Bob: Scalped.
Adam: Disintegrated.
Maury: Got his neck snapped.
Maya: Seems to me like she's been written off.

I'm seeing the word "reboot" being used to describe the third season quite a bit. Now the second season wasn't perfect by any means, but do you have to write off everybody from that volume in order to get a fresh start? Bob has to be killed so Angela can be put in a position where it's her versus Arthur (and so Sylar can be the richest man on the planet). Adam, though, I don't understand. Why couldn't we have had a scene where Peter sees his father, lying in that bed, and Peter kneels down next to him, when suddenly Arthur grabs his wrist like he did Adam's and takes his powers, including healing, so that Adam could have stayed buried? Maybe Anders said he didn't want anything to do with Heroes anymore, I don't know. But killing him off when he can just stay six feet under? Why lessen the blow that Hiro struck against evil in that second season by digging him up only to have him crumble into dust at the whim of the newest big bad?

And why did Maury have to die? It felt gratuitous - extraneous. It was a little silly how Parkman was like, "Wow, my dad stuck up for me?" for all of two seconds before the audience collectively forgot about it. I wasn't finished enjoying the potential exchanges that might have taken place between Maury and his son. We could have had a Vader moment where Maury tries to tempt his son with the dark side, leading to another fight. And then, after Arthur discovers that Matt has become more powerful than his dad, he could go ahead and kill Maury out of disgust and disappointment. That would be a heck of a lot better than, "You're standing in my way. I kill you now, okay?."

(Maya I don't care about, really. Although if they kill Elle I'm going to blow a gasket.)

Does anybody else feel like it's kind of a shame that the writers are flushing a lot of the second season down the drain this way? I'd like to think that I'm not alone/crazy, here.

I pretty much agree with everything you've said so far, particularly the bit about Adam. How lame is it to pull the man out of his box only to put him in one permanently. If Anders didn't want to do the show again, why unbury him in the first place?? Unless there's more to it and we're just not seeing it yet.. perhaps he will come back somehow... *retcon anyone?*

And as much as I absolutely hated Maury for what he did to Nathan and Matt in season 2 I gotta admit I was pretty ****** when Arthur just killed him out of hand... "I'm gonna kill your kid" "Uh.. no, you're not." *snaps neck without a thought* "Yeah, I am, cause I'm a cheap, cheating *******" HUH??

As for Maya.. have a nice trip!

It needed to be done, unfortunately.
Bob - I think the Elle storyline will be much more interesting without Daddy dearest.
Adam - He will be missed but they'll revisit him when we see what Hiro sees, I'm sure.
Maury - Good riddance. I think that when Matt won out over him last season that it was a nice finish for their interaction.
Maya - It's a shame her role was lost in the 13 missing episodes but stringing her along at this point would be a bigger mistake.

Hey maya could be back you never know.. it is heroes haha.

I keep hearing "Reboot" bantied around a bit as well...

I am just hoping the entire season isnt written away with a simple time travel move at the end-

This season never happened- lets do it all again for real next year... heh heh

But Adam is going to be back!
He has to be back.
He has to
*starts to hyperventilate again*

I've been thinking the same thing! I was really surprised about Maury...and wasn't Matt the one who locked Maury up...why all of a sudden would he have an immense love for Matt that made him want to work for Arthur...and you'd think Arthur would have taken his power before he killed him, too...

He can take Matt's too. Maury's wasn't necessary with a backup still in circulation.

This has become annoying to me as well. Killing off David Anders character really ticked me off and the only way I will ever accept it is if I learn he was going to be on another show soon and couldnt manage the schedules. With Maury it's annoying that they kill him off right when they open the possibility of a new Matt-Maury storyline. Can you imagine them working together? They could overthrow Pinehearst. Well...could have.

I'm sorry, I thought the only time she wasn't annoying was when she was stuck to the wall. And I don't blame the actress... I blame the writing and the writer's strike. I can't forgive a character that annoying simply because she's hot. If they'd kept the same character from the second season perhaps I could give her some sympathy. I much prefered the more vulnerable Maya to the one we got this year.

They didn't kill off Monica yet. But god knows if we'll ever see her again.

Oh yeah, I still thought she was annoying and I'm happeh she is finally gone [hopfully?] but I just think she isn't AS annoying this season.

Um, Elle is still there.

Though I hope she stays.

yeah it's a shame maya's character didn't have much to offer... and maury's death seemed so sudden, but i think that was to further emphasize the mortality of the characters and that death could come at any moment though i can't say it worked so well in matt's supposed death. then again the twist with daphne was pretty wicked.

well

so it was arthur who was behind killing off founder members in season 2 i think it works out in the bigger view of things

i liked the way he just killed maury, makes him more scary, kinda demonstrates the conflict in the company when everyone was seeimingly against arthur

'i am the best, it's a fact'

As the solitary person who thought there was little wrong with S2, and much preferred it to what is unfolding in S3, I have to agree with the OP.

S2 gave us great characters like Monica, Elle and Adam. Monica has gone AWOL, leaving us with good female Heroes who only whinge and gripe; Elle has been underused; and Adam .. WAAAAHHHHHH!!!

And Bob? Why kill Bob! Well, yes, to send Elle out on her own. But the father/daughter dynamic was brilliant, and the contrasts between the same relationship in the Bennet and Bishop families would have been great to explore further.

They get rid of, or underuse, brilliant S2 characters, yet we keep Maya and yet another Ali Larter character. Maya could have been great, but she has spent S3 as just another whiny victim. And Tracy is cool ( ) but I would much rather follow Monica's story than hers.

Maybe because Stephen Tablowsky broke his neck in Norway and he can only take his neck brace off for a short scene.

Oh - poor guy!

Still, no real need to kill the character off, though.

wait...i thought erasing all traces of season 2 is what people wanted?

i'm confused. looking at all the comments on 9th wonders from season 2, it certainly seems that way.

All I can do is shrug at this point, there are so many disparate sentiments on this board but trying to forget S2 seemed to be a common rallying cry. I'm pretty convinced that no matter what they do at this point there is still going to be major complaining, but with any sci-fi related show I can't be too suprised. Sci-fi shows come with geek baggage. When the show winds up a complete mess from the writers trying to take the fans feelings into consideration, see Kring interview from the end of S2, people will be like why can't they give us what we want and the answer is b/c anyway they take the story it comes back to 50 different factions complaining about a miriad of different paths they would have chosen.

I would of liked Adam around. He is the one bad guy that you would still invite to parties. The only thing that confuses me is Angela told Hiro 'he has the key' referring to Adam. So if he was dug up only to end up reviving Arthur was Angela aware of this or were there other intentions for Adam?

I wouldn't have minded if Maya stayed around, perhaps to be a part the Mohinder plot line. The only thing I thought was odd was that when she was leaving she had luggage. When did she get stuff? I'm sure it's pointless to investigate, just seemed like an odd prop to identify a person's departure who is still wanted for murder in multiple countries.

Maury took me by surprise. The baddest villains usually have to kill their own henchmen to prove a point to the other henchmen. Arthur says he won't need him anymore ... then what is his plan to control Nathan. Won't Nathan begin to wonder why he hasn't seen Linderman around and is Arthur going to go under the presumption that because he is Nathan's father he can tell him what to do. I think Maury's death will play a part in Matt/Daphne relationship. Sure she is a spy/double-agent or whatever but as soon as Matt pours on the nice guy charm and begin the whole, 'really wish I had a chance to get to know my father more' routine, she will melt like butter in his arms.

To the people talking about how Arthur should've taken Maury's ability... would he not already have it from taking Peter's abilities?

I agree completely with the outrage over Adam's death. What gives? Did Anders go all diva and demand a cavier hot tub? Maya took me by surprise as well. She was great in S2. I wasn't angry about Bob because I hated him. I'm just curious to see how long it takes Sylar to get put to work filling the Pinehearst coffers with gold. I actually liked seeing Maury get killed that way because it showed the dictator-ish intolerance of Arthur Petrelli, and clearly demonstrated the pecking order. My only confusion came from WHY Maury was afraid of him when he was still bedridden, when it seemed the only abilities he could use were mental ones, something Maury should have been immune to. It was also a bit confusing to see Maury's 180 in regards to Matt. I must admit though, all in all, the suddeness of the murder was pretty cool. Arthur just does it, and thanks him afterwards..so cold. Overall, I feel the opinions on S2 are too harsh. The creators of Heroes can't be blamed that the season was cut short, and their storylines curtailed. If we had gotten another 12 or so episodes, restoring Sylar and showing the virus ramapaging through the ranks as originally planned, the backstories of Adam and the Twins would have been much more powerful.
Finally, I agree that Monica needs to be brought back. Her and Micah should have the next 10 scenes currently reserved for Peter, especially since he's now even more useless than he was.

Personally, I think it made sense to kill off both Maury and Adam. Having Arthur kill them both really gives him even more of a bigger, evil presence in the show. I mean, in season 1 Sylar was the main man who everyone feared, but he looks like a peon (quite frankly, and that's saying something - I LOVE Sylar!) next to Arthur Petrelli.

In addition, it helps with the major gripe I have with Heroes. But trust me, it's my only gripe because I LOVE this show, and that is: there are simply too many people on this show. I'd rather have a little more depth for the characters each week then more characters and a 15-second Mohinder cameo, for example.

Now, by no means do I want half the cast murdered, but if they are introducing characters at a rate as they have for the beginning of this season, they need to keep it balanced by killing some off as well. It really gives us a sense that whoever does the killing is THAT DAMN SCARY.

Having Heroes die, then come back (ala Claire on the operating table back when, Arthur, Sylar and his broken neck, etc..) makes me just shake my head and think..none of these Heroes can die, then what's the major threat for the viewer to be worried about?

Ard_Choille - I don't understand the case for "it needed to be done." Adam didn't need to die, because Peter has healing abilities. His dad could have stolen them and Adam could have stayed buried. Maury didn't need to die. The only reason he was killed was to demonstrate just how evil Arthur really is, and that's just lazy. Maybe Blumenfield wanted off the show, I dunno. But that came-out-of-nowhere feeling wasn't even good for the shock value. Seemed like they just wanted a playing piece off the field. Bob and Maya, though, I understood.

Eleo - Oh, I completely forgot about Monica! They didn't even do her the favor of writing off her character. She's just disappeared into the abyss. Lame.

Bombsmoke - Yep, Elle is still there. I'm worried though, that if this trend continues, she might not last beyond this third season. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

MrsGoogly - You're not alone in preferring the second season to this one. I'm not a fan of either like I am of the first, but something just isn't clicking with me this year.

AcesX - Just because the second season got a lot of flack doesn't mean you erase everything that could remind the viewer of its existence. Maybe some others wanted all these characters dead/gone, but not me. That's why I made the thread - to see if I was the only one confused by this decision.

Everyone else (particularly those who were saddened upon seeing Adam become dust in the wind) - Thanks for your responses, guys.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second and offer a slightly different way to think about it:

A murderer isn't going to stop just before they kill someone and think "There wouldn't be any point in killing this person, they still had so much left to offer to the viewing audience!"

Arthur wanted to get out of his bed, he sucks Adam dry. He wants to kill Matt, Maury's standing in his way, he kills Maury. Arthur doesn't care two jots about what the fans want or who still has a lot of plot significance to offer. And frankly, I like it that way.

People were complaining that nobody ever gets killed off because they were firmly entrenched in the overarching narrative. Now that they're doing just that (just not -major- characters...yet) people are still complaining. We can't have it both ways.

Another thing they pretend never happened comes to mind - the magic blood. Claire knew it had saved her father. It would be the logical choice for her to give Peter some after his fall. As a former nurse, it should even have been possible for him to get equipment for that, he'd even have had the necessary know-how. I'm fine with them not using it again, but it's odd that the characters have forgotten all about it too...