Heroes Reborn: A Mid-Season Review

Heroes Reborn is half-way through its first season and our Leonard Marciano is here to break down all that happened in one of this season's most talked about new shows.

Spoiler Alert

With 10 episodes gone, Heroes Reborn has given us up's and downs that we're all too familiar with. In this review we'll cover the season so far and take time out to speculate on what's left for the series going forward.

When Heroes Reborn was first announced, we were all excited about being able to see many of the familiar faces that captivated the fandom. This delivered in the beginning, but the more we saw those familiar faces the more they died. It was a shock when the Haitian and Molly both died, but after a while it started to become more of a question of which original cast member would die next. This started to create predictability and frustration with the series.

With Hiro and Mohinder, at least the directors faded to black during their "supposed final moments", so there still is hope with them at least (maybe Hiro more so than Mohinder). Noah remains the central point of the series and seeing Parkman turn out to be evil - like in "Five Years Gone" - was a welcome surprise, as it seemed to show that some futures can't be changed. Bringing the Haitian back was a nice touch, and it also gave a sense of balance in the universe by having Casper die.

Credit: Heroes Reborn

The new characters have been ok, but my main critique has been that they feel a bit rehashed, as if they were being developed on the templates of past characters. In Tommy/Nathan's case, it might be acceptable since he is a direct legacy of the Petrelli clan. The other characters have felt like just a retelling of past character stories.

The newer powers have been refreshing and played well into the storyline; like Miko's father. Also, the shapeshifter working with Renautas (hopefully it is a shapeshifter and not some digital spoof of Mohinder) leaves us hoping that perhaps it might be Sylar or some other player.

In regards to the overall story, it has been enjoyable yet frustrating at the same time. On the one hand, they have given us a grandiose apocalyptic story where anything can happen, but on the other hand it feels a lot like a repeat of season one and two in regards to past storylines. The pacing has felt right at times with the only exception being the last episode. The reason I cite the last episode is because it feels like it didn't have much of a mid-season finale feel to it. If they had ended the mid-season with "Sundae, Bloody Sundae" or even "June 13th Part 2" it would've built a little more anticipation for the fans for when the show comes back. The only air of mystery that "11:53 to Odessa" left was who teleported Noah before the car hit him.  We're led to believe that it is Tommy, but not showing him leaves us to wonder if perhaps this might be a Future version of Tommy or someone else.

Right now, the show is taking a lot of chances with its story telling, especially with all of the character deaths, but they have been bordering too much predictability with some of the things they've been tryimg. On the one hand they did need to express the importance of the secret Noah was keeping in order to ensure the safety of his grandchildren and possibly the human and evo race. On the other hand, the journey they took to arrive there felt a bit too familiar.

Another critique for this season would be their choice for a main villain in "Erica Kravid." Obviously they needed to use a human for the sole purpose of drawing the line between human's and evo's, but she hasn't felt as menacing in comparison to Sylar, Arthur, Danko, or Samuel.

There are still "three episodes left," so there might be some time to finish strong. Outside of a predictable ending where our Heroes will emerge victorious but at a cost; I don't see how there might be a season two unless they possibly introduce an evo as a big bad such as Sylar or Peter. It will be hard for the show runners to create that magic that the series had in seasons one and two, but overall they have kept this season exciting and enjoyable to watch so overall I would rate this season as a good one.

Hopefully it will get a second season, despite its problems, and not meet the fate of the original series.

Credit: Heroes Reborn

Leonard Marciano is a Contributor to ComiConverse. Follow him on Twitter @LeonardTLM