"Heroes": Haven't We Seen This Before?

It’s one thing when a show starts to repeat stories after six seasons (a la season six of “24”). It’s quite another when a show starts repeating stories when it’s only in its third season.

But that’s exactly what’s happening with “Heroes.” I guess since everyone is saying they wish the show would return to season one form, they figured they’d just repeat season one.

However, once you’ve already seen something once it loses its impact the second time around—especially when it’s nowhere near as good.

Last week, “Heroes” tried desperately to recapture the magic of the season one episode many call the best of the series, “Company Man,” which told the story of HRG and how he got Claire. But the flashbacks, which were supposed to show us how HRG got involved with The Hunter, really didn’t tell us anything. And what they did tell us wasn’t compelling.

Plus, it didn’t help that the flashbacks came courtesy of Matt reading his mind, accompanied by Peter and Mohinder. If those three are supposed to be some great team, they’re failing miserably.

But the attempt to recreate “Company Man” was not the worst retread the show made last week. That would be giving Matt the ability to paint the future (Isaac’s ability in season one)—which was a huge part of season one’s story—and having him paint an apocalyptic Washington D.C. almost identical to the painting of New York Isaac drew in season one. It was even painted in the floor of Isaac’s loft—the same place Isaac painted his.

I mean, are you kidding me?

And, to add insult to injury, Daphne, who we all saw die in the first chapter of “Fugitives,” was shown to be alive—yet another “Heroes” death that didn’t stick. It’s pretty bad when you want someone—anyone—on a show to die just to recover the show’s credibility a little.

I’m not going to say I’m done with “Heroes,” because I’ll probably still follow it via Internet recaps and blogs; but I’m not going to make the effort to tape it anymore.

After all, I saw all these things the first time, when they were actually worth watching…

“Heroes” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on NBC…

Photo Credit: Trae Patton/NBC