Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App from Ginger Labs, Inc, US$0.99
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful from Scosche, US$129.99
- IPEVO’s Typi Folio Case & Keyboard for iPad is First-rate from IPEVO, US$79.99
- Scosche’s boomSTREAM BT Speaker: Features & Compromises from Scosche, US$99.95
- FX Photo Studio HD: iPad Painting of Effects Made Easy from MacPhun LLC, US1.99
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Amon Tobin
- The genius is in the beats. Amon Tobin creates fantastic, groovy beats behind beats. "Supermodified" rolls through your expectations of breakbeat music, and turns them up a bit. It's a mellow album, p
- Modern Lovers
This timeless masterpiece is little known, but it has inspired almost as many bands as The Modern Lovers' own inspiration -- and only slightly better known -- The Velvet Underground & Nico.
- Poe
Poe rocked my world with "Angry Johnny" (I want to kill you/I want to blow you/Away) and "Trigger Happy Jack" (Trigger Happy Jack/ You're gonna blow/But I'm gonna get off/Before you go), as powe
- Ladytron
- Belle & Sebastian
The Life Pursuit is a sort of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. You get Belle & Sebastian's peanut butter (its wistful, often irresistible pop) dipped in a 'Have A Nice Day!' and glam 70s chocol
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
Free on iTunes
Heroes 1.16 - "Company Man"
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 3:00 PM - by Sarah Kuhn
Heroes 1.16 - "Company Man"
Original Airdate: February 26th, 2007
When it comes to pure rock em, sock em, "can I please just scrape my jaw off the floor now?"-type thrills, I dont think theres a show out there that touches Heroes. You are pretty much guaranteed at least one Moment - capital "M," worthy of the TiVo rewind, will make you "oooh" out loud - per episode.
And yet, Heroes has never quite resonated with me the way that the most soul-shaking television does - it doesnt pierce me to the core the way that Buffy and Veronica Mars and Battlestar Galactica do and it doesnt tend to leave me pondering its various twists and turns for days on end. And so I havent been able to put it in the top tier of my very favoritest shows, even though I know Im getting a solid hour of entertainment every time I tune in.
But that might be changing, thanks to this episode. With this outing -- penned by one of my favorite small screen scribes working today, Bryan Fuller -- Heroes morphes into something fuller, richer and yes, possibly soul-shaking.
Basically, its Bennet back story time. The whole family is held hostage by Matt and Radioactive Geico Caveman and this seems as good a time as any to make with the flashbacks. The flashbacks, shown in nifty black and white, reveal that Bennets boss is none other than Eric Roberts, an actor who has really gotten way more interesting with age.
Nowadays, he exudes a shady aura of vagueness - the perfect quality for playing haggard villains on police procedurals and mysterious authority figures on serialized shows such as this one. Anyway, we also learn that Bennet was originally partnered with a surprisingly fresh-faced Doctor Who and that he actually didnt want to adopt Baby Claire. But George Takei - yes, Hiros daddy! - made him. And when George Takei tells you to do something, you do it. George also informed Bennet that they would take Claire back if she started to have powers ("They" being the mysterious They People that we still dont know a whole lot about).
Other flashbacky stuff: at one point, Bennet was ordered to kill Dr. Who, but Dr. Who turned invisible and took off. Also, Claire is the one who selected Bennets famous glasses, unwittingly saddling him with a sinister-sounding nickname. And The Haitian has always been silent and creepy and apparently has a necklace that looks a whole lot like a certain tattoo. On a certain character. Named Jessica.
Back in the non-B&W present day, Matt reads everyones minds, realizes that RadioGeico is completely crazy, and starts communicating telepathically with Bennet. Its all pretty cool and much more exciting than any of Counselor Trois "I feel pain!" telepathy adventures.
Matt shoots Claire (knowing shell heal) and Eric Roberts eventually shows up and then RadioGeico gets mad and starts going all explode-y. Indestructible Claire is the only who can get close enough to him to stick a tranquilizer in his arm and take him down.
I know I said the Peter flying thing was the most exciting thing to happen on this show, but this is SO MUCH BETTER. Theres fire everywhere and Claires skin burns off and when she emerges, mostly charred but generally OK, its beautifully iconic and gloriously comic book-esque. Just awesome.
The Bennet family shares a tearful embrace and then Eric Roberts demands that Bennet bring Claire in. Instead, he takes her to the same bridge where he tried to shoot Dr. Who and hands her off to The Haitian, in order to keep her safe. He also makes The Haitian shoot him and wipe his memory, so no one will be able to find Claire. Its heartbreaking and amazing, especially since Claire fiercely acknowledges that he is her dad and she loves him. Im crying just thinking about it.
This eppy is certainly a break from tradition, focusing squarely on a single plotline. I think it worked in the most excellent way. Bennets character is fully fleshed out - theres no ambiguity left about his allegiances or how he feels, and that is incredibly satisfying. It also amps up Heroes already-considerable sense of adventure, sending Claire off into the wilderness.
As the show becomes more interwoven and mythology-heavy, little touches - like seeing Gameboy-playing Hiro in the flashbacks - feel neat and elegant rather than gimmicky and contrived. In going to the very heart of one of the series central mysteries - who the frak is Bennet? - and exploring it fully, Heroes takes a sizeable step towards feeling like so much more than rock em, sock em entertainment. Its finally turning into something worth obsessing over.
iTunes Links:
Heroes - Series
Heroes - Season 1
This episode - "Company Man"
Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.
Recent Headlines
- Reading, Writing, & Saving the World
- Free Retro Gaming for iOS - Activision’s Kaboom!
- Apple Adds Chomp Bits to iOS 6 App Store Discovery
- Notability For iPad: Much More Than A Note Taking App
- Scosche’s RH656m Headphones With Microphone Are Wonderful
- Tim Cook & Larry Page Reportedly Discuss Patents
- Analysis: Amazon Kindle Fire Sold Out, Kindle Fire 2 Pic Leaked
Post Your Comments