And in conclusion:
I've been wrestling this past week with a decision that wasn't easy for me to make: breaking up with a show that is still ongoing. But I've always believed that once the joy and/or fascination you take from something you're fannish about doesn't outweigh the elements that cause you anger or boredom anymore, it's time to move on, rather than being bitter week after week. The first time this happened to me was with Earth: Final Conflict. It would have happened with Carnivale had Carnivale not been cancelled after the second season anyway, and it probably would have happened with Alias if there had been a sixth season, given events in the fifth (i.e. I would not have continued watching, but then again, the events in the fifth I'm referring to would not have happened had it not been the last season; at any rate, the fifth season had elements I enjoyed but I stand by my claim the fourth season would have been the perfect final season). What all of this taught me is that it's possible to separate and still remain fond of the show(s) in question. The first season of Carnivale was an awesome achievement. I hadn't watched Earth: Final Conflict for eons, but the other week I came across a favourite first season episode which was shown on tv and thought, yes, I remember why I liked that show so much back then. And I've never stopped loving Alias, fifth season grudges notwithstanding, and am delighted when finding new fanfiction such as this one.
Now it's Heroes turn. It's not that the third season doesn't offer stories I like; I love Claire's development in particular. But what I dislike is, sadly, a central storyline . The woobiefication of Sylar is just too much for me, especially since it comes at the expense of Elle, who was one of my favorite new s2 characters, and who now is completely retconned so she can be an instrument of Sylar's redemption. As opposed to many a viewer, I loved not just s1 but s2, but all I loved about s2 in particular - Bob, who was such a great shades of grey character, Elle, Molly and her adopted dads, Matt's development in general, Matt and Nathan becoming friends, Mohinder getting an absolutely fascinating Le Carré storyline, Monica - has been taken away, and in its place, we get Misunderstood!Sylar. To be fair, we also get Daphne, Arthur Petrelli who makes a great supervillain, Meredith fleshed out, and the aforementioned great Claire development, but the Sylar story still spoils all of the good stuff for me. . Moreover, let me play devil's advocate about the recent Tim Kring interview which caused much fannish ire: I think he's right as far as he himself is concerned. Not everyone can do serialized tv, plot out arcs beyond one season, and it probably would have been better if he had stuck to his original concept of rotating ensembles for each season. It's always better if you stick to what you're good at and are fond of, and if you love origin stories but aren't that interested in long-term developments, well, then you should stick to origin stories. I'm very much reminded of Chris Carter. The X-Files happened just when tv shows with longer arcs started to take off and capture the viewers' imagination, with Babylon 5 leading the way. This caused Carter to add a myth arc to his monster of the week show, and to be frank, it sucked. Not every episode of the myth arc - I'm still fond of the s2 finale and the s3 opener - but it quickly became a convoluted mess which stopped making any sense at all because a) it clearly hadn't been thought out in advance, and b) Carter wasn't good at improvising, either. (Which by contrast JMS was in Babylon 5; some of B5's most memorable developments were the result of having to improvise, as when the network demanded a change of leading man after the first season, but he pulled it off, and the result still feels like long term planning if you watch it in execution.) The X-Files would have been better if they had remained a monster of the week show, or if Carter had handed the show over to someone who could actually plot and/or improvise arcs. Tim Kring appears to have the same problem Carter did, and so unless there is a change of show runner, I don't see how a similar result can be avoided.
What all of this doesn't mean: wailing, ire and expressions of eternal hate on my part, or vows never to return to the Heroesverse again. (Or, for that matter, never to watch something created by Tim Kring again. Trust me, I was absolutely furious with Daniel Knauf about season 2 of Carnivale, but what did I do two days ago? I bought the trade collection which has just been published in German that collects the entire Iron Man: Director of SHIELD run he wrote with his son. Because I enjoyed reading it. I suppose feuds with writers just aren't for me.) I've written
about 30 stories set in the universe of Heroes; I am profoundly grateful to have watched, to have fallen in love with the characters who inspired these stories. And who knows, maybe in a year or two I'll hear that my big s3 problem has been solved in a satisfactorly manner, or that amazing things happened in subsequent episodes, and I'll buy the dvds and will return to watching. But till such a thing happens, I'm saying a fond goodbye, or rather, Auf Wiedersehen, as the farewell in my native language implies the possibility of a reunion, meaning, literally, "till we meet again".
Now it's Heroes turn. It's not that the third season doesn't offer stories I like; I love Claire's development in particular. But what I dislike is, sadly, a central storyline . The woobiefication of Sylar is just too much for me, especially since it comes at the expense of Elle, who was one of my favorite new s2 characters, and who now is completely retconned so she can be an instrument of Sylar's redemption. As opposed to many a viewer, I loved not just s1 but s2, but all I loved about s2 in particular - Bob, who was such a great shades of grey character, Elle, Molly and her adopted dads, Matt's development in general, Matt and Nathan becoming friends, Mohinder getting an absolutely fascinating Le Carré storyline, Monica - has been taken away, and in its place, we get Misunderstood!Sylar. To be fair, we also get Daphne, Arthur Petrelli who makes a great supervillain, Meredith fleshed out, and the aforementioned great Claire development, but the Sylar story still spoils all of the good stuff for me. . Moreover, let me play devil's advocate about the recent Tim Kring interview which caused much fannish ire: I think he's right as far as he himself is concerned. Not everyone can do serialized tv, plot out arcs beyond one season, and it probably would have been better if he had stuck to his original concept of rotating ensembles for each season. It's always better if you stick to what you're good at and are fond of, and if you love origin stories but aren't that interested in long-term developments, well, then you should stick to origin stories. I'm very much reminded of Chris Carter. The X-Files happened just when tv shows with longer arcs started to take off and capture the viewers' imagination, with Babylon 5 leading the way. This caused Carter to add a myth arc to his monster of the week show, and to be frank, it sucked. Not every episode of the myth arc - I'm still fond of the s2 finale and the s3 opener - but it quickly became a convoluted mess which stopped making any sense at all because a) it clearly hadn't been thought out in advance, and b) Carter wasn't good at improvising, either. (Which by contrast JMS was in Babylon 5; some of B5's most memorable developments were the result of having to improvise, as when the network demanded a change of leading man after the first season, but he pulled it off, and the result still feels like long term planning if you watch it in execution.) The X-Files would have been better if they had remained a monster of the week show, or if Carter had handed the show over to someone who could actually plot and/or improvise arcs. Tim Kring appears to have the same problem Carter did, and so unless there is a change of show runner, I don't see how a similar result can be avoided.
What all of this doesn't mean: wailing, ire and expressions of eternal hate on my part, or vows never to return to the Heroesverse again. (Or, for that matter, never to watch something created by Tim Kring again. Trust me, I was absolutely furious with Daniel Knauf about season 2 of Carnivale, but what did I do two days ago? I bought the trade collection which has just been published in German that collects the entire Iron Man: Director of SHIELD run he wrote with his son. Because I enjoyed reading it. I suppose feuds with writers just aren't for me.) I've written
about 30 stories set in the universe of Heroes; I am profoundly grateful to have watched, to have fallen in love with the characters who inspired these stories. And who knows, maybe in a year or two I'll hear that my big s3 problem has been solved in a satisfactorly manner, or that amazing things happened in subsequent episodes, and I'll buy the dvds and will return to watching. But till such a thing happens, I'm saying a fond goodbye, or rather, Auf Wiedersehen, as the farewell in my native language implies the possibility of a reunion, meaning, literally, "till we meet again".