Last night, was the ending of Heroes Vol. 1 and I'm not really sure how i feel about the ending.
One can't simply watch Heroes and not compare it to Lost, being it the other prime time networked Sci-Fi show. Lost does a lot of things that really keep me watching, but others constantly complain about. Lost is all about compounding mystery and never really giving the audience any specific closure. The writers allow the audience to build up theories and speculate about the show's direction, so the mystery will always be there. Specifically with the way they end a Season. Each season constantly builds up to a massive climax where the audience isn't given enough information to solve a mystery, but ends in such a way where the first 4 or 5 episodes of the next season undoubtedly will.
Spoilers
For example, at the end of Season 1, no mystery was really solved, but there was closure on the current events. Sayid and Charlie dispelled the Other's incoming attack, while Jack, Locke, Kate, and Hurley blew open the Hatch and while Sawyer, Jin and Michael were blown into the Ocean. The biggest mystery of Season 1 became the main focus of Season 2: The Hatch. The first 3 or 4 episodes finally gave the audience what they wanted throughout Season 1 and the rest of the Season compounded the mystery.
The same happened with the end of Season 2. Well, i suppose one very large mystery was solved at that time: "What would happen if the counter went past 0?" Also, we learned why/how the plane crashed on the Island. Season 2 was kinda at odds with itself, since it juggled two mysteries at once. The ending of season 2 gave closure to Hatch, while climaxing on the Others. I suppose another mystery solved was the identity of Henry Gale.
Anyways, the point is that the Season 2 ender setup Season 3 to give the audience what the wanted with the Others. Even though, they spread out the answers across the entire Season.
The same will true with tomorrow night's Season 3 finale. All current events will be resolved, and a 'larger' mystery will show itself to be the focus of Season 4. What could it be? I think Jacob or something involving Jacob will be the focus of Season 4, while half-way through the Season, 'The Rescue' will start showing its face and probably be the focus of Season 5, with Season 6 something to do with Dharma.
If I were to name the seasons, I would name season 1: the crash, season 2: the hatch, and season 3: the others. perhaps season 4 will be 'the island', season 5: the rescue, and so on.
Anyways, the reason I bring up Lost is that the Season ender gives the audience something to look forward to. It ends on a cliffhanger that makes the audience squirm. Heroes did not do that last night, in my opinion. The whole season led up to Peter and Sylar fighting and the writers gave them exactly that. The battle to save the world and enough of the aftermath to bring the audience back down from their high. Volume 1 is closed.
The only cliffhanger the audience was given was the first 5 minutes of Volume 2, with Hiro back in time when the eclipse happened. That's not what i care about at the moment. I cared about Sylar fighting Peter, and stopping the bomb.. but all that is done with now. I can't get attached to a story element in Season 2 when i've only been given 5 minutes of it.
The ending also eluded to Sylar being alive, and I'm sure Peter is still alive as well. If Season 2 focuses on this, it'll just be Season 1 all over again.
So, yes.. I don't really know how i feel about it, because on one hand: i was given exactly what i wanted, but on the other: now what do i look forward to. Lost gets it in this department.. even though, so many people complain about it.
So that's how i feel about that. I can't wait for the finale of Lost tomorrow. ^_^
Lost will be a total of 6 Seasons with the remaining 3 seasons only 16 episodes each, as opposed to 24 episodes. Each episode will air consecutively.
Heroes will be back with 24 episodes, and a companion 6 episode series entitled Origins. Each episode of Origins will focus on a single New character that might be brought into the main show.
In an interview with the creator of Heroes, he states that he wanted to make the cast of each Season as independent from each other as possible. Originally, he was planning on killing off almost all of the current cast, with only 2 or 3 continuing characters into Season 2. Season 2 would feature an almost entirely new cast. He changed his mind after the audience really responded to the current set of characters.
With these thoughts in mind, it makes sense to give that much closure to Season 1. Then you can begin anew.
(sorry.. i don't have sources, at the moment, for these 3 tidbits)