I have finally finished watching heroes and I am actually quite relieved that there isn't any more of this show. This season was better than the previous two and the overall feel of it is closer to that of the first season. It failed to stretch the boundaries and live up to the potential that seaosn 1 set up, just like it failed to provide closure, but overall it was ok.
SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT:
The biggest improvement this season (over seasons 2 and 3, I mean) was the pacing. The pace was much slower and it took its time developing one coherent plot that runs through the entire season, not like the insane plot twists we had in season 3. However, this plot that was so carefully and slowly built up was destroyed in the last few episodes with some ridiculous, anti-climatic nonsense.
The most nonsensical thing for me was Samuel Sullivan's character. He started off mysterious and then they slowly introduced the idea that he was supposed to be a villain, but I never really found him convincing in this villain role and the romance/stalking just killed his character. Not to mention the ridiculous events in the final episode when he suddenly decided to kill a bunch of people in central park.
The final events also revealed the level of abuse that these characters' powers are suffering at the hands of the writers. Matt Parkman spends the entire season intent on doing nothing except keeping Sylar contained in his head(which was pretty good for a while), then Sylar escapes and he decides to do nothing about it for a bunch of episodes, then when Sylar shows up at his door he seems almost grudgingly forced to do something and then, when Peter helps Sylar escape and they have that replicating man there he suddenly acts decisive and as if he's had a plan the entire time and he uses his mind-powers to completely convert the character of the replicating man and make him stand up to Samuel. It makes no sense. It doesn't fit Matt's characterization or that of the replicating man.
LIke the season 1 finale, this finale brought together so many characters but most of them had insignificant roles and were only there so that their power could be used for three seconds and then they disappeared. They weren't there as characters, they were just there because their powers were needed, which begs the question: why didn't they let Peter Petrelli keep all his powers (meaning that he could have multiple powers at the same time) and just make Peter do all those things? It would have made more sense... and Peter needs his powers back.
Another option would have been to have Peter save Emma from Doyle, the puppet guy, and Sylar could have done the rest and battled Samuel. That would have made a much cooler ending, especially with Sylar's whole identity crisis/turning good thing.
I was happy with the idea of Sylar becoming good, or at least feeling some regret, but I have to say that in the insanity of season 3 and his constant switching back and forth from good to evil they had much more convincing versions of this than the final one they decided on at the end of this season. I was also displeased with the entire Nathan shape-shifting thing. There are various holes in the way it was written, including the fact that the main conspirators seemed to have no purpose for doing such a stupid thing. What got on my nerves the most, though, was the nagging doubt that they left behind that Sylar's character has somehow been altered by Nathan's memories, that some of these thoughts and memories, some of Nathan's personality, has somehow lived on in Sylar. Sylar was one of the best characters on this show, evil though he was, he was well-written, and Nathan was one of the worst, so I really didn't appreciate this whole plotline.
And as usual they failed to tap into the potential of many of the characters. The Haitian was one of the biggest examples. I've been waiting for him to actually get his own story, his own motivations, and become a convincing fully fleshed-out character since season 1, but of course this did not happen. Mohinder should not have been in this season because he did absolutely nothing of consequence. I almost forgot about him until Hiro and Ando saved him. Many of the new characters were badly used as well. This includes the knife-wielding speedster from the carnival and Emma and the kid who can heal (or kill) stuff(they killed him off way too fast).
There were a couple of torturous episodes where suddenly everyone was falling in love or revealing past relationships or some other lame thing. Noah Bennett did not need that whole back story, he's already "complex" enough as it is and Claire has enough reason to mistrust him without this whole thing. Not to mention the lame Vanessa story-line, Claire's roommate, and all the rest of it.
World-Building Rating:
Season four had some wonderful world-building. The carnival, in particular, was one of the better world-building elements. Also, with the various companies and government organizations finally gone the plot and motivations made much more sense and had a much clearer canvas on which to develop. It still failed to stretch its horizons and meet its potential, but it was much better than seasons 2 and 3 and possibly a little better than season 1. I would rate this one Great and maybe even a little higher. Great.5, perhaps?
Final thoughts on the entire series:
Overall, the series wasn't a bad one. I managed to get through the whole thing and there were some great moments, but it had the potential to be so much more. The first season was by far the best despite a disappointing finale, the second and third season failed, and the fourth season brought the series back to its original pace and style, though it didn't quite reach the level of the first one. The main weakness in Heroes was the characterization. There were various interesting characters built up at the start, but they were then systematically destroyed with inconsistencies. Plot was another weakness as there were many disappointments in the finales, but I think plot wouldn't have mattered so much if the characterizations had lived up to its potential.
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