SPOILER WARNING :This post discusses several key plot points of the NBC series “Heroes”! If you have not yet watched the third season episodes and intend to, please do not read this post!

When “Heroes” began with a scintillating first season sometime last year, having a desi as a major character was just the icing on the cake for comic -book geeks like me. Sendhil Ramamurthy’s character Mohinder Suresh acted as the “sutradhar” ( aka narrator) who pulled together the disparate histories of the assorted misfit heroes into a fairly gripping story line. The next season unfortunately failed to live up to the promise of the first one and the viewing audience reduced as fans did not particularly care for either the new characters (twins Maya and Alejandro ) or the increasingly convoluted story line. Peter is dead! No, he is not! He’s in the future ! No, he is in the past! Hiro is mired in ancient Japan. Eight episodes later, Hiro (Masi Oka) is still in ancient Japan, Hayden Pannetierre’s Claire Bennett lost some of her cheerleader charm and Nikki ( Ali Larter) lost her husband – and her life.

I awaited the third season with trepidation, wondering if it could ever live up to its early promise. Unfortunately, the third season of Heroes is rather disappointing which has resulted in a crowd of critics calling for serious surgery and excising of several characters including Mohinder! ( See this for example)

Its pretty obvious that the series’ creators are overreaching this season. The desperation is showing. The space -time continuum has been breached so many times via assorted characters time-traveling that something cataclysmic ought to have happened a long time ago. One can’t mess with bending time , from what little I remember of Einsteinian physics! In a totally gratuitous attempt to raise ratings, Mohinder goes shirtless for an inordinate period of time ( Not that I am complaining, His Hotness is very watchable and yes, I am totally objectifying him. If my fellow bloggers can do that why can’t I?) ) Maya may as well be shirtless for the amount of cleavage she shows.  Maya and Mohinder also embark on a relationship that puts the “graphic” in the graphic novel so to speak! Nikki is reintroduced in a third avatar and tumbles into bed with Nathan Petrelli in a totally unnecessary scene. Greg Grunberg’s Matt is woefully underutilized and abandoned in the middle of Africa with a new character Usutu. Usutu was introduced absolutely hamfistedly and my son has christened him “Egregious Product Placement Guy” because in the space of 5 minutes he shilled for Sony, Sprint and NBC -owned Universal Studios! He is also prone to repeating quasi-Zen sayings like “Either you choose the path or the path chooses you” WTF? Also, there seems to be a creative drought as far as inventing new superpowers goes. One minor character’s superpower is creating vortexes that “disappear” objects and people – an idea so lame that it is unbelievable that it passed muster.

Its not all bad though.The hairstyles have improved considerably in one season. (Milo Ventimiglia – that means you!). Last night’s episode had the evil Senior Petrelli clutch a copy of Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarathustra” which brings a nice touch to the whole theme of Supermen and eternal recurrence . And at least one new character Daphne ( aka Super speed girl) brings a naive charm into all her scenes.

I am seriously worried for Mohinder’s future given the general panning that “Heroes” is receiving. ( Like this). The chances of the “Heroes” creators reading this post are next to nil, but if they are I beg them to ditch the story line that is converting our desi rep Mohinder into something that is a cross between The Fly and an alien. Mohinder was one of the coolest representations of a desi on Prime time TV ( Other TV shows have characters that fit all stereotypes possible: for example: the geek Raj on “The Big Bang” and Apu on “The Simpsons” ) Can we please not have this prime hunk of manhood end up disfigured and irrelevant? We want Mohinder to remain an integral part of the story!

Do you think petitioning series creator Tim Kring will help?

Please : Save the desi, save the world!

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