Heroes 1x17: Company Man
Jun. 27th, 2007 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteI agree with Selena: not necessarily my favourite episode, but the best so far. This is where Heroes really stretches itself.
One of the show's strengths is its huge and diverse ensemble cast, and the way it explores the connections between them, both close and coincidental. (D.L. and Hiro saving people from a car accident would be a nice example of the latter.) In Company Man the series narrows and sharpens its focus to Mr. Bennet, and in the process reveals all sorts of intriguing details about the rest of the characters. Company Man is compressed instead of expansive, in timeframe and location as well as character. Instead of flitting at random across the globe, we stay with Bennet, his family and his kidnappers for the space of an episode.
It makes a lot of sense that this was a spontaneous kidnapping on Matt's part; I can't see him plotting to hold Bennet's family hostage, but when the situation presents itself he finds himself going along with Ted Sprague. As the situation deteriorates, he develops a kind of reverse Stockholm Syndrome when it becomes obvious that Ted is more immediately dangerous than Bennet and they conspire to defuse the situation. I just hope that Bennet remembers enough to cut him some slack later on.
The flashbacks - Bennet's partnership with Claude, the first time he had Sandra's memories removed and his initially reluctant adoption of Claire - are fascinating. We learn more about his personality than we do about his work, but there's more than enough to chew over. the most shocking plot revelation is Kaito Nakamura's involvement in the Company, and I'd just love to know who Claude was hiding from his employers.
In the present, the episode showcases Bennet's competence and also his extraordinary ruthlessness. That ruthlessness ultimately extends even to himself - in the end he's willing to be shot and mindwiped in order to protect Claire.
Their interaction in both the past and the present is extraordinarily moving. Nakamura tells him not to get attached to the baby, she belongs to the Company, but you can see his resolve start to waver as soon as she smiles and touches his face. Claude speaks of him holding his adopted daughter at arm's length because he knows he'll have to give her up. Yet you can only imagine that barrier is already breaking down, and it vanishes completely as she grows up. The scene where she picks out his glasses speaks volumes.
This is also the episode where we see that Claire still loves her dad despite all he's done. She won't leave him in the house with Sprague when it's obvious that she's better suited to tranquillizing him (and just how much of an idiot was Bennet's superior to shoot a walking nuclear weapon?!) and is distraught at what the Haitian as to do to save both of them.
Company Man is just a great piece of television. No doubt I'll have more thoughts later - it's one I expect to come back to.
One of the show's strengths is its huge and diverse ensemble cast, and the way it explores the connections between them, both close and coincidental. (D.L. and Hiro saving people from a car accident would be a nice example of the latter.) In Company Man the series narrows and sharpens its focus to Mr. Bennet, and in the process reveals all sorts of intriguing details about the rest of the characters. Company Man is compressed instead of expansive, in timeframe and location as well as character. Instead of flitting at random across the globe, we stay with Bennet, his family and his kidnappers for the space of an episode.
It makes a lot of sense that this was a spontaneous kidnapping on Matt's part; I can't see him plotting to hold Bennet's family hostage, but when the situation presents itself he finds himself going along with Ted Sprague. As the situation deteriorates, he develops a kind of reverse Stockholm Syndrome when it becomes obvious that Ted is more immediately dangerous than Bennet and they conspire to defuse the situation. I just hope that Bennet remembers enough to cut him some slack later on.
The flashbacks - Bennet's partnership with Claude, the first time he had Sandra's memories removed and his initially reluctant adoption of Claire - are fascinating. We learn more about his personality than we do about his work, but there's more than enough to chew over. the most shocking plot revelation is Kaito Nakamura's involvement in the Company, and I'd just love to know who Claude was hiding from his employers.
In the present, the episode showcases Bennet's competence and also his extraordinary ruthlessness. That ruthlessness ultimately extends even to himself - in the end he's willing to be shot and mindwiped in order to protect Claire.
Their interaction in both the past and the present is extraordinarily moving. Nakamura tells him not to get attached to the baby, she belongs to the Company, but you can see his resolve start to waver as soon as she smiles and touches his face. Claude speaks of him holding his adopted daughter at arm's length because he knows he'll have to give her up. Yet you can only imagine that barrier is already breaking down, and it vanishes completely as she grows up. The scene where she picks out his glasses speaks volumes.
This is also the episode where we see that Claire still loves her dad despite all he's done. She won't leave him in the house with Sprague when it's obvious that she's better suited to tranquillizing him (and just how much of an idiot was Bennet's superior to shoot a walking nuclear weapon?!) and is distraught at what the Haitian as to do to save both of them.
Company Man is just a great piece of television. No doubt I'll have more thoughts later - it's one I expect to come back to.
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Date: 2007-06-27 02:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-27 02:34 pm (UTC)Let's just say that you haven't seen the last of Bennet-Matt scenes by a long shot. You haven't even seen the last of Bennet-Matt-Ted scenes. *zips mouth about the rest*
Re: Bennet's partnership with Claude: that remains the thing about Claude that interests me most, definitely more than his mentoring of Peter, so when/if they get Eccleston back, I'm hoping for some follow-up there. (Yes, the notoriously fickle Christopher E. has commitment issues again, which is why this is the last you see of Claude in s1.)
Who Claude was hiding: at the time, I remember speculating it might have been either Meredith or one of the older Petrellis.
Their interaction in both the past and the present is extraordinarily moving.
Absolutely. It's heartbreakingly beautiful.