Heroes #24:I am Sylar/Season 3/2009

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Maybe instead of removing Sylar, they need to remove the rest of the cast and show his rise to power?

 

[Arnwyn]

I fall into the camp that believes Sylar should have died at the end of the first season.

Agree. He was an excellent villain... in Season 1.

However, I don't think that killing Sylar off will do anything to improve the quality of the show. In fact, I think Quinto is a pretty good actor, and losing him would hurt the show.

Disagree. Everything else being equal (which it's not), it would improve the show simply by forcing tighter storylines.

Quinto a good actor? Sure... I look forward to seeing him in a different show. Hey - I heard he's got a big part in an upcoming movie based on a popular series. Maybe that will help satiate all this Quinto-love that's out there?

The problems that I've had with episodes aren't the result of one single character. Rather, it's the writing. When characters get utterly banal storylines, of course we're going to hate the characters.

Totally agree.

Removing Sylar from the awfulness that is Danko, this episode could have been a fascinating look into the head of a serial killer.

Maybe - but other shows do that better. Heroes is about heroes... not some washed-up has-been villain that was great two seasons ago and is now nothing more than some hackneyed caricature who'd done... well, nothing... for two seasons.

(And is he a serial killer? I suppose he's back on that schtick again. I don't know - they've futzed around with Sylar so much and so badly that I don't know what he is... and I don't particularly care what he will become, either, once the writers decide to go in yet another direction. Fool me once and all that.)

The problem with this storyline is that we've already seen it a couple of times now. There's nothing really new here, and that lessens the impact. Now that the mystery of the why is gone, there's nothing really compelling about the character, and that's writing issue. That's why I said above that I hoped Micah would push Sylar towards sacrifice; having Sylar continue on without change is just boring. It doesn't help that they're moving towards the 5YG future, which we've also already seen.

Yeah... and very unfortunate, as I considered the 5YG episode to be the worst episode in Season 1. Basing the next two seasons on that... no wonder I've looked at Heroes with a bit of distaste recently.

I agree with you that much of the problem is the writing for Sylar, and that they're not doing anything different with him (it's just the same ol', same ol' all the time), but I think his ship has sailed. They tried, failed, and now he's just done. I don't think his character is fixable.

I think all superhero stories need a villain, and Sylar's a pretty good one.

Correction, IMO: Was a good one. Something new (and not all riddled with writing errors and poor decisions), please.

Maybe instead of removing Sylar, they need to remove the rest of the cast and show his rise to power?

Maybe as a spin-off... or just canning Heroes entirely and making a brand new show called "Sylar". I'm sure some people might watch it, I guess.

 

[Krug]

Correction, IMO: Was a good one. Something new (and not all riddled with writing errors and poor decisions), please.

Correction: Is a good one, IMO. The show has improved at least, with tighter storylines, but still a lot of bad to be undone. I'm just glad Parkman doesn't do the prophetic artwork thing again. That was one of the things that should have been buried at the end of S1.

 

[wolff96]

Correction: Is a good one, IMO. The show has improved at least, with tighter storylines, but still a lot of bad to be undone.

I'm with Arnwyn on this one. Sylar *was* a good villain. He was creepy, he had an agenda, and he was making progress.

Now he's a walking smorgasboard of powers, functionally unstoppable -- especially with Peter's power vastly reduced and Hiro getting nosebleeds.

If they wanted to bring Quinto back (and he is a good actor), they shouldn't have had Sylar in the second or third season at all. He should have been a "suprise! I'm back!" in season four. We can't miss you if you won't go away...

---------------------------------------

I've been watching since season one. The last two episodes have bored me to tears. The only reason I haven't already tuned out and removed it from the DVR is the knowledge that next week is the Season Finale. And it would have to be AMAZING to get me back next season.

The writers have made one huge mistake after another since the first season, squandering what was once a great show into this pathetic mess. I really hate what they've done to what *was* such a great show.

 

[Mark]

(. . .) next week is the Season Finale. And it would have to be AMAZING to get me back next season.

I am hoping for a big powers battle and numerous character deaths to cull the herd and tighten focus on the show for next season. Without that, I might leave it of the DVR list next season, too.

 

[coyote6]

Yeah, I think Heroes has lost me. After the finale, it's leaving my DVR record list. I might tune in to the first episode of next year, if it comes back, just to see if they pull it out. However, it would have to be one amazing episode after another to keep my attention.

I also have to agree with the general sentiment: Sylar is probably the best thing about the show now, but he's also really gotta go. No show or comic (that I can think of) works in the long run if you have the same antagonist every damned episode/issue. That's why superheroes have "rogues galleries" -- you can't have them fight the same guy over and over, without someone seeming incompetent (how come they can't take the other guy down?) or it becoming more of the villain's story than the alleged hero's.

Plus, there's the whole "cool villain" thing (cf. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, etc.), where it seems like the writers have focused too much on Sylar, to the detriment of the rest of the characters. As long as they hang on to Sylar, I'm fairly certain the show won't be able to improve. OTOH, I'm not sure it can improve without him, either; the writers, for whatever reason, seem to have lost their mojo.

I'll also agree with whoever said I'd much rather see Heroes go than Life, or Chuck (or Reaper, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Fringe, etc., though those are all on other networks). NBC seems to have some sort of deathwish, AFAICT.

I hope the finale is awesome, but I really don't see how it can be. I'm expecting either a lot of "gods from machines", and/or a cliffhanger rather than an actual resolution.

 

[Mark]

Yeah, I think Heroes has lost me. After the finale, it's leaving my DVR record list. I might tune in to the first episode of next year, if it comes back, just to see if they pull it out. However, it would have to be one amazing episode after another to keep my attention.

I'm worried that if I give them a chance with the first episode next season, they'll fake me out with a cool title for the new "book" and before I can get away it'll be toolate.

 

[Felon]

The unwillingness to make any major changes in the central cast is pretty much the show's big weakness. Heroes doesn't mammoth story arcs with a major villain who, by dint of being a major villain, has to pose a threat to the world (or New York, is apparently a cosmic keystone). Just give us some cool episodes about characters with super-powers living in the "normal" world.

 

[Richards]

I was thinking that maybe Sylar had used his shapeshifting powers to move his brain stem a little bit to the right or something, so that the "hit me here to kill me" spot is no longer exactly where it used to be.

Called it!

Johnathan