Monday, September 22, 2008

Why Hiro is kind of a lousy character

Hiro, star of Heroes is a wonderful character in a lot of ways. He's likable. He's loyal to his friends. He's enthusiastic (which provides a great contrast to his much more dour co-stars). He likes being a hero. He wants to be a hero.

And then there's his power.

His power is that he can move himself in time and space, which is great in some ways, and lousy in another. It's hard to imagine that many problems that Hiro can't solve, simply by showing up. Now he does have a few limitations, but most of them seem more writing tics than ground rules for how the character works. So what's the solution?

Hiro gets trapped in irrelevancies while the rest of the characters forward the plot to the point that he can step back on stage and fix things. The second half of the first season he had to go get that sword, and the second season he's trapped in Feudal Japan. Make him a character that doesn't contribute that much.

Hopefully they will have a better solution this time around.

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