What an Idiot!/Live-Action TV/Heroes (TV series)

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Examples of What an Idiot! in Heroes (TV series) include:

  • At the end of Season 1, the Company captures Sylar. They inject him with a virus that suppresses his powers. That's a pretty smart idea. But then there's the question of what to do with him afterward.
    You'd expect - That they would keep him in a cell in one of their facilities, with armed guards, scientists to run tests on him, and security systems that would work to prevent his escape, and inform them if he succeeded.
    Instead - They put him in a shack in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to prevent him from just walking out, and only one guard. She proceeds to have her own What an Idiot! moment when she carefully demonstrates her powers of illusion to the psychotic power-stealing serial killer, then does nothing as he acts threateningly towards her and shortly attacks and kills her. Finally, the Company apparently has no way of telling whether Sylar has escaped, as he is able to walk away from the shack for three days without any pursuit.
  • Near the end of season 1, where Mohinder has captured Sylar (whom he knows is a multiple murderer), taken what DNA information he needed from him, and then tried to shoot him in the head. Sylar stops the bullet, escapes, tortures Mohinder... Then, later, Peter shows up, and in the confrontation, Sylar and Peter are both rendered unconscious.
    You'd expect - Mohinder would use this opportunity to put a few bullets in Sylar's brain, like he already tried to do.
    Instead - Mohinder scoops up Peter's unconscious (seemingly dead) body and just leaves Sylar there, to eventually wake up and resume his killing spree.
  • Also Heroes, Season 2: Peter stands before a giant door, with a needlessly complicated lock mechanism, behind which lies a deadly virus he's intent on destroying. Adam, who Peter's been working with, claims to have the same goal, but really wants Peter to open the vault so he can release the virus. Peter has been warned repeatedly by people he logically should trust, including Hiro --who helped him save New York before.
    You'd expect - Since Peter can phase through walls he would just do so. By leaving everyone else outside, and destroying the virus himself, he could have completely eliminated trust as a factor. Or used telepathy to read Adam's mind to confirm his intentions.
    Instead - He uses telekinesis on the lock, almost squeezing his brain out in the process. Because phasing through the door would have been less interesting. Adam subsequently walks into the door and Peter blindly waits outside the door for him, not bothering to verify he's going to destroy the virus.
  • Again in Season 3: Tracy and Nathan come to see Suresh, and Tracy shows Suresh her power. Suresh knocks them out with a sedative, but they're not the idiots. Later on, Nathan and Tracy are strapped to operating tables. When Mohinder says he feels like he's becoming a monster, Tracy offers her hand for comfort...
    You'd expect- Mohinder to use the marvelous intellect he used in acquiring a degree to deduce that Tracy isn't just trying to comfort him.
    Instead - Dr. Suresh reaches out for Tracy's hand and falls to the floor actually surprised when she freezes his forearm.
  • The ending to Season 3, to the point of being completely ridiculous. Sylar kills Nathan, but is then tranq'ed. Everyone is now in a room with an unconscious Sylar and a dead Nathan.
    You'd expect - HRG to say "Hey, Claire has magic bring-dead-people-back-to-life blood. I should know, seeing as it did so for me. Let's inject Nathan's body with some and toss Sylar into a wood chipper."
    Instead - The group decides to have Matt hypnotize Sylar into being Nathan and just pretend that Sylar is dead.. Naturally, the Volume 5/Season 4 preview implies that this "solution" won't last for very long.
  • Season 4 - Peter has stolen the Haitian's power neutralizing ability and uses it to get the drop on Sylar, managing to nail-gun his hands to a table. Peter has Sylar dead to rights and knows that he killed Peter's brother and father and Claire's mother and untold others.
    You'd Expect: That he'd put a nail into Sylar's brain and then pitch him into a volcano.
    Instead: He tries to bring Nathan's personality to the surface even though Sylar already proved in that season alone that it couldn't take.
    Bonus! He completely neglects using the Haitian's memory-wiping powers to suppress Sylar again, which would make a tragically idiotic plan only largely idiotic. Or at least not to stop erasing Sylar's memories until there is nothing left, which the Haitian did in Season 1 with the guy that attempted to rape Claire.
    Double Bonus! "Nathan" realizes he can't control Sylar and decides to commit suicide. He does this by jumping off a building despite knowing that Peter/The Haitian's power only works in close proximity and Sylar has super-healing. Naturally, Sylar regains his powers mid-fall and survives it, walking away to mock Peter.
  • A less serious example: Hiro discovers a man about to jump off the roof of his company's building because he was fired for copying his butt at a company party.
    You'd Expect: That Hiro could just intervene normally to get the guy re-hired at the company that Hiro owns.
    Instead: Hiro keeps traveling back in time to physically prevent the guy from copying his butt, but the guy just does it a week later.
  • Eden. Did it not occur to her that if she could use her power on Sylar, he could use his powers, too?
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