‘Heroes: Villains’: Good times, bad times

Spoilers. Season 3’s “Villains” arc is over. Well, that was quick. It started with a few promising episodes, but the clutter caught up and messed things up. The writers tried to fixed some of those problems near the end, but only a few were addressed satisfyingly. Watching the show and keeping track of the convoluted storylines have become a chore.

“Villains” moved pretty quickly, its tone slightly darker than previous seasons’.

First, the good things:

1. The addition of Daphne. The thieving super-speedster is likeable, and a nice foil to Hiro and Matt.
2. Elle. Kristen Bell did great. Scenes depicting her powers going haywire, and her emotional confrontation with Sylar in a prison cell, were among the character’s best moments.
3. The introduction of people with other powers such as cryokinesis, telepathic puppetry, lie detection, and sound manipulation, among others.
4. Angela’s premonition.
5. The Petrelli ex-spouses’ obvious manipulation of Sylar.
6. Nikki’s absence. Her sanity issues were getting uninteresting.
7. Less Maya. Man, she was annoying.

The bad:

1. The duplication of powers. Psychic painting? Pyrokinesis? Ho-hum. Peter and Sylar’s copycat abilities have gotten confusing, too. And why aren’t they using all of their powers during major confrontations with their enemies?
2. Loose ends. Peter’s Irish girlfriend was abandoned in an alternate future last season and hasn’t been mentioned since.
3. The execution of Daphne’s powers. Does she have a Flash-like undertow that yanks people harmlessly into her speed trail while she’s running? She just holds hands with them and vanishes, like she’s teleporting.
4. Elle’s fate. What a squandered character. After forgiving Sylas and gaining control of her power again, she became a confusing mess (she’s manipulative, vulnerable, ambitious, etc.). Her character went nowhere, so maybe it’s good that she was killed off after exhibiting Nikki-like personality shifts.
5. The fortune cookie voiceover narration that belabors the obvious.
6. WTF. Noah had Sylar and Elle in his crosshairs when the pair went smoochy and groiny. Then he just waits for them to finish up before attacking them?!
7. Nathan’s out of character moments. So he’s a species traitor now? He forgets that he has powers and wants his fellow powered beings rounded up. Jeez.
8. Mohinder’s The Fly situation.
9. Arthur Petrelli. It feels like he was just shoehorned into the arc. The retcons showing his badass-ness aren’t convincing.
10. Hiro’s convoluted history.
11. Adam Monroe’s quick, forgettable death.
12. Angela’s power. What a letdown. Her apocalyptic visions are just dreams. What’s so special about that? Also, other visions of ominous futures have gotten pretty tiring.