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SO many unanswered questions for a very flawed re-boot

posted 9 years ago by JakeVolmer
15 replies | jump to latest

I was SO glad when Heroes got a second chance and Tim Kring was back in the fold for telling its story however the mini-series just didn't justify all the waiting for the series to getting back on the air.

One question I was hoping would get answered was - WHO WAS CLAIRE'S BABY DADDY? From the episode tonight, it sounded like he is not a good guy, possibly an evo gone bad, but we'll never find out.

I am willing to believe, people getting the abilities to fly, read minds, manipulate natural forces and to a lesser extent, shoot fire, but being trapped in a video game? Maybe because I am not a gamer, I just couldn't get into the story line. I liked the fact that Miko and Ren existed but just not how the story line played out.

I didn't like Matt Parkman going bad. I missed being able to relate to the old Parkman who was in the beginning of the first series just a police officer trying to do good work. The conflict he had with his father also humanized his character. The "Reborn" Parkman just seemed like a selfish D-bag and I didn't like rooting against him. Kind of like your favorite player on your hometown team signing with a rival club for more money.

HRG was less of bad-ass than in the first series.

Zachary Levi - I just couldn't get passed him as "Chuck." He just didn't seem like a believable "Hero" or evo to me. Even though he and his wife lost their son at the summit, I just couldn't empathize with them. Killing off evos didn't seem believable.

Molly committing suicide. I didn't like that direction.

I liked that Micah was back. He was under utilized. The same with The Haitian.

I liked the Carlos story line. His history and what drove him was believable. I liked that Hiro was back and he did play a very important role. I kind of missed seeing Ando as his sidekick though. Casper (the evo with the briefcase full of pennies) was a good addition. I liked the Erica Kravid back story. It wasn't an easy history to watch and it wasn't revealed until episode 12 (so close to the end!) but at least it humanized her.

But I missed having the ability to relate to the characters like I did so many years ago. Sylar was a bad guy but there were times when you truly empathized. No one in "Reborn" was as likable as Peter Petrelli or the old Matt Parkman nor as intriguing as Sylar.

But maybe I'm being too harsh in thinking the writing wasn't exciting (ooooh that video game subplot), or the acting as good. Either, i kept watching because I wanted a resolution to the series. Tim Kring had said (or it was at least stated in an article) that he had no plans to make another "chapter." Then, why allude to another plot in the end? I just had more questions afterwards.

[–] stevefisher 9 years ago

One thing I never had a problem with was Matt Parker turning into a d-bag. In every possible glimpse of the future he was a d-bag. Now that it's actually here, he's a d-bag. I'd have been disappointed had anything else happened, I think.

[–] jayden8450 9 years ago

I disagree, they always made Matt seem like this good guy protagonist we should be rooting for, like Peter.

In season 3 in the future, when Matt was with Daphne (she wasn't fast enough) I don't think Matt was a "D-bag" or even a bad guy, though he was on the "bad" side.

Even in Season 1's future episode, Matt was a "bad guy" but he played a lot better with it. In Heroes Reborn he was a complete huge d-bag. They ruined his character. It didn't work. They didn't even care enough about his character to give him a proper ending/conclusion.

[–] monstermayhem32 9 years ago

I do wonder who the baby daddy was for Claire's baby since the ending felt as though it felt unresolved.

[–] Brainlock2 9 years ago

we've been saying this for MONTHS: some GaryStu in a book she names "Hammer" after the pulp detective Mike Hammer novel she's reading.
www.heroeswiki.com/hammer

=-=
FU Kring

[–] jayden8450 9 years ago

I feel your pain. I too was extremely thrilled - I thought, this is it - going to be like before, but not even close.

The whole Claire baby daddy thing is all over the place about some guy she nicknamed "Hammer" from this E-book that was released. It just raises more questions. We don't know his real name or what abilities he has.

I agree, they ruined Matt Parkman. He used to be a character I would root for. He could've helped. I wished he was in the show more - he should've filled in the gap, while Noah wasn't. By that I mean the "good guy, protagonist" we should be rooting for and remember from the original HEROES, but no, he's at the bottom at some river/creek forever, laughing.

HRG for me, was the only thing holding this show together and when he wasn't in it for those few episodes - very hard to get through the episodes.

Luke's character was flawed and his storyline of killing Evos, but not wanting to do it/only did it for his wife - ridiculous. They tried to make him Sylar, but it didn't work. Joanne was the worst character ever and they tried to make her this badass - no. She was no Jessica/Nikki, that's for sure.

I don't know if it was because another actress was playing Molly, or what. But it seemed nothing like Molly. I understand she's supposed to be an 'adult' but it was just an impostor to me and then she's killed off.

I feel Rene/The Haitian was used better than Micah, but still I was disappointed he didn't help in the end. Other then that stupid flashback with him in it. Micah was used more in the webisodes. In the finale he was some medical assistant - yeah they they really knew what to do with this character. Also, I don't remember seeing him in the end???? Where the F was he?

I however did not like the Carlos storyline. He was just as dull to me as Joanne. But I felt his character had a purpose, eventually.

Poor Hiro, sent to 1991 with no abilities and left in limbo. He didn't deserve that. I liked the June 13th 2 parter, but how they left it for him - horrible.

I liked the character Casper, but I think they killed off, because they couldn't use him anymore. Though, I did thought it was cold for Tommy to not even try to save him, with his time traveling 2.0 ability.

Erica backstory - when they "showed" it didn't really matter to me. I expected a lot more though. It wasn't enough explanation.

There's so much more to frustrate about, like the force of Claire, without actually having Claire in it. Other than old footage, pictures and giving her twins to save the world. The show used to be about everyone saving the world.

[–] JakeVolmer 9 years ago

Oh boy. I'll admit I did not read the E-book. There is only so much work I can do to fully understand a tv series. But seriously, Claire's baby daddy was nicknamed "The Hammer"? That's hilarious and quite an innuendo. "My boyfriend. I call him 'The Hammer.' 'Cause he nailed me."

HRG/Noah and Hiro were what partially made me keep watching as they were the link to the first series. I kept seeing them and wondered, "Okay who else is coming back?" There's got to be someone else getting significant screen time and satisfying my nerdy impulses, right? Nope. The Haitian got killed off. Micah had a background role. Molly committed suicide. No Peter, No Sylar. Parkman's a sizable douche for whom I have no empathy. Nothing about Nathan Petrelli's sons coming back having some powers. Okay, I realize I'm reaching with the last one.

And I get this series is supposed to stand on its own, and I can't have all these old characters coming back to mess with things, but perhaps my mind would let it go if the story developed better. I think part of what ruined it for me was Comic-con. I had no idea Heroes Reborn had been made until I randomly saw a presentation and Q/A with a panel of the Heroes Reborn actors. There real life personalities didn't quite fit the mold of their characters. Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian) was on the panel and there was a giant smile on his face and I just thought, "Wait! he's not supposed to smile! He's the Haitian! Get back in character! I'm not supposed to see this side of you." It was also weird seeing Jack Coleman (HRG) in normal everyday clothes. Greg Grunberg was leading the charge with excitement but it seemed excessive and didn't deliver for me. Some of the younger, newer actors were also present and they came off as uninteresting when they were asked what type of super power they would want.

Joanne - That was the character's name. I didn't even want to spend time going to the imdb page to look it up I thought she was over played and useless. She reminded me of a more annoying version of "Scary Spice." Luke vaporizing her felt anti-climatic. She deserved to be killed off but just gone in 1 second? It was unfulfilling. There was no building of tension.

I'm glad you brought up Molly. I liked the character but you're right in that it didn't feel like Molly. And then to just kill her off? Ugh.

Angela did a good job as an old character.

I like that Tommy adopted Hiro's catch phrase of "Yattah!"

I can see how one wouldn't like Carlos's storyline. He didn't really have a super ability, did he? He was just a normal guy trying to redeem himself.

The writers left Parkman at the bottom of a creek. Even though I didn't like the direction of his character, they could have had a better resolution for him. We just see some watches float away and he's laughing. I remember from the first series how much emotion there was in the story arc between Matt and his father, Maury (the Boogyman). It was missing with this character. You wanted Matt to be a better person than that and he showed it with taking care of Molly. Another imdb poster brought up how in the old series, Matt flip-flopped between good and bad. Honestly I don't remember any of that. I just remember him from trying to save Molly from his father, dealing with a cheating spouse and something about a woman with a super ability but I can't quite recall the latter.

So they wrapped up Claire's character in that she died during childbirth. Tommy took her powers so then technically, Tommy can't be hurt? Right? Does Tommy have "old" Peter's powers where he can absorb as many abilities as he wants? Or does is he like "newer" Peter where he can absorb just one at a time?

What was up with the "conduit?" The writers just threw that in there. It wasn't believable to me. And he HAD to use his grandfather? Why couldn't he use Erica Kravid? She wanted to save people so badly, she could have been sacrificed.

There were lots of new characters to follow and very little time to properly develop and find attachment to each one.

If Tim Kring wanted to wrap up the series, then don't allude to another plot - Tommy and Malina's father coming back for them. If he really knew there wasn't going to be another volume, then leave it alone.

I've re-read my post and I confirm I am insane. It's just a tv show.

[–] jayden8450 9 years ago

I agree with a lot of what you said 100%

I did like some things about the show, but it's a very small list...

I prefer the first half of the show, because of the wondering and not fulling knowing what was going on. It felt after the June 13th episodes - most of my questions were answered and I didn't like it.

I watched episode 11-12 straight in a row and I remember watching Heroes season 1 like that and I couldn't wait to get to the next disc. Did not have that same feeling at all. At that point I just wanted to see the finale. It was painful, confusing and frustrating, so I wrote a list of everything that annoyed me - Matt being a jerk was one of them.

Sure, it's just a tv show, but Tim Kring is either suffering from amnesia, or a brain injury because he was definitely not in the HEROES groove. It's annoying when some fans understand the show better than creator. I'm worried for the x files return. However, I was more of a HEROES fan.

[–] nightc1 9 years ago

I thought the reboot was fine. It was a fresh new story with ties to the original but not so many that it couldn't be it's own thing. Sure we were left with some unanswered questions... mainly who the father of Claire's kids were... but everything else wrapped itself up. I didn't mind the videogame stuff at all. It was nice they thought outside of the box for some powers rather than just reuse stuff.

I'm sad it's all over, but I'm happy it was made and I got to experience more in this universe. Maybe the next creation will be a comic series or something to continue the story and fill in the gap between Claire coming out as an Evo and her death after giving birth.

Was it all perfect? Nope, but for such an ambitious story I think they did a pretty solid job. Heck it took me rewatching the first two episodes before I saw Zachary Levi's character as Zachary Levi and not the scary evo hunter.

[–] nemirc 9 years ago

I seriously can't see why people complain about Matt becoming a bad guy. The original Heroes made it very clear that he was willing to switch teams to get what he wanted all the time.

[–] Brainlock2 9 years ago

I seriously can't see why people complain about Matt becoming a bad guy. The original Heroes made it very clear that he was willing to switch teams to get what he wanted all the time.

please cite your sources.
because we only saw Matt go "bad" TWICE.
5yg - Matt is head of DHS and is enforcing the Linderman Statutes to hunt down UNregistered Specials. He still funnels several to HRG's Underground to Canada.

s4 - latter episodes he traps Sylar -who came begging for help- in his own mind and tries to wall him up in his basement. but remember: Sylar lived in his head for months, repeatedly took control of Matt's body, and essentially RAPED Janice using Matt's body (double rape, tbh), then forced Matt to leave his family for their own safety, eventually forcing Matt to commit suicide by cop through pretending to threaten Lynnette and other Burnt Toast Diner patrons.

HR - his wife has left him, he's offered a job with a big paycheck and a promise of salvation from a cosmic HELE, which he makes clear he's only doing to protect his family.

so....ONE future where we don't see how he ended up in his position, and another where he pretty much snaps after being tortured for months. and then a chance of survival in a looming global catastrophe. yeah, he's totally a "bad guy".

=-=
FU Kring

[–] Prof_Gotham 9 years ago

My understanding is if Reborn had received a second season, the twins father, "Hammer" would have been the main antagonist.

He would have been a former member of Samuel Sullivan's circus and an evo supremacist. So, he basically would have been Magneto. And that essentially would have made Nathan and Malina Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

I could have seen one of them flirting with joining their father but ultimately siding with the good guys. Or, the show could have taken a dark turn and they could have joined daddy's Brotherhood of Evil Evos.

[–] Brainlock2 9 years ago

www.heroeswiki.com/hammer

says nothing about any association with Sullivan.

=-=
FU Kring

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bruno-mgm 9 years ago

Actually one of the things that made me satisfied with this show was the killing of a lot of characters. I believe that this story could only be great if there were sacrifice, and we see that a lot.
About Matt Parkman, I found the decision to make him a bad guy natural, since there has occured so much since he became an evo that he could shift to other side. It's natural and it happens a lot in other great stories and movies, that's what funny about it, you can never expect it to be 100% good until the end, because after all we are all humans.

Cheers.

[–] Brainlock2 9 years ago

Matt was "BAD" because he was head of DHS in 5YG in ONE potential future? you do recall he was still funneling fugitive Specials to HRG's underground, right? and that his family was also part of those refugees?

and this time, he admits to selling out because he tried t protect his family AGAIN.

=-=
FU Kring