Almost a year after the disappointing second season, hit NBC show ‘Heroes’ returned, with a new subtitle: ‘Villains’. With Sylar’s return at the end of season two, ‘Villains’ had a lot of promise. All fans could really hope for was that season three wasn’t another flop, and that Heroes would hit the heights that the first season achieved.
As usual, a messenger from the future warns the current crop of heroes of an impending apocalypse, and it’s down to various ordinary people with extraordinary powers to stop everything going wrong. It’s been done before, twice by Heroes alone, but it works. It would be nice to see the writers try something new, but you can hardly blame them for clinging desperately to a proven, successful formula.
Episode one launches itself straight into the action, answering just about every question from the end of season two, while simultaneously providing one of the greatest cop-outs television has ever seen. All of the characters that should be dead miraculously aren’t, a plot development which just screams “prolong the series at all costs”, and while the lack of consistency isn’t surprising in a drama about superheroes, it’s now verging on sheer retardation. On the subject of retardation, Peter Petrelli is not the real Peter Petrelli, but is a different Peter Petrelli, who is still Peter Petrelli. I could continue in this fashion for a good couple of paragraphs, but you get the idea. While the plot does show the occasional flicker of promise, for the most part it’s either cliché or just plain stupid. It took them a year to come up with this? Seriously?
The slight potential of the plot is greatly overshadowed by the incredibly pretentious demeanour of the episode. Mohinder’s lengthy voiceovers have always been pretentious, but now that Nathan and Sylar are getting in on the act, it’s borderline nauseating. Admittedly some fans might find something deep and meaningful in the semi-poetic ramblings, but most are going to see it for what it is: inane, stuck up gibberish. It detracts from what makes the show entertaining - seeing people with superpowers in real life situations - and it’s high time Heroes got out of it’s own ass.
The plot of Heroes: Villains has potential, and that potential is enough for me to recommend watching it if you enjoyed the previous seasons. If you didn’t watch seasons one or two, then avoid Villains. It’s not as good as it thinks it is, and it’s likely that the series is going to suffer as a result. Still, at least there’s some lovely effects on show. And Dania Ramírez. Phwoar.
2/5
It’s my first TV review, so it’s not going to be my best. But I’m looking forward to tackling the learning curve.
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