Heroes’ episode 1.17: Company Man recap

Thanks to Heroes Info linking the recap to episode 1.17, “Company Man”, from Wikipedia.

UHMM… Wait! If you missed the show, it’s online. and you may need some tissue.

The episode opens just before last week’s ending. Ted melts the doorknob to break into the Bennet house. Matt and Ted argue about whether to continue to search the house or go to Primatech, but the family comes home before they decide anything. Matt and Ted hold the Bennets hostage. Mr. Bennet knows who Matt is but claims not to know Ted.

In a black and white flashback, Mr. Bennet is shown before he began his cover identity at Primatech. Bennet’s mysterious boss Thompson tells him that they all work with a partner with powers. In Bennet’s case, he is partnered with Claude, who appears right in front of Bennet.

Bennet learns that The Haitian did not wipe out Claire’s memory after all, and that she knows a lot more than he thought, when Matt repeats some of Claire’s thoughts aloud. Matt tries to assuage an agitated Ted, who calms down when Claire says that her father is not a paper salesman.

Alone in Mr. Bennet’s office with Claire, Matt admits his own powers and tells her that he thinks Mr. Bennet did it to him. Claire thinks of Peter Petrelli, and learns that Matt knows him too. She tells Matt about her own powers.

In another flashback, set on the Deveaux building rooftop in New York, Claire is handed over to Bennet after the fire that allegedly killed Claire’s biological mother. She is held by Kaito Nakamura, Hiro’s father. Mr. Bennet, Mr. Nakamura, and Claude have a conversation in Japanese, during which Mr. Nakamura says of Claire: “She belongs to us. If she manifests, we take her.” A very young Hiro sits nearby playing with a Gameboy, seemingly oblivious to what is happening. Mr. Bennet has been hiding Claire all this time, not telling his bosses when he discovered she did have powers.

Matt realizes that Mr. Bennet is thinking in Japanese, in an attempt to throw him off. Bennet then thinks of a diversionary tactic to get Ted to go to a bookcase. He leaps for a hidden gun, which Ted then gets from him in a scuffle. When Ted is ready to shoot Claire’s mother, Matt shoots Claire, at the insistence of both Claire’s shouts and her father’s thoughts. Mr. Bennet then “tells” Matt via his thoughts the best way to get Claire away from Ted before he discovers her healing power. Matt and Mr. Bennet have a staged fistfight and take Claire’s “body” upstairs before she heals, coughing up the bullet. Matt tells Claire that her father is telling the truth about not telling “anyone at work” about Claire’s powers.

Another flashback, outside the Bennet house, shows Mr. Bennet expressing concern that his wife is suspicious about what is going on, Thompson tells him of a mute child they discovered in Haiti who can wipe out the minds of others. Mr. Bennet lets the young Haitian in for the first of many memory erasings of his wife.

At Ted’s suggestion, Matt and Bennet go off to Primatech, with Ted staying behind with the tied-up Lyle and Sandra. Ted threatens to blow up the home if the men do not return in an hour. Bennet gathers up tranquilizers and has signaled for The Haitian to meet him at the factory. Upon seeing The Haitian, Bennet confronts him about not erasing Claire’s memory. The Haitian explains that he answers to someone else “in [his] daughter’s life.” After they argue about Claire’s well-being, Matt says they must give Ted what he wants.

In a flashback seven years earlier. Bennet is supposed to kill Claude for breaching security and hiding someone. Claude is not surprised at all, stating that he was in Bennet’s office when the order was given. They pull over at a bridge, and Claude argues with Bennet that he is doing the same thing by protecting Claire. Bennet hesitates to shoot Claude, but pulls the trigger. Claude becomes invisible after Bennet shoots him twice, and Bennet seems to think Claude has fallen over the side.

Back at the Bennet house, Claire sneaks downstairs, much to her mother and brother’s shock. She unties them, but Ted catches them before they can all get away. “Run!” Claire urges them. Lyle escapes, but Sandra returns for Claire. Ted irradiates Claire’s neck, who heals immediately right in front of her astounded mother.

Ted ties them up again. Claire is upset that her mom did not get away. Sandra thinks Claire is a miracle from God. Claire disagrees and tells her mom about her dad’s various lies. Sandra has faith in her husband, though. Ted listens and realizes that Matt knew Claire would heal before he shot her, which angers him even more. His hands start glowing just as Matt and Bennet return with the evidence. Matt tries to calm him down, asking if he wants revenge or the truth. Ted calms down and takes the binder. The Haitian comes in the other door, and releases Claire and her mom. At the insistence of Mr. Bennet, they leave the house, along with Mr. Muggles.

Lyle, outside, says he called the police. Bennet says he did not make Ted the way he was, but found him when he was giving off lower levels of radiation. Suddenly Thompson appears and hears the entire conversation. Thompson aims a gun at Ted, at which point Bennet screams that he will be set off. Thompson ignores this plea and fires. Ted loses complete control over his power and begins to set the house on fire. Bennet stays behind, trying to prepare a tranquilizer to dope Ted but cannot get close enough. Claire returns to save him. Matt comes back inside as well, and Claire makes him and her father leave, saying that she is the only one who can subdue Ted. Matt, Thompson, and Bennet get out, and there is a large, fiery concussion wave. Claire finally comes out with with her skin like blackened ash but begins healing quite visibly with every step she takes, as neighbors, family, the police and Thompson look on. Bennet knows that he will have to give up Claire.

Later, Bennet and Thompson are at Primatech, discussing what a shame it will be to kill another partner: The Haitian. They blame him for hiding Claire “all this time.” He has, however, gone missing, possibly knowing that he will be killed. Ted is seen, locked in a cell similar to Sylar’s. Matt, unconscious, lies in a bed in another room. Bennet says that Matt was very helpful, and Thompson suggests Matt’s powers would make him a great partner for Bennet. Thompson then asks when Claire will be arriving. Bennet says he will bring her in now.

Mr. Bennet drives Claire down the same road he drove Claude down seven years prior. Claire asks her father where she is going, and he replies that he does not know. Another flashback occurs, to three years ago. Bennet is trying on glasses, with Claire helping him choose. Claire asks if she will need glasses someday too, since both her father and grandfather needed them. Bennet tells her that she was adopted, which upsets her at first, but he assures her that they are her “real family” and that they love her very much. Claire gives him a pair of horn-rimmed glasses to try on. “How do I look?” “Like my dad,” Claire answers.

The scene cuts back to the present, where Bennet stops at the same bridge where he shot Claude, with The Haitian waiting there. Claire and her father say their good-byes, both crying. Bennet instructs The Haitian to shoot him in the stomach to make it appear that The Haitian shot Bennet and took Claire from him. Bennet tells The Haitian to go deep into his memory and take anything that would lead his bosses to finding Claire. After The Haitian shoots Bennet, Claire runs to her father and hugs him. Bennet says, “I love you, Claire Bear,” before having his memory wiped by The Haitian.

[source: Wikipedia]

Tags: Heroes, episode 1, 17, Company Man, recap, review