How to Stop an Exploding Man in the Stupidest Way Possible

With all apologies to Mr. Ismael, I am not intending this to be a full review of last night's Heroes episode. I was just so thoroughly disappointed by the finale last night that I had to say something. There were so many things wrong with it, most notably:

(CAUTION: SPOILERS)

1. Defusing Peter. I'll admit, the actual moment where Nathan flew down and decided to fly Peter into the atmosphere to detonate was pretty powerful. The fact that he and Peter were both willing to sacrifice themselves (though one or both is probably not dead) for their city was amazing. But when you stop to think about it, there were so many other ways to deal with the problem where they wouldn't have had to resort to that. First, Peter could have flown himself into the atmosphere, rather than Nathan needing to do it for him. Maybe Peter couldn't do this because all his efforts were geared toward controlling the radioactivity. Fine, then use the Claire (or anyone else) shooting Peter before he could explode plan. Where was the big flaw in that? Claire shoots him. Peter dies, and does not explode. Peter regenerates using the invulnerability power he got from Claire. Or, if he couldn't do that on his own, Claire helps him rengenerate like she did previously. There was no reason to go the route they did, other than the "let's be noble/macho and sacrifice ourselves for no fucking reason" principle. Bravo, writers.

2. Peter v. Sylar II. Right up until it "happened," this battle was set up to be awesome. They filmed it like it would be an epic showdown. And we had every reason to believe it would be, after the sheer awesomeness of the first match at the apartment. Two badasses with an extensive collection of powers, including telekinesis, which pretty much allows them to do whatever the fuck they want. Sylar levitated Peter - okay. Sylar flung a parking meter at Peter. Okay, we're building to something. Then Jessica/Niki intervenes. Then she leaves. Suddenly, the battle becomes a fist fight. What the hell? Does Peter have super punching powers previously unknown to the viewer? Um, no. So why punch him? TELEKINESIS, dude! My best guess at what the hell went wrong was that Jessica/Niki infected this battle with her presence, just like she infected every episode and scene in the majority of the season. Either she ruined this, or the writers just gave up. No excuse for that fight.

3. Sylar v. Hiro. In the midst of the Sylar/Peter showdown, Hiro shows up, five feet away. "You," Sylar cleverly announces. Then Hiro runs up and stabs him. I feel like turning the tv off. He runs up and stabs Sylar? Sylar, the guy who can stop bullets and fling them back at Parkman? Sylar, the guy who can stop an armored car and flip it over by waving a finger? He clearly had enough time to see Hiro coming, because he stopped and uttered that amazing witticism. The man stops bullets and, well, EVERYTHING, but he can't stop the pudgy kid with the sword. And Hiro runs and stabs Sylar? The guy can teleport! If he had teleported a foot away and stabbed him immediately, I would have bought it. They could have done it awesome in slow motion. But no. Like Peter punching Sylar in the face, Hiro runs up and stabs him. I just don't understand it.

4. Hiro's ability. I've complained about this before - time travel presents an endless problem of why you don't just travel a few seconds earlier, or however earlier you need to fix things, and fix things when it's much easier. The teleporting too - when at Isaac's apartment, he teleports past Sylar, grabs Ando, teleports away, all before Sylar can do anything. Why, in the name of all that is holy, wouldn't he stab Sylar right then and there? Sylar couldn't have moved in time to stop it. I don't see any logical reason, other than moving this moment to the climax where it would be more dramatic, for Hiro not to end it right there.

Not to be a hater, but I've got a lot of problems with this show right now. I've held off up to this point because I thought the finale would address most of them, or at least be so awesome in what it does address that any other problem seems minor. Then, when the finale blows some serious goats, these problems seem more glaring. So here we go:

We never follow one character's progression long enough to really care. I mean, all the characters are generally likeable, but you only see them in short segments each time. Sometimes that's a good thing, as following one character for too long can detract from the overall story, especially in an ensemble show. But at some point we need episodes that focus on the development of a particular character. The only time this has happened so far was with Mr. Bennett in "Company Man," and that was a fantastic episode. Otherwise, we only get little moments. So then when people get killed off, I find myself less interested. By contrast, in a show like Lost, which takes great lengths to develop each character by focusing on a different one each episode, I really feel like I know the characters, and have some stake in their existence, even if I despise most of them. Here, I don't have that.

The character progression we do see is scattered at best. At first, I thought the writers were going for a long, slow journey type of progression, which was why we only needed to see little bits in each episode. That's why I didn't complain. Different from what I usually watch, but fine. But then, all of the sudden characters who were progressing at a snail's pace suddenly pull 180s and have supposedly reached their big moments in the span of one episode.

For example, Hiro. He started out so normal, kinda pudgy and mild-mannered. We caught a glimpse of his future as a hardened samurai, which was awesome. All season he remains the pudgy nice guy, though on a mission. Then, in one epsiode, he becomes a swordsman, apparently without the assistance of his time-manipulation powers. Um... okay. Sure, he's not the future Hiro badass we saw, but still, where's the progression there? He never had a single sword fight all season. Now, with a little practice, he's proficient.

Then you've got Nathan. The writers were clearly developing him as the ambitious leader with a good heart. He started out making selfish decisions, being an asshole in general. Over time, you got to see his caring side. But then Linderman tells him the plan to kill millions, and that Nathan will have to be complicit. Nathan's like "That's awful. Where do I sign on?" He seems conflicted, then he seems to buy into it. Right up until his final scene, we've seen nothing to indicate he's changed his mind. Then, all the sudden, he swoops in, ready to sacrifice himself and prevent a massacre. I don't buy the "he didn't want to let Claire get killed" idea, because Claire is invunlerable. I also don't buy the "he didn't want to let Peter get killed" idea, because in Nathan's solution, either Peter would get killed anyway, or Peter would be able to regenerate himself anyway.

And another thing - where is the romance in this show? Not one of the characters have a romantic interest anymore, it seems. If nothing else, this would provide some real dramatic tension. Even comic books and action movies, where the main focus is on the plot, there is usually always some sort of romance to add a layer to the story. Not so here.

Again, I still like this show, and it has incredible potential. Maybe that's why it's so frustrating right now - I know what it could be, and it could be absolutely amazing. Right now, it's not.

As a result, it's not in the same league as Lost or Battlestar Galactica in terms of quality right now, in my opinion.