Heroes: How Hiro Can Get His Groove Back

By Lisa Fary

No one ever sees the chubby guy lurking in the sparsely planted corn.

Daphne’s dad didn’t, anyway, which gave Matt Parkman the chance to butt into her Children of the Corn homelife, which involves not only corn, but also leg braces.  And shame.  So, now Daphne is physically broken as well as emotionally broken.  I’m sure Parkman will help her see her true beauty and find her self worth.  You know, because we gals just can’t find it on our own.

What else do you expect from a woman in the Heroesverse?

Well, there is Tracy, who I’m liking more and more just because she has her own thoughts and is pretty shameless about being an opportunist. I’d like to see her go Ice Queen again sometime in the near future.

I also liked Elle in this episode.  She was Electric Crazy Pants again!  Electric Crazy Pants is always pulling shenanigans like telling the rent-a-car clerk she’s the kidnapped victim of a serial killer, just to stir things up.  Electric Crazy Pants totally taps into Sylar’s twisted desire to be special, to be more powerful than people around him, and gets him to re-grow a pair.  Electric Crazy Pants is a sociopath, and I’m thrilled to see her acting like one again.

Not so thrilled to see Hiro in his current state. Remember Future Hiro?  Future Hiro, the bad ass who spoke perfect English, carried a sword and had a soul patch?  I don’t think that particular Future Hiro’s existence depended on the season one disaster and the death of Ando.  Hiro is a comic book fanboy given superpowers – Bad Ass Future Hiro seems like the natural progression of the character.

Take me, for instance. I’m a comic book fangirl.  What would I do after helping to save the world with my newfound superpowers?  Instead of sulking about not having a quest, I’d seek out training, take some classes.  I’d take martial arts classes, learn how to use the sword, maybe learn some foreign languages.  I’d do what I could to get myself ready should the world need saving again.  One afternoon in a warehouse with George Takei doesn’t teach you everything you need to know about swordsmanship and the grunt work of being a hero.

Hiro didn’t do any of that. He was passive.  He moped.  At the very least, he should have become more somber about his power and responsibility as time went on, but he didn’t.  Hiro just became more of a clown.

Which begs the question: what do the writers think of Heroes viewers?

Hiro was the audience stand in.  While everyone else was all emo about their new powers, Hiro embraced his.  Every new character, every new power, every new twist, it was all awesome for him.  Now Hiro is acting like a ten year old, with all the thought processes and actions that entails.  Does that mean the Heroes team thinks the viewers are childish?  Babies?

In light of all this, can Hiro be saved?  Can he reach a respectable level of badassery?

Yes.  Here’s how.

Hiro must grow up. Even before this ten year old mindwipe nonsense, Hiro acted like a boy.  It’s really time he start acting like a man (yes, he can read comic books and still be a man).  That means no more stooge antics with Ando.  That also means getting a girlfriend, preferably one that doesn’t wind up stuffed in a metaphorical refrigerator like Charlie.

Hiro must let Ando get on with his life.  I like Ando.  I really do, but the character has become cumbersome and is holding Hiro back.  Ando has to either stay home, get killed, or go bad if Hiro is going to progress.

Hiro must find his Yoda. Ancient China seemed like the right place for a hero ropes course, but that became a silly love fest.  As HRG is proving to Claire, the superpower isn’t enough.  A hero has to have practical knowledge and abilities, too.  Peter got a Yoda in Claude.  Claire is getting a Yoda in HRG.  Hiro needs a Yoda to teach him the practical side of heroism.

Hiro must go on patrol. Being a hero isn’t just about saving the world, it’s also about saving individuals.  When he’s not running around trying to stop the world from blowing up, Hiro has to go on patrol and stop small crimes as they’re happening.  Patrolling will satisfy his need to be a hero on frequent basis and will give him chances to hone practical hero skills.  Since he’s a jumper, he can patrol anywhere he wants.

As sad as it has been to see Sylar declawed, what’s been happening to Hiro is far more upsetting because he’s been my favorite character and the one I identify with most.  I want to see Hiro progress and become the bad ass I only am in my superhero dreams.  Stop holding him back, Heroes team.  Let our Hiro go.

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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.

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