Heroes Turns the Corner

I'm back for now. Just wanted to write a few brief thoughts about Volume Four, Fugitives. I am not sure I will write on any regular basis, but I will write when the feeling moves me.

The first thing that strikes me is that the writers have taken a lot of my suggestions and it has gone a long way in improving the show. Here are some of the better things they have done.

• They have essentially leveled the playing field by toning down several of the Heroes' powers. I wrote before, that it was important they did not have all-powerful characters. Peter was a god. He could do almost anything yet he seemed almost powerless at times because his character was too stupid to fully exploit his powers. This became extremely frustrating. Hiro suffered from the same problems and they have corrected that by completely removing his powers.
  
• They have severely cut down on ancillary heroes. No more Micah, no more Monica, no Maury Parkman, no Arthur Petrelli. As I wrote when they killed Maury, they need to focus on the main characters. The Petrelli's, Claire, Hiro, Matt, and Sylar. Doing any more than that is just dilutive to the character development
• They are focusing a lot on their best character, Sylar. Too bad he is evil. But the more they dig into Sylar's past, the better his character becomes
• Claire isn't so useless, and I like the change.
• HRG continues to be a big question mark. Are we ever really going to understand this guy?
• Angela is fantastic. I hope they continue to develop her character more. She is cunning and has lots of depth.
• The pace is faster, which is better. Too much storytelling actually makes things drag. This is an action show, lets not forget that.
  

I do think that they swung the pendulum too far the other way when it comes to toning guys down. While Peter being as powerful as he was upset me, now he is too weak. I'm glad they took away the ability to time travel from Hiro, but now what? Hiro was the best character. Without a power, he is a lot less interesting.

So I hope they continue down this trend. Season two was bad. Season three was mediocre. So far, this volume is looking to be much better.