**SPOILERS for Heroes season 3**

Heroes season 3 has just started in the UK (3 episodes in).  Purtek has written before about its issues with female characters in her articles Heroes: Do Better and Heroes Season 2: You can still do better; the third season has kicked off with a couple of half-steps forward but some big steps back.

All New Ali Larter:  Nikki’s apparent death at the end of season 2 really was her death, but it turns out she has a twin (or … READ MORE

As promised yesterday, the good news from Season 2 of Heroes: Monica Dawson.

Monica is a black teenager (Micah’s cousin) living with her family in New Orleans. I don’t recall that the show specifies the exact ways that Hurricane Katrina affected this family, but among them is that Monica has become the primary breadwinner. She’s put her college dreams on hold and is working full time at a burger joint. Even prior to realizing her heroic ability, she’s a great character–strong, … READ MORE

Last season, I wrote about how Heroes, an awesome show in so many respects, could stand to work on its portrayal of women in big ways. I had heard they were paying some attention to the common criticism of gender imbalance and they’ve responded this season by adding some female characters. They’ve made one major improvement that I’ll talk about in a post tomorrow, but there is a long list of their continued shortcomings (I’m also a few episodes behind, … READ MORE

This isn’t really much of a post, sorry.

Was anyone else really disappointed to learn what Candice’s (the one on Linderman’s payroll who can make people see whatever she wants them to see) motivation was? It’s not ignoble to want people of all shapes and sizes to be treated fairly, of course, but I dunno. I thought she had a TON of potential, and then we learned she’s really a “fat girl” making people see a “skinny, beautiful girl” … READ MORE

I find it exceptionally painful when a show that is brilliant in every other way, and that I really, really love, fails miserably on the presentation of women characters. And everything about Heroes just keeps getting better and better, with that one glaring exception.

First, it’s worth noting that there are only two female “heroes” among the main ensemble cast of about ten characters. Three recurring characters have died in the show’s first season; two of them were women creeping up … READ MORE

I love Greg Grunberg. I think he’s gorgeous. I sat through that Sydney-Vaughan ship tripe for him. I would watch him reading out the White Pages. I wait in eager anticipation for the Australian premier of a show I wasn’t otherwise interested in - “Heroes” - because he’s in it.

(Yes, to answer you questions, we really do get shows that late sometimes.)

I’ve been thinking in the last few days how many other women there are who would follow a particular … READ MORE

I was thinking about the new NBC drama Heroes today, and about the women on that show. In a nutshell, Heroes is about a group of people (all separate at this point) who have genetically altered - they can do things us regular folk can’t do. One can fly, one can read thoughts, one can bend time and space (my favorite), you get the idea. Only two that we’ve seen are women, but that beats zero. I’m … READ MORE