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Heroes Reborn: Final Roundtable Discussion

By Liz | January 25, 2016

Last week was the series finale of Heroes Reborn, and it’s sad but we are not unhappy that the mini-series is over. The final three episodes are discussed here today, and we all pretty much felt the same way about them.

As the clock counts down to the end of the world, Tommy (Robbie Kay) finds himself up against his biggest challenge yet as Erica (Rya Khilstedt) takes drastic measures to see her plan succeed. Malina (Danika Yarosh) tries to fulfill her great-grandmother’s prophecy to save the world with the help of Luke (Zachary Levi) and Quentin (Henry Zebrowski). Meanwhile, Emily (Gatlin Green) and Ren (guest star Toru Uchikado) desperately search for Miko (Kiki Sukezane). Elsewhere, Carlos (Ryan Guzman) is faced with a life and death choice. Toru Uchikado, Hiro Kanagawa, Krista Bridges, Aislinn Paul, Nazneen Contractor and Lucius Hoyos guest star.

Discussion

1. We found out Erica’s back story and it wasn’t pretty. Did you feel a bit more sympathetic toward her? Do you agree with her daughter’s decision to distance herself from her mother?

Rueben: I feel only a small ounce of sympathy for what happened to her as a young girl; but that doesn’t give her the right to think that she has right to decide who survives and who doesn’t. She was totally wrong in her thinking; and she can’t be excused for that. I think her daughter was right in walking away from “Mommy Dearest”!

Melissa: That is a rough backstory. She was repeatedly victimized in a deeply traumatic way – not just physically, but psychologically because the lives of her loved ones hung in the balance. I can see the narrative line between those experiences and who she became. But that doesn’t mean her actions were right or justified. Taylor’s decision to walk away was valid, in my opinion.

Liz: I did feel sorry for Erika and all that she went through, especially at the hands of an Evo. One who had the power to heal her father and then her daughter. I can see why she used Evos and then destroyed them. An Evo did the same to her. Even worse was the fact that after all she went through and did for her daughter, in the end Taylor chose life without her. Erika lost all, including her own soul. Very sad.

Cay: I agree with Melissa – I can definitely see why she came to hate Evos, but that doesn’t justify her actions.Taylor’s a piece of work herself, but I thought she made a good choice.

2. What did you think about Luke ending Joanna’s misery?

Rueben: He may have ended her misery, but that was a horrible way to go AND at the hands of her own husband. It should also be noted that his death wasn’t any better.

Melissa: Meh. I quit caring about them a few episodes ago.

Liz: There really was no other end for those two. Joanna made her choice and honestly, she was just as broken as Erika was. Luke paid for his sins with his sacrifice and I think that’s what he wanted anyway. I mean, after Tommy and Malina saved the world, what would he have left? He didn’t have the strength to reboot his life.

Speaking of motivations for Evo hating, hers never worked for me. It was appropriate that it was Luke who killed her, but I never believed the two of them as a couple and they turned out to be much less interesting than they seemed after the first episode or two. I was happy that Luke was kind of redeemed (with the cheesiest of special effects!), but that is only because I hated seeing Zac Levi play someone so evil.

3. Matt Parkman never had any good luck, no matter what he tried to do and for whom. Nothing ever ended well for him. Were you hoping for a different outcome for him or was his ending just desserts?

Rueben: I was hoping at some point that he would redeem himself, but he didn’t; and while his ending was hard to watch, it was perhaps no less than what he deserved given all that he did.

Melissa: I agree with Rueben – it was hard to see a character I liked from the first series suffer such a horrible end. He tried to make the end (saving his family) justify the means (torturing so many others), but it didn’t and he couldn’t escape his fate.

Liz: I feel like the character really had no place in this series at all. I feel like he was wasted. I really didn’t care about his demise.

Cay: So close, yet so far! I could feel his anguish when he saw his broken watch the other watches floated away. Although, if Tommy and Malina actually did save the world, did he or his family actually die? I was confused, but it could have been because I was losing interest and not watching closely.

4. What did you think about the way the twins’ powers worked?

Rueben: The visuals were pretty cool to watch with Tommy aka Nathan bouncing around in time and seeing Malina fight the HELE in slow motion; but the need for a conduit between them was a bit pap as far as I’m concerned. It just seemed like Tim Kring had a reason to kill off all the original characters and this was his way of ended HRG unneedlessly.

Melissa: The twist that they needed a conduit was interesting, and it gave Noah Bennet a chance for a more meaningful death. I’m still unclear what their combined powers did – somehow Tommy’s control of time and space combined with Malina’s control of the elements created a force field around Earth?

Cay: I think that is what happened, but I can’t be sure. If that happened, does that mean everyone who hadn’t already died survived? The special effects at the end were super cheesy. I’ve come to expect more from all the superheroes movies we’ve been inundated with the past few years.

Liz: The combination of powers was really never explained. We knew that the twins needed to be together to save the world but we were never told how that should work. And even with putting Noah in there as a conduit, it still wasn’t explained. I feel, as Rueben did, like it was just used to fill in Noah’s death. I was glad that Tommy got all his memories back again, though.

5. What are your thoughts on how they ended the series?

Rueben: It’s obviously when the volume was written it was with the hope that there would be a second volume, but given the fact that we know that’s now not going to happen, the ended was anti-climactic. I was also at the point where I didn’t care if anyone was coming after the twins. It’s truly sad that the second attempt at the show started out good but ended just as sadly and badly as the first time.

Melissa: I’d say they were optimistic about continuing the Heroes saga. I am slightly intrigued by the prospect of getting to know the twins’ father (apparently he is also an Evo and Claire nicknamed him “Hammer”), but not enough to embrace another TV series any time soon.

Liz: I was thoroughly confused. Why leave a cliffhanger if this mini-series was only supposed to be one and done? When there are no plans or even hints of another volume being considered? I would have been happy with Quentin’s narration as we saw where our heroes were and what they were doing after the HELE threat.

Cay: Yeah, I’m totally out if they decide to bring it back again, it’s cancelled as far as I am concerned.

6. How would you rate these last three episodes?

Rueben: I could see that the attempt was being made to make it dramatic, but the final episodes were just lackluster as were most of the other episodes. Given the episodes a three out of ten is being almost too kind. I’m bitterly disappointment in the entire reboot.

Melissa: Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have watched them if it weren’t necessary for this discussion. They shouldn’t have taken that break for the holidays; I was already losing interest, then they went on hiatus and I didn’t miss the show at all. Not a good sign. Maybe if I marathoned all 13, the series would be more engaging and interesting? Overall, I’m disappointed. Again. The series started out strong, then ended up in a mess of anti-climactic scenes. For all the special FX and epic “save the world”, the show never managed to be engaging. I never connected emotionally with any of the new characters, and we barely saw the original characters enough to reconnect with them. If Tim Kring & Co. ever do get another shot at this universe, I hope they figure out how to make the emotional side of it work.

Liz: I had such hopes for this reboot. I really thought that if Tim Kring had another chance to “do it right”, it would be the show we had once loved. I can’t say I hated it, but I’m sadly disappointed. I feel like I’ve been cheated. There were characters that were so wasted, that had so much potential: Matt Parkman, Molly, The Haitian, Micah. It’s like they threw these characters in from the original series but didn’t really know what to do with them in this new series. I feel like Kring just didn’t know how to put his vision into a format that would make sense at all. Carlos was completely wasted. I don’t even know why they bothered. Again, it felt like here was a character that looked good on paper, but when it came to building him on the screen, they were totally lost and they lost him. All in all, nice try but I wouldn’t waste my time on another one, if in fact they did resurrect it. Doubtful.

Cay: They weren’t worth watching. I lost interest about midway through the season and as Melissa mentioned, the long hiatus completely did me in and I watched the last few episodes out of obligation only. I hated the whole Evernow plot, especially the end with Ren and Miko running through the game, jumping over “pits” of ??? as the game fell apart, trying to save Tommy. It was way too trippy and 1980s for me.