Heroes Season 4 – Release Date: 2009

Episode Guide

Orientation
Jump, Push, Fall.
Ink
Acceptance
Hysterical Blindness
Tabula Rasa
Strange Attractors
Once Upon A Time In Texas
Shadow Boxing
Brother’s Keeper
Thanksgiving
The Fifth Stage
Upon This Rock
Let It Bleed
Close To You
Pass/Fail
The Art Of Deception
The Wall
Brave New World

After 2 disappointing seasons, trying to please the ever-impatient fans was always going to be tricky for those who have persevered this far. Season 4 feels like a tired show now. Its plot is serviceable, it has okay pacing and passable acting from the majority of the cast but this season’s lack of action and tension driven storytelling only further hurt the show. Its a far cry from the excellent first Season but its certainly an improvement over the last 2 years’ worth of material.

The story this year revolves around a circus of superheroes who slowly begin to recruit new members via the mysterious and unpredictable Samuel (Robert Knepper). His ability to shape the earth, which is eventually revealed to be magnified by the amount of superheroes in his proximity, is an interesting power and one of the stand out new additions this year. After Season 3 destroyed half of the characters’ abilities and stories through its poor script writing, Season 4 does a pretty good job of trying to stitch together the pieces. After his lacklustre writing last season Mohinder Suresh is nowhere to be seen for the majority of the episodes which is good as his stale character has run the course of time and should have been killed off at the end of last season.

Peter Petrelli is one of the most obvious casualties from the poor writing and his ability to absorb other people’s powers could have made him a formidable hero, considering his push as the lead protagonist in the show opposite Sylar’s identical power. The struggle between the two could have made it interesting but after getting his powers taken away in Season 3 and then feebly given a Rogue-rip-off superpower, Peter’s character had been relegated to the back seat. This season he does play a prominent role for half the season but his new powers limit him from the badass he was in Seasons 2 and half of last year before getting his power stripped away.

The circus characters are far more interesting than the villains last year too, with ringleader Samuel among the most interesting out of the bunch. His internal struggle is interesting to watch and plays out well on-screen, even if it does drag on a little too much. With an unchanged cast for the fourth year running, none of the actors really stand out. They do their job and read their lines well with enthusiasm but it just doesn’t have the same charismatic spark the first Season had.

One of the more interesting episodes this year is ‘Once Upon A Time To Texas’. An interesting spin on the consequences of time travel, the episode sees the return of some familiar characters and some new plot developments. Its a well written episode and definitely one of the stand outs this year in a season plagued by so many filler episodes. The special effects are top notch here though and the range of abilities on show from the circus are by far the best of the bunch with super speed, ice, visual synaesthesia and more all boasting some gorgeous CGI effects.

Despite some promise, Season 4 feels like the end of an era devoid of interesting ideas. There are far too many filler episodes, a questionable lesbian romance thrown in for no reason and an annoyingly open ending. After 4 years its disappointing to see a show fall from grace as much as Heroes has. It started out promisingly and this season again shows some spark in an otherwise dull show but it all feels a little too late.