Spoiler-filled review of Heroes’ disappointing return to NBC.
After the season — and seemingly series — finale of Heroes Reborn, showrunner Tim Kring and NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblat issued statements saying there could be more life to the series with a “future volume with a brand new story.”
Considering the cliffhanger ending to the 13-episode arc, that news could inspire excitement from some fans. But after a frustrating and flawed revival of the superhero-inspired Heroes, it’s probably better to leave well enough alone.
Full spoilers for Heroes Reborn: Season 1 continue below.
The surprise announcement during the 2014 Winter Olympics that NBC would be bringing back Heroes for a new miniseries called “Heroes Reborn” was met with enthusiastic excitement; finally, a chance to revisit a franchise that started so strong. In viewing Heroes Reborn’s entirety, it became clear that Kring wasn’t as in tune with what clicked with people in Heroes: Season 1 as fans might have hoped.
We want to hear it.
Despite bringing back several key characters from Heroes’ initial run — Jack Coleman as Noah Bennet, Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman, Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, to name a few — Heroes Reborn always felt the vacuum of the people who didn’t return. Though there are likely many reasons that factored into Hayden Panettiere, Zachary Quinto and Milo Ventimiglia not reprising their roles as Claire Bennet, Sylar and Peter Petrelli, their absence wouldn’t have been felt so much if any of the new characters worked to fill that void.
The new crop of characters range from inoffensive (Danika Yarosh’s Malina) to insignificant (Ryan Guzman’s Carlos) to obnxious (Judith Shekoni’s Joanne). Zachary Levi’s big return to TV and NBC after Chuck ended up being a dud, as Luke felt like he should have been more central to the story than he actually was. There were some highlights, like Robbie Kay as Tommy/Nathan, who had the best arc and delivered the best performance of the season, and Rya Kihlstedt as Erica Kravid, who grew into a complicated and interesting villain.
Maybe the absence of characters as engaging as Claire was the reason why the writers of Heroes Reborn opted to make her so integral to the miniseries’ story. Despite Angela Petrelli being a somewhat significant character in this season, Peter and Sylar weren’t given more than off-handed, vague references. Claire, on the other hand, not only was the mother of Malina and Nathan but also was key to the June 13th Odessa bombing that kicked off Heroes Reborn’s story. Her relevance wasn’t just a Season 1 obsession; the cliffhanger that would have potentially led into Season 2 was about the identity of her twins’ father.
We want to hear it.
“Save the cheerleader, save the world” was the hook that made Heroes initially so appealing, but that show wouldn’t have worked without having at least a handful of characters that the audience was rooting for. This new series not only failed to bring new, interesting heroes into the mix, but also lessened the existing characters by turning people like Matt into a poorly-written villain and hiding Noah off-screen for several episodes until he was reintroduced only to sacrifice himself.
Heroes resonated with its allegory of otherness; in Heroes Reborn, that was hit over the audience’s head with less effect and little followthrough. What started as an exploration into what happens when a group of “others” are publicly outed and then the public turns against them devolved into an overcomplicated and convoluted race against the clock through time. Storylines were less about developing characters and strengthening Heroes’ mythology and ideology, and more about moving chess pieces around until they needed to be played.
That might have worked if Heroes Reborn had a stronger story. Though the series started off rocky, it did pick up its momentum and build into something interesting by its big two-part episode that went back and explored the events of June 13th. After seven episodes of build-up, Heroes Reborn had a payoff worthy of its legacy. It’s a shame that after only two more episodes the season was put on hiatus for a month and a half, effectively killing its momentum — especially since the back three episodes weren’t as engaging as the June 13th climax.
We want to hear it.
I wrote in my review of “Company Woman,” the penultimate episode of Heroes Reborn and also its most disappointing installment, that Heroes Reborn “encapsulates what didn’t work about the show,” and I stand by that having seen the series through to the end. Weak writing, shoddy green screen work and cheap effects aside (you can only do so much on a network TV budget, after all), this season was innately flawed in that it didn’t have the structure necessary to hearken back to what initially made Heroes connect with audiences. Take away the circuitous storytelling and the ancillary characters, and you’re not left with much substance.
Heroes Reborn might appeal to fans who simply wanted more time to live in Tim Kring’s Heroes world, but it also highlighted why so many people jumped ship even before the show was canceled after four seasons. The show’s biggest problem was with its characters; if they had been enough to ground Reborn, then some of its other issues might have been more easily overlooked. Instead viewers were left with a slew of relatively flat newcomers and some revamped Heroes characters who ended up being shells of their former selves. Though all hope is apparently not lost in bringing Heroes Reborn back for more, this season didn’t offer much to leave viewers clamoring for more.
