This quote from Sylar got me thinking what the problem with the show is. The problem is that the characters don't develop in a significant way. This episode in particular was a good example.

Sylar this season goes from being good and bad again in the blink of an eye, It's hard to believe somone who killed dozens of innocent people can be easily redeemed but he finds out he doesn't even need to kill people yet he still kills Elle and manages to survive again for the fangirls and on a sidenote seems to get buffer every episode so it would be better if he would just stop being stupid

Claire who tries to mature essentially keeps being made to realize that she's just "a stupid teenager" and is still the damsel in distress she was in season 1. Noah keeps trying to please and protect her but Claire's never satysfied with his attempts to fix things for her.

Nathan went back to the way he was acting in season 1 and he is one of the best characters on the show but he's back to falling in the same pitfall again.

Oh yes and Hiro always acted like he was 10 to begin with.

Basically what I'm thinking is the shows good when your along for the ride but the more one thinks about it the stupider it gets. So do people on this show actually learn from their experiences or do they just continue making the same mistakes.

I think the key to maturity (and in this case, losing powers) is having these people discover who they, themselves really are and learning from the discovery. Sometimes we don't see things in ourselves that are blatantly obvious to those around us. Now that they've come to some of that realization, our heroes have a choice on how to act.

Claire didn't know she needed rescuing in season one, but we did from the outside. Claire IS a teenager and does need some amount of protection/supervision. She's been trying to go against that concept for a while...and knows better now.

Peter didn't know he had a heroic soul in season one, but we did. He always questioned his instincts because his brother and father looked down on his choices in the past. He was more of a lost soul on the inside. Peter IS a good soul and may now realize that he can rely on his instincts.

Sylar didn't think of himself as a monster in season one, but we sure did. Sylar now knows what guilt feels like and CAN choose not to be a monster. I'm still convinced that he lost his nerve trying to kill Elle and has indeed changed.

Hiro didn't realize in season one that his pure faith in destiny was contagious. It was the stories he learned as a boy that gave him that hopefulness, not the "need to save the world". He's come full circle now and can get back on track with all that excitement we love from him.

Anyway, I think that our heroes finally got a clear glimpse of who they really are...as opposed to how they felt about themselves on the inside all this time. For many people achieving this level of self awareness, it generates CHANGE...but it doesn't happen in a flash.

That was a very well thought out and well put response. I guess ultimatley I think heroes is a flawed yet still enjoyable show.

I agree. I think that's why I tend to let little inconsistencies go. Because by the time 10 p.m. rolls around I've barely noticed the time fly by and I was entertained.

Sylar spent his early life crouched over watches and being tormented as the "Watchmaker's son".

He's never had a real chance to grow up emotionally or mentally, at least, not really if you think about it. He has a LOT of issues he needs to resolve with himself, and given the fact that he's got a power that makes him hunger for more, and the fact everyone he depends on ends up screwing him over...

Come on, can you blame the guy for being a little messed up?

Sylar is probably the most complex character on the show, and the most easiest to see why he's like the way he is.

If I was Elle, when Sylar said "I haven't changed" I'd have said "Right! Underneath it all you're still the remorseful, loving Gabriel you were before the Company started taking advantage of your desire for power!"

Gabriel changed when he manifested, he changed when he first killed, he changed when he met Elle, he changed into Sylar, Sylar changed when he killed his mother, and when he lost his powers, and when he got his powers back, and when he found out Angela was his mother (maybe), and when he was partnered with Elle, and when he lost his powers, and when he got them back again.

Did he change? Yes. Did he really change? Again yes, if you look at Gabriel in Villains, he's really changed!

The entirety of the series isn't even 2 years, may I ask how significantly you've changed in that amount of time, human nature is that we develop slowly over years of personal experience, trauma or not, extreme changes in envioronment, people generally remain the same.

Claire is a "stupid teenager" as you've referenced, should she suddenly become the opposite of every teenager on the planet and let her parents run the ship without complaining, i'd have to say that would be unrealistic.

Nathan never developed at all, that's the point, he's subborn, he idolized his father and was coddled by his mother. His base is a mamma's boy who likes the possiblity of obtaining political power without having to risk much. But he becomes wary once he has to do something conflicting to obtain the power.

Yes Hiro has always acted like he is 10, that's also kind of the point of his character.

I'd prefer that the characters make mistakes, if not what would we be watching?

So..it would seem that if he changed back and forth "So quicky" that he wasn't REALLY changing very much, was he? ;)

I'm having a hard time understand what you are arguing here. There is a difference between character growth and character change.

Hiro was not litterally 10 when the show began...if he acted youthful, well that is his personality. See...Arthur made him THINK he was 10 years old, which is why he is acting that way now. So is your issue with what the writers have happen to the characters?

Again...I'm confused.

Well my Sylar point has been argued away but here is what I'm trying to say about Claire and Nathan.

Claire is a teenager and though she is young and naive understandably she wants to grow up. At the end of most episodes where she has a spat with Meredith or Noah about her not being mature enough she supposedly learns her mistake saying "yeah you're right I'm not ready to take care of myslef" this would be okay for one episode or as a consistant arc but she fails to learn her lesson or she never gets a real chance to prover herfelf. Claire when the show started was 16 in two years time she would be 18 which for somone that young is significant. Claire wants to be an adult but is denied that form her parents. My point is Claire startded as a girl but is now a young woman and wants to act as such but there is too much of a back and forth within the show her plotline has stagnated because there has been no real development besides repetition.

Nathan who was fooled by his mother into thinking doing a supposedly evil act for the greater good in season one. Nathan is fooled again into thinking the same thing and his willing to let somone who he knew had delusions of grandeur control him again. Nathan must have the ulterior motive of wanting to be pres at whatever cost is the only resonable alternative so maybe he is actually a villian or he will find out his father nearly killed him and crippled his wife or he thinks he can change the future, But his being fooled again is kind of dumb so hopefully its just a phase.