It’s not easy being a critic.
In fact, at times, my fake job as I like to call it, is surprisingly challenging.
Every morning after walking my dog, I’m expected to have an opinion.
No really, people expect it.
Good, bad or ugly. If I neglect to comment about last night’s episodes, I get emails.
Subject lines like “What about HEROES?” or “More SUPERNATURAL” are always popping up in my inbox. “Get back to work!” is also a constant. But that’s generally from my good friend and business partner Ariel who only wants me to [as she puts it] “stop wasting time because she has a mortgage to pay.”
That said, it’s mornings like these that I dread.
HEROES was on last night and quite honestly — I think my mind has been erased by the Haitian. No joke. I’m drawing a blank. I’m not sure what to think. Or more worrisome at the moment, what to write.
Thanks to an enormous cast of characters — all of whom I enjoy to varying degrees — no show in the history of my television addiction is quite so difficult to pin down. If it’s possible to both love and hate a show simultaneously —well, to paraphrase an infamous real-life line [since my writer’s are on strike], “Houston, we’ve got a problem.”
Since the show premiered last season, nobody was as big a cheerleader for HEROES as I was. Ordinary people discovering extraordinary powers, it’s my childhood fantasy come alive [I always wanted to fly].
Yet as readers of theTVaddict.com are all to fully aware. This season, HEROES has not been so easy to love. Ridiculous plots [Hiro stuck in Japan] and even lamer heroes [Wonder Twins Activate!] have tested the most heroic supporters of the show.
Thankfully, the criticism hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. “We’ve heard the complaints — and we’re doing something about it,” explained HEROES mastermind Tim Kring in a well timed interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Not surprisingly, Kring’s mea culpa is proving as reliant as an Isaac Mendez painting. Just in time for the writer’s strike to halt the show’s upward momentum, the series past three episodes seem to have gotten the show back on track.
Which brings me back to last night’s episode and my love/hate relationship with the show.
Starting off with the hate, because let’s face it — it’s far more fun.
I never thought I’d say this, but Matt Parkman has to die. How the HEROES writers have transformed one of the funniest men on the planet — actor Greg Grunberg — into one of the lamest characters in the history of television I’ll never know. But please, do us all a favour and sic Sylar on him. Because it’s killing me to watch Grunberg play babysitter to an incredibly annoying child actor.
Continuing with the hate, enter Mohinder Suresh. Also known as the world’s dumbest professor. Has it not occurred to him that practically every decision he’s made over the course of the past year has been wrong. First he sides with The Company then gives them Molly. Capping off his string of idiocy by shooting Noah Bennet in the eye! To paraphrase HRG himself, “Are you [delete expletive] kidding me!”
Which brings me to HRG and his surprising final scene. As sad as it was to see Mendez’s prophecy become a reality. It was even more depressing to see HRG’s unexpected resurrection. Not only did the HEROES writers take the easy way out, keeping a popular character alive. It set up a far too dangerous precedent. Now virtually every character on the show can be brought back to life courtesy of Claire’s unique blood type. Talk about a suspense killer.
And while on the subject of Claire, was anyone else hoping that West wouldn’t survive his fall? Now instead of putting an end to the low budget green screen flight scenes, we’re going to have to suffer through bad acting theatre as West struggles with whether to take the path of good or evil. A story I didn’t enjoy in STAR WARS Episodes 1 through 3 and don’t want to see on HEROES.
Taking a break from the negative, I would like to applaud the writers for finally giving us some interesting character development with regards to television’s newest dysfunctional father daughter duo of Bob and Elle. It was great how we finally got some real insight into why Elle acts the way she does and why HRG is so protective of Claire.
And continuing with the positive. Hiro finally got some closure, thanks to his “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” style time traveling adventure with his father. Here’s hoping he can finally put his past to rest and focus on his new and far more interesting mission. Exacting revenge on his father’s killer — Adam Monroe.
Okay, so perhaps offering up constructive criticism of my favorite show is easier than I thought. I mean once you start…. well you know how it goes.
Now for the hard part. Finding someone to pay me to do this. 
