For those of you who join us for our live Heroes chats or just read the transcripts afterward, you know that I’ve been running really hot and cold on Heroes. This show wanders worse than any series since the last few seasons of Alias, and it can be infuriating. Heroes is not unlike a hyperactive child that I just want to grab by the shoulders, sit down and just say, “shhhh.”
Ever since Bryan Fuller returned though, Heroes has been on an upswing. Although there are still plenty of moments where you just go, “wait… what?” they’re becoming fewer and farther between. Fuller’s influence has made Heroes much more linear, and for that, I am grateful.
This week, Keith, our fearless leader, sent me the rough cut of the finale, called “The Invisible Thread.” I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, because Heroes has obviously let me down before, but I was pleasantly surprised– it’s fast-paced and full of surprises. Overall, it’s really good. I’ve promised that I won’t spoil it, so I’ve chosen five of my favorite things about the episode that don’t give too much away about what you’ll see Monday night. However, if you’re the type of person who thinks talking about what has already aired in promos is spoilery, then you won’t want to continue reading.
- Claire and Sylar together (at last). This is why I mentioned the promo before the jump. We saw that Claire and Sylar end up together with him creepily telling her how much they have in common. This scene is actually really long and about 20 times creepier than it looks in the commercial. Sylar also uses a power that he isn’t commonly associated with, which ups the “ick” factor several notches.
- Sylar isn’t the only shape-shifter. Some of you may think this piece of information is a little too spoilery, but the fact that there is another shape-shifter isn’t that important. However, the who, the when and the why of it are. In fact, my exact reaction to this, I believe, was, “what– wait– WOAH. AWESOME!” It is, in fact, my favorite scene of this entire episode.
- Yes, there is a hero death. Again, this has pretty much become common knowledge and has been alluded to in the promos. However, whether it’s a death or a “death,” I won’t say. What I will say though, is that even though I expected someone to die, the show managed to do it in a really interesting and twisty way. It’s something that you’ll definitely be talking about all summer.
- A new alliance forms. Heroes likes to try to bring the entire cast together for its finales, so they can unite and try to defeat a common evil. This season finale is no exception, but what’s interesting is what comes out of it. A new, and somewhat unexpected alliance is formed, that will be the basis for some (hopefully) good drama next season.
- The Chapter 5 preview. Once again, Heroes ends this chapter a few minutes early so it can give us a preview of the next one. I spent the entire preview just waiting for it to completely undo all of the goodwill the finale had engendered. However, not only did it keep the big twist going, but it threw a really interesting monkey wrench into it that, if handled right, could make next season really good.
Heroes has taken me down this path before, so I’m reticent to get too excited about next season. However, this episode laid the groundwork for some storylines that sound amazing. If Heroes can stay on its current track and not eff everything up (again), it has the potential to live up to some of its season 1 promise — and if Heroes wants to actually see another season after this one, they’ll need to.
Photo Credit: NBC
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