The Show Must Go On: 'Heroes' Season Three DVD

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IT'S ALWAYS DISAPPOINTING when a show gets caught up in its own delusions of grandeur. It happened to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when now-defunct UPN picked up the show for its final few seasons and the First came into play; to "The X-Files" when David Duchovny left and Chris Carter tried his whole people-will-still-watch-even-without-Mulder thing (which, unsurprisingly, flopped); and to "Alias," when writers decided that pretty boy Michael Vartan's devoted, good-guy character should actually be a double agent in disguise.

Hollywood doesn't seem to understand that people don't like switch-ups (unless it's the passing of sexual partners, like "Dawson's Creek" or "Gossip Girl"), and that major changes often mean doom for any show that isn't "Lost."

So as a result, the dismal state of the third season of "Heroes," the beloved NBC cult hit that started out super-strong but dropped off a precipice after the its debut year, isn't that surprising. When watching the season over again (it comes out on DVD today, about three weeks before the season four premiere of "Heroes" on Monday, Sept. 21, and costs $37.49 on Amazon), its missteps become clear, from its focus on vengeful villains to a wide cast of characters who mostly fail to make an impression. And although some of the special features are fun to watch, such as cast commentaries and alternate stories, the inclusion of dozens of worthless deleted scenes make the set feel unnecessarily bloated.

And you know, part of it may be because the writers of "Heroes" felt like they had to make up for lost time. Thanks to the Writers Guild of America strike a couple of years ago, the show's second season was practically cut in half, with only 11 episodes airing than the original 24 that NBC ordered. That means that a weighty amount of character development, plot twists and fast-paced fight scenes had nowhere to go — except for the third season, of course. So as a result, episodes feel packed in and rushed, and the season's arc — which focuses first on "Villains" and then on "Fugitives" — seems to jump from here to there instead of focusing on what's in between.

When things start with premiere "The Second Coming," the season seems promising: Four years in the future, the Rogue-like Peter (a fine-as-ever Milo Ventimiglia) travels back in time to impersonate his current self and cause some trouble; current Claire (Hayden Panettiere) realizes she can't die; and Hiro (Masi Oka) jumps into the future and sees how the world implodes. It's a lot of drama for just 43 little minutes, but the 24 episodes that follow it never live up to their potential.

Instead, they just fall into some played-out traps — for example, murder-happy antagonist Sylar (Zachary Quinto) loves using his telekinesis to kill others and steal their powers, but starts going the straight and narrow way when he finds his family, until — oh no! — he learns they were duping him all along and he has to vent his anger by scalping the woman he may love.

Things do get slightly better as the season progresses and shape-shifting gets added into the mix, but it's frustrating watching a show trying to handle so many subplots at once (Peter's relationship with his brother; Hiro's insight about the end of the world; Claire's need for revenge; Mohinder's [Sendhil Ramamurthy] quest to learn what caused his father's death), as none of them ever develop enough to be fulfilling for the viewer.

And unfortunately, there's little in this set to turn to when you're just not feeling the episodes. There are lots of deleted scenes, but nothing included is really substantial — you see Sylar messing with Claire's cat and Mohinder buying some weapons, but there are no epiphanies here that should have definitely stayed in the episodes. Gems do pop up every now and then (like Sylar's future flip-out when he's unable to save his son from Claire and her cronies), but they're definitely diamonds in the rough.

Similarly somewhat enjoyable are interviews with stunt coordinator Tim Gilbert about what goes into planning the show's plentiful action scenes (with a huge grin on his face, Gilbert praises them as "just so bitchin'!"), audio commentaries from stars like Ventimiglia about their character development and alternate stories that focus on characters "going postal" or becoming a "nowhere man" (basically low-budget introductions into other characters gifted with superpowers).

But when those few special features are the only things this set has going for it, maybe it's time for you to just shelve the third season of "Heroes" and wait for the fourth instead — with the phenomenally creepy Robert Knepper joining as new villain Samuel, maybe the show has a chance for redemption after all.

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi
Photos courtesy NBC