TV - Heroes Season 3: Good vs Evil

Heroes' Season 3 tagline proclaimed that Good Will Battle Evil. In a two-part article, Kraig Taylor-Bryant looks at what worked (the Good) and what didn't (the Evil) in the show's penultimate Season. This week, the Good (with spoilers)...

Okay, let’s skip the intro as this is basically a continuation of last week's article, please click the link here if you are yet to read the last one, and we'll just get onto the good stuff.

So one of the things of that I enjoyed most about this season of Heroes was the concept of the character referring to himself as “Rebel”. The best part about him was that I never suspected who he actually was until he revealed himself (despite how obvious it seemed afterwards). I suppose that’s what every TV show needs, it needs something to keep its audience guessing at some point in the show. And *spoiler* the reveal was that “Rebel” was Micah, which of course, made sense as he was always interested in helping others and he did have the ability to talk to machines, which would obviously allow him to communicate with others over a long range and to help people no matter their distance from him. The best part about this concept was the fact that, through Micah, we got to see that there is kindness to Tracy Sanders when she (supposedly) sacrifices herself to save him.

I think that Sylar was one of the most interesting characters of the season though, due to the fact that we finally get to find out who Sylar’s real father is and it is actually someone who fits the person that Sylar eventually becomes. I suppose some would say that it doesn’t make much sense as it was something else that made Sylar become the monster that he is today but, if you think about it, it’s the upbringing of a person that defines them. However if there was a part of him that suspected that he had different parents, he would want to feel special, and to believe that his parents were, thereby leading him to find out that he is special by taking abilities from others in order to hold onto that hope. And the idea that, when Sylar finds his father, he is dying anyway, it is extremely clever as it instantly gives us a reason as to why Sylar does not kill him as soon as his father responds to Sylar telling him that he is going to kill him. Of course his reason for not killing his father straight away is that he would want his father to know why he is going to die and find out what he did (which was killing Sylar’s mother and abandoning him which is yet another concept that I loved). And then there was the fact that Sylar tries to take his fathers abilities which obviously confirms that he is the same person that killed his wife and abandoned his child.

But Sylar in general was an interesting character for the most part of this season, from witty-psychopathic dialogue (Clare: “I will keep trying to kill you for the rest of my life”. Sylar: “Everybody needs a hobby”) to him fulfilling aspects of the predicted future as seen by Hiro Nakamura, when he travels to the future and witnesses a future in which Peter did blow up New York in season 1 and Sylar becomes president through posing as Nathan Patrelli, which we see when Sylar at least think he is Nathan at the end of season 3. Of course I did rant about the ridiculousness of this concept in least week's article, however, it does fit the predicted future that Hiro saw which in itself is clever, whilst also fulfilling Angela Patrelli’s dream (she dreams the future) of Matt saving Nathan by making Sylar become Nathan, thereby ‘bringing Nathan back to life’ in a sense.

Whilst on the topic of discussing Angela Patrelli’s dreams, the idea in which Angela stops dreaming the future is intriguing as it makes the story unpredictable and, therefore, more intense for the viewers. Her dreams are fairly vague anyway but it prevents us from being told too much regarding future events. I think that’s why it was a clever idea to kill off Isaac Mendez after the 1st season as having someone who could paint the future throughout the entire series would get dull to the viewers, knowing in the long run, what is going to happen anyway. This is what led me to hate the idea of Matt Parkman getting the ability to paint the future (as well as the ridiculousness of him gaining this ability FROM A TURTLE). So the fact that she could see a faint picture of the future doesn’t really bother me, in fact it's more likely to keep the audience guessing, whereas Isaac Mendez could paint a clear image of what is happening, events that Angela predicted, may not go exactly as interpreted by the dream.

Now let’s discuss Hiro Nakamura and how he was significant in this series. I believe that his character was brilliant in this season because of his lack of abilities because of course, we have seen that he pretty much relies on his abilities throughout the entirety of the first two seasons to complete any of his “quests” that destiny has in store for him. But when he loses these abilities we as an audience as well as Hiro, learn that you do not need abilities to be a Hiro, which kind of sets a moral for anyone in real life, that anyone can be a hero really. Whilst on the subject of Hiro, I noticed a few sudden changes in his voice when he spoke in English which made him sound like the future version of him that went to see Peter Patrelli on the train in season 1 (has an American accent), this is quite clever as this gradually builds up parts of different futures that Hiro has seen before and therefore, makes us believe that these futures could have happened as some of these events are still happening.

There was also one episode in particular that I really enjoyed which was the episode titled “Dual”, in which Sylar has trapped Clare, her bio-mother, Clare’s adopted father Noah and her grandmother, Angela Patrelli, at the “Primatech” building, which had an entirely different vibe in comparison to other episodes in this season. It’s the kind of season that really introduces Sylar as the dark, insane, psychopathic killer that he is. Except the difference is, behind his insanity, is an actual goal, to turn Clare against members of her family. This may have failed for Sylar, but this definitely succeeded in convincing the audience that Sylar really is a monster. I just wish this was how Sylar first introduced himself to Clare and her family.

There were also sides of personalities that we did not see in previous seasons, such as the supposed dark side of Matt Parkman which we see when Matt thinks that his girlfriend Daphne is dead and he now wants to take his anger out on the company that is hunting them through mentally torturing Noah Bennet, who at this point agreed to work with these people in exchange for his daughter’s protection. We even get to see a kind side to Sylar when he chooses to help Micah escape from the company hunting him by shape-shifting into the kid and tripping into the water before flying out after they believe he is dead.

Interestingly enough we also notice that, through this shape-shifting ability that Sylar has stolen, he has begun to forget who he really is, as having to pose as someone else to avoid being hunted has made him have to appear to be someone else which is messing with his mind. It could be assumed that this could have foreshadowed the event in the season finale in which he ends up thinking he is Nathan Patrelli, although some may just consider this ironic.

So that is my overall summary of the good aspects of this season, despite the fact that there are fewer points to support this view than the downside, these are strong points and this should not discourage anyone from giving the series a go or trying this season in particular if they never thought to give it go before, like myself. I'm not sure yet whether I think yet that the series should have been cancelled altogether, though, as I will have to see what events occur in season four after I have watched it. However, I will say that I think the series had potential to carry on, if it didn’t meddle with too many ideas at once. Despite some of them being quite clever, the fact that there are so many plots in this series (more than usual), makes this season in particular a lot harder to keep track of, if say the viewer only has time for one episode a week. 

 As for Heroes Reborn, the rebooted season, I can’t really see the potential in the series without more of our beloved characters returning, which I can’t really see happening. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong and I just haven’t seen enough of it. When I’m done with season 4 of Heroes, we will have to see if I have something more to say about Heroes Reborn.

Follow Kraig on Twitter @Hayaface13
Images - IMDb