Tim Kring Talks Heroes Missteps
Posted on November 8, 2007
Heroes creator Tim Kring addressed the issues that some fans have had with the show this season. In particular, he addressed the people who despise Claire's new flying boyfriend (we don't like him either, he's annoying) and Hiro's sojurn in ancient Japan (we loved that segment, although we could have done without Hiro falling for Takezo Kensei's girlfriend).
THE PACE IS TOO SLOW: "We assumed the audience wanted season 1 - a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake."Kring also says that he kept Hiro in Japan for way too long. He says it should have lasted only three episodes. He also says he should not have stuck Claire with a "super-dud boyfriend."THE WORLD-SAVING STAKES SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED SOONER: The premonition of nuclear apocalypse created a larger context that unified every story line last season. Kring now sees that Volume 2 (the first 11 episodes of season 2) would have been better served if Peter's vision of viral Armageddon had appeared in the season premiere rather than episode 7. "We took too long to get to the big-picture story," he says.
THE ROOKIES DIDN'T GREET THEMSELVES PROPERLY: New Heroes Monica (Dana Davis), Maya (Dania Ramirez), and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) "shouldn't have been introduced in separate story lines that felt unattached to the show. The way we introduced Elle (Kristen Bell) - by weaving her in via Peter's story line - is a more logical way to bring new characters into the show." (That said, Kring says a few newbies won't make it beyond this second volume, which wraps Dec. 3.)
We thought this week's episode was pitch-perfect. Of course, with the Writers' Strike going on, it's likely that Volume 2 will end in December, earlier than was originally planned.