Carey on Heroes

[sawyl]

Seeking an alternative viewpoint on Heroes, the Guardian has sat at the feet of Mike Carey and recorded his mighty thoughts. Here are the Master's two closing paragraphs, in which he neatly identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the show:

A project like this could have blown up in its creators' faces - take the sheer scale of the cast, for one. I was amazed at how neatly they merged the plotlines in the final episodes, while keeping every major character in the spotlight.

The downside is that the characters fall quickly into archetypes. With the exception of the Japanese time-traveller, Hiro Nakamura, none are particularly interesting in themselves, and the dialogue doesn't sparkle. What keeps you watching is the excitement - every episode is packed with incident, and hits you with unexpected spectacles and revelations. It takes forever before you really understand what's going on, but there is always something to look at. And every time a question is answered, a new one is asked.

I liked Heroes. But I'd have liked it a whole lot more if I hadn't read Graham Lineham's throw-away that he'd "... been trudging through series one of Heroes, while feeling nostalgic for the similar but far superior Buffy the Vampire Slayer", for this caused me to return to my spiritual home where things were, indeed, better and funny and snappier. Sorry. But it's true.