sdelmonte | Heroes: "Company Man"

As you probably know, I am not as sold on Heroes as many of you. I like a lot of what we get, but continue to have problems with a lot of the storytelling, acting and script. I started to watch it loyally, but never with much expectation. It just didn't show any sign of being great.

Till now.

"Company Man" was everything this show could be, if only the cast were smaller, the storytelling more focused, and the acting as uniformly strong. It was heart-breaking, well-paced, and full of surprises. It answered some questions without raising too many new ones. It took a handful of aspects of the show and brought them into focus. And it was relied almost entirely not on the gimmicky "everyone's connected" premise that after 17 weeks I find wearying, but on placing certain characters in certain situations and seeing how they would act.

In short, it was a fine drama that just happened involved people with super-powers or mysterious secrets.

And it was Jack Coleman's finest hour. Coleman, of course, plays Mr. Bennet. And he has taken a part that could have easily been played for melodrama and played it with sheer humanity instead. There are many reasons to watch this show - Hiro's quest, Clare's fate, and guest stars like Eric Roberts and Chris Eccleston and George Takei- but right now I'm watching to see what happened next with the man with the glasses.