Heroes woes

I'm trying to avoid yet another post about how much I love Pushing Daisies. So instead, I decided to post about why Heroes is making me nervous.

Although I was a Johnny-Come-Lately, season one of Heroes amazed me. During the week that I holed myself up in my apartment to devour the show for the first time via DVD, I became obsessed, and I finally realized what the big deal was.

But I also know a good hook when I see one. Beyond the strong characterization, acting, script and graphics (yay comic books), the mantra "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" helped guide this show to its monumental heights of popularity. Who doesn't remember the commercials last year? Whispered mantra. Black screen. Pure promotional magic.

It wasn't just that. Season one also had a well-crafted, novel-style plot line, divulged in appropriate amounts at appropriate times. But you have to admit, without "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World," Heroes may not have become the pop culture phenom it is today.

Season one was well played by Tim Kring, the show's creator/writer/producer. NBC helped as well, with its clever two-hour programming slots and all the promotion, cross-promotion and hype. And you've gotta give Masi Oka a good deal of credit too. He's a hero (or, Hiro), who's hard to resist. He's simply adorable. Not to mention all the other attractive people on the show. (Mmm Sylar. He's my fave. Is that sociopathic of me?)

Okay, so there's all that going for it, and season one ended strong. I wondered how they were going to maneuver season 2. Obviously they have to bring in new heroes, since several died last year. Also, I read enough articles to know they were bringing back some of the best (and hottest) characters, whose fates remained questionable in the controversial season finale. (Sylar, Peter, Nathan, Matt...)

But now that it's here, I seriously question how Kring has designed season 2. First of all, he added yet another pair of non-English-speaking heroes. Which is fine, I'm not trying to be ethnocentric. My problem is that the doubled subtitles means a lot of reading for a show that's already pretty intense and already requires heightened concentration. But that's manageable. On top of that, the plot is winding in questionable directions. And by winding I mean dragging along like a snail. The story's no longer epic... now it feels forced. The mystery is weak (granted, I'm comparing it to "save the cheerleader, save the world" - which can never be matched). And most of all, there's too much focus on the earlier generation of heroes. That might sound ageist, but I can't help it. Their characters are simply not as compelling as the younger ones - if not outright off-putting.

It's okay though. I'm giving it time. Maybe it just needs to develop. Claire's storyline is the saving grace right now - I love the addition of the flying boyfriend and his hatred of Horn-Rimmed-Glasses man. (Flying Boy doesn't know Horn Rim is Claire's dad.) Hopefully we'll start seeing more of Peter - his new storyline is not boring and is wonderfully Irish-brogue-filled, even though it's kind of a classic cop-out. (Amnesia is still lame, even when the victim is a hero.) Sylar's still intriguing, of course. Even when he's not cutting brains open. And most importantly, next week Kristen Bell (she played Veronica Mars) joins the cast, and I hear her character's pretty badass.

So there's a lot that can turn around this season. But EW warned about two things that could ruin Heroes in season 2: not showing enough of our favorite characters, and inflated ego. I hate to say it, but I'm seeing both of these materializing before our eyes. (Kring, why are you dividing your energies by creating "Heroes: Generations"?? We don't need a new show - we need this one to stay as good as it was last season. Pay attention!)

I hope that now that the cheerleader has been saved, Kring can stop trying to save the world and instead save his own show. Come on, Heroes! Once more, with feeling.