Heroes has ended, more with a whimper than a bang.  After building all season to a major showdown between the villainous Sylar and the multi-powered Heroes of the title, Sylar was dispatched with a quick 10 minute finale that wrapped up all the plot threads in a pretty unsatisfying manner.

But I had lowered my expectations before the finale aired, so I wasn’t too underwhelmed.

It happened during the “grand” finale of the episode set in the future – where Hiro Nakamura (the hero who can travel in time) traveled to a future where the explosion wiped out most of New York and caused a slightly dystopian future.  The future episode ended with a showdown between Sylar and Peter (the ultimate hero of the show, if there is one).

The last scene of the show had several heroes barricaded inside a room, with Sylar trying to break in.  Peter shows up and challenges Sylar. Sylar taunts Peter and ignites his fists in blue flame, and Peter responds by producing red fireballs around his hands.  They stride towards each other – and the camera cuts back inside the room, where the heroes inside talk while blue and red flashes begin pounding behind the metal barricade.

And at that moment I set my expectations for Heroes lower, because I saw that the showrunners needed to create a visual that accommodated the show’s budget rather than one that would impress the viewer.

Sure enough, the finale of Heroes should have been a half hour epic showdown between the multiple powers that had been showcased throughout the season, but was instead a standard television fight that involved the superpowered Peter punching the superpowered Sylar punching each other in the face.  These guys can throw people around with telekenisis – aren’t they way too advanced for a fistfight?

So, Heroes was a bit of a letdown.  You only get the chance to tease the audience once – I doubt people will be as fanatic about Heroes Season 2 as they were in the first season, which built the story up to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.