with an enhanced memory when a dying Hiro takes a trip back in time to finish off his bucket list.
Fans will remember that Charlie met her end thanks to Sylar only a few eps after she first appeared on the show. Hiro tried to save her, but he was unable to change her fate. It's doubtful he'll be able to save her this time, since Mays is only slated to return for one episode, and the actress will be pretty busy this fall with her role on Fox's Glee.
I've read a few things online about this promo poster for the new season of Heroes (larger version here) and people seem to like it. Me? I find it kinda boring, unless they're changing the show completely and making it a new version of The Mod Squad.
It really says nothing about the new direction of the show, but the video after the jump is fun.
Remember when Heroes was about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities? Well, after the last few seasons of time travel, daddy issues and government interference, Tim Kring and the team are taking Heroes back to basics. They'll have regular jobs an regular lives. In other words, they remembered why we liked the show in that first season, so they're trying to recapture lighting.
So you've got our cast trying to live regular lives after all the excitement they've been through. Add in a traveling carnival with an earth-moving leader luring other people with abilities into his troupe and you have the premise for at least the start of the season.
Oh, and that lesbian-esque relationship between Claire and her new college roommate we've been hearing about. Well, have to get buzz somehow, right? And make Claire interesting. Nothing else worked so let's try girl-on-girl action.
A lot of buzz surrounded Fuller's return to the show last season. After Pushing Daisies was canceled, Fuller returned to the NBC show that he produced during the first season. Many fans credit Fuller with getting the show back on track. It did indeed seem that the show was a little bit more focused and engaging when he returned.
And no, this doesn't mean that he's going to be working on a big-screen adaptation of Pushing Daisies. Sorry fans.
(S03E25) In my early look at this finale, I laid a pretty broad hint as to the major twist at the end of this volume, and I was impressed with some of the deductive abilities of our readers. And the fact that one of you got it exactly right. Now that we've all seen the final cut of the closing chapter of the "Fugitives" volume of Heroes, we can really look back at it and see how we think things have gone.
What was needed was to wipe the slate clean, resolve as many of the dangling plot threads as possible, and establish a tabula rasa for "Volume Five." Or as much of one as we can this far into a series. After all, these last two volumes have left some pretty sour tastes in many mouths. The set up for interesting things to come next year was definitely well done. I'm more interested in what's going to happen in "Redemption" than I was excited about what happened in this finale.
There are still a bunch of episodes left in this third season of Heroes, but producers and writers are already working on the fourth season (the show was renewed by NBC for another season earlier this week). There isn't much being disclosed about specific plots or what is going to happen to specific characters or what characters are going to make it out alive from this third season (though I would assume The Hunter will be gone). But there is one big clue as to who won't be the major character that is going to die at the end of this season, and we'll discuss that a bit after the jump.
Look, I've stuck with Heroes all the way through. I even defended it during the second season and the first half of this season, when fans were insulting it and running off in droves. I'm still going to stick with it, but I'm closer to not watching the show than I've ever been before.
Last night's episode had the usual mix of the good and the bad. I like the whole Sylar/Luke story. It gets Sylar away from the rest of the heroes and gives him his own story/quest. I'm sure his story will intersect with the rest of the heroes towards the end of the season, but I'm glad he's not up against them right now. I like the whole "screwed up buddy picture" vibe he has with the kid and the adventures they could get into on the way.
I also like Claire being back at home (though I don't see how or why her mom and brother didn't flee long ago), helping the comic book guy run from her dad and the other agents. Promising ending with HRG being drugged, too.
It's no secret that 
(S04E02) Things are definitely getting interesting again. I'm glad 
(S04E01) Volume Five - "Redemption"
Remember Charlie, the cute and spunky waitress who stole Hiro's heart in the first season of 
I've read a few things online about this promo poster for the new season of 
Remember when Heroes was about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities? Well, after the last few seasons of time travel, daddy issues and government interference, 
Kristin over at E! Online has confirmed something that Ain't It Cool News reported earlier today: 
(S03E25) In my 
Look, I've stuck with 
The Prisoner -- An early look
Sesame Street's 40th: Five funniest characters
Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
