And in conclusion:

[selenak]

I've been wrestling this past week with a decision that wasn't easy for me to make: breaking up with a show that is still ongoing. But I've always believed that once the joy and/or fascination you take from something you're fannish about doesn't outweigh the elements that cause you anger or boredom anymore, it's time to move on, rather than being bitter week after week. The first time this happened to me was with Earth: Final Conflict. It would have happened with Carnivale had Carnivale not been cancelled after the second season anyway, and it probably would have happened with Alias if there had been a sixth season, given events in the fifth (i.e. I would not have continued watching, but then again, the events in the fifth I'm referring to would not have happened had it not been the last season; at any rate, the fifth season had elements I enjoyed but I stand by my claim the fourth season would have been the perfect final season). What all of this taught me is that it's possible to separate and still remain fond of the show(s) in question. The first season of Carnivale was an awesome achievement. I hadn't watched Earth: Final Conflict for eons, but the other week I came across a favourite first season episode which was shown on tv and thought, yes, I remember why I liked that show so much back then. And I've never stopped loving Alias, fifth season grudges notwithstanding, and am delighted when finding new fanfiction such as this one.

Now it's Heroes turn. It's not that the third season doesn't offer stories I like; I love Claire's development in particular. But what I dislike is, sadly, a central storyline . The woobiefication of Sylar is just too much for me, especially since it comes at the expense of Elle, who was one of my favorite new s2 characters, and who now is completely retconned so she can be an instrument of Sylar's redemption. As opposed to many a viewer, I loved not just s1 but s2, but all I loved about s2 in particular - Bob, who was such a great shades of grey character, Elle, Molly and her adopted dads, Matt's development in general, Matt and Nathan becoming friends, Mohinder getting an absolutely fascinating Le Carré storyline, Monica - has been taken away, and in its place, we get Misunderstood!Sylar. To be fair, we also get Daphne, Arthur Petrelli who makes a great supervillain, Meredith fleshed out, and the aforementioned great Claire development, but the Sylar story still spoils all of the good stuff for me. . Moreover, let me play devil's advocate about the recent Tim Kring interview which caused much fannish ire: I think he's right as far as he himself is concerned. Not everyone can do serialized tv, plot out arcs beyond one season, and it probably would have been better if he had stuck to his original concept of rotating ensembles for each season. It's always better if you stick to what you're good at and are fond of, and if you love origin stories but aren't that interested in long-term developments, well, then you should stick to origin stories. I'm very much reminded of Chris Carter. The X-Files happened just when tv shows with longer arcs started to take off and capture the viewers' imagination, with Babylon 5 leading the way. This caused Carter to add a myth arc to his monster of the week show, and to be frank, it sucked. Not every episode of the myth arc - I'm still fond of the s2 finale and the s3 opener - but it quickly became a convoluted mess which stopped making any sense at all because a) it clearly hadn't been thought out in advance, and b) Carter wasn't good at improvising, either. (Which by contrast JMS was in Babylon 5; some of B5's most memorable developments were the result of having to improvise, as when the network demanded a change of leading man after the first season, but he pulled it off, and the result still feels like long term planning if you watch it in execution.) The X-Files would have been better if they had remained a monster of the week show, or if Carter had handed the show over to someone who could actually plot and/or improvise arcs. Tim Kring appears to have the same problem Carter did, and so unless there is a change of show runner, I don't see how a similar result can be avoided.

What all of this doesn't mean: wailing, ire and expressions of eternal hate on my part, or vows never to return to the Heroesverse again. (Or, for that matter, never to watch something created by Tim Kring again. Trust me, I was absolutely furious with Daniel Knauf about season 2 of Carnivale, but what did I do two days ago? I bought the trade collection which has just been published in German that collects the entire Iron Man: Director of SHIELD run he wrote with his son. Because I enjoyed reading it. I suppose feuds with writers just aren't for me.) I've written
about 30 stories set in the universe of Heroes; I am profoundly grateful to have watched, to have fallen in love with the characters who inspired these stories. And who knows, maybe in a year or two I'll hear that my big s3 problem has been solved in a satisfactorly manner, or that amazing things happened in subsequent episodes, and I'll buy the dvds and will return to watching. But till such a thing happens, I'm saying a fond goodbye, or rather, Auf Wiedersehen, as the farewell in my native language implies the possibility of a reunion, meaning, literally, "till we meet again".

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I broke up with Heroes in Season Two and I was rather the opposite of you following Knauf's writing - I was watching the show *even though* Jeph Loeb, one of my least favourite comic writers ever, was involved. I really enjoyed the first season, but was suspicious when they didn't kill Sylar, and I'm glad I jumped ship early and spared myself the pain of late X-Files. To be honest, I haven't ever watched all of Season 9 X-Files, even though I was a great fan of Doggett.

And I wouldn't have hung on to Supernatural through Season 3 if the fans hadn't been so awesome, but Season 4 is notably better.

[winter]

I must say I had the same reaction to season 3 - I get that Zachary Quinto is a wonderful actor, and that they want to keep him, but it's a comic-book show, they should have pulled in a clone or twin or alternate-reality version.

And I got the no-long-term-plans thing when they killed Isaac back in S1. Killing off my favourite character didn't endear the show to me ;)

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Wow, you, too? Now I'm floored.

Granted, I've been breaking up with the show ever since they killed Nathan for the second time - and I still think they simply don't know what to do with the character, which has been very evident in this season, as well - but ironically, the final straw was the Hiro storyline this week. I find it appalling what they've been doing to that character.

(I abhor the Sylar storyline, as you're able to guess, but I've been rather cynical about that one, so I can almost shut it out.)

As for Kring, I see your point, and I agree, but calling his audience names and sounding as if he begrudges both his writers and his actors their jobs simply doesn't make him look all that stellar. He most of all seems to have a publicity problem.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Also, just out of curiosity: would you watch Crossing Jordan? Because if Kring's intelligent (and I think he is) he's never going to touch sci-fi again after Heroes. Not that he's good at mysteries/procedurals, either, I think he should do a family drama. If DSM hadn't been cancelled, he probably would have been the perfect show runner for it.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

This caused Carter to add a myth arc to his monster of the week show, and to be frank, it sucked. Not every episode of the myth arc - I'm still fond of the s2 finale and the s3 opener - but it quickly became a convoluted mess which stopped making any sense at all because a) it clearly hadn't been thought out in advance, and b) Carter wasn't good at improvising, either.

I think something similar happened in NCIS season four, when the showrunner came up with a story arc that no one really cared about (except him, possibly) as the pacing was very odd... way too long a setup, never enough pay-off, and the whole thing just didn't make a lot of sense in the first place. Then Bellisario left the show after season four, and his successor managed to pick up the various pieces, threw some out completely and modeled the rest into an arc that actually works.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

This season they seem to have reacted to the complaints about dullness last year by throwing every crack idea they think of into the mix as if it really was an all-out fan-oriented superhero comic. Which unfortunately seems to have come with some of the dodgier aspects of standard post-Claremont superhero comics as well, including sudden shifts of moral orientation that aren't really given sufficient weight in terms of either character plausibility or moral implication. (ie not just cursed!innocent!Sylar but positivelyevil!Mohinder as well).

[nomadicwriter]

I pretty much feel Heroes was already sagging in the middle of the first season; the first six episodes were ace, so were the last six, but a lot of the middle looked suspiciously like what happens when you leave a gap in your plot outline and tell yourself you're totally going to fill that bit in before you get to it, honest. So I never had a huge amount of faith it was going to work as a continuing serial. For most of seasons two and three I've basically been dipping in when I happen to channel surf past it and watching individual scenes (which actually works much better with this show than it would with most because of all the self-contained subplots). The actors are great, scene-by-scene writing is often great, but the overall plotting is too much of a mess for my tastes.

And yeah, Sylar is definitely the aspect bugging me most about season three. Story-wise, he should have stayed dead at the end of season one, and I think part of Kring's problem with writing an arc show is that he doesn't have that obsessive story-over-all JMS-style ruthlessness that says, "Yes, he's good, and the fans like him and we love working with him, but godammit the story says he has to die now." Instead, they end up applying a comic book mindset - no popular character ever has to stay dead - with the complications of TV drama - actors have got to be retained and given something to do - and the result is less than stellar. Probably the only way to keep Sylar around is to apply a redemption arc that the character hasn't got the established traits to earn... which means that they shouldn't have kept him around, but they didn't want to recognise that. And that doesn't bode well.

PS: Thanks for the rec!

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

I was beginning to get really fannish about the show at the end of season 1, and season 2 just killed it for me. Haven't seen any of season 3, and don't miss it. Except, yeah, it had such potential.

[kathyh]

The woobiefication of Sylar is just too much for me

Yup, I'm having the same problem. I'm a couple of episodes behind you so I'll stick with it for a little longer as there's enough for me still to enjoy. If you're going to do a redemption storyline you need to have at least some preparation for it not hit the viewers with it out of nowhere. Hey ho.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Just thought: it probably wasn't a good idea either to launch into Sylar's redemption story only a couple of episodes after he did what was fairly sledgehammeringly analogised to rape to Claire.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I wish I could be as mature as you. I, too, am disappointed by Sylar's storyline--but I'm even more appalled by the way it's poisoning almost everything else in the show: Elle, Peter, other characters who get pushed aside to make room for Sylar's journey of redemption (like Nathan, since the Sylar-Peter brotherly relationship seems to take precedence now), possibly even Claire, since they made such a point of establishing a connection between the characters in some of the early episodes.

And yet? I can't. Stop. Watching. I need to see it through at least to the end of this volume. And I am going to try not to rant week after week, but the last few days I just haven't been able to help myself.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm one of the people who, ever since the last few episodes of S1, have been feeling that all the interesting characters keep getting pushed out of the way to serve Peter and the other Petrellis, so I can't not feel a very wee bit of schadenfreude now.

[hibernate.livejournal.com]

Awhile ago I accepted that if I was going to be able to continue watching Heroes, I just had to embrace the crackiness. Not much makes sense anymore, so I'm just watching and laughing at it. Well, that, and Meredith. She's really been the only real highlight of this season. I guess it probably helps that I was never all that invested in this show.

Astrid made a comparison with NCIS above, and I think that's quite accurate. Season 4 was a weird, weird mess, and I'm just happy the necessary changes in management were made before it was too late. If the rumours about Bryan Fuller returning to Heroes are right, who knows what will happen.

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

You now give me cause to think about why I've broken up with some shows in the past because of wonky paths they took. The ones I stayed with maintained their storylines and held my interest (B5 is the best example). Alias lost me in the third season after the initial setup of the show changed and things just didn't feel right for me after that.

I'm on the fence with Heroes currently. Nothing really feels right about the third season. It's almost Kring threw out everything he worked for that first season like it was a mistake and he wants to try something new. Something he's not as good at doing.

But considering how little good tv is out there (way too many reality & games shows) that sometimes you have to take second rate just to have something to watch...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I am far more upset about Pushing Daisies being cancelled than I would be if Heroes were cancelled.

[blpurdom.livejournal.com]

I don't know why more people didn't watch this show. I was enjoying it so much this season, too, especially the fine use to which they've put Kristin Chenoweth and Chi McBride. :sigh: Still waiting for the Dead Like Me film, too. It's so frustrating that I enjoy Brian Fuller's work so much but he doesn't seem to be able to find a large enough audience. (Although I think the Pushing Daisies audience would have been adequate to keep the show going on cable.)

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me, too.*sigh*

[thepandorarose.livejournal.com]

How sad. I will miss your thoughts.

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

I'm quite a few episodes behind on Heroes, and I was hoping for the writing to improve, but this entry doesn't give me much hope, alas.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

As you know, I was never terribly convinced the show was very good from the start. I also happen to think Quinto is a fairly rubbish actor. (Maybe the Trek movie will change my mind, but I remember dying from laughter in the episode with the big reveal about Syler's mother.)

So color me the least surprised.

[blpurdom.livejournal.com]

I've also recently stopped watching Heroes. I have different quibbles--such as Mohinder suddenly and inexplicably growing a desire to have powers, when he never evinced such an ambition in previous seasons, the evisceration of Hiro and Ando's friendship, for no good reason, the dead characters who refuse to stay dead (that just feels like being jerked around) and the inconsistencies in explaining the origin of the powers. (The current ads for the new episode are simply ridiculous--we already had a scientist talking about creating the triplets and engaging in other genetic manipulation, and now it's a freaking ECLIPSE that supposedly gave people abilities? And another is taking them away? WTF? How does that make any sense at ALL?)

Kring also annoyed the hell out of me with his interview; he can't blame everything on viewers he deems too unsophisticated for his work. That doesn't cut it. I did like some things from this season, especially the Parkman family, from the older Parkman fooling people into thinking they were being visited by the ghost of Linderman to Matt's shamanesque experiences in Africa. But I miss Monica, Micah and DL; I miss the lovely friendship of Hiro and Ando; I miss storylines that make sense, that don't drop balls and that don't constantly recycle previous plot devices. I'm keeping an ear to the ground, though; if I hear from reliable sources that the show is "back" I may give it another try, but with trepidation. I've been burnt before when I stopped watching other shows, gave them another chance, and found myself head-desking all over again, for exactly the same reasons that led me to fall away the first time.

[mimesh.livejournal.com]

I'm very sad to hear that but I can see where you are coming from. Perhaps the reason why I'm more reluctant to let go despite my major issues with this season is that Heroes is my only real fandom. Nothing in the past two years has held my interest as much, so it's hard for me to give it up.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yay for amicable separations! Although with me since it was more a case of running off with the first available trollop, I don’t know whether Heroes would take me back even if the opportunity should arise.

The quote of Kring’s about only being in it for the origin stories rings fatally true – the show still is very good at those but in the first season it wasn’t just character origins we were watching but a whole brave new world. It wasn’t perfect then but the good parts infected the bad and now it’s feels like the other way round.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Having now seen the episode, I can see why you quit. I do suspect, however, that Sylar developments aren't quite as cheesy as they appear. Once again we had Arthur threatening to return Daphne to her old life, and I now have the feeling that as well as being able to take powers away, he can also give them to other people: I suspect that he gave Daphne her power after taking it from someone else, and that he manipulated Sylar by giving him Peter's old power of non-violent power copying, rather than Sylar always having been able to take powers without killing people.

[kernezelda]

Sylar's rediscovered his evil purpose, btw.