Since Mr. Bennet knew every word he was going to say to Broody was going to be forgotten, he was able to state his feelings without fear of them turning around.

With that, Mr. Bennet seems to be a very caring guy who want's people to be good.. in this case, what is his purpose exactly with the Heroes he 'kidnaps'? Is it so he can obtain an ability for himself? Or is he one of those "I'm a good guy till I can take over the world" kinda guys?

So many questions : (

What's your thoughts?

Maybe he only looks evil right now, just to send everyone in to a real twist when it's revealed that he's an ally! But really now...it's really up in the air. So many mixed signals...so confused \@.@/

I think he just looks evil. Sylar is the real evil, as was revealed tonite in the painting of him killing Claire.

HRG just seems to be doing research. He doesnt hurt the heroes he abducts (notice that he never attacked or shot Nathan when the oppurtunity presented itself) and he put Matt back on his couch with just a headache.

I think Phil is a good guy he showed genuine love and concern for Claire and displayed some kick a** fathely punishment to that little worm Brody. He could've killed him, he said it himself but instead he chose to give him a second chance. That doesn't sound very evil to me. Hell he could've shot Nathan but he decided not to. We all saw when he pointed the gun sighed and then put it down. I think Phil & MBG take the supers in a bag and tag kinda way like environmetal groups and endangered species. Bottom line Phil & MBG=Good guys so the organization they work for must be good too.

I am coming around to the whole HRG guy is a good guy. Look at the cop his powers were stronger after he was abducted. Maybe he wipes away the barriers people have against their powers. The cop was fighting his powers before being abducted, now he uses them freely. Peter was in total denial about his powers..its just a thought.

I don't think that Mr. Bennet and Sylar are really connected, as in Sylar works for Mr. Bennet.

I agree with Slueth up there! I think there's more to HRG (Phil? really? Cool! He has a name!) than meets the eyes. I can't wait to see more of them.

Maybe he's like the 'mutant check-up doctor'

Hey, that's a pretty interesting idea there.

Hmm...Mr. Bennet and his assistant. Maybe they can be guides later on about the other's powers?

The cop's powers were out of control in the convenience store, so I don't think HRG is helping them. I think HRG has his own reasons for abducting heroes, but not necessarily harmful.

But weren't Matt's powers already going a little out of whack in the first place? He's hearing people everywhere, this time it was just in a smaller area and with a denser amount of people. Plus they were probably all broadcasting really loudly b/c of that gun he picked up.

It can't be all Mr. Bennet's fault. HRG said that he was seeing how Matt's powers were doing and then had the other guy wipe his memory. We'll see in the future if anything else was actually done to matt.

Second thought, Nathan really took off when he got away. That was a huge difference in what he had done previously. For someone who spent his life in denial of his abilities, he seemed a little exhilarated when he landed.

Maybe he was just thinking about Nikki.

I came around to the idea HRG is a good guy a few weeks ago. I'm glad its starting to show on the show now.

That's clever (yup Phil Bennet) they could be guides! Phil and MBG seem to know everything about the supers even who they are. Mohinders brilliant mind could contribute to the cause. They must already have their own geneticists but one who has come into contact with the supers has to be of some help. Besides his dad wrote the book on mutation.
I wonder why Phil didn't contact Chandra Suresh, maybe he was going to but it was too late. So he went back to his place to collect all the data he could find. hmmmmm

I think Mr Bennet is going to turn out to be a good guy and NOT the mysterious Sylar

Or maybe he already was working with Chandra Suresh and was trying to get to the other's research before the apartment or relatives swarmed the apartment.

I mean, this project probably is pretty uptight and secret. Showing up and asking for Chandra's data wouldn't be the most subtle thing to do. Lol. But way cool ideas.

While I don't know if he is Sylar or not, I am not so quick to think he is a good guy.

We already know his partner has the ability to mess with people's minds. What if he can also implant ideas? He may be installing triggers, like hypnotic suggestions so that he can control them at some crucial point in the future...

This was my thought exactly! I mean, do we really know what the QB thinks now? Phil said he'd give him another chance, that he could still prove useful, IIRC. Something's up, and I don't doubt that Phil has a hidden agenda.

Another thing...How do we know whether or not that it's Sylar in the painting with dead-claire? What if that's her father? The build of the guy struck me as odd.

As I said in an earlier topic, we can't be sure HRG is a bad guy. Obviously he is protective of Claire although for reasons that we aren't entirely sure of. Yes, it could fatherly care. But yes, it could also be care for an experiment. When you had chemistry in high school, you really didn't want your experiment to blow up now did you?

This is the impression I have been getting too, especially some of his comments about Claire to Brody. <geekTime>To go to a gaming reference, Phil seems to fall into the Lawful Evil alignment, compared to Sylar's Chaotic Evil.</geekTime>

It is Sylar in the Claire death picture judging by the outfit he is wearing (the same one as in the FBI building, do these guys ever change clothes?!)

I agree. Tonight really showed a new side of HRG.

i agree, he is only made to look evil and then the audience will be shocked when he is actually helping everyone, maybe the MBG blocks out the peoples minds so sylar cant find them ... forget it... cant do theories...to complicated, BLAH!

I don't think Claire was adopted, I think she was engineered. Daddio was in on it...it's just a matter of figuring out who else was in on it.

He definitely showed some positive character tonight. Heck, my father would have made the kid need a new limb or two. Interesting twist.

i fell like HRG is not necessarily a bad guy, however i feel he is not good either. there could possibly be more than just good an evil. i am just as tired as you all probably are of hearing x-men comparisons, but, maybe HRG is a human trying to learn about these special powered people and possibly trying to "cure" them

Wow hadn't thought of that, she could be engineered and that's why she's so dear to him. But then would the other supers be science projects too? I don't think so since we know it's a hereditary genetic mutation. It's evolution it could involve some sort of experiment but we have yet to find out.

Also I think the show's pushing us to believe the man in the painting is Sylar but what if it's not a painting of someone committing a crime but of someone finding the cheerleaders body? just a new idea...

oooohhhhhh I like the word "engineered"!

Seems like we are getting a lot more questions than answers in these early episodes.

I think we can assume that since the FBI knows about Sylar, than probably Mr. Bennett knows about him also. Maybe there was some cloaning going on or something and Mr. Bennett was working with Mohinder's dad.

I think that Mr. Bennett is working with the people that "engineered" the heroes, seems very suspicous that Clair is adopted and has him as her father. Patient zero may be one of the first screw ups that wants revenge or is just doing his best to find a cure.

I think that two teams of people have been researching the genetic code that enables these abilities. The brain-looting is how the bad guys are getting the information. I don't think the team behind HRG is bad though...spooky, but not brain-looters. Claire is quite a big younger than the other Heroes...she has the most potential for being a test subject.

I wouldn't be surprised if the girl Matt found and Micah are both somewhat engineered. Micah is a genius, that much we already know. The girl's parent's brains were looted and the bad guys are still after her.

Can somebody speculate then as to why Phil Bennett has been showing so much apparent antagonistic behavior against the Heroes? And what role his "assistant" plays, if Phil turns out to be a good guy?...because they don't seem like very happy people at all, and their behavior and the way they talk don't suggest any benevolence at all. I'd LIKE to believe that Phil turns out to be good though...

He could be cataloging the new dna based on power for a breeding program or for future government/shadow government usage. He could be stopping ongoing mutations which begin with power development, but end with a horrible hunger(aka Sylar). He could be treating the Heros to stop the spread of a virus which causes the mutations(patient zero theory) to prevent everyone one earth from developing these powers.

Still need more info, but those are a few simple ways he could be doing good.

Jeez I cant belive people are actually seeing good in this guy.

Wrap your mind around this: He "punished" the guy because he hurt his "daughter". How about he mind wiped Brodie because Brodie knew that Claire had some sort of special power I.E. the healing ability. He saw the branch jammed into her head then she came to school without a scratch. He knew. He had the guy wipe the mind so Brodie couldent tell anyone what he knew. Normals can be pretty terrible when it comes to supers. Remember Genosha in the X-Men comics..that was run by normals.

Was that really Sylar in the illustration? I thought that was Claire getting her head cut open, and the guy who tried raping her standing over her (because the previous illustration of the guy's shadow over her mirrored the quarterback's shadow when he came to meet her the day after).

Anyway, regardless of whether he's a villain or not, it's nice to know Mr. Bennet really cares for Claire, so he's not some pure evil villain who wants to kill his daughter (btw, when did they say his name was Phil?)

He wouldn't have needed the long speech before hand.

Sure he would. The speech was put in there to make the show more dramatic. Why make the speech at all if you were gonna just mind wipe the kid? I think it was to show just how cut throat the man really is.

I'm not convinced he is good yet either. There are grey areas. I agree he wiped Brody to keep Claires secret.

He told matt he wanted to know more about him. Points to a shadowy government thing to me.

now he'll be after nathan because nathan can identify him..

I'm thinking that HRG dosn't want to hurt the heroes, just use them as test monkies to fuel some yet-to-be-seen evil. But on the same coin, he really does care for claire. He would have taken action by now if he wanted too. At first I thought HRG was fake caring as well, but now I'm not so sure. Nobody is ever completely good or evil. Mr. Bennet isn't Sylar-evil, just sort of a slimy ****** out for his own, but he still cares for his daughter.

I have always thought that HRG is not a "good guy", and for me, this episode has only strengthened that thought.

In fact, he is probably the most dangerous "villain" that there can be. He actually thinks he is doing what is best for humanity. But he does not have any ethical or moral compunctions. For him, the end always justifies the means.

1. He abducts innocent people to run medical tests on. He probably believes that he needs the information to "save the world"
2. He directly alters his kidnap victim's memories. This is the most agregious form of assault. I can't think of anything more ethically and morally wrong than this.
3. He, apparently, adopted Claire(from real parents or a lab is unknown yet) knowing that she would develop powers. When viewing her video, he seemed sad while thinking about what he is going to "have" to do to her.
4. His monologue to Brody shows that he views MBG's ability to alter (or just wipe) memory as a weapon. He actually thought giving the kid total amnesia (he doesn't even remember his name is Brody) as a good thing.

He is not "evil". He is not a psychotic serial killer that steals brains. But his is much more insidious.


Oh..and the last sign that he is a villain...he monologues! All villains monologue.

Thank you! thats what I was trying to say. Its all about drama with Villians.

I don't think he's evil either. I think everyone can agree he really does care about his daughter. Anyone with even tendencies of evil would have killed the QB who tried to rape his daughter. He didn't, he gave him a chance at a new life. No way he's evil.

Now... wild theory time. I believe HRG may be from the future as well. Here's why (quotes may not be exact, but they're close)

1. When Matt picked up his daughters name and said, "Who's Claire?", HRG said to MGB "They're further along than we thought."

2. When talking to the QB, he says "I know her better than she knows herself."

3. When he and MBG are walking Nathan, Nathan says "Do you have any idea who I am?" HRG replies, "Better than even you do."

He's not just talking about abilities here, he's saying he knows these people better than they know themselves. Plus with Matt he seems to have advanced knowledge of how his powers will advance and at what rate.

Now, this could also support the "Engineered" theory, and I'll admit that's a pretty close second in my opinion. It's just something about the way he talks to them, as if he really does know them, not just about their powers.

I think he's from the future, he came back, arranged to adopt Claire knowing full well who she would become, and now is trying to help the heroes. At least in his view he is trying to help... whether or not the heroes would agree with that is something else entirely.

Scary...because I just though of something...not sure if anyone else is familiar with Neon Genesis Evangelion...

Phil > Claire is really starting to remind of me Gendou > Rei...

Rei who WAS "engineered" for lack of a better term...was treated similarly to how Claire is treated...


odd, I have chills now, thanks!

i thought clair might be an enginered hero who was adopted so they could observe her development over time in a normal enviroment. As for as is Mr.B evil or not i think he walks a fine line he obviously cares about his daughter demonstrated without a doubt by this episode he does abduct the heros but he puts them back after wiping their memory but we still dont know why he is doing this. Why is he studing the heroes? is it just for the sake of sience is it for homeland security or is he and his friend trying to create a mutant army to take over the world only time will tell but no matter his intentions his ethics are bad even if his intentions are good


oh and when he said i know her better than she knows herself i figured he just ment he understands her powers and where they come from and how they work better than her

I still think Mr. Bennet is bad, he's captured Matt, tried to get nathan, which btw the escape was Awesome! But i don't know only time will tell

My thoughts on that was that it was the act of an angry father. If it were anyone else but his family, he'd probably just erase recent memory like with the others but Brody tried to violate his little girl so he punished the QB without killing him.

But that's not what he monologued...he said something to the effect of

"She's confused and vulnerable with what she's going through, and I won't let you [screw it up]".

He didn't say "You messed with my little girl", or anything about "precious", or "love", or even Claire's future. He seemed (to me) genuinely angry, but more because of what it could do to his plans for Claire, instead of what it could do to Claire.

It was more like he was protecting a subject, not his daughter. His actions were very pragmatic.

Brody couldn't be allowed to blab what he knew. HRG had two options: kill him, or erase his memory. My take is that he thought what he was doing to Brody was merciful. (Plus, Brody was medically stable, so a death might be suspicious)

Given the conversation between Claire's father (we call him 'the dad' at work) and Mohinder Suresh in the pilot, I suspect that the Dad is one of papa Suresh's contemporaries - either a rival, a contemporary admirer or a former assistant/protege/student.

I don't think claire is genetically engineered using modern techniques but more likely eugenically.

The mid-50s feel he gives off makes him feel like a government agent but i suspect he's more likely a lackey of someone very wealthy. While I think Dad is 'villainous' (machiavellian rationalizations and tactics are wrong) but not necessarily having evil-motives. I think its more likely that he is either in the employ of a rich entity or a 'crusader' of some kind.

I think that's a good theory. I still am undecided if he's a "good guy" or a "bad guy". The show seemed to make him out to seem like a bad guy at first, but now he seems to be showing genuine love and concern for his daughter. He COULD have killed the QB - and any angry father would say "I should kill you." But his speech about how maybe he'd use this second chance to do something positive with his life seemed to indicated that he at least has some good in him.

I'm thinking government agent or something like that, but that's just a theory. You know - not 100% good, but not 100% bad or something. We all have good and bad in us.

Reposted from the Character Discussion
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I don't think Mr. Bennett is altogether eeeevil either. I agree that Sylar will eventually be developed into the arch-nemesis. But I think Mr. Bennett and the MBG are working for an organization that is something like Weapon X, where they are analyzing "special" people in a militant way, so they can use them for their own agenda. But I also believe that Mr. Bennett is stuck between his loyalty to his job and his fatherly instincts to protect his daughter.

While we were wathcing last night's eppi, my wife came up with the interesting suggestion that Mr. Bennett engineered Claire to be the way she is and adopted her as his experiment. I don't know if I totally agree with that theory, but it makes you go Hmmm?

Wow I really like that theory but heres why it doesn't quite fit.

1. When Hiro appeared to Peter he was afraid, he said he was risking a rift by just being there.

2. If he's from the future he'd have been living in the past for 16/17 yrs for Claire to know him as her father.

3. In order for Phil to have stayed in the past for 16/17 yrs they would've had to create some kind of anti-rift (lol) technology.

4. If they do that then whats to stop anyone from going to the past and staying there for good?

That makes sense.

It looks like parts of my theory have already been said in some form or another. I think HRG and MBG may be part of some organization that has been observing supers for several decades (think of the Watchers from the "Highlander" TV series). I think that Chandra Suresh was also a member, and he hid this information from Mohinder.

Furthermore, I think that Sylar is the only super that is engineered to have extra powers. I think that the organization is directly responsible for this (perhaps because of earlier members who sought to manipulate Sylar for evil gains).

I think that these same people tried to engineer Claire's parents. If HRG knew of this, he may have decided to keep her as his daughter to prevent the same from happening to her.

Finally, I think that the helix is the logo of the organization. If MBG is able to wipe away memories, perhaps he can also plant them. The helix could be a signature intentionally left as a "tag and release" type of thing.

I think Mr. Bennett is looking for Peter. Or, for a hero that has the same ability as Peter. He isn't tryign to harm these people, he just needs to find the one he's looking for.

He's on the trail of Sylar. Everything he's doing seems to be to locate Sylar and neutralize him. The reason for his capturing of the Heroes (Matt and Nathan) is to gain more information and insight into Sylar and his powers. It would have probably been easier just to ask them for their help and (SPOILER) he does just that in a future episode when he asks Isaac for his help. (SPOILER END). There is a reason his actions seem so mysterious. We just haven't been given enough information yet.

That's my theory and I'm stickin' to it..
until I change it!

ok, is this HRG Claire's dad, Phil Bennett? I'm confused. If so, why the HRG?

I also am thinking he is gonna turn out some kind of good. I am wondering how he knows where and who all of the heroes are. Maybe he did work for some organization that was studying them, or all the heroes all had something happen to them, got some powers, so they wiped out their memory and are studying them>..

HRG seems to me to be the equivalent of the cigarette smoking man from the "X-files". He always seemed out to get Mulder, but later you recognize he was guiding him and ultimately helped him.

What company or government body he represents is yet to be seen. I think once that is revealed we'll know alot more about him as a character.


I like everyone's ideas though.