I think it's truly vital to put an end to the twenty or so ongoing story lines. I've been with this show since ep 1 and have lived through everything the writers have thrown at us. The Villains arc was particularly horrible. While the ideas for the last few seasons have been tremendous, the execution and the writing have been horrible. I'm excited about Fuller and what he can do. I just hope he sticks with it, at least through the next arc.

Kill Sylar? You’re kidding right because I hate to break it to ya but Sylar is the only interesting character besides HRG left on the show. Every other character spends each episode whining. At least when Sylar whines he can turn into his mother (creepy and hilarious) Also "there are some characters whose deaths would probably alienate the audience beyond the point of recovery, and Claire's would be one of those." WRITE THIS DOWN CLAIRE IS THE WORST CHARACTER ON THE SHOW! PLEASE KILL HER!!!

I agree with iamsylar'sfan. Claire is the worst character on the show. She is lame and useless. It irks me that she acts like she so powerful but all she can do is heal. I say they need a new teen like Monica whose ability is interesting and useful. I think the show wants people to like that character so it acts as though she the show stopper when she only slow things down. Her, Hiro, Ando, Peter and Nathan are the least interesting on the group with the dullest of abilities. Either kill them or reduce their screen time.

kill the cheerleader, save the show...

Well, I have to disagree. I really like Claire and I would like to see her get a happy ending…but only if we don't see her again for a long time. I hate Sylar, and would love to see him finally get killed; for me *he's* the reason the show is bad; they don't seem to know what to do with him other than give him the power of the week and then forget later he has it. I would love to see Nathan get his too, but what I REALLY want out of this show is to have characters who ACT BELIEVABLY and CONSISTENTLY and don't constantly change allegiances and flip-flop like this sorry bunch has. If Bryan Fuller can pull that off, then I’ll be happy to keep sticking around.

The writers have let Sylar's abilities get completely out of control. He is now practically omnipotent, overshadows any other potential villain, worms his way into every storyline, monopolizes screen time, preventing other characters from developing fully, and basically just makes the show boring. Villains should be more powerful than the heroes, as that makes for good dramatic conflict. But when your main villain can do anything to anyone, anytime, anywhere; when he has dozens of powers, and accomplishes odd things like pseudo-teleportation without explanation; when he can he can heal from ANY injury, including the one that supposedly should kill him; when he can literally become any other character, then it is time to get rid of him. The dramatic tension on the show is significantly lacking, and the all-powerful SuperSylar isn't helping. I love Quinto, and thought Sylar was great as the S1 Big Bad, but they should've killed him off in the S1 finale to allow for development of other characters. The show is turning into "The Sylar Brain-eating Variety Hour."

used to like this show
then they changed it so much
we didnt even like the charcters we all fell in love with in the beginning

i agree with many points of this article
something needs to be done
i still watch the show
wincing all the while
if something better comes i will watch that instead
they are lucky i like CHUCK and dvr 24
they better do something-and not only do they need to walk a tightrope not to alienate fans but bring it back robust enough to attract new viewers
as far as claire dont kill her make her less whiney
as for syler yeah hes a run away power-i keep asking myself why is he working with the agent guy and not take his place?
major battle major deaths tie up loose ends and start tabula non rasa-ie not fully clean slate

my 2 pennies

I haven't faithfully watched every episode each week, but they have run this show so far into the ground that I am not sure what it would take to get me to look forward to next season. They could kill off the entire cast and I'm not sure I would care. It seems to me they have already killed off (or wrote out) most of the interesting characters. I liked the Haitian and Daphne and Isaac and Elle and Niki and and and...

I used to like Hiro, Ando, Matt, Claire and HGR, but they have somehow managed to make them boring.

Sylar and Denko must go. Sylar was great the first season, but he is just silly now.

The show was great when people were discovering their powers, what they were for and where they came from. Now it just seems to be about wandering aimlessly and whining a lot. What was the point of going to the concentration camp? Why should we care about Matt's baby or his ex-wife? Do we really need the details of how pitiful Denko's sex life is? These and so many other pointless things have been the focus of this season.

Sadly, I am not curious about the answers to any of the questions posed in this article. If Bryan Fuller thinks he has salvaged the 2nd half of this season, he is quite wrong. For the last couple months, every episode has been worse than the one before.

I am looking forward to the finale not because it will answer any burning questions, but because it will put an end to watching Heroes for at least several months if not forever. Maybe by the time Fall rolls around I will have forgotten how bad this season was and be ready to watch more, or maybe not.

Oops, I have faithfully watch every episode, not "haven't".

In the photo up top, who is the girl between Matt and Sylar? I'm not remembering many young brunettes (this show has far too many blondes.)

Just popping back to reply to Michael Burstein's criticism of my view that Hiro's teleportation and time travel abilities (and now Ando's) are the best thing in Heroes - they are the only powers that truly put Heroes on a cosmic plane.

Basically they need to lose Claire's atrocious wigs! What is the point? Can't she have shorter hair?

On a more serious note, I really used to love the show and I want to love it again. However, can we just decide if Sylar is good or bad?!

Also I'm finding Hiro majorly irritating and he used to be my favourite character.

It's a source of amazement to me that Heroes got renewed weeks ago (apparently a reduced order now) but we're still waiting on Chuck which is now a far more superior show.

This show never, NEVER should have been made. I mean, this show is the most pureile, poorly written, and badly acted crap that NBC has put out since Will&Grace. I can't believe this show sucks this bad. Tom Kring can't make a decent show and he is a hack to boot.

The real problem they have is "will anyone be watching the finale?" The randomness of the characters this season has been hard on viewers.

Who's TOM Kring, evil_jw? I do think the writing is poor, but I also think that there are some very good actors in this show.

Also, Baff, I believe the girl you're talking about is the girl from season one who could detect other people with powers. She was later adopted by Matt.

Ummmmm, did whoever wrote this actually watch recent episodes of Heroes? Hiro isn't the master of time and Space anymore!

SPOILERS, Hiro lost his powers. He then got his time stop/start abilities back, but he can no longer teleport. in addition to that, his powers have now malfunctions, for whatever reason. He's way less powerful than he was in season 1.

In season 1, he was undoubtedly great, and Future Hiro was awesome. Now, he's sort of a joke. Well, he was always used as the joke

The photo is the S2 cast promo pic. The brunette is Maya, the woman who could create sickness.

Oh, that's her? Mmm, doesn't look like it, but she is far away.

The show lost something for me when they took Peter's powers. The balance between Peter and Sylar was something very cool. I agree Claire's character is annoying, but that is primarily the fault of the writers, they are not utilizing her ability properly, and they are not developing the idea of "pain" both physical and otherwise.

Ahh yes, Maya, thx.

Kill Sylar. Yeah that's something they haven't done. Without Sylar the show would be complete fluff. And Hiro isn't a hero, he is just annoying. From Caitlin abandoned in the future to "The Key" and other countless plots that went nowhere along with the seasons token hero that looses their power, I expect them to take the ridiculous or pathetic route.

Do this show a favor and end it

DON'T KILL SYLAR!! Claire is pretty lame, w/ out any interesting powers, I mean after seeing her come back to life after having that wooden spike ripped out of her head in the first season, its been pretty anticlimactic. Dump Claire!

cancel the show already.
fill the slot with another lame trek series that can also be canceled early.
that'll give them enough time to make a really crappy show they can cancel after airing a handful of episodes.

What I want to see is Peter using his "one-person's-powers-at-a-time" ability to touch Sylar and gain all of his abilities and have a massive showdown between the two (possibly ending in Sylar's death) while the rest of the heroes battle an armada of Denko's men. And instead of killing Claire, why don't they give her something to do and have her running through the battlefield for some reason and getting shot up all along the way, maybe show how she can take any injury and just get back up and keep going. And as the big battle ends, suddenly a video feed interrupts every screen in the country, thanks to Rebel, showing the atrocities of Denko and the heroics of the heroes.

Or something like that. A major fight would definitely be welcome, but unlikely due to things like budget. Oh, well...

The problem with Heroes is characters never stay dead and any sense of tension is gone as a result. It is hard to worry about any of the heroes when you know chances are they'll be back from the grave in time for next weeks episode. And yes I know it is a comic book show and in comic books characters are killed and brought back at the drop of a hat but in a televised format it doesn't work. Whereas shows like Lost resurrect characters in an intelligent (and often sinister) manner Heroes flounders badly in this respect. I personally enjoyed Season 2 and only found things going off the boil early in Season 3 although thankfully they do seem to have picked up in the last couple of episodes. I remember reading a inteview with Tim Kring just before Season 2 started where he said no-one is safe and new characters would in introduced. Perhaps that should have been taken as gospel and next season an all new cast could be introduced. A major shakeup is much needed as what could have been a very decent series just appears to be treading water.

wow!! if you dont like the show then dont watch it.simple!! its near enough free to watch so stop whining about it.

The hatian one of the more interesting characters on the show has not been seen this entire volume. But we are force fed Sylar, Claire, Denko, and Peter. Like Bath says they get rid of all the interesting characters like The Hatian, Elle, Adam, Monica, and Micah. If there needs to be healer I am sure everyone prefer Adam over Claire. I'm sorry but Peter is weak and feminine and useless. I think Micah has the makings of a better Hero; he should be the focal point. Elle was by far the most intriguing character on the show but killed off like an insect. Others were written off as though they never existed. I really do see great potential in this show but the writing has been horrible. It's dragging it down.

Time to end the pain. Let's face it, the show is a lousy rip-off of the X-men. there was potential, but that is not even worth debatin anymore. is this show really coming back next season!!?? And Terminator SCC is not!!
I don't get it. X-men Origins, 5 more days, thank you, Lord!

Allow me the conceit to counter Mr. Burstein:

5 things to make Heroes better:

1.) Kill Hiro. Although his naivete was amusing in the beginning, now Hiro is absolutely annoying and clearly exists only for comic relief. Hiro's death would give Ando a reason to take up Hiro's torch in far more believable and much less ridiculous manner.

2.) NO MORE GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACIES. This is a completely cliched plot device. It is unnecessary and counterproductive to good story telling. The writers can then focus on the characters, allowing the drama to flow from their conflicts and interactions. Which brings me to:

3.) NO MORE APOCALYPTIC ENDINGS. There are only so many times we can be told the world is ending before it just gets boring. Exploring the depths of these characters is interesting enough fodder; they don't have to save the world every season. As Ron Moore wrote to his writers when conceiving the Battlestar Finale, "It's the characters, stupid."

4.) DON'T Kill Sylar. That would be utterly stupid. Every Hero needs an arch enemy, and Sylar is the perfect one. But Sylar needs to go back to being Sylar, and stop whining about his daddy issues and trying to be good. And while we're at it, Sylar could use a few henchmen. He can't be the only villain.

5.) Give Peter back his powers, and kill Nathan. Angela is a far more interesting character, and more than enough of a thorn in the side of her son. Nathan has outlived his usefulness. Peter has always been the anti-Sylar, and he needs to reclaim that position.

oh yeah, and 6.) STOP taking away peoples' powers. We know it's about seeing how these heroes react to losing their abilities, but it's been done to death. We tune in to this series to watch a show ABOUT people with abilities. and 7.) KILL MOHINDER. This is a character who existed only to provide exposition, and he has far outlived this purpose. Giving him a power and turning him into Dr. Menghele has ruined him as a character, anyway. His death is long overdue.

I have stuck with Heroes even though most the powers/characters/of the story lines have been blantant rip offs from comics (mostly the X-men) which is in and of itself disappointing as I am sure that they pay him quite a lot to come up with "original" stories for the show. So I think that some original ideas and better story lines are what will save this show.

I think that Hiro and Peter should both get their full powers back. Hiro's optimism and innocence keeps his power in check. Although, as I think about it, maybe limit his time leaps to 7 days (since we are obviously ripping off ideas), limit his time freezing to 1 minute, and teleportation to 5 miles. While we are at it, up Peter’s limit to 5 power that he can have a time to rip off the X-men some more.

What this show needs is to step out of the shadows and get people to actually to some heroics like saving a bus load of school children ( and I only put that in as I have seen this in several superhero movies) or something and the video goes viral with the whole is it a hoax or real bit.

We also need more villains to step up and go public besides the “I need my mommy” Sylar.

Perhaps they should get Stan Lee to write the show…. That would at least boost the fanboy interest to watch the show.

X-men Origins….sigh…..appears to be another butcher job like X-men 3. Another reason to throw a bunch of mutants together from the comic books with cool powers and a loose storyline.

I like how the characters have been handled since Fuller's return. And I agree that killing off Sylar would alienate too much of the audience. The problem is we've all lost track of all the powers he has. He should have a sort of mental meltdown in a way that makes it clear that if he wants to survive, he can only absorb a few select abilities - any more and he risks a having a stroke.

I hope like hell that the producers don't take this "kill Sylar" shiat seriously! I happen to absolutely adore Sylar. Yes, they've gotten a little sloppy on the writing of not only his character, but of the whole show.

I rejoiced when they made him return to Evil again. He's the most interestingly evil character in a long time. Maybe I lack some kind of intelligence, - I'd be the first to admit it, but I like the journey that Heroes has taken me on so far. Sure, there have been some bumpy passages, but its been a hell of a journey! Its fantasy, and by realizing and accepting that, I am willing to step away from reality for an hour and just enjoy the ride.

I'm grateful that the writers HAVEN'T killed Sylar, and I am highly disappointed that they've merged Nathan and him into one character. I liked the thrill of looking for Zachary Quinto every week- the man is an awesome actor. Now I'm worried that we won't see him much in the next Volume. Losing Sylar will be more than enough to make me lose interest in Heroes.

Maybe instead of hoping that beloved characters get killed off, maybe people can start coughing up some plot ideas to bring the characters back up to snuff. ..

Cough up plot ideas, Ravenwolven? These guys have pratically been paid to steal plots from comic books! Even this merger with Nathan/Sylar was taken from the Exiles comic book where an almost all powerful shapechanger is defeated by being implanted with the memories of a fallen good guy.

I really like the show but it just is starting to seem like a Marvel Comics "What If?" series.

As far as giving them NEW plot ideas, well let me know who to send them to so that I can get paid as well.

OMG, the people are here complaining that Sylar is whining, damn you should look at yourself. It's a great show, just relax and watch it. You can criticize the storylines and the show, but we can't never know where they end up, even if they get caught on some old tracks. About the characters, it's natural that there are some characters you like and dislike, because it's like that with many shows, it helps you to take a side. Believe me, if the show has only characters you like, then it would get boring very soon. And I think they did good to take things slow after the villains, because they speeded things up too much as for that, and now they have a chance to use that slow moment to revise and take an new approach. In my oppinion the show has done great since start.

Here here! Claire is an undying dead weigth on the show! kill her off!
Add more use of abilities and cut the 'endless' whining! WE WANT ACTION AND ACTION AND...ACTION! NO ROMANCE, NO FAMILY DRAMA...IF U CAN'T IMPROVE THEN JUST REPLAY SEASON 1 DAMN IT!

KILL SYLAR FOR GOOD. DON'T MAKE HIM COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!