Heroes: Season 2 Reviews

• Hey, kids! Did you like Season 1? *sucker punch*

  
  By A2U6NDRIC7KWQR on 2008-06-28
  Heroes: Season One was a phenomenon. Someone was making a show about superheroes, and they were doing it *smart*. We cared about the heroes. We shivered at the villains. We weren't sure where the plot was going, but we were along for the ride.
  
  And then Season Two was inflicted upon us. "The writer's strike was going on... It wasn't *that* bad..."
  
  Yes, yes it was. Bad on its own merits, but worse because it took the cockpit of one of the best shows on television and dumped fuel at 50,000 feet.
  
  If all you come to "Heroes" for is some action and excitement and special effects, perhaps you found the season enjoyable, and I don't fault you for that. But if you're prone to ask yourself silly questions like "Why should two people who have been friends in the past and have the ability to freeze time (and thus literally all the time in the world to discuss and explain things) need to come to blows" or "How the devil would someone with the ability to regenerate know that doing 'x' would result in his permanent demise" or even "Why is this person doing these stupid and out-of-character things other than someone's desperate need for the plot to move in a particular direction"... This show will leave you, as a Season 1 veteran, *howling* in pain.
  
  Watch one of our female leads devolve as a character and date a sociopath! Marvel as the writers decide killing people off is cleaner than resolving their issues! Thrill to the slow-moving travels of a blubbering, co-dependent cipher! Gawk at writing so shallow that you can practically read the outline through the script! Boggle at the notion that anyone has actually thought this through!
  
  Or, don't.
  No, really. Just don't. Spare yourself.
  
  

• Wait 'til it goes down in price!

  
  By A28SBPF6KFZ7VL on 2008-06-25
  HEROES is a terrific show with very interesting characters and intriguing storylines. It is well-written and well-acted. I even enjoyed Season Two, even though it wasn't as exciting as Season One (hence the 4-star rating instead of 5). I highly recommend it to everyone.
  
  However, for the studio to offer Season Two to us fans at the regular TV season price is ridiculous. Don't pay it! Wait until they lower the price. Remember: we were only given HALF A SEASON last year due to the writers strike. They never came back like some other shows. Why pay the same price for half the episodes? WAIT!
  
  

• No Mac Viewing Capability

  
  By A2D8BU7S5L5S4T on 2007-11-04
  It would seem that this can not be watched on an Apple product (ITunes/Ipod/ITouch) which is disappointing to say the least.
  
  I am a loyal Amazon user (at least two purchases a month) but this decision to provide episodes (but not for mac users) makes it easier to switch to other suppliers of product.
  
  Amazon - you are better than this. Get this resolved for Mac users.
  
  
  
  

• Not the total waste that some fans call it

  
  By A2A6NH6DPE0VXR on 2008-06-30
  Heroes season 2 I think was pretty good considering that they cut it down due to that uselesss writer's strike. I mean the strike was useless, not the writers themselves. It left us with nothing but crappy reality shows through-out most of the year. Heroes season 2 told as good of a story as it could've due to the short time. It does start out a bit better than it ends though. Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) still steals the show. Him in the past where he meets his childhood hero Takezo Kensei (an excellent David Anders of Alias) led to some of the more engaging stuff of the season. Parkman (Greg Grunberg) finding out that his father is infact Molly's nightmareman was a little disappointing I admit. However the nightmare scenes were done well enough that I didn't care after awhile. I just wish that their was more of him since he was one of the fresher things about this season. He also was a little creepy.
  
  Speaking of creepy, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) is back but powerless. He shows that he's dangerous even without his powers though. He meets a woman with a dangerous power that kills everyone around her when her eyes turn black and bleed. She's a good person but her powers kill people and only her brother's power can control her power if that makes sense. Sylar gets in her head and makes her think that he's a good person that wants to help her. When he's really just fascinated by her power and wants it for himself. Well when he gets his back that is and he thinks Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) can help him get them back.
  
  While Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) mysteriously lost his memory and doesn't remember his brother Nathan or even having powers. He falls for a women who's brother says he can help him remmember. He wants him to use his powers for bad though before he'll help him. While Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) moves his daughter Claire (Hayden Panettiere) somewhere to protect her from the company. He tells her to stay low. That's easier said than done when a kid there sees that she has powers. It's ok with him though since he can...fly.
  
  I was entertained by the season. It has many twists and turns. Does it all lead up to something great though in the end ? No, I can't really say that. Instead of NY being threatened by a bomb it's now threatened by a virus. While instead of Hiro seeing the future and seeing that NY is doomed, Peter does instead. So they could've been more original, it was too familiar to what we already seen in season 1. While Ali Larter has shown she can act as Nikki, she's wasted in this season with little to do.It also bugged me that some new heroes have powers that we have already seen. Such as, one can fly "like Nathan", while another can heal "like Claire". However those were probably my only problems with the season. Other than that they did what they could due to the strike and it could have been worse.
  
  

• Disappointing

  
  By A2SQNSK7DDG64V on 2008-06-23
  HEROES Season 2 came with high expectations. Besides delivering a dynamite first season, the team behind the show had run a terrific multi-platform entertainment set up, with text messaging, online content (including mini-comics), and all sorts of ways to get into the world of the show. I was hooked-- and my wife and I were home Mondays to catch every episode.
  Then Season 2 came out--expectations were high--and I had one night after another of WTF???
  I kept having to make excuses to my wife for why the show really WASN'T sucking, even if it seemed to be, because they would make it better.
  And they didn't. Week after week.
  It seemed as if the creative team had been replaced by folks who had never *watched* HEROES, much less worked on it.
  Virtually nothing was enjoyable or entertaining, least of all the resolutions to this abbreviated season's confusing and meandering storylines.
  Unless the show gets its act together in the first few episodes of Season 3, HEROES won't be drawing my interest this year.
  As for this DVD set, I'll think about buying it when the cost comes down to its value to me... say around $10. Maybe.
  -one ticked-off HEROES fan (?)
  
  
• The Writers didn't understand their own creation
  By A8ZCDRMULBM8T on 2008-06-24
  It seems like, in the wake of HEROES' huge first season success, Tim Kring and his staff looked back at those episodes and then completely misinterpreted what the audience had liked about them. As the second season started lots of new characters were introduced, all of them uninteresting and poorly cast. Characters from the first season remained frozen in their storylines, going nowhere. The first season's famous cliffhanger endings were gone. There were a few hints of the former glory, but not many. In fact, the writers' strike may have been a blessing for HEROES. This disastrous season was truncated and Kring & Co. have had the time to reflect on the mistakes that were made. Maybe they'll get back on track for Season Three. If you need to own this boxed set of Season Two just in order to keep your collection complete then wait a few months and get it cheaper on Ebay. It's certainly not worth $40!
  
  
• One-hit wonder tanks in season 2
  By A42GFMF12V7XR on 2008-08-06
  The best thing to happen to season 2 was the writer's strike, it put the season out of its misery! With that the producers decided to cancel the rest of the season and try again next year.
  
  The cliffhanger from season 1 was not even delt with until most viewers stopped watching.
  
  Oh, this second season was PAINFUL to watch! My co-workers dropped out after only 4 episodes. I recorded the show so that I could fast forward through, hoping it would get back on track. It never did, I kept fast forwarding through the entire season.
  
  Season 1 was great, never to be equaled by season 2. Maybe season 3 will be better, if anyone is still watching. It is sad to see the hottest show of 2006 go down in flames in 2007.
  
  
• Heroes does it again!
  By A94W528LQHYVD on 2008-06-21
  Despite all the negative reviews there has been for the second season of Heroes...
  It still kept me interested in the building plot and storyline. Heroes is one of the most amazing shows there are in television today, if there's a certain person who says they don't like it, they've never watched this show. I am HIGHLY anticipated for the third upcoming season.
  The only downside is, the second season was shortened to a smaller number of episodes compared to its first due to the WGA strike.
  But other than that. I will guarantee you that you'll love this show. Be sure to have the first season purchased also if you're new to the show so you could have a better understanding.
  
  
• Not up to the quality of Season 1 but still good
  By A3T3USBHXZ5Q7F on 2008-06-26
  Season One of Heroes was phenomenal; I really got invested into the characters and their wild stories. It was funny, exciting, dark and unique. Season 2 dipped in quality a bit, partly due to the writer's strike, but I still found it entertaining and not as bad as many are making it out to be. Hiro DID spend too much time in Japan but it was wrapped up nicely. I liked the new characters of Monica and Elle. Matt was given more time on-screen (not as much as Hiro or Claire but still quite a bit.) It's a nice set-up for the next season (which sounds like it'll be amazing... if you're disappointed with Season 2 don't stop watching. The creators are really working hard on 3 and even made an apology.) The second half of Season 2 gets even better and that's when the show really takes off.
  
  
• Failed to follow an excellent 1st season
  By A1CIQTLWE6RAZF on 2008-07-16
  Season two can be summarized neatly into one word: disappointing. Beyond that King showed us that instead of taking the characters we love and developing them further, he would rather split the plot to introduce new heroes who are ultimately killed off. Yes, our main villain with the eyebrows is back, (Sylar) but most of the season he spends it in amnesiac wanderings. Then there is the story of Hiro, who travels back in time only (oh so predictably) to be the cause of his own altered timeline (these paradoxes get repeated in almost every single time travel show in the history of tv/film, including the animated comedy Futurama where Fry travels back in time to sleep with his own grandmother, ugh). Anyway, if you want a good show watch season One. Season two will notoriously disappoint. Not sure how season Three will recover this failed attempt, but I am hopeful it does. There is not that much to watch on tv these days.
  
  
  
  
• Waste of time - don't waste your money
  By A2IX96OBV3BGR3 on 2008-07-26
  I was so excited when season two started up. After being blown away by season one -- a superhero show that wasn't stupid! Character development! Plot development! -- I couldn't have been more let down by season two if they'd deliberately tried. Not only did I stop caring about characters I'd previously loved, I actually came to loathe them due to shoddy handling of them -- I sincerely hope Niki is dead now, girl just got on my last nerve. I couldn't even begin to care about the utterly useless new heroes that were introduced, and even a returning villain managed to be boring.
  
  Hiro's big story arc was nothing but predictable and actually annoying most of the time. There were gaping plot holes throughout all of the story arcs, and the finale was so abrupt and utterly non-climatic -- just as much of a let down as the season itself.
  
  I might watch season three, but I won't be looking forward to it nearly as much as I might've had they put any effort into this season, and that's just sad. They had a great show here, and they may well have managed to trash can the whole thing with one poorly written season. And that bad writing started well before the writer's strike, so the blame can't be laid there. It just plain sucked.
  
  
• The sophmore slump strikes but fans will find some rewarding moments in season two of "Heroes"
  By AQP1VPK16SVWM on 2008-08-21
  PLEASE NOTE: Reviews are opinions. The purpose of the reviews are to HELP those who haven't seen the show decide whether or not they want to purchase/read/watch/listen to something. That's what the voting is for NOT if you agree or disagree with the reviewer. If you disagree-write a review. The comments section IS for those who want to disagree.
  
  
  The second season of "Heroes" stumbled with its story arc involving Hiro traveling back in time to feudal Japan. FYI, that subplot IS tied into the main plot of the second season. The focus here is on the Shanti Virus a concoction that can take away someone's powers but IS often lethal. There is also someone targeting those who were involved in the founding of "The Company". As with "Lost" the introduction of new characters was problematic--fans were more interested in finding out what happened to their favorites from season one. The show recovers somewhat by midset unfortunately the show was interrrupted by the Writer's Guild strike. I have no doubt that the second half of the second season would have made up for the stumbling start of season two based on what we find out in the extras but that didn't happen.
  
  The show looks extremely good in its DVD presentation. The extras are quite good as well which does make up for the diminished quality of the show. We get 11 commentary tracks. I haven't had time to listen to more than one or two of them but they are pretty good. If I'm not mistaken these are the audio versions of the video commentaries that were available on the "Heroes" website.
  
  A couple of the featurettes included here were also on the webiste. The most effective and interesting ones here are the preview of season three (which has some minor spoilers so you may want to wait to watch it if you want to be totally surprised)and a featurette that allows us to see how a series of scenes wer constructed.
  
  "Heroes" still has tremendous potential and here's hoping that the third season "Villians" is an improvement over the second season. This is a good set but isn't as strong or as good as the first season of "Heroes".
  
  Rent it.
  
  
• The Show is great. The service not so much
  By A3JL6566FVGDQS on 2007-12-03
  Since NBC left ITunes I have downloaded Heroes and Battlestar Galactica from Amazon Unbox. My comaparison of Itunes vs Unbox is as follows
  
  Posting of new episodes = Both services are equal. Both have had long delays for posting the latest episodes.
  
  Picture quality = Itunes wins by a sleight margin in my opinion but nothing truly remarkable between the two.
  
  File size = Itunes wins for smaller files.
  
  Price = No difference between the two
  
  Compatibility = Itunes and Amazon have issues with using their files on remote players however, Itunes being Apple is compatible with the Ipod which is the giant in the field at this time.
  
  
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A3BQF08Y3T3A6I on 2008-06-21
  I'll still order this shortened box set because Amazon is putting such a good preorder price on it but I'm highly disappointed in Universal and some other studios for expecting full price for half the product. We understand the writers strike slowed down production, but the price should reflect the fewer episodes we're getting! $29.99 would have been more appropriate for this set.
  
  
• Heroes Rules
  By A1GQF4JDJXBRLH on 2008-08-10
  I fell in love with this show when I first saw it. It has all the right elements. Action, adventure, mystery, comedy and wonderful speical effects. Season two was not a let down for people who appreciate good television shows. It was different from season but. Perhaps that is why many so-called fans turned away from it. But we loyal fans stayed faithful to the show. I am buying season two when it is available on DVD, and I look forward to season three. It is going to be awesome.
  
  
• A refreshing Television series
  By A3KNZ6GFHXLK0I on 2008-04-15
  Heroes is a breath of fresh air. It has multiple interwoven story lines that converge spectacularly. And the characters are original, easily likable, and well put together. Normally a superhero show would be goofy or cheesy, but this show is different.
  
  
• Not as poor as some think
  By ADY2T3QG6YSHF on 2008-06-26
  I do ackowledge that the second season of Heroes was a let-down in some ways. Even the producers have admitted they made the mistake of assuming fans wanted the same slow build as the first year and the plot of Hiro in Japan dragged too long. But it does come together with great bits, none as good as the introduction of Kristen Bell as the wonderfully psychotic Elle. Despite his presence in a poor plot, Sylar is still a great menace to watch and the Adam Monroe character is inspired as well. I do think the writers had planned for the reast of the season to be amped up but the strike curtailed it. Still, this second volume is a good way to enrich the show's history and, while not as great as the first season, is still better thrills, drama and even laughs than most network shows today. Plus, I'm sure the commentaries will touch on the problems it had and deleted scenes might help as well, making it a must have, whatever the price.
  
  
• Some of the worst TV I've ever seen...
  By A25BQA1HLHD0IC on 2008-07-29
  Season One was a comic booky mystery goodness, but they totally dropped the ball this year. Even with the writers strike complicating things, there's no excuse for the rampant plotholes, laughable dialogue, complete dismissal of continuity, and horrendously acting. Production quality also hit rock bottom - was this shot on a soap opera stage??
  
  Don't give these people any of your hard-earned cash. In a perfect world, Tim Kring would be paying us by way of apology for this drek. I'll not be sticking around for Season Three.
  
  
• ONE STAR?! C'mon now folks
  By A344M89U749ZQ3 on 2008-08-09
  Yes, this was not a stellar season. Yes, the creator of the show himself apologized for the first half of the season! But really, the second half of the season (like the last 5 eps) really started to pick up & go back to true Heroes form & it was great then when all was well in the heroes world... The writers strike happened. Now, I'm not exactly saying buy this season for the payoff of the second half of the season, but if you really like heroes & are into commentaries & DVD extras then of course buy this. There's even an extra where they talk about what was actually gonna happen for the rest of the shortened season 2.
  
  
• Disappointing Season but not a terrible one
  By A1JZDIM7L9DIZD on 2008-06-21
  First let me say this. I found Season Two of Heroes to be a letdown. The storylines were too slow, there were too many new - and uninteresting - characters introduced and the climax of the season felt rushed. I don't completely blame this on the writers, though, because the strike may have prevented the full ark of Season Two from being fleshed out. Nevertheless, the season didn't live up to its potential.
  
  Despite my disappointment with "Generations", there were quite a few things to like about this season (such as The Nightmare Man, Elle, Adam, etc.) and everything from "Four Months Ago" and after was entertaining. And for what it's worth, Season Two of Heroes was still better than a lot of the crap that came on this season (Bionic Woman, anyone).
  
  While certainly a big misstep, Season Two of Heroes wasn't the disaster people made it out to be and was quite enjoyable at times. Hopefully, though, "Villains" will get Heroes back on track.
  
  
• Yes, it really is that bad
  By A3314FWLDGJIT0 on 2008-08-08
  It is a given that many television series have a "sophmore slump," where the second season does not live up to the first. Heroes did not have a sophmore slump. It had a sophmore plummet. What were they smoking when they wrote this season? Clair's storyline was pretty much a rehash of the one she had in season 1, with all the stuff that made it good taken out, and plenty of stuff to hate added in. DL survives getting shot by Linderman only to be killed by some random thug offscreen before the season starts? Peter has amnesia and ends up working with the villan?? Not to mention the new characters introduced this season, most of whom did absolutly nothing but suck up screen time. Some (Maya and Alejandro) were just boring, while others (West) made you want to kill kittens. I doubt Heroes will ever get back to where it was in season 1, and even if it does, it will always have season 2 hanging over it like some curse.
  
  
• All in all a good season
  By A2PQLWV1TWXE19 on 2008-06-20
  I have to say that the writers had a hard time outdoing the first season, but season two still had a good curve to it. Of course they were in china way too long, and they need to stop adding new characters and start building the ones they have, but story wise it still delivered. I think season three will be much better, and am looking forward to it. It's one I'll still buy.
  
  
• Just an absolute train wreck
  By A1Y3L66LSFYGVY on 2008-07-23
  At least X-Files had the good graces to die a horrible death after giving us 5-6 solid, can't miss seasons before going completely off the rails. Heroes barely managed to keep it together for one, and that points to a lack of creative vision, execution and direction. Shame on them for taking the best new show on TV in years and making a mockery of everyone who looked forward to next week.
  
  If you felt incredibly let down by the horrible anti-climactic 'confrontation' at the end of Season 1, do not expect Season 2 to make up for it. In fact, quite the opposite, leading one to see the end of Season 1 as nothing more than a portent of (crappy) things to come.
  
  
• How to tell if you'll like Season Two.
  By A2BHTPBLR1V6V8 on 2008-08-06
  There's only two questions you need to ask yourself to determine whether or not you'll like Season 2 of Heroes: #1) Are you a Fanboy, and therefore think that the greatness of Season One justifies anything that happens (or doesn't happen, or happens again for the seventh time) in Season 2? and #2) Are you one of those creepy middle-aged virgin-types that watch the show solely for the female actresses?
  
  If your answer to either of those questions is "yes", then by all means buy Season 2. Everyone else should stay far, FAR away. Season 2 is basically just a slower, dumber re-make of Season 1. Peter doesn't understand his powers again, Claire is dating an idiot again, Sylar is inexplicably alive again, the city is in peril again, Hiro is... well, nobody knows exactly what the hell Hiro is doing, other than staring in his own personal Feudal Japan Soap-opera.
  
  The show's Producers (and Fanboys) honestly couldn't understand why nobody wanted to see Season 1 again in the form of Season 2. The most common argument on the part of those who liked it (and unbelievably, there are a few) is "Well, if you liked Season 1, why complain that Season 2 is essentially the same?" I'll tell you why we complained: because we'd already seen it, and the second time around we already knew all the so-called "secrets". Basically, Season 2 pandered solely to the type of people that spend their time writing erotic fan fiction about Nathan and Peter. And that's not a good thing.
  
  
• Not as good as season one, but a must see, don't be fooled by the nay sayers!
  By A1CUMMZDHXURWQ on 2008-08-08
  The show this season was ruined by the writer's strike, it was slow with all the traveling back into time, still for those who weren't patient to find out out how good the third season will be, too bad for them! Anyway, this second season don't expect it to be as great as season one, but there are good stories and plots, if you missed them, you'll be lost in season three.
  
  
• There's always bittorrent
  By AJGJIDRX1Q8LV on 2007-11-13
  Overall, a bad customer experience but a minor blocker in accessing the content.
  
  It's interesting though that while NBC left iTunes in a snit because Apple wouldn't bow to their price gouging (NBC wanted to charge $4.99 per episode vs. Apple's $1.99), and now Amazon distributes this content for exactly that price!?
  
  I'm guessing that the UNBOX (terrible name) currently has a fraction of the users drawn by iTunes, and this play is another Apple doomsday forecast... But does anyone have educated insight?
  
  
• Enough With the Whining
  By A1D68SZT5FWL7G on 2008-07-28
  "Absolutely sucked?" "Terrible?" What is wrong with these people? Season Two of Heroes does fall short of the glory and near-flawless execution of Season One, but the fact is that the writers' strike IS largely to blame. Sorry, folks, but that's just the truth. I know that some people would rather cry over being disappointed (as though they were entitled to so much more for their money... oh, that's right, they didn't pay a cent for this content), but if they stopped writing reviews with their hearts and started writing them with their minds, it might come out a little differently.
  
  The fact of the matter is that Heroes was hit worse than *any other network series* by the strike. This is indisputable industry fact. And even through all of that, they managed to retain much of the integrity of the show. That alone is worth the price of admission. People who are so quick to jump ship should just do so, and leave the rest of us to enjoy looking forward to Season Three. Take your poison elsewhere, folks. We're not interested here.
  
  
  
• How could things go so wrong?
  By A2S9CL0UNR6CH6 on 2008-08-08
  I don't know what happened to this show. Season 1 was slow moving, but gosh darn it, I loved the characters. I wanted to know where they were going. And things just had to pick up once they all ran into eachother. Then they'd form a sort of Justice League, wouldn't they? Never happened, but the promise of it taunted me.
  
  Hiro went from being adorable and sympathetic to being a sidekick in his own story. That went on and on and on. I like period pieces. I think the major problem with Hiro's storyline was that the plot barely existed and you couldn't help but wonder why he didn't leave.
  
  Pete got lost in Ireland. And then the future. And then Canada. And what I was saying about how Hiro's story was moving too slowly? Peter's was slower. It was only marginally faster and more satisfying than watching clothes in the dryer. I know. Occasionally clothes in the dryer distracted me from the show, much to my relief.
  
  Claire becomes possessed by the necessities of the plot, and decides to date a creepy stalker. A poorly acted creepy stalker. Who is absolved of all creepiness and forgiven his stalker tendancies by the writers, who try to pull Wes's creepy, stalker-y butt out of the flames by having him save people, but really, its too little too late. I was looking forward to Claire recovering from her apparent brain damage to dump the superior loony. When Mr. Bennet went so far as to accept stalker boy, I stopped watching. I felt betrayed by my two favorite characters.
  
  Then there's the murder mystery that peters out without really offering the suspense (they're killing characters we have little emotional investment in) or the chance at solving it. In other words the plot is half baked.
  
  There's some nice stuff with Matt and his powers, and Elle has some nice moments after her first appearance (Kristen Bell at first played her more as an Evil Veronica Mars, but made the character more unique as time passed). Mr. Bennet and his wife are also really good. And ... uh ... that's it. The rest ranges from terrible to simply forgettable.
  
  
  
  
  
• What about my MAC?
  By A23205TFN8Z0EL on 2008-05-17
  I find it hard to believe Amazon is not making it possible for MAC users to watch these shows. I guess I will stick to iTunes!
  
  
• Fantastic failure compared to Season 1
  By A395K6TZO4LQ9D on 2008-06-26
  I was a huge fan of the series in Season 1. I followed it religiously. I posted on the forums. I read every post of speculation.
  
  Then came Season 2, the WGA strikes, and general drop in storyline quality. I started skipping as much of the auxiliary story line as possible. I started to skip episodes.
  
  And at the end of the hastily put together season 2? I didn't care to look for Season 3.
  
  Honestly, Season 3 is called Villains, and should feature the WGA strikers. They've done a great job of ruining the season 2 storylines.
  
  

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