WRITER: Bryan Fuller DIRECTOR: Allan Arkush
CAST: Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Christopher Ecclestone (Claude Rains), Ashley Crowe (Sandra Bennet), Randall Bentley (Lyle Bennet), Matthew John Armstrong (Ted Sprague), Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), George Takei (Kaito Nakamura), Eric Roberts (Thompson), Sheku Fofana (Young Haitian), Garrett Masuda (Young Hiro) & Missy Peregrym (Faith)
Matt and Ted hold the Bennet family hostage in a desperate bid to persuade Mr Bennet to explain himself...Fantastic. Quite simply the most riveting and emotional story yet, packed full of incident, intrigue, revelations, surprises and visual flourishes. Company Man focuses exclusively on Mr Bennet, abandoning the usual multi-story format for a singular flashback template.
Having surprised the Bennet family at their home, mind-reader Matt and radioactive Ted hope to persuade Mr Bennet to reveal information, specifically about the injections they've been given and what, exactly, Primatech is a cover for. There follows a tense hostage situation for all concerned as secrets are revealed...
Jack Coleman takes centre stage as we witness events 14 years ago, when Mr Bennet joined Primatech via granite-faced handler Thompson (Eric Roberts), tasked with tracking down people with "special abilities". To say more would ruin the surprises, as faces from the past make surprising appearances (deepening the show's mythology) while motivations are fleshed out for Mr Bennet and the memory-wiping Haitian.
Bryan Fuller's script hits every note perfectly, breathing life into characters and bringing a focus to a sometimes scattershot series. Freed of the show's multiple narratives and able to concentrate on just one story, Company Man takes great delight in answering questions and posing new ones. Lost's producers should take note, as the answers provided here are clear, concise and provoke further questions without infuriating the viewer.
The acting is excellent throughout, particularly from the wonderful Jack Coleman as Mr Bennet, who moves seamlessly between naive company man, concerned parent and cunning pragmatist. He's easily the most faceted, interesting and rounded character in the series, brought to life by the talented Coleman and great chemistry with Hayden Panettiere.
Panettiere herself is on top form alongside her screen father, full of doe-eyed wonder, crushing dispair and daughterly love. The young actress has been a real bedrock to the show since it began and Company Man marks another strong performances for her, with the Bennet family emphasis providing her with fantastic moments to shine.
As Matt, Greg Grunberg often veers from bumbling everyman to impassionated action man at the drop of a hat, but this episode finds him settling into a groove, as his straight-thinking leads to an uneasy alliance with Mr Bennet. Matthew John Armstrong's character of Ted is more two-dimensional, but passionately acted by the actor and bubbling with danger that culminates in a spectacular show of uncontrollable violence.
It's also worth mentioning Ashley Crowe as Mrs Bennet, who has been stuck with an uninteresting character for most of the season, primarily because she's persistently "memory wiped" by her husband. Here, as secrets about her family reveal themselves, Crowe gets a great scene with Claire that finally makes their relationship more believable and genuine. Great stuff.
Company Man is actually a difficult episode to review, simply because mentioning specifics would spoil things for viewers lagging behind, but rest assured this episode is everything you could want from a superhero drama: believable characters, engaging drama, exciting special FX (check out "ash-Claire"!), interesting revelations and oozing tension from every pore.
The only negatives were a moderate downturn in the mid-section and Eric Roberts role as has a climactic pay-off that stinks of contrivance. But these are minor complaints. By the time the emotional final scene plays out on a bridge, you'll be hanging on the character's every word and desperate for your next fix.
The infamous "To be continued..." subtitle has never seemed so cruel. An excellent episode of Heroes. An excellent episode for any series.
