Heroes Reborn: Game Over review

This Heroes Reborn review contains spoilers.

Heroes Reborn Episode 6

There are people out there that like Heroes Reborn. Yeah, I know. “WHAT? HOW?” is what you’re saying, and I’m not quite sure I have the answer to those questions, hypothetical reader that I invented.

Maybe they’ve never seen Arrow, The Flash, Daredevil, or any sci-fi television show basically ever made and they’re oblivious. Maybe they just like it ironically. Maybe they huff paint in their garage before the show airs, I’m really not sure.

Find someone who likes Heroes Reborn, show them an episode of Gotham, and watch their head explode. Don’t get me wrong; Gotham is generally awful, but compared to Heroes Reborn, it looks The Dark Knight. Compared to Heroes Reborn, Gotham looks like The Godfather. Not getting it? I’ll state it plainly, in case you’re a Heroes Reborn fan; Heroes Reborn is much worse than Gotham.

Being a writer for a site called Den of Geek, you’d expect me to enthusiastically embrace anything of this genre, or maybe you’d expect me to support a product of our culture’s attempt to shine in the mainstream. The thing is, the comic book, superhero, geek, whatever, genre isn’t underrepresented any more. I don’t have to sit back and take a dumpy, turd of a series just because I should be grateful that these stories are being told on network TV in the first place. There’s variety now, I can pick and choose when it comes to live-action superhero entertainment just like I would through the bins of a comic store.

Also, this is a review. If I wanted to enthusiastically gush about this show or talk about it in superlatives, or talk about what might happen (as this show seems obsessed with doing) I’d be on a fan page or writing a feature. I have to critically look at this hour like I would any other program on the air, and on a storytelling, character, performance and visual effects level, it is failing spectacularly. Occasionally the direction is interesting, like in tonight’s opening when Noah is strangling Harris as it fades into Carlos doing the same to Dearing. Oh, and when the show relies on two of their younger characters, Tommy and Emily, it actually represents to people behaving like humans.

Everything else is pure, utter nonsense, but not campy enough to enjoy on any level. It’s all self-serious mumbo jumbo and the plots only move half an inch every week. So many aspects are just laughably bad, like the SFX shot of Luke being saved, Quentin’s cliché “Did I do good, boss?” last gasp, Hiro’s fake hair extensions, but other aspects are cringe-worthy bad, like the horrible, Playstation 2 looking video game sequences or Taylor fake-crying over a character that we barely saw, let alone actually had an emotional connection to. I felt relieved for Quentin when he died, because at least he gets out of being involved with whatever happens next.

What’s more frustrating is that I see where the show could improve. If they only focused on more interactions like Tommy trying to get into the Eiffel Tower, or Carlos and Dearing begrudgingly road tripping, if they only gave Ren, the only character that looks like he’s having fun, more to do. And there’s maybe some potential for the future, with the story coming together a bit now that Luke and Malina are connected, and that Hiro and HRG went back to June 13, but their obejctives are still the same; Track down person A, so they can tell me about something, so I can go track down another person, so I can save the world.

And though it’s certainly possible that Heroes Reborn can turn it around, it certainly doesn’t seem feasible, especially considering the horseshit they’ve been shoveling the last three weeks. If you don’t have to watch the show, like me, than quit watching. Don’t be tricked into waiting for something worthwhile to happen when there are so many other fantastic things you could spend your time on. I hear Supergirl is pretty good.