Episode 117: Company Man
Mr. Muggles runs down the stairs when he hears Matt and Ted breaking into the house. When they see the Bennets arriving home, Ted insists they kidnap Mr. Bennet then and there. The family comes through the door, and Ted and Matt spring into action. 15 years ago, Mr. Bennet is recruited into a secret organization that keeps people "safe," keeps them unaware of what's happening to the human race. Bennet is given a partner for his mission: Claude, the invisible man. In the present, Matt tells the shocked Bennet family that Mr. Bennet abducts people, drugs them, and makes them forget. Mrs. Bennet asks how he does this and Matt hears Claire's thoughts, "The Haitian." In a private interview with Claire, Matt hears her thoughts and learns that she has the power of regeneration. As she wonders if her dad made her this way... 14 years before, Mr. Bennet and Claude meet with Hiro's father on the Deveaux rooftop after "bagging a bloody firestarter" who they believed died in a fire. Hiro's father demands that Mr. Bennet adopt her baby but cautions, "She belongs to us. If she manifests; we'll take her." In the present, Ted gets a second gun on Mrs. Bennet and Matt hears Mr. Bennet and Claire's thoughts telling him to shoot her because she can heal. Matt fires and shoots Claire to diffuse the situation. Matt and Mr. Bennet bring Claire's body to her bedroom before she heals. Matt tells him that Ted was about to shoot his wife and Mr. Bennet thanks Matt for shooting first. Mr. Bennet explains that the people he works for don't know that she has an ability and will take her if they find out. Ted insists that he stay with the family while Matt and Mr. Bennet go to Primatech. At Primatech, Mr. Bennet prepares a tranquilizer for Ted while telling Matt they need to trust each other. Matt and Mr. Bennet run into The Haitian; Bennet yells at him for not erasing Claire's memory. The Haitian responds that he answers to someone whose authority supersedes Mr. Bennet's and that someone else will soon know about Claire's ability. Seven years ago, Claude catches Bennet in a lie. Bennet confesses that he's supposed to kill Claude, who admits that he's hiding someone with an ability. Bennet stops the car on a lonely bridge and shoots Claude. He fires again and Claude turns invisible. With Ted out of the room, Claire grabs a knife and frees her mom. Ted goes into Claire's room and sees that her body is gone. He runs down stairs just in time to stop the others from fleeing. Ted grabs Claire and burns her neck, which heals right before her mom's startled eyes. Claire tells her mom that her husband has lied to her their entire marriage and that he's the reason she lost her memory. Mrs. Bennet, however, has faith that her husband is doing right. Mr. Bennet and Matt arrive back at the house; Mr. Bennet hands Ted a folder full of files. Ted calms down as The Haitian comes in to free Claire and her mom. As Ted looks over the files, Mr. Bennet tells him that they can't make him normal, "We can't change the way you are." As they quietly converse, Mr. Bennet's boss arrives and shoot's Ted in the shoulder. Ted loses control of his ability and begins to contort violently as fire spreads through the Bennet household. Claire rescues her father and sends him outside as an explosion tears through the house. Moments later, Claire emerges alive as her father's boss looks on and the firefighters arrive. Mr. Bennet throws The Haitian under the bus by telling his boss that he's the one who had been hiding Claire and her abilities. The Haitian can't be found, but he'll be killed once he is. Meanwhile, Ted will be kept sedated until he's no longer useful. Bennet and his boss check in on Matt who is hooked up to monitoring equipment. The boss suggests that Matt may make a good new partner for Bennet. He adds that the woman running the lab has an ability that will help them clean up "the mess you made." Lastly, the boss asks Bennet, "When can we be expecting Claire?" "I'll bring her in now," Bennet replies. Mr. Bennet drives a crying Claire to the same bridge where he shot Claude. As they drive, he tells her he tried to protect her and to be the best dad he could. They arrive and find The Haitian waiting to take Claire out of his life. To make it look like a kidnapping, The Haitian shoots Mr. Bennet in his side. "Go deep. Don't take anything that will lead them to her." With a final hug from Claire, The Haitian erases Bennet's mind before fleeing into the unknown.

I noticed an inconsistency with this episode. Claire is supposed to be 16. According to the article she and Zach find about the fire that separated her from her mother, she was 18 months old at that time. This episode said that it was 14 years ago that Mr. Bennet took Claire after this incident. If it was 14 years ago, she would have been 2 years old, not 18 months. Plus the baby showed in the flashbacks in this episode looked younger than 18 months old to me. By 18 months, she would have been able to walk on her own. The baby in the clips looked to me to be about 6 or 9 months old. The episode recap doesn't mention that when Mr. Bennet is given Claire, Hiro's dad is there with Hiro. Very interesting. What was Hiro's dad doing in Texas? Did he use to live there? He couldn't have just been there on business or he wouldn't have brought his child with him. Unless Hiro isn't really his son. Maybe he adopted him. Or maybe he became interested in rounding up special people because he himself has abilities. After the last episode, I thought maybe Peter might use his abilities to save Simone. I can see Isaac saying with regret "If only I had let her return the key, Simone would still be alive" and Peter could then say he can try to use Hiro's power to go back and time and take the key from the table after Simone places it there so she won't have in the future when she gets shot. The previews indicate something else, though. Simone is saying something about are you going to shoot me again so she's obviously talking to Isaac. Is he having a premonition about her or is it just a dream? Last night's episode was interesting for another reason. It was the first time we've seen Ms. Bennet talk coherently and not her usually babytalk with the dog. Pretty remarkable considering she just got out of the hospital. I wonder how much radiation Matt and Mr. Bennet were exposed to when Ted went off and how that's going to affect them in the future. I wouldn't imagine they would walk away from that unscathed. Radiation exposure causes nausea, vomiting, headaches, loss of hair, bleeeding, loss of white blood cells, etc. I found some interesting stuff at Wikipedia about radiation poisioning: Reduction of incorporation into the human body Potassium iodide (KI), administered orally immediately after exposure, may be used to protect the thyroid from ingested radioactive iodine in the event of an accident or terrorist attack at a nuclear power plant, or the detonation of a nuclear explosive. KI would not be effective against a dirty bomb unless the bomb happened to contain radioactive iodine, and even then it would only help to prevent thyroid cancer. Table of exposure levels and symptoms Dose-equivalents are presently stated in sieverts: 0.05–0.2 Sv (5–20 REM) No symptoms. Potential for cancer and mutation of genetic material, according to the LNT model: this is disputed (Note: see hormesis). A few researchers contend that low dose radiation may be beneficial. <7> <8> <9> 50 mSv is the yearly federal limit for radiation workers in the United States. In the UK the yearly limit for a classified radiation worker is 20 mSv. In Canada, the single-year maximum is 50 mSv, but the maximum 5-year dose is only 100 mSv. Company limits are usually stricter so as not to violate federal limits. <10> 0.2–0.5 Sv (20–50 REM) No noticeable symptoms. Red blood cell count decreases temporarily. 0.5–1 Sv (50–100 REM) Mild radiation sickness with headache and increased risk of infection due to disruption of immunity cells. Temporary male sterility is possible. 1–2 Sv (100–200 REM) Light radiation poisoning, 10% fatality after 30 days (LD 10/30). Typical symptoms include mild to moderate nausea (50% probability at 2 Sv), with occasional vomiting, beginning 3 to 6 hours after irradiation and lasting for up to one day. This is followed by a 10 to 14 day latent phase, after which light symptoms like general illness and fatigue appear (50% probability at 2 Sv). The immune system is depressed, with convalescence extended and increased risk of infection. Temporary male sterility is common. Spontaneous abortion or stillbirth will occur in pregnant women. 2–3 Sv (200–300 REM) Severe radiation poisoning, 35% fatality after 30 days (LD 35/30). Nausea is common (100% at 3 Sv), with 50% risk of vomiting at 2.8 Sv. Symptoms onset at 1 to 6 hours after irradiation and last for 1 to 2 days. After that, there is a 7 to 14 day latent phase, after which the following symptoms appear: loss of hair all over the body (50% probability at 3 Sv), fatigue and general illness. There is a massive loss of leukocytes (white blood cells), greatly increasing the risk of infection. Permanent female sterility is possible. Convalescence takes one to several months. 3–4 Sv (300–400 REM) Severe radiation poisoning, 50% fatality after 30 days (LD 50/30). Other symptoms are similar to the 2–3 Sv dose, with uncontrollable bleeding in the mouth, under the skin and in the kidneys (50% probability at 4 Sv) after the latent phase. 4–6 Sv (400–600 REM) Acute radiation poisoning, 60% fatality after 30 days (LD 60/30). Fatality increases from 60% at 4.5 Sv to 90% at 6 Sv (unless there is intense medical care). Symptoms start half an hour to two hours after irradiation and last for up to 2 days. After that, there is a 7 to 14 day latent phase, after which generally the same symptoms appear as with 3-4 Sv irradiation, with increased intensity. Female sterility is common at this point. Convalescence takes several months to a year. The primary causes of death (in general 2 to 12 weeks after irradiation) are infections and internal bleeding. 6–10 Sv (600–1,000 REM) Acute radiation poisoning, near 100% fatality after 14 days (LD 100/14). Survival depends on intense medical care. Bone marrow is nearly or completely destroyed, so a bone marrow transplant is required. Gastric and intestinal tissue are severely damaged. Symptoms start 15 to 30 minutes after irradiation and last for up to 2 days. Subsequently, there is a 5 to 10 day latent phase, after which the person dies of infection or internal bleeding. Recovery would take several years and probably would never be complete. Devair Alves Ferreira received a dose of approximately 7.0 Sv (700 REM) during the Goiânia accident and survived, partially due to his fractionated exposure. 10–50 Sv (1,000–5,000 REM) Acute radiation poisoning, 100% fatality after 7 days (LD 100/7). An exposure this high leads to spontaneous symptoms after 5 to 30 minutes. After powerful fatigue and immediate nausea caused by direct activation of chemical receptors in the brain by the irradiation, there is a period of several days of comparative well-being, called the latent (or "walking ghost") phase. After that, cell death in the gastric and intestinal tissue, causing massive diarrhea, intestinal bleeding and loss of water, leads to water-electrolyte imbalance. Death sets in with delirium and coma due to breakdown of circulation. Death is currently inevitable; the only treatment that can be offered is pain therapy. Louis Slotin was exposed to approximately 21 Sv in a criticality accident on 21 May 1946, and died nine days later on 30 May. 50–80 Sv (5,000–8,000 REM) Immediate disorientation and coma in seconds or minutes. Death occurs after a few hours by total collapse of nervous system. More than 80 Sv (>8,000 REM) U.S. military forces expect immediate death. A worker receiving 100 Sv (10,000 REM) in an accident at Wood River, Rhode Island, USA on 24 July 1964 survived for 49 hours after exposure, and an operator receiving between 60 and 180 Sv (18,000 REM) to his upper body in an accident at Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA on 30 December 1958 survived for 36 hours; details of this accident can be found on page 16 (page 30 in the PDF version) of Los Alamos' 2000 Review of Criticality Accidents <11>.