Heroes 1.17 The Company Man

[bop_radar]

Wow. I usually snark quite a bit about Heroes, but this week's ep left me with little to criticise. I enjoyed the focus on one crisis and a specific set of characters for a change. Though normally I do enjoy the scattered ensemble cast, it was good to have a change to a tighter formula. The flashbacks worked well for me, and I thought that the key players--Mr Bennett, the Haitian, Claude--all successfully came across as 'younger selves', not just in their look but in their behaviour. That's not easy to pull off, so I was impressed.

The plotting of Heroes has always been very good and it continues to deliver. The reveals came thick and fast in this episode. norwich36 has a handy outline of what we learnt (including some unanswered questions).

I love, love, love the way that Mr Bennett has been developed as a character. We've already had the surface level 'good father' image stripped back to reveal a darker secret. Then we got hints that the 'darkness' was moral greyness rather than out-and-out evil. In this episode, that was textualised ('I'm comfortable with grey'), and Mr Bennett was placed in a bigger context. He's the 'company man', working for a larger organisation whose agenda, structure and leadership are hidden in secrecy.

Is Mr Nakamura the head of the organisation? One of the heads? Did he adopt Hiro the way that Mr Bennett adopted Claire? If so, what is Mr Nakamura planning to do with his 'son'?

I love Claire's mum and I thought her performance in this episode was wonderful--it's great to see her retaining her memories now. Are we going to see a reversal of positions with Mr Bennett having no memory of his family? It seems likely.

The Haitian continues to be one of incredibly enigmatic. His motivation is still shrouded in mystery. He was loyal to the company, but now he's not? Why not--what changed?

I love the fact that Claude and Mr Bennett were partners back in the day. Claude's become a lot more meaningful as a character to me now that he's been tied into the greater plot, rather than just popping up as convenient mentor to Peter.

It was good to see Matt being constructive for once rather than making daft decisions. ;-p

Most of all, though, my heart bled for Claire. I've found her well crafted as a character from the beginning, but her story has now become something truly unique. She fulfilled her heroic role in this episode (what a fantastic scene!), but the emotional journey she went through was possibly more significant. I loved how hard it was for her to lose suspicion of her father (when he stroked her face, before leaving her in her bedroom). It made the realisation that he was protecting her all the more devastating. Her 'good father' was returned to her only to be lost to her through a supreme act of self-sacrifice (again, what a scene!).

Claire seriously has the best fathers in the WORLD.

Comments

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Haitian has ever completely been a "company man" - because he's always kept his ability to speak secret from them, hasn't he?

Oh, Claire! I love her so much - she's so vulnerable and so brave and she's lost so much. ::loves::

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Maybe? I think I was confused into thinking that someone higher up in the company knew that he spoke... but now I can't think why I thought that. *frowns*

I loooove Claire! Her story was already appealingly tragic (orphan, mother's loss of memory), and full of grace (coming to terms with her power, her growing compassion towards Zach and even the guy who tried to rape her), but now it's been lifted to a whole new level.

[never-evil.livejournal.com]

And I thought Heroes couldn't get any better. Gosh! Wonderful ep wasn't it. May have been the tension, the camera angles, the flashbacks that gave us so much food for thought or it may just have been HRG rocking.

I am also wondering what all this means for Hiro but nothing satisfying comes to mind :/

Mrs. Bennet has always been this quite side character and I think this episode finally did her justice.

And OMG Claude! No wonder he is so bitter! He plans on never being so naive ever again.

Claire seriously has the best fathers in the WORLD.
WORD.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

It really was wonderful. I thought it was very tightly written, directed and edited. Sometimes I've felt the editing and writing were a little below the par of the cinematography and plotting on this show, but this ep pulled it all together.

Yes... unsettling for Hiro! Baby!Hiro was cute, but I fret for him now.

Now, we just need more Nathan! *bounces*

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I have nothing substantive to add, though I love your summary of Claire's journey.

I ♥ this show SO MUCH.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Eeeee! Yess!!! *bounces with you* I'm mainly about the squee with this show this week...

[duskwillow.livejournal.com]

Is Mr Nakamura the head of the organisation? One of the heads? Did he adopt Hiro the way that Mr Bennett adopted Claire? If so, what is Mr Nakamura planning to do with his 'son'?
If that is the case, I believe he's protecting him just as HRG is protecting Claire. He wanted him to stop following his destiny and go back to Japan, he practically tried bribing him with becoming his right hand to get him back home and being normal.

What I'm more interested is - who was Claude protecting? Is it someone we know?
And how ironic that HRG shot him for it, and how he did the same thing for Claire.
I do hope we'll get a scene with the two of them before the end of the season.

Claire seriously has the best fathers in the WORLD.
I know, right?! They both rock so much. ♥

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

You're right--I really want to know who Claude was protecting. I want more, definitely!

[bloodygoodgirl.livejournal.com]

Her 'good father' was returned to her only to be lost to her through a supreme act of self-sacrifice (again, what a scene!). I loved that scene. My mom called me up right after it aired (she's two hours ahead) and was all teary and made me call her after I'd seen it so we could jointly say awwwww.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

It was very awwww-enducing! It really was a brilliant scene--an instant classic!

[the-rejection.livejournal.com]

Is Mr Nakamura the head of the organisation? One of the heads? Did he adopt Hiro the way that Mr Bennett adopted Claire? If so, what is Mr Nakamura planning to do with his 'son'?

They're hinting in the previews that Linderman (sp?) is the head, which has been foreshadowed quite a bit with all his involvement. As to the second and third questions, I think Hiro is most likely Mr. Makamura's true son, as he's been treated him like a blood heir.

I really like how HRG has developed. At the beginning, I was afraid he'd be an incredibly two-dimensional, creepy but boring character, but now I sympathize with and understand him quite a bit. I also think this episode was one of the best - maybe even the best - so far; it was an incredible relief to have only one entire arc in an episodem, excepting the necessary flashbacks. I'm hoping the storylines will continue to merge and narrow down, like Sylar and Mohinder, Matt and HRG, etc. until there aren't five different storylines in one episode.

I'm just not looking forward to Simone suddenly being alive (as shown in the preview); her death made me happy, even if the circumstances of it didn't. She's such a boring character, and the actress pales in comparison to all the others.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Oh, gawwwwd. Simone is alive? *stabs things* Ugh! I will be veeeery unhappy. (I don't see the previews on my downloaded eps.) I will, however, be happy with more Linderman development--and yes, that would make sense.

I agree entirely about HRG and the strengths of this episode--it is a promising sign that the storylines will merge, which I think we're all getting ready for.