NBC
Let’s face it, some ensemble shows like Lost, Heroes, Desperate Housewives and Dirty Sexy Money have just way too much going on and way too many characters. So you’re sitting there watching it and then suddenly they shift to a storyline featuring Character X and you find yourself getting up to get that drink you’ve been craving. Or you might even head off to the john because, quite frankly, you just don’t care about Character X anymore, if you ever did.
Heroes is a great example of this, as they’ve got one of the largest casts on the planet. And that cast literally covers the planet. In such a short time, we’ve already lost characters I did like (D.L., Isaac, Linderman and now Micah and Monica I guess) and others that kind of lost their way (Nikki/Jessica). But now, enmeshed in a meandering Season 3, there’s just so much going on and so many characters. For this column I had to look at which characters could have their entire storylines eliminated from the narrative with minimal impact to the show. And as much as I hate to say it, because I really liked him in Season One, the winner is: Mohinder Suresh. But it was close.
Now, I would give it to Maya, but the truth is she’s already been eliminated as an independent character. Never mind that she’s in a cocoon now; let’s look at her role this season. She only features in Mohinder-centric arcs and she’s been reduced to being just his foil. You could tell this immediately because in the season premiere she was just boobs on legs. And then an object for his lust.
Here’s a character who was one of the most dangerous presences last season, almost taking down Sylar, and now she’s just a hot body. Add to this that she fell into bed with super-testosterone Suresh, completely out of character, and any independent personality or presence she had was gone — just like that. But the bigger question is: what the hell happened to Suresh?
This guy was the emotional center of the entire series at one time. He was a regular guy who’s father was at the forefront of abilities research. He got pulled into this crazy world and the whole while he had this moral center. Well that started to fray last season, but what’s happened this season is just beyond ridiculous. Yes, he can now manufacture abilities but as we’ve learned, that’s already been done by The Company. And now he’s turning into some kind of mutant Spider-Man?
Even when we went into the future, we learned that he’s accomplished nothing more than completing his transformation and hiding out in his lab. Useless! It’s a disservice to the early seasons to even keep him around. Just drop him like you did Micah and Monica. Hell, bring them back and drop him. At least they’re still good characters. Suresh has been getting murdered slowly by the writers all season. It’s time to put him, and us, out of our collective misery.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Oct 16, 2008 @ 19:17 EST5EDT
Now that Maya and Mohinder’s scenes are together, it takes less fast forwarding to ignore them both, like I did last season.
I wonder how many other viewers were chanting “Die! Die! Die!” with me when Mohinder caught Maya in his lab in the last episdode.
I completely agree that they need to tighten the focus and stop adding characters.
Mohinder’s plot line is so disappointing. I hope he dies in a huge flame of glory to make up for basically turning into the Fly + Spiderman in one.
Also I am so incredibly tired of characters dying and then coming back. Please let them just die and be gone for good. The show needs to focus on a few characters and make us care about them and root for them. Right now by turning all the good characters “evil” and vice versa, they are making me not care anymore about the people I once rooted for.
Except for Sylar, who is awesome no matter what.
I really like Heroes, but I think their main problem is that the main cast has gotten too entrenched. The first season was full of suspense because (almost) anyone could get killed at any time. Now it seems like the only people who get killed were people who were introduced earlier in the episode (or as Liz pointed out the regular characters “die” only to be brought right back).
I enjoy it when new characters get added to see new abilities and new stories, but the only way to do that successfully is to start killing some of the older cast members off.
I agree. They’ve done made the Mohinder character FUBAR. I was liking the story lines last year about the parents being the previous generation of heroes and all the secrets they were keeping. I’m hoping they get back to more of that now that Papa Petrelli is back. And I think they’re messing up with way too much time travelling. They’re going to do it so much that no other show will ever be able to do it again because everyone will be tired of it. Plus it just gives the writers an easy fix whenever they write themselves into a corner.
I agree. This week’s episode was a huge disappointment too, except for the end. I cheered last season when Maya’s brother was killed and hoped that they’d kill her too. As mentioned, she’s being used as boobs on legs. The first Maya-Mohinder sex scene was hot. After that it got creepy. He’s been reduced to a comic book character. Yes, I realize that in a sense they all are, but he’s the Doc Oc, the Two-Face, etc. He’s the good guy who became drunk with power and the need for vengence gone bad. Everyone knows that anger leads to hate, which leads to the dark side and makes men powerful. That type of character is overdone.
I can’t decide if Suresh scenes are painful to watch becaue of what the character has become, or if it’s because he’s simply no longer necessary.
He was a regular guy who’s father was at the forefront of abilities research.
*cough* “whose”.