Mr. Bennet (Heroes)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Bennet

Portrayed by	Jack Coleman
First appearance	"Genesis"
Statistics
Alias(es)	Horn-Rimmed Glasses (and many variations thereof)
Gender	Male
Spouse	Sandra Bennet
Child(ren)	Claire Bennet, Lyle Bennet

Mr. Bennet, also known as Horn-Rimmed Glasses, is a character from the NBC drama Heroes played by Jack Coleman.^[1] The role was initially recurring, but became regular as of the 11th episode.^[2]

[edit] Character history

At first glance, Mr. Bennet appears to be an ordinary businessman who works at a paper plant and lives in Odessa, Texas with his wife and two children. However, he and his associates have actually traveled the world for a number of years investigating superhuman phenomena. Bennet claims that he assists them in learning to use their powers, although there are sometimes unintended consequences.

One of Bennet's associates is a mysterious Haitian man with the power of wiping out memories. Bennet made use of the Haitian to completely wipe out the memories of Brody Mitchum, the student football quarterback who tried to rape his adopted teenage daughter, Claire. The Haitan is also responsible for the extensive modification to the memories of Claire's mother, brother Lyle, and her friend, Zach.

Some time six months before most of the series events take place,^[3] Bennet turned wanted criminal and mind controller Eden McCain into one of his operatives. At about the same time, he is contacted by Chandra Suresh, who has found Claire's picture on her high school's web site and identified her as having potential powers. After Suresh leaves, Mr. Bennet then ordered Eden McCain to become a neighbor of Chandra Suresh and remove Claire's name from Chandra's list of superpowered humans. Also at Bennet's request, Eden later persuaded Isaac Mendez to come with her and also captured Sylar.

Bennet's activities also include the kidnapping of superhumans Matt Parkman and Isaac Mendez for testing, the attempted kidnapping of Nathan Petrelli, and the surveillance of Chandra Suresh, a geneticist who knows a great deal about the emerging superhumans. After Chandra's death, Bennet has kept tabs on the man's son, Mohinder. His agenda and affiliation are still shrouded in mystery. In response to Matt's inquiries as to whether he works for the FBI or the CIA, Bennet said he doesn't work for "any organization that uses initials".^[4]

Whereas his family is unaware of his activities and believes his frequent absences to be business trips, Bennet knows that Claire possesses superhuman powers of regeneration and is particularly concerned with keeping his knowledge a secret.

After Claire makes repeated requests to meet her biological parents, Mr. Bennet arranges a meeting with a couple named Hank and Lisa, whom Bennet later privately thanks for helping him.^[5] However, he later tells Isaac Mendez that fourteen years ago, a woman with special powers died in his custody, leaving behind a toddler daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, who were having trouble conceiving a child, adopted the little girl. Mr. Bennet said Claire's appearance in his life was like a miracle.^[6]

Mr. Bennet asks Isaac, whom Eden persuaded to come with her, to help him to prevent Claire from being murdered by Sylar at her homecoming game the next night. Bennet has collected three previous paintings Isaac created depicting a terrified Claire close-up, running up the bleachers in a football stadium, and lying dead on the ground with the top of her skull removed. When Isaac is unable to paint without the use of heroin and resists taking the drug, Mr. Bennet orders Eden to use her powers to make Isaac believe he wants to use the drug.

Bennet becomes frustrated after Isaac is unable to paint something that makes sense to him. When Eden protests his actions, Mr. Bennet shows her a series of photographs depicting Sylar's dead victims—all with their brains removed from their heads—and says he is determined to save his daughter from such a fate. He orders Eden to go to the homecoming game and look for Sylar and grounds Claire to prevent her from being killed. Bennet discovers later, however, that Claire snuck out and worriedly runs to the school to find her. When he arrives, he is too late to stop Sylar from attacking. Bennet soon discovers that the victim was not Claire; rather it was Jackie Wilcox, one of Claire's fellow cheerleaders. A relatively relieved Bennet soon reunites with his daughter and insists they go home while the police handle things. Claire says that she has something to tell her father regarding her uncanny survival.^[7]

In the episode "Fallout", Claire's father told her that he knew about her powers long before she was aware of them. He acknowledged doing things he was not proud of to keep her safe, and told Claire that Sylar had been taken care of, but that she must keep silent about her powers because she is in danger from others like him. Mr. Bennet later met with Sylar, confined in a prison cell, and told him he could not use his multiple abilities, that they planned to study him to determine what makes him "tick". Sylar boasted that he would escape and kill Claire, taking her healing abilities. Eden McCain told Mr. Bennet she could persuade Sylar to kill himself. Mr. Bennet, who claimed to take orders from someone higher up, was briefly tempted but was called away before he could accept or decline the offer. Mr. Bennet took Claire to the police station, where she was interviewed about Jackie's murder. Officer Matt Parkman was unable to read the thoughts of Claire or her father, prevented by the Haitian who hid around a corner. Mr. Bennet ordered the Haitian to wipe the memories of his children, Lyle and Claire, and Claire's friend, Zach, and though he complied with regard to Lyle and Zach, he did not wipe Claire's memory.

[edit] References

^ Heroes Cast and Details. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
^ 'Heroes' zeros in on its bad guy. Variety.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
^ "Six Months Ago." Heroes. NBC. 2006-11-27.
^ "Collision." Director: Ernest Dickerson, Writer: Bryan Fuller. Heroes. NBC. 2006-10-16.
^ "Better Halves." Director: Greg Beeman, Writer: Natalie Chadez. Heroes. NBC. 2006-10-30.
^ "Seven Minutes to Midnight." Director: Paul Edwards, Writer: Tim Kring. Heroes. NBC. 2006-11-13.
^ "Homecoming." Director: Greg Beeman, Writer: Adam Armus & Kay Foster. Heroes. NBC. 2006-11-20.