The second season of Heroes is an interesting watch, but it fails to really keep you hooked the way the storyline of the first season did. The episodes seem to be treading water for most of the season, but pick up some speed towards the end.
Like before, Heroes Season 2 has a good enough story hook to keep you interested in where the show is heading and wanting to watch the third season opener.
A victim of the WGA writers' strike, the second season of Heroes only consists of 11 episodes, and the show does seem to suffer from the “sophomore curse.” The story takes place four month after the events of Kirby Plaza, and the show quickly catches viewers up on the day to day lives of some of the heroes. Most seem to be trying to get back to a normal life and continuing to deal with their powers.
The main storyline of the series (which isn’t as great as Season 1’s plotline) finds the Heroes having to deal with the mysterious “company” and stop the Shanti virus from wiping out the planet.
Along with this main plot, Season 2 also shows the heroes trying to deal with the aftermath of season one (Nathan is grieving the lost of his brother Peter, Claire has to deal with moving to a new school, and Peter has lost his memory and ended up in Ireland).
The series also uses Season 2 to introduce several new characters to the show including Maya and Alejandro (a pair of wonder siblings), West (a kid who can fly), and Monica Dawson (a girl who can mimic anything she sees).
We also get a couple of new bad guys to hate including Elle Bishop (Kristen Bell using her Veronica Mars charm for the dark side), and Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei (David Anders). Sylar is back as well, and proves he doesn’t need his powers to be the biggest bad guy walking the planet.
Slowly but surely, the season has the heroes get back together as the threads of the plot come together to make a big cliffhanger to keep you watching.
Sylar helps the wonder siblings in their flight to New York to meet up with Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy). Peter, Nathan, Matt Parkman and Hiro Nakamura team up to try to a bad guy from releases the virus. Claire and her father team up to take on the company.
For only 11 episodes, there is a lot going on, and that could be what makes Season 2 a bit of a drag. Unlike Season 1, there is not one constant building story to hold your interest and give you some clue where the season is headed.
Since we already know the company is bad, you really aren’t that interested in Mohinder’s conflict with working for them. Claire’s cheerleader tale was done to death in Season 1 so it just kind of feels like more of the same. Sylar and the wonder siblings are just borderline painful to watch – not to mention kind of annoying.
I did enjoy some of Season 2, but wished the story could have been tighter (again, lets blame the writers’ strike).
Like the first season, Hiro again is one of my favorite characters to watch on the show, and his adventures in Feudal Japan could almost make a series in itself. His interactions with his childhood hero, Takezo Kensei, are great as is the conflict of trying to not mess up the timeline.
Masi Oka owns this character and knows how to blend the comedy required for Hiro with the bravery that the character shows in all the right moments.
I also enjoyed the addition of Stephen Tobolowsky's Bob Bishop. The actor makes Bob one of the best characters on the show thanks to a constant uneasy feeling about the guy. He works for the company, but claims to be trying to fix all the wrongs that they have done.
Of course, his daughter Elle is a bit of a psycho, and you can never be too sure whether Bob is telling you the truth or not. Tobolowsky nails the duality of the character in every scene and makes him a villain that could hang with Sylar – or at least arrange to have one of the heroes kill Sylar and claim it was for the better good.
Once again, the DVD set comes loaded with special features that take you into the world of Heroes with an alternate ending for “Generations;” and inside look at the alternate ending; untold stories, commentary from cast and crew; featurettes on the series; and a look at the work of artist Tim Sale.
Sale’s art seems to not be as big of a character in Season 2, but this is still an interesting feature and I applaud them for continuing to highlight his contribution to the series.
There is also a special sneak peek at the third season of the series. There aren’t any big secrets given away in the sneak peek, but it will make you want to tune in for the premiere.
Overall, I was a bit disappointed with Heroes: Season 2. I really enjoyed the first season of the show, and was looking forward to seeing this one. It isn’t all bad, but it lacks some of the drive the show originally had.
The lacking can be blamed on the writers’ strike cutting the season short, but it does leave the show with something to prove on Season 3. From the looks of things, they are up to the task and Season 2’s cliffhanger will keep you wanting to watch.
Heroes: Season 2 is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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