Heroes – Season 2

Archived review – the strike-shortened second season:

Ah, sweet, sweet justice! After a successful first season, I got tired of everyone jumping on the 'Heroes is better than Lost' bandwagon. Now after the fuss has died down a bit, this show's going through a rough patch for similar reasons given for Lost's disapproval not long ago - the introduction of rubbish characters meaning less screentime for old favourites, some storylines going at a snail's pace for episodes on end, and the occasionally awful bit of expository dialogue. Sure, Heroes may answer questions much more quickly, but when the "answer" is a cheap plot device such as magical healing blood, does it really matter? An entire volume (of eleven episodes) has now been broadcast and it wasn't all bad. The final few episodes were as exciting as ever, and several great characters/actors have been introduced such as David Anders' Kensei and Kristen Bell's Elle, but all in all this season's just made me realise how much I've missed Lost with its tighter episodic structure, superior character development and plotlines that actually mean something (I don't see Charlie cheating death as easily as some of our heroes have this year). Still, as <i>Lost</i> proved with its second-season decline and subsequent return to form, I'm not giving up on Heroes just yet, and gladly await new episodes. Whenever that may be.

NB – I think "gladly" may not have been the appropriate word. I didn't see any of the third season, at first due to being too busy to watch, then followed by hearing rumour of an even bigger downturn in quality. It's fairly safe to say I will never catch up with this sinking ship.