DANA ROWADER: So, first off, what did you think of the Heroes “finale”? Thumbs up or down?
MATT TOBEY: Thumbs up, with reservations.
TRACIE COOPER: Thumb up and slightly to the left.
AMANDA VAN KEUREN: I still can’t think of it as a finale-finale, but I actually thought it was kinda crappy.
HEATHER PHARES: I thought it was pretty obviously and clunkily put together.
AVK: Yeah, sloppy to the max.
MT: I will say that I liked it better than the season-one finale.
DR: I was going to ask that, too…how people think it compared to the somewhat disappointing season-one finale.
STEPHEN THOMAS ERLEWINE: It’s hard for me to separate my thoughts about the finale from my overall frustration/disappointment with this season.
MT: Much like the entire second season, the episode seemed like they were making it up as they went along.
HP: Good point.
AVK: As disappointing finales go, I guess it was OK.
HP: Yeah, I think season-one finale was better, if only because it was clearly intended to be a finale. However, this was more action-packed and felt like there was more at stake.
TC: It felt very rushed — Peter nuking the virus after all that buildup, especially. Like…”n/m, no virus.”
AVK: Yeah…psych!

DR: Do you think the last few episodes redeemed the rest of the season at all? And what was up with the Godsend symbol in the ashes!?! That just seemed ridiculous.
TC: I do think the season was redeemed to a certain extent, definitely.
STE: I feel like the main problem is that they stalled so much in the first five episodes, they rushed through plot points that would have more impact if they spread them out over more time.
HP: Dana, I think they were finally getting some momentum before the strike cut them off at the knees.
AVK: I think you’re right, Heather.
STE: Hence, the feeling like they were making it up as they went along — good point, Matt.
MT: Thank you.
DR: I felt like the episode was more exciting than last season’s finale.
MT: I imagine Tim Kring is wishing he could start season three off by claiming all of season two was a dream.
HP: And I think this is a lesson that all shows should learn — don’t pad out your stories! Make each episode count!
AVK: I guess when the writers are rushed, the audience gets supreme cheesiness!
TC: I liked — well, “liked” — that ambiguous promise to return in 2008. Way to keep yourself safe, Heroes. “We will be back at some point between the months of January and December.”
HP: Hah, yes.
STE: I think they were pushing to the “Origins” — “no more secrets” — but now that is scratched. Making that whole sequence anticlimactic.
MT: Oh yeah, the whole idea of “Generations” as the theme was barely evident by the end.
HP: I’m still bummed that “Origins” is toast, even though I was massively disappointed by the Heroes episodes I did see.
TC: This season and finale was anticlimactic.
MT: We still don’t know Mama Petrelli’s power. Or dead scientist lady’s power. Or Hiro’s dad’s power.
AVK: Or Papa P’s.
STE: Even though they still had to end it at the Company vault, even though they never articulated clearly what that virus is.

DR: The episode had clunky TOTALLY cheesy moments that were SO laughable, too! The montage at the end during Nathan’s speech was one of their lowest moments.
HP: Agreed.
DR: It was just beyond cheese.
MT: OMG, agree on the montage.
AVK: Yeah, we didn’t need a montage.
DR: I was going to be SO mad if that was the end end. Not that I really wanted Nathan to die.
STE: I wouldn’t have been mad if that was the end and Nathan lived.
MT: I agree. I will miss Nathan a lot more than I will miss Niki.
TC: I didn’t mind the montage, but I laughed a little bit when Peter was screaming Nathan’s name over and over and Nathan (from his perspective) didn’t hear. And I love Nathan, so that’s saying something.
HP: Wow, now I’m even more disappointed — I forgot about all that stuff because I was so confused by what I did get to see.
DR: The montage really took away from Nathan’s last moments. It would have been SO much more affecting if he got to act the crap out of it and then got shot.
AVK: I was pretty sure Nathan was going to be one of the ones to die. Too bad they didn’t have “Adam” on hand to lend his magical blood again.
HP: Yes, as much as it makes me sad, I am willing to sacrifice Nathan if it means an end to dumb-as-rocks Peter.
STE: I wish it was an either/or situation. I think we’ll still have a dumb Peter.
TC: They still have Claire Bear — Nathan could be healed (twice).
STE: Niki, I feel bad for — they never figured out what they were doing with her, to the point she turned amnesiac about her son’s powers in her final scene!
HP: Yes! I’m afraid you’re right, Tom.
AVK: I feel bad for Micah! He’s an orphan now.
TC: Agreed. I think he might be a villain, though. An apprentice villain.
STE: Which will make it hard to believe that Sylar would ever not succeed in his schemes.
TC: Magneto didn’t start out evil. Neither did Anakin Skywalker.
AVK: Oooh, hadn’t thought of that. Well, screw him, then!!
HP: Ooh, good point Tracie.
MT: Yeah, Micah definitely has his young Anakin moments.
AVK: Yeah, I can see that now. He’s very keen on using his powers.
DR: Another thing about this season. Dumbing down the characters…
STE: The problem I have is that the only way some plots can work is if the characters are dumb…so they decided to make the characters dumb.

HP: So we didn’t see the disease actually manifest until Sylar at the end, right? I wanted to see Niki start to react to the virus.
MT: Did the disease manifest?
TC: Wait, what? Sylar reacted to the virus?
HP: Those scar things he had at the end that he healed by injecting himself? Or were those just injuries?
MT: I thought the scars were injuries from Elle.
HP: OK.
STE: I THINK that was a manifestation but we never know.
TC: Those were injuries from falling through the window after Elle shocked him.
STE: Also, did Niki have a disease? Or is the power a disease? (Hence my confusion.)
MT: Niki had the virus.
STE: How do we know Matt? How did it manifest?
HP: Yeah, that makes more sense now that I think of it — I just wanted to see SOMEBODY react to the virus.
DR: Yes, Niki had it. But that’s not a problem now that she’s DEAD.
HP: Exactly!
TC: Actually, that’s something I want clarification on — was being injected with the power-inhibiting substance the same as having the Shanti virus?
MT: Yes. She got injected with the virus, so she no longer had super strength.
STE: I swear I’m not as dumb as Mohinder.
HP: I feel about as dumb/bewlidered as Mohinder right now.
TC: So anyone — Niki, Sylar — would have eventually died?
MT: I think they would have eventually died, or it kills non-heroes.
DR: I don’t know anyone who’s going to miss Niki. I mean, it sucks for Micah, but…
STE: Maybe this means Micah will go away!
DR: Naw, he’ll just be with Monica now. Which is fine. She’s more interesting than Niki.
HP: Ha, Niki and Micah are so Heroes‘ Michael and Walt…

STE: Which brings up — why did Monica not use any of her powers when captured?
MT: I wondered that, too. Seemed flimsy.
HP: I love Monica, but YES Tom, that REALLY bugged me.
DR: I don’t know. Hadn’t Monica watched a lot of fighting movies and stuff?
MT: Yeah, Monica watched kung fu.
TC: Micah is so Order of the Phoenix-era Harry Potter right now. Sorta kinda responsible for the death of his mom. If he and Monica hadn’t gone back to get the medal, none of this would have happened.
STE: Maya almost was the Nikki & Paolo of this season.
DR: I agree, viewers reacted to Maya and her brother like Nikki and Paulo on Lost, totally.
MT: You’re just racially profiling now, Tom.
HP: Oooh.
STE: Damn, you got me.
AVK: I liked how “St. Joan” (Monica’s comic-book superhero manifestation) was THIS close to being burned at the stake like her name-inspiration.
MT: Ha! Nice, Amanda.
TC: I actually liked Monica not using her powers — it was frustrating, but she was consumed by fear.
AVK: I wondered if that was on purpose. But I’m going to go with “no.”
TC: I kept thinking she’d get her iPod out and look up “untying self from stake in burning building.”
MT: Yeah, me too.
HP: If only she’d had Wikipedia with her…
STE: Excellent points, Amanda and Tracie — it’s just that so much of the show seems haphazard this season it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt.
DR: I liked that Niki beat up the gangster even sans her super-strength, though. She was cool for a little bit before dying.
TC: I did, too, Dana.
AVK: Yeah, I was rooting for Niki during that scene (beating up dude).
HP: Honestly a lot of my confusion comes by being pretty bored with the season overall.
TC: I liked the contrast of Niki kicking ass without her powers and Monica crumbling under pressure with them.
DR: Nice point.
HP: Yeah, she had the “power” of adrenaline.
MT: I like that, Tracie, though I don’t have complete faith that it was intentional.
TC: I do only because it seems like they’ve done a lot of purposeful contrasting this year; HRG being brought to life while Hiro decides not to play God, etc.

DR: How about Peter’s stupid loyalty to Adam for so long!?
MT: Yes, very dumb. “He saved my brother! Whaaaa!”
STE: Well, Adam is quite charming.
MT: Indeed.
STE: Whether he’s Kensei, Adam, or Sark.
TC: I find him kind of smarmy. I liked him better as a drunk.
MT: Did anyone else notice that Adam’s ending was similar to Sloane’s on Alias, a show Adam was also on?
STE: YES!!!! Good point, Matt.
DR: Peter was really, really stupid this season.
AVK: Yeah, that “he saved my brother” thing was getting old fast.
TC: Peter was so easily manipulated this season.
AVK: He had a case of the Mohinders.
STE: It’s as if Peter’s earnest confusion turned into pure stupidity.
HP: I guess that could be a side product of amnesia, but it was just too much.
TC: “I wanna leave jail!” “You’ll blow up the East Coast.” “We should leave jail, Peter.” “I can’t, I’ll kill everyone.” “No you won’t, we have to destroy a virus.” “K.”
DR: Hahaha, how about the fact he never rescued Caitlin from the future?
HP: Yes!
DR: And if they changed the future…what the hell happened to her???
TC: I know, where the hell is Caitlin?!
STE: Peter clearly had amnesia about Caitlin.
MT: I totally forgot about Caitlin. She’s trapped in a nonexistent future!
AVK: Oh man, I hope they leave Caitlin there forever. I HATE HER!
MT: The space-time continuum ate her!
AVK: Thank goodness. I’m okay with that.
DR: Does she cease to exist? I just don’t buy that she’s safe and fine somewhere.
TC: If you’re in the future from the present when it’s changed, what happens to you?
HP: Yeah, I don’t like Caitlin either, but that’s a harsh way to ditch somebody. Arguably harsher than dumping someone who’s immortal in a coffin.
TC: I dunno, coffin-dumping of the immortals is way harsh.
AVK: Ooh man, I don’t know. That was so, so harsh (the coffin).
HP: I dunno, making someone not exist is pretty damn harsh…
TC: So, I was wondering — how did the coffin-dumping happen, logistically speaking? Hiro teleported Adam to Kaito’s coffin, somehow left him there and transported Kaito’s body to another place?
HP: I was wondering that, too.
MT: I’m not 100% sure Kaito’s body isn’t still in there, Tracie.
TC: I don’t know, Matt. It didn’t look like he was lying on top of a dead body.
TC: If he was that would up the harsh factor by a million.
DR: Was that definitely Kaito’s grave?
STE: I thought it was Hiro’s father’s grave.
MT: They made it seem like it was Kaito’s grave.
AVK: I thought he was on top of a body, but maybe that was just my ultimate definition of harshness in such a situation.
HP: It certainly has the most symbolism for it to be Kaito’s grave. Maybe Hiro did play God after all.…
MT: George Takei said on Howard Stern yesterday that he’d be back, so maybe Kaito is alive now.
HP: They’ve changed the past and future so much it’s amazing that there’s any fabric of time left, so why not?
MT: They bungled a lot early, and spent the whole season digging out of it.
AVK: Well, he can be back in flashbacks, too, Matt. Or time-travels.
MT: True. That’s most likely.
TC: Or as a zombie.
MT: It would be hacky to have him be alive after the whole playing God lesson.
HP: Oh I agree, just saying it wouldn’t surprise me.
DR: Just like bringing back Nathan or Niki would be bad.
HP: Again, would not surprise me.

STE: Speaking of love stories, does West’s change of mind make any sense?
I want us to be special, but not too special. Known, but not too well known.
MT: Not really. West never made much sense at all.
DR: Well, it makes a little sense. He wanted them to be special together, but to have it as a secret they shared. I have to say that I agree with the Company’s standpoint that them being open to the public about their powers is dangerous.
MT: But, Dana, the company wants the powers secret for nefarious reasons. Don’t you think?
STE: I would agree, Matt. There’s no other reason for the Company to exist. I have to admit that I have a huge grudge against the West character in general.
MT: Me too, Tom. West sucks. Less so toward the end of the season, but still.
STE: Exactly — they played him as way too creepy, so by the time he tried to redeem himself, it didn’t work.
MT: Right.
AVK: Well, Tim Kring did seem to imply in interviews that they were going to play down the “love stories.” So…I guess trapping one chick in the future and causing West to get all change-of-heart-y is one way to do that.
HP: Yeah, I didn’t like any of the love interests.
DR: They haven’t had a good love interest since Charlie the waitress.
HP: Oh, Charlie.… I still miss her.

STE: Similarly, I don’t understand Elle’s character much — initially, she’s sharp, then she morphs into Elle the Sexy Retard, then she becomes a confused girl.
HP: Who’s just trying to please Daddy.
DR: I found her annoying…UNTIL this episode.
TC: I think that Elle was sharp when she wasn’t stuck at home, where she became a sexy retard upon contact. Then she got confused after learning of her troubled youth.
DR: I liked that she was so surprised that doing good was fun.
AVK: Yeah, Elle won me over this episode, too.
DR: She could be more interesting now. I didn’t hate West in the end either. They just really bungled his early characterization.
MT: Definitely.
DR: I think they were going for that romantic comedy thing. With the couple hating each other until they realized they love each other, but it was overdone so that he was actually hateable.
AVK: I didn’t hate West at the end, either. But I still hated his acting.
TC: What I didn’t like about Elle — here’s another instance of sloppiness, IMO — was how she yelled “SYLAR!” at the top of her lungs and let him know she was there. And this was BEFORE she was all powered up to shock him!
HP: Hahaha, yes.

STE: What I still don’t understand is the slowness of the first half of the season.
TC: Tim Kring explained a lot of the slowness to Entertainment Weekly.
DR: I really felt like they undid a lot by having NO heroes be dead after last season’s finale.
HP: I think they were overconfident at the beginning of the season.
MT: He recognized it, but I don’t know if he really explained it, Tracie.
TC: He attributed it to a huge mistake on their parts in assuming we’d want more characters and more fleshing out in place of adrenaline right away.
DR: I don’t have a problem with new characters. I just want them to be interesting and well-written.
MT: Agreed, Dana. Monica was a winner. Maya, not so much. In a way, it might be good that they get an extended hiatus from the strike.
DR: The twins were SO boring. They were just written as so earnest and innocent (other than accidentally killing people).
TC: Maya was such a simpering twit. My-jah.
HP: Well, I liked Monica a lot and actually like Maya pretty well. Ha, I guess I just liked her Inky Eyes of Death.
STE: I understand where Kring is coming from, but he seems to misunderstand why they were slow in the first season.
TC: I liked Maya at first but she lost me after the millionth “Alejandrooooooooooo!”
HP: Good point, Tracie.
STE: I agree — it was the same plotline every single time out.
DR: She overacted the crap out of everything. They both did.
TC: Heather, she kills with mascara.
HP: YES!
AVK: Alejandro who ended up being totally purposeless, anyway, since all of a sudden Maya could undo the inky death-eyes herself. That seemed like a big cop-out to me.

DR: Mohinder was ruined for me a few episodes ago. I think the writers betrayed his character.
MT: Maya, Peter, Mohinder, and at times Claire, all seemed to have contracted lead poisoning that made them super dim.
TC: Yes. They must have been eating those recalled Thomas the Tank Engine toys in their breakfast cereal.
HP: Peter and Mohinder especially. I mean, we’ve seen them be smart, or at least not very, very stupid, before.
AVK: I know…Mohinder is supposed to be the wise narrator. Then he’s going to get all “Durrr…OK, I trust YOU now!”
STE: Mohinder I’ve gone from liking to detesting.
DR: I don’t think Mohinder really would have been brainwashed by the company that easily! He’s the dumbest scientist on TV.
MT: Seriously.
AVK: Haha!
TC: Bill Nye the Science Guy is better.
HP: Hee!
DR: When he shot HRG, he lost me forever.
TC: I forgive him for HRG because he did it with the intent to heal him.
DR: Tracie, do you really think Mohinder was thinking that when he shot HRG?
TC: Yes, Dana.
DR: Hmmm…I don’t think Mohinder was thinking that far ahead.
HP: I’ve never liked Mohinder and I was SO hoping that Maya and Sylar were going to kill him at the lab.

AVK: By the way…what is “The Company” going to do to HRG??
DR: NO idea! It makes little sense to me that they used up a bunch of Claire’s healing blood to bring HRG back!
MT: Does anyone think Noah shot Nathan?
TC: Holy sh*t — maybe, Matt. Or maybe West, somehow?
AVK: I kinda do (think Noah/HRG shot Nathan), just because the guy who ran away seemed about his height. That was my guess, anyway. So, maybe HRG’s role now is hitman?
STE: If HRG shot Nathan, lots of great Claire Bear issues.
AVK: Ooh, good point, Tom!! If HRG shot Nathan…yeah! Dad showdown!
TC: So, HRG would have had to go from California to Texas and shoot Nathan in a very short amount of time.
MT: Yes.
AVK: Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t give HRG much time to get there, Tracie….
TC: I didn’t get the need to go public immediately.
MT: What do you guys think all that other junk in the vault was? Bob’s Christmas presents for Elle?
HP: Heh.
TC: I don’t know, Matt, it made me think of The X-Files when CSM would go to the pentagon secret room and stick some nefarious item away in a huge hall of other nefarious items.
DR: Well, they clearly didn’t go public fast enough. But still, I think going public wasn’t the smartest idea.
MT: Yeah, that was like 10 minutes of super-vague speech, and then blam!
DR: Not that I advocate killing Nathan over it.
MT: If I was at that speech, I would’ve fallen asleep.
TC: It was still better than all of Bush’s speeches.
MT: Their idea, Dana, was that a public image would protect them. I don’t think that’s totally misguided.
DR: People would just think he was crazy…unless he actually demonstrated it.
MT: But if the public knew who they were, it would be noticed if something bad happened to them.
DR: I think then they’d just get more people after them. Wanting to experiment on them and such. The public mistrusting them.
DR: (I’m thinking X-Men here…with the backlash against the mutants.)
MT: Yeah, I don’t think that would happen, Dana. These mutants are all hot.

STE: Actually, I think it’d be more interesting if Nathan lived after giving such a wacko speech. See what happened, how it was accepted.
MT: Yeah, Tom. Me too.
HP: I agree; I don’t think Nathan’s dead.
AVK: really?? But they kind of did the “Nathan’s dead…just kidding!” thing at the end of last season.
MT: Yeah, they can’t do fake-out Nathan deaths twice.
AVK: Well, they did do the “Oh no, future New York City is in peril!!” thing twice.
TC: Tom, that has so many possibilities.
STE: But, Nathan has Atlanta the Musical to work with.
MT: He better be dead. That would be beyond lame.
TC: Niki is definitely dead, Maya was reversed dead…maybe Nathan will survive and never technically have died?
STE: Plus, Adrian Pasdar, at the Paley Festival this spring, was the only one in the cast who looked like he was itching to leave the show.
HP: Well, we didn’t see a body and we didn’t actually hear that he died.
STE: Sadly, Ali Larter was the one happiest to be there, outside of Hiro.
HP: So I’m just saying, there is a big enough loophole there for Nathan to still be with us. And maybe there’s enough of Adam’s blood still in him to withstand the gunshots?
TC: Yeah — it was a giant step from being the “whipped-cream sundae girl” in Varsity Blues. Poor Ali.
DR: Ohhhh, that’s true about Adam’s blood.
TC: Yeah, they haven’t explained the blood thing very well. Does Nathan have Adam’s healing abilities as long as a trace of the blood remains in his system?
DR: Probably, Tracie.
TC: I agree, Heather. Also, Nathan is hot. It would be like killing Sawyer on Lost.
HP: Yeah, I liked Ali a lot even though I was very, very sick of Niki/Jessica.
DR: But, really, how many “he’s/she’s dead…psych!”s can they really do?
AVK: I agree that it’s not out of the realm of possibilities, Heather.
DR: Don’t even JOKE about killing Sawyer!
HP: Exactly, Tracie! HRG and Nathan are like the only smart hot guys on the show. PLEASE DO NOT KILL THEM!
STE: Tracie, that’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! That we have no Sawyer, no Sayid, and no Han Solo now. Well, HRG is the only one who’s close to the Han Solo archetype now.
TC: You have a hit show, do NOT take away the eye candy.
DR: I was thinking last night that the show would suck SO much without HRG/Jack Coleman.
DR: Coleman really brings so much depth to the show, just from his acting.
DR: He’s one of the few people on the show who don’t really overdo anything. Acting-wise
HP: Yes, Dana.
AVK: Yeah, I really love HRG. His attitude is aces. He’s all “Psh, you can try to make me tell you what you want to know…but I’ll probably just keep bouncing this ball against the cell wall instead.”
MT: So why not give everyone an injection of Claire’s blood and call it a day?
AVK: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, Matt. I don’t want the “Claire’s blood” clause to take away the poignance of the deaths.
DR: I guess they are still deaths even if the person is brought back to life.
TC: Technically, Dana, they said two heroes would FALL.
HP: That’s what I was wondering, Matt.
DR: Ooooh.
HP: Yes, Tracie, you have to really parse what they say.
HP: Right, so maybe that’s precedent for Nathan not dying?
MT: Was that ball bouncing in the cell homage to an old movie?
HP: Yes, The Great Escape.
MT: Thank you.

DR: OK, so I wanted to point out some truly cheesy moments that were really taking away my enjoyment of the episode:
DR: West’s departure…
MT: The slow, sad flying. Yes.
DR: Parkman and Peter’s mind fight!!!
HP: That sucked so much, Dana!
DR: Peter’s TK’ing the vault. His stance was SO silly.
MT: Yeah, the looks on Parkman and Peter’s faces made it seem like they were having a farting contest.
AVK: Yes. The mind fight was the worst.
TC: Only Hiro can look constipated on this show and get away with it.
DR: Yes, Tracie!
MT: I liked Nathan and Parkman’s awkward post-flight moment. “Let’s never talk about this again.”
TC: Hiro saying “FLYING MAN!” to Nathan — cute homage or overdone?
AVK: Overdone, I thought.
HP: Eh, I still think it’s cute.
DR: Overdone, but I still love Hiro.
HP: Yeah, what Dana said.
MT: Hiro can pull that off maybe 10 or 15 more times, then it’ll get a little less cute.
DR: “Flying man” always makes me smile.
AVK: It is cute, but I think that move is more “innocent Hiro,” not “Hiro whose dad was murdered kinda/sorta because of him.”
MT: Good point, Amanda.
STE: Yeah, I agree with Matt — it’s getting less cute.
HP: Yeah, kinda seems like Hiro was regressing there.
TC: Especially preceding playing musical coffins with Adam and his dad’s corpse, Amanda.
DR: Also, the ending! Sylar’s “I’m baack.”
DR: It would have been SO much better if he just smiled sinisterly.
HP: I’m glad Sylar got to close out the show, though.
AVK: Yeah. I kept trying to guess what Sylar’s obligatory cheesy line would be.
DR: “I’m back” just ruined the moment for me.
MT: It was was pretty lame.
HP: It could’ve been worse, though. “It’s showtime!” “Heeeere’s Sylar!” or something.
AVK: I was kinda hoping for some line about spinach being good for you. Like, “Thanks, Popeye” or something equally horrid.
TC: I didn’t mind the “I’m back.”
MT: LOL, Amanda.
TC: I’ve had problems with Sylar being a caricature at points, but it fit in that instance.
DR: Well, if Sylar wants to be the cheesiest serial killer on TV, he can keep up the lines.
MT: I just hope there’s something different about Sylar this time. I’d hate for a rehash of season one.
HP: I dunno, I love Sylar so much that I’m willing to let him have a dumb catchphrase once he FINALLY got his powers back.
MT: I was anticipating Sylar being under the control of the Nightmare Man this season, and that didn’t happen. I’d like to see something like that next season, maybe. Sylar as an underling.
TC: Good point, Matt. The Nightmare Man was totally blipped over.
HP: Matt, yes! I wanted to see him explore WHY his powers weren’t working more.
DR: Yeah, that didn’t happen at all. Guess it was just the virus.
AVK: I think the Nightmare Man storyline is toast. I really wished he’d turned out to be scarier.
HP: And Nightmare Man was one of the coolest things about the season.
HP: Yes, Amanda.
DR: Overall, I didn’t really think the virus storyline was interesting enough.
HP: NO.
MT: Nightmare Man was supposed to be worse than Sylar, but he was a piece of cake to take care of.
AVK: There was all that buildup last season.
AVK: Exactly. Matt was a novice with his powers and he still beat him? Come on.
MT: Right, Amanda! Totally.
HP: I think it was just that Matt was his son that made it easy for him to beat, though.
TC: Yeah — Matt realized the “nightmare” was his home growing up, which was not a nightmare at all unless you were Maury in an unhappy marriage with a son he didn’t want.
TC: No one else could have beat him except for Matt.
HP: Eh, I would’ve liked to have seen that fight tougher.
AVK: Well, maybe they wanted to leave Nightmare Man’s demise a little bit open-ended, in case they wanted to bring him back.
DR: Part of the problem with the season was that with the characters dumbed down, the stories were as well, and I never felt like the show was respecting the audience’s intelligence.
HP: They should definitely bring him back — loved the scenes where he trapped Matt and Nathan.
TC: I loved, loved, loved the future world that was destroyed by the virus.
TC: They could have done a whole season of that, in my opinion.
MT: I agree, Tracie. The warehouse of bodies was a great moment.
TC: That was my favorite episode of the season.
DR: Someone online had suggested that Claire’s blood might help the virus/accelerate it, and that might be what leads to the pandemic, but that was not the way they went. That might have been interesting.

MT: That reminds me: Much like season one, we still never got a real one-on-one knock-down drag-out superhero fight.
TC: Yes — they did so much character development, but it was very two-dimensional.
DR: Well, I think there was more fighting in this finale than the last one.
DR: Not that it’s necessarily the season finale.
HP: It was more action-packed.
MT: Yes, but there was like no fighting in the first finale. It was a lame sandwich.
DR: Yes, this was a more fun episode than season one’s finale. But the writing was worse, if that makes any sense.
HP: It makes total sense, Dana.
TC: I think Peter’s show of powers in Primatech was supposed to be in place of a cool showdown.
HP: More action, less closure. Because it wasn’t originally intended as a finale!
AVK: Too bad it couldn’t make up for Peter’s show of dumbness.
DR: I have to say that I like the title of volume three. “Villains” could be cool.
HP: Me too, Dana! I’m still optimistic.
MT: Villains plural has interesting implications.
DR: As long as it’s exploring more than just Sylar.
HP: This chapter didn’t really cut it as far as evil goes.
MT: I’d like to see a team of villians.
TC: Yes — Sylar + Adam and who else?
DR: Kensei is SO not going to be in that grave forever.
HP: Me too Matt, that was the most interesting thing about Adam and Peter.
TC: No way, Dana.
DR: Perhaps Hiro should have given him a bullet to the head, but I’m kind of glad Hiro’s not that cold-blooded.
AVK: Oh, I agree. He didn’t shoot him in the head, therefore he didn’t take him out, not really.
TC: Adam will come back and he will be pissed, traumatized, and eviler than ever.
MT: There are several ways Adam could get out. Someone could make Molly find him, or he could just claw his way out over the course of months or years.
DR: Like Kill Bill.
HP: Yes, Matt.
HP: That’s what I thought of too, Dana!
TC: But the Black Mamba trained for years with that samurai.
MT: He spent a lot of time in Japan, maybe he trained with that martial arts master from Kill Bill.
HP: I was wondering why Hiro didn’t take Adam back in time and bury him, but that would just mean he’d get out “sooner.”
DR: He should have taken him to the future and then changed something. Caitlin’ed him
HP: Yeah, that seems too risky, Dana.
DR: True, but it would be fun. I mean, taking Adam/Kensei out of the vault and letting the vial of the virus just drop was risky, too! Hiro’s not the most careful time/space traveler.
TC: I assumed Adam dropped it in surprise/fear.
TC: He should have gone back to feudal Japan and told his past-self that kissing Yaeko ruins everything! I never got over that.
MT: Yeah, Tracie. One more reason that whole story was an embarrassing mess.
AVK: By the way, I am wondering what they’ll decide to do with Nana. The Star Trek chick, Nichelle Nichols…seems like a big name to just have in the background. But then, I said the same about Christopher Eccleston (Claude), and they haven’t done anything else with him.
HP: Agreed, Amanda — did we find out what grandma Uhura’s power was?
AVK: No, we never did, Heather.

DR: OK, let’s wrap things up…any last thoughts?
HP: More Sylar and better writing for “Villains,” please.
TC: Better writing for everyone all around and a really cool hero fight, please.
MT: Lots of super-villains! More action!
DR: Villains should unite.
TC: No more sad flights of teen angst.
HP: Hee!
MT: Amen, Tracie.
TC: (I mean flights in the literal sense)
AVK: Yeah, Tracie. West’s “soulful” glance to the sky right before takeoff in that scene was pretty awful.
DR: At least he didn’t have Peter’s old emo hair, too.
HP: But Dana, he totally WAS the Peter that it was OK for Claire to have.
AVK: Oh, and no more mind-fights!!! EVER!!!!
HP: And no more farting contests.
TC: Oh, I think they should bring back Peter’s emo hair.
DR: Yeah, just not on West.
HP: Yes, please let Peter have pretty emo hair again.
DR: Okay, nice chat, guys. Thanks for your participation!
MT: Well, here’s hoping the studios wise up, for the good of all humanity.
AVK: Amen.