The Conclusion

I haven’t used this blog to write up television reviews in the past however I do use it to write about things which interest me. Last night I got a second chance to see the concluding two parts of Heroes which I’ve now followed for the entire series. I would have watched them on Wednesday night but I was babysitting. Charlotte cruelly abandoned me and went out to a friend’s party leaving me with my three children. Alone. Outnumbered. Surrounded.

Heroes has been a great addition to my weekly TV schedule this autumn. Original, exciting and well-paced, Heroes is the kind of series that comes around once in a blue moon. I had a genuine feeling throughout the series that it was virtually anybody’s guess how it would end. It’s an American TV series and therefore I expected it to go to several more series, rather like Prison Break or 24. I was worried it would be a weak ending inviting me to watch further series before resolving the central storyline.

When I saw the concluding episode of Prison Break (Series 1) I remember being furious that the producers had left many parts of the plot unresolved, including the main story, and with the prisoners in a worse predicament than they had been in at practically any time in the whole series. I felt ripped off and annoyed that they hadn’t at least closed the door on several of the more important parts of the plot. I could understand that they wanted the characters to undergo future hardship and more challenges before resolving their stories, but nevertheless felt cheated. And then Sky bought the later series and lost me as a viewer forever.

Same with Lost, although I cared less, as by the end of Series 1 I wouldn’t have cared too much if a Tornado had hit the island killing all the plane crash survivors in one fell swoop, especially that stupid labrador (OK, I know I sound mean now). But a cult show is one thing; spinning out a story forever just for the sake of the television ratings is quite another.

Look at Fawlty Towers. Love it or hate it, one of the reasons that programme became such a great success is because there were only ever 12 episodes. Full stop. No follow-up needed. OK, now I realise I’m switching genre somewhat, but my point is this. If you want to have a programme where you make it run and run, then I can see how you could do that with Heroes. As long as there is a strong main storyline underlying the entire series and as long as that storyline is concluded satisfactorily at the end then I’d be happy to see a new series with some of the characters picking up where the preceding series left off.

Heroes was confidently written; it’s not often that a writer can get away with killing off that many superb heroes without alienating the audience. Remember the sweet waitress who fell in love with Hiro? Did she really have to die so violently and so early in the series just when we were beginning to get excited about her new-found special powers and when she and Hiro were evidently about to fall in love? Throughout the series I couldn’t help secretly hoping that somehow Hiro would get a chance to turn back the clock and save her life. And yet he couldn’t. And that’s what made me all the more involved and all the more concerned that the characters should be extra vigilant and do away with that pesky Sylar… tsk tsk.

The individual storylines were sometimes witty and light, yet always engaging as I watched these seemingly normal people become aware of their special powers. And for some it wasn’t an easy discovery. The menace of the evil Sylar kept me on the edge of my seat right up until last night’s whirlwind conclusion.

Congratulations to the Beeb for bringing such an unusual and highly engrossing and watchable series to our screens.

“Save the cheerleader, save the world” became an important mantra throughout the series. I hope the programme buyers/schedulers can find more of this type of “cheerleader” programme for it’s schedule in the future. This one was SUPERB.

Heroes - Complete Series 1 (HD DVD)

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