December 23, 2009 - Now that the popular consensus is that Heroes: Season 4 Volume 5 Appendix VII Scene V: Redemption is spectacularly "unterrible" we here at IGN TV thought that it would be a fine time to ask the big question: Should Heroes End This Season?
Due to a staggering drop in viewership -- from about 16 million watching during Season 1 to about 5 million for some recent episodes -- and two hefty years of critical panning, there's a good chance that Heroes might, in fact, be ceremoniously cancelled after the remaining Redemption episodes play out in a few weeks. Recently, when Heroes regular Sendhil Ramamurthy (the great and wondrous Mohinder) had been cast, in second position, in the David Tennant NBC pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer it stood out as a "sign" that Heroes could be headed for that big Primatech in the sky. Of course, eventually Ramamurthy dropped out of the pilot claiming scheduling conflicts with Heroes - a show that he rarely makes an appearance on these days.

- NBC
Parkman lies in bed, appearing to us as Sylar, while mind-Parkman stands invisibly next to Nathan, who is really Sylar. Peter yearns to be touched. Yes, this is the scene
If Heroes does return it would because that, as low as its ratings are, it still attracts enough eyes from the much-sought-after 18-24 age demographic and the fact the NBC, as a struggling network, doesn't have the two sticks needed to rub together in order to develop an entirely new series to take Heroes place.

But we're not asking is Heroes could return, we're asking if it should. So buckle up and get ready for some good, old fashioned IGN Entertainment Editor editorializing.



Brian Zoromski
Editor-in-Chief, IGN TV

Before the start of this season, "Redemption," I – like many other Heroes fans – was ready to write the series off. It didn't seem possible for the show to redeem itself or atone for the many missteps and mistakes of past storylines. But Season 4 of Heroes has turned out to be surprisingly good so far. The writers have finally figured out a good way to balance the large ensemble cast – focusing on just a few characters per episode – and have made efforts to make some of the convoluted stories from previous seasons work.
Of course, even with all the improvements the show has made – from finally killing off some characters for good (such as Nathan Petrelli) to introducing a fairly complex and fun to watch villain (Robert Knepper's Samuel), I can't shake the feeling that all the changes are temporary. Based on the previous seasons, I don't have faith that the writers can continue the level of quality that we've seen in Season 4, and for that reason I'd rather not seeHeroes return. Let the series go out on a high note. It's still a show that's never lived up to its full potential, and I have a huge list of moments and stories that I wish had never happened (e.g., Nathan's flip-flopping between wanting to tell the world about powers to locking all the heroes up, Sylar gaining powers and becoming a regular character, and the jumping to dystopian futures that will be prevented) but as of right now the story's reached a peak of quality that hasn't been seen since Season 1.
I realize that the final seven episodes of the season may completely invalidate my argument (particularly if Hiro has once again been turned into six-year-old Hiro), but I'd like to be optimistic and believe that the conclusion of Season 4 will truly be the "Redemption" the series needs. If it is, and even if there's a big cliffhanger, I'd preferHeroes to end that way, with fans clamoring for more and bemoaning its demise. It'd be an honorable way to end the series, instead of a cancellation after a whimpering, quality-sliding end. More than another season, fans ofHeroes who have watched from the start deserve an ending that doesn't make us start hating the show again and wonder why we spent so much time watching it in the first place


Eric Goldman
Editor, IGN TV

I've never seen a show so quickly drop in quality as Heroes. After an increasingly cool and strong Season 1 (semi-weak finale aside), the show then abruptly fell off a cliff. Season 2 had a ton of notable problems, and the majority of Season 3 was just awful – so much so that when the quality improved somewhat near the end of the season (when Bryan Fuller made his brief return), the joke in the office was, "Hey, Heroes was unterrible last night!"
But I have to say, I've enjoyed Season 4. For the first time in a long time, I actually care about several of these characters again, and find that their interactions are relatable and interesting, which is huge considering a year ago I didn't buy into anyone's actions on the show. It's certainly not perfect, and I still have some notable complaints, but at least there's a lot to enjoy too. I wouldn't say Heroes is great these days, but there's nothing wrong with being good.
That being said, I do think this should be the last season. I'm somewhat reminded of Alias, which was so awesome its first two seasons, before going off the rails in Season 3. That show could never fully recover from the mistakes made. That being the case, I was just glad the show ended on an entertaining, if messy, final season, even if they could never recapture what they once were.
Heroes' time in the zeitgeist is over. The poor decisions made in previous seasons gutted the audience and most who left will never return. But at least the show is once again delivering a worthwhile, if diminished, product for those of us who stuck around from the beginning. Why not end things on a good note? The show's never had a huge, overreaching story arc (whether that was a wise or ill-conceived decision is another debate), so there's no reason things can't wrap up this season. Especially since this season's specific arc, about Samuel and the Carnival, has been pretty small scale by Heroes' standards – another choice I'm fine with, considering they have done the end of the world (complete with vision of the future) thing to death.
A year ago, I was pretty much in the mindset of, "End this crap, now!" Now I'm more about the show ending gracefully. Put the characters in place for their next step – make it clear where they are headed, but give us some sense of closure. Oh, and don't forget your show is called Heroes. One of the best things about this season was seeing one of the characters, Peter Petrelli, actually acting like a genuine hero, something that rarely happened over the years. Put a couple of other characters on that path as well before the show wraps up and you're good to go.



Matt Fowler
Associate Editor, IGN TV

End it. End it now. While I don't hate it. Please. I feel like some sort of karmic, cosmic force has been wasted somehow with Heroes actually miraculously becoming an enjoyable series again and I don't want to put any more strain on the mysterious galactic forces that caused it. Last year, I was convinced that I would never again find anything redeemable about this series and I was wrong. I can admit that. But just the fact that the series has managed to find its footing again after two years of solid wretchedness is not a "get out of jail free" card. It should end while it's decent. It should end while we don't utterly curse its name.
No matter how good this series gets from here on out, even if it does continue on in Season 5, it will never be good enough to, say, make me want to buy the seasons of it on DVD or Blu-ray. Eric Goldman and I have been talking quite a bit on our podcast about the difference between American TV and British/Euro TV and about how we here in The States start with a premise, while elsewhere in the world they start with a "story to tell." In England, they have a beginning, a middle, and an end in mind at the outset. We start with an idea and then see how long we can make that idea last. We see how long we can run with that premise until it's fetid and lame. This Season/Volume of Heroes seems well-planned and agreeably formulated. I enjoy most of everything I've seen so far (a few glaring, typical moments of nonsense here and there, natch) and I find myself actually eagerly anticipating a big showdown with Samuel. Perhaps we'll even get the big awesome power battle that we were denied at the ends of Season 1 and Season 3.
If Season 5 means more adventures with Claire, Peter, Hiro and Eyebrows Fandango then I'll pass. If we're talking a whole new cast of super-powered beings - a Heroes reboot-type deal - then we can have a different conversation. But for now, I've had my fill of these goons and think I've actually seen them run the gamut of every branch of every storyline that we could possibly imagine. I don't need to see Noah's creepy over-affection for Claire Bear anymore. I don't need to see Hiro act childish or buffoonish or hear him call people "Butterfly Man" when he clearly knows their actual name. I don't need to constantly see Sylar on every episode, in three different incarnations, simply because he's the most famous member of the cast. It's just…enough. If Heroes can end on a high note than it will be able to begrudgingly forgive it its past televisual transgressions. But another season is not warranted.



Robert Canning
Writer, IGN TV

"Should Heroes end this season?" What reasons does it have to continue? Who is there to care about? What story is there left to tell? The series' audience has dramatically declined for a reason. The characters, once much loved and rich with potential, have become bogged down with inconsistency. And the plot twists, once jaw dropping and water cooler ready, have trapped their stories into corners they can never fully find their way out of. Season 4, for the most part, has done a fine job of dealing with the jumble of storytelling that was Season 3, but it hasn't been enough to bring the series back to its heights. Once the current story arc plays itself out, which is likely to happen by the end of the season, I don't see an overwhelming need for the series to return.
This is how I feel as I write this, Tuesday night, December 22, almost a full two weeks before new episodes return from a month-long break. It's possible the remaining episodes will be phenomenal, intense, awe-inspiring television that would completely change my point of view. Possible, but not likely. The series hasn't proven that it has that kind of turn-around capability. With too many characters and too many actors vying for screen time, the writers are left with an inability to focus on one outstanding idea long enough to make us care about it. This has especially been the case for the last two seasons. The introduction of Samuel Sullivan and his traveling carnival of power people was an interesting idea, but one that has yet to rise above the level of simply being interesting. Perhaps this is because we've also been dealing with Hiro's tumor and kidnapped girlfriend, Sylar, Parkmanand Nathan's identity issues, Claire's lesbianism and soul searching, Noah's memory-erased almost mistress, Peter's desire to help people, Emma's sound collages and whatever it is that Tracy keeps popping up to do. A lot of these plot lines have been entertaining this season, but none have elevated the series back to it's Season 1status as "must-see TV."
So should Heroes end this season? I think it should. And I hope it goes out with a compelling enough story arc that we viewers are left with a little bit of satisfaction. With its credibility having floundered as much as its ratings, I can't see how the producers and writers don't see the end of Heroes fast approaching. Hopefully, they've written the last episodes of this season with that in mind and have worked to give us an ending we can all enjoy. Season 4, though not amazing, has been a vast improvement over Season 3. So if the last few episodes can finish Samuel's story with some intensity, Heroes would be going out on a relative high note.



Christopher Monfette
Editor, IGN Movies

At the end of its first season, Heroes had already fallen from a great geek show to a merely good geek show, an unfortunate conclusion to an otherwise promising season of television. And then came the rather dismal second season, premiering in the midst of a much-publicized writer's strike, and the show's more forgiving fans, refusing to believe that the quality of the first season could be so quickly diminished, assigned the drastic decline to Hollywood's more pressing issues. Season 3, however, proved that the inconsistent character dynamics, ever-changing rules and constant need for our band of heroes to halt some massive future-Apocalypse weren't the fault of a broken studio system, but of a legitimate downturn in both thought and imagination.
So imagine our surprise when the current season of Heroes set aside its world-ending addiction and two-dimensional character building for something more substantial. Choosing instead to focus on the heroes themselves – on their individual conflicts and stories – and creating an over-arching narrative driven more by character than mindless, moustache-twirling destruction, Heroes course-corrected rather brilliantly. For the first time in a long time, Sylar and Claire, Parkman and Noah, Peter and Nathan were all given actual purpose and gravitas. For the first time in a long time, we cared for them. Even the season's villain has managed to earn some degree of empathy from the audience, much the same as how Sylar no longer feels like some pointless relic from a time when the show still had some use for him.
This isn't to say that this season isn't perfect, only that in comparison to past seasons, it's finally finding its feet. There's certainly an argument to be made that Heroes should bow out gracefully on this relative high-note, but I think there's an equal argument to be offered for taking this momentum and building upon it. Our collective dislike of the show over these last two seasons was never really about the show itself, but about its squandered potential. If you can't make gripping, imaginative drama out of a cast of people with superpowers, the problem lies not with the concept or the characters, but with the writers themsevles. And more specifically with Tim Kring. Whatever changed – whether Bryan Fuller's short return re-energized the staff, or whether Kring finally stepped into the background – what's happening here is working, and for the first time in years, I can see continued potential for the show beyond this fourth season.
And if they can continue this newfound commitment to character and story, I say keep it going. But Season Five would only ever be a single stumble away from my never watching again.


Should Heroes keep on crusading? What do you guys think? Let us know on the boards below...