Matt Parkman

Template:Heroes character box Matthew "Matt" Parkman is a fictional character in the 2006 NBC drama Heroes, played by Greg Grunberg. Matt is a telepath, able to initially read minds. As the series progresses, other aspects of his power are explored.

Character history

Genesis

Background

Matt Parkman is a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. He has tried to become a detective, but has flunked the qualifying test three times, most likely due to his dyslexia. Parkman is a mind-reader; he can hear the thoughts of people around him, which he first realizes after hearing the thoughts of Molly Walker, a little girl who was hiding from a serial killer named Sylar. When he found the girl, suspicion of how he knew her location led to his arrest.

After proving his ability by reading an FBI agent's mind in the interrogation room, he is offered a position to assist in the investigation. Things turn dangerous when a man who appears to be Sylar shows up. Stopping the mysterious man from harming a little girl in the building, Matt tries to comfort the girl while Audrey, the FBI agent, gives chase. Ultimately, the man escapes, but not before displaying apparent telekinesis and standing after being shot. Later, Matt comes home to his wife, Janice, with whom he is going to couples therapy. Though he apologizes for missing the day's session and tries to tell her about his day, she is still upset with him and does not want to hear it. Janice also comments about how, when she got promoted, he seemed to resent her for it. Matt tells her he didn't mean to, but she just further shuts him out. Hearing Janice think she wants him to leave, Matt responds "I will" verbally and then storms out.

Capture

At a bar, Matt hears most, if not all, of the thoughts of the various patrons. However, when he comes across a patron whose mind he cannot read, he begins to hear the other voices fade out. The mysterious other man sits and stares at Matt until Matt finally collapses on the floor, unconscious.

Matt wakes up strapped to a table with Mr. Bennet standing over him. Bennet explains that they had to drug him, as Matt is telling him what he remembers last. Matt asks if Bennet works for the FBI or CIA. Bennet states that he doesn't work for any organization that has initials. Matt tries to read Bennet's mind, but he is unable to. Bennet tells Matt that with his friend around he cannot read his mind. His "friend" turns out to be the mysterious man from the bar. Nevertheless, Matt is still able to discern the name of Bennet's daughter, slightly impressing Bennet with his developing power. Bennet then tells the mysterious man to "go deep," which elicits a scream from Matt.

Struggles

Matt wakes up on his couch a day later, suffering from what he thinks is a hangover. His wife tells him he has been missing for a day and has been frantic with worry. He uses his mind-reading ability to listen to her thoughts and give her everything she wants. They stay home from work, he 'cooks' steak for her, and is the perfect lover. Later he goes to a local convenience store to buy her ice cream and overhears the thoughts of a man planning to rob the store. Matt talks the man out of what he is about to do. The would-be robber leaves his gun on a shelf and runs out of the store. Matt picks up the gun and attempts to calm the customers in the store by telling them he is a cop. However, they instead fear him because he is holding the gun and a headache Matt had is aggravated by their fearful thoughts. Matt's perception gets hazy and he appears to lose consciousness.

The following day, Matt approaches his wife with the intention of revealing his newfound power. As he attempts to explain his power, his recent mysterious behavior leads his wife to think about a secret which she feared he had discovered. Suddenly uncertain, Matt left without uncovering the secret. At work, Matt and Audrey Hanson run down a possible lead on Sylar after discovering a badly burned corpse with a fingerprint branded into the bone. Instead of finding Sylar, they find a man with radioactive powers. Matt ignores Janice's calls to his cell phone throughout the day, despite Audrey's suggestion he should listen to her. In the brief but intense stand off, Matt manages to defuse the situation by using his telepathy to allow the man to speak with his comatose wife. Afterward, Matt calls Janice and says he'll be coming home soon to talk with her. At the end of the day, Matt is informed by his old partner that he was being given another chance to interview for a detective position. After congratulating Matt, his friend immediately calls Matt a "loser" in his mind and gleefully thinks about how he is sleeping with Matt's wife behind his back. A shocked Matt punches his "friend" in the face but is restrained by the other officers before walking out of the locker room.

In "Seven Minutes to Midnight," Matt receives a one month suspension without pay for punching his former partner. Unaware of his suspension, Audrey Hanson asks Matt for assistance in interviewing Ted Sprague, the man from the previous episode who has the power to emit radiation. Matt talks with the man and discovers that, like himself, Ted was abducted from a bar just after seeing the Haitian and woke up two days later with no memory of events. Ted says he experienced headaches and has a strange mark on his neck just like Matt's. Unfortunately, Homeland Security takes Ted into custody before Matt can learn more, although Ted tells Matt to "find the Haitian." Audrey later notifies Matt that Ted has escaped from custody, leaving behind a burning car. Matt's wife, Janice, admits to her affair with his former partner and asks Matt if their marriage is over. Matt says he doesn't know.

Switching Targets

In "Fallout" Matt and Audrey investigate the crime scene at Union Wells High, where they suspect Sylar was intercepted by two other people near the school. Matt and Audrey don't consider Peter Petrelli a suspect in Jackie's death, but interrogate him anyway and learn that Sylar's target was the cheerleader Claire. When Matt attempts to listen to Peter's thoughts, Peter apparently begins to exhibit the same telepathic abilities and attempts to listen to Matt's thoughts, resulting in a kind of psychic audio feedback.

Matt tells Audrey Hanson that he has never cheated on Janice. He is flattered when he hears her thinking that he is "cute." She orders him not to read her mind and tells him she believes he loves his wife. Matt acknowledges that this is true, but says he doesn't want to call her because he doesn't want to be a "chump." Audrey tells him he will only be a chump if he doesn't attempt to work out his problems with Janice.

Matt later attempts to read Claire Bennet's mind when she is being interviewed by Audrey at the police station about Jackie Wilcox's murder. However, he is unable to hear anything except static, which he recognizes as having also happened to him before he was abducted from the bar. Suspicious, he and Audrey stake out Primatech Paper and Matt recognizes The Haitian from the bar with Mr. Bennet. He attempts to overhear Mr. Bennet or the Haitian's thoughts and is able to pick up just one word: "Sylar." Getting this much apparently caused a nosebleed, presumably from pushing his power too far.

For the next two weeks, Matt keeps a close watch on the PrimaTech Paper Company, however he is seen on the parking lot surveillance cameras. Finally, in "Godsend," Matt and Audrey organize an FBI raid of Primatech. When they find nothing, their boss is very upset and threatens to fire Audrey for following Matt's "hunch." Audrey, fearful of losing her job, harshly tells Matt their partnership is over. Matt then confronts Bennet, telling him that he knows he was kidnapped and will make Bennet pay. Bennet calmly replies, "Good luck with that." At home, Matt finally tells his wife about his power, after telling her that both of them need to be more honest with each other.

Moving On

After playing guessing games with Matt's power, Janice is convinced. Matt, however, has other problems. Matt faces a review board of three police captains who question his detailing of the past few weeks. In particular, they find his references to a "super-powered serial killer" almost insane. Matt grudgingly recants his statement after hearing one of the captains think that he'll end Matt's career otherwise. As another captain shrugs in his mind, thinking "a liar, not a lunatic," Matt is suspended for six months. After turning in his badge and gun, Matt goes home to fix the bathroom sink. Janice comes in, and Matt then begins to lament the state of his life. On top of his suspension, he's losing his marriage. Janice tells Matt he hasn't lost that yet, and says in her mind that she's pregnant. Matt and Janice then rejoice.

Bodyguard

Matt took a job as bodyguard to pay the bills while on suspension. His new assignment was Aron Malsky, a man who stole the $2 million that DL Hawkins sent to Linderman as restitution. Malsky used the money to buy diamonds, but the transaction was rushed to completion when Matt learned via telepathy that the jeweller was on Linderman's payroll. Jessica, currently the dominant personality over Niki, works for Linderman and was hired to kill Malsky and his bodyguard. After a shootout and breaking out of handcuffs, Jessica threw Matt out of a window and onto a sign girder; but not before Matt revealed that he could hear both Jessica and Niki, a fact which surprised Jessica. She then proceeded to tear Malsky in half. Malsky had hidden the diamonds in the ceiling shortly before he died. Matt found them by recalling Malsky's last thoughts, but kept the diamonds for himself after hearing a detective thinking disparaging thoughts about him.

Confrontation

In "Unexpected", Matt receives a phone call from Ted Sprague, who wants to meet with Matt again in the cemetery where his wife is buried. At the cemetery, Matt meets up with Ted and Hana Gitelman who informs him of Primatech and their connection to their abduction and the markings on their necks. Ted wants to confront their abductor, Mr. Bennet, but he needs Matt's help, as he can get into his mind and make sure he doesn't lie to them. Reluctantly, Matt agrees. Both Matt and Ted manage to confront Mr. Bennet and his family at gunpoint as they were coming back from the hospital.

Imprisonment and Escape

In "Parasite", it is revealed that Matt is being held against his will at the hands of Thompson and his associates. Later in "Parasite," he is used to "screen" Mr. Bennet to detect any lies. However, in ".07%", Bennet helps Matt and Ted Sprague escape from the Primatech holding cells through telepathic communication that leads Matt to find weaknesses to break out of his cell; Bennet gives Matt instructions for Sprague to generate an EMP to knock out the power at Primatech so that they can complete their escape.

Over breakfast at the Burnt Toast Diner near the end of ".07%", Bennet, Matt, and Sprague solidify their plans to travel to New York City to knock out the tracking system used to track heroes tagged with the neck tattoo.

New York City

In "The Hard Part", Parkman, Bennet and Sprague are on a mission to go to New York and destroy the tracking system. Parkman tries to call his pregnant wife Janice, but Bennet hangs up the phone and warns him not to make contact because of the Walker Tracking system, later revealed to be Molly Walker. Parkman, Bennet and Sprague later are shown walking at Kirby Plaza in New York City, where Bennet and Claire are reunited. Parkman and Peter Petrelli make eye contact before Petrelli begins to absorb Sprague's powers with little control. For a moment it appears that Peter's clairvoyant vision of himself exploding and destroying New York City is about to come true, but before that can happen Peter manages to gain control over his new power and cease the buildup of radiation within him.

After Peter controls himself, the group splits in two, with Peter, Claire, and Sprague going to a remote town in Nebraska, and Parkman and Bennet continuing with their mission to destroy the tracking system. Bennet knows where they need to go, but he needs Parkman's powers to allow them access. Matt confronts a security guard and convinces him that they know each other and had spoken outside of work the previous night. Upon revealing an embarrassing secret of the guard's, the man lets them in without hesitation.

While waiting for the elevator, they bump into Jessica and D.L. Jessica is surprised to see Matt still alive, asking "Didn't I throw you out a window?" The four go up in the elevator together, with Bennet telling them where to find Linderman. Bennet and Parkman then get off at the floor where the tracking system is, only to find Thompson waiting for them. Parkman saves Bennet from getting shot, only to have Bennet leave him defenseless against Thompson. Thompson then comes up behind Parkman, puts a gun to his head, and asks him, "What am I thinking now Parkman?" Bennet comes from the side and says, "Your last thoughts," and kills Thompson.

The two then proceed to find the tracking system, where both are surprised to find it's a young girl, Molly Walker, who Matt had previously rescued from Sylar, and who thought of Matt as "my hero". Matt protests killing her, but Bennet says it must be done. He continues to argue with Bennet until he is suddenly knocked out by Mohinder from behind.

In the finale, "How to Stop an Exploding Man", Molly sees Parkman under the bed. Parkman says that everything will be alright and no one will hurt her (Mohinder had a gun pointed at Bennet, and Bennet had a gun pointing at Molly). When Molly tells Bennet where Sylar is, Parkman goes to Isaac's apartment, but Sylar is not there. After discovering a painting Sylar made of his coming confrontation with Peter, Parkman returns to Kirby Plaza, and shoots several bullets at Sylar. However, Sylar stops the bullets and sends them back at Parkman. The bullets hit him and seriously injure him. While Parkman is being taken away on a stretcher, Molly asks him not to die.

Generations

Like Father, Like Son

In "Four Months Later...," it is revealed that Parkman divorced Janice after discovering that her child does not belong to him, but rather the man with whom she cheated. He is now a Detective for the New York City Police Department after using his mind-reading skills to ace their tests, and is taking care of Molly in Mohinder's apartment, where he now resides. He learns that Molly is having nightmares of a dangerous man who she believes can see her when she thinks of him. In "Lizards", Matt is investigating the murder of Kaito Nakamura. He interrogates Angela Petrelli and, through mind reading, learns that someone may have murdered Kaito for revenge; however, before he can delve deeper into the issue, Angela shouts "GET OUT OF MY HEAD" in her mind. Matt later saves Angela from a mysterious attacker, presumably the one who killed Kaito. In "The Kindness of Strangers, Matt finds out that his father is part of The Company. He then has Molly find him even though she doesn't want to because he is the "Nightmare Man".

In "Fight or Flight" Matt and Nathan head to Philadelphia to track down Matt's father Maury. When they find him Maury reveals that he is also a telepath. He reveals that he has also received one of the photos with the mark on it and he has been trying to hide. At first he seems to be sorry for having left Matt as a child and that he wants to help but he ends up tricking Matt and Nathan in separate illusions. Matt is trapped in jail, and he is confronted by his ex-wife and her baby. It is indicated that while she said that the baby she was having wasn't Matt's, he knew that this wasn't true. Maury's illusion was broken once Matt was able to telepathically convince Nathan that he and Matt were really fighting each other within their separate nightmare worlds. They wake up in the living room of the apartment, and when shuffling through the debris from the fight find another part of the Company photo, this one with Bob.

Confrontation

In "Out of Time", Matt returns to New York and warns Bob that Maury is coming after him. As Matt, Nathan, Bob, Niki, and Mohinder wait for Maury to arrive at the building, Bob tells Matt that Matt has the same power as Maury - he can control anything related to the mind, including the senses and people's actions. Matt later finds Molly's room and talks to the unconscious girl, apologizing and confessing his insecurities to her. He finds that he can send thoughts to her because a brain monitor begins reacting to his thoughts to Molly. Matt is still in Molly's room when he hears Niki attacking the door of Bob's office; when he opens the door, however, he finds himself in what turns out to be his old house, where Molly is sitting at the table. She tells him that this is where Maury has kept her. Matt calls out with his mind to his father, who is shocked to hear Matt's telepathic voice and gets dragged into the illusion with Matt. Matt confronts Maury, asserting his control over the situation. When Maury claims he is still more powerful than Matt, Matt says that because he knows how to fight for someone he loves, he is stronger. The door suddenly unlocks behind him, and Matt then takes Molly out the door, shutting it on Maury. Matt wakes up sitting in his chair next to Molly's bed and sees Maury, trapped in the illusion, lying unconscious on the floor. Molly wakes up and is overjoyed to see Matt. He then discovers he is able to manipulate people and tries to use it to find the last unknown survivor of the phtograph by "interrogating" Angela Petrelli but she defends herself by saying he has become his father.

Alternate Future

Note - The following information reveals an alternate reality in which New York City is destroyed by a nuclear explosion.

In "Five Years Gone", Matt is seen working as Director of the Department of Homeland Security and thereby in direct contact with the now President Nathan Petrelli (who is actually a disguised Sylar). His character is more ruthless and appears to be misguidedly on the side of evil, hunting down those with special abilities and taking them into custody, as they have been deemed threats to the rest of the world on account of Sylar's actions. He is responsible for the deaths of Hana Gitelman, Mr. Bennet and Future Hiro. He still cares about his family however, asking Bennet about Janice and their son Matthew, before murdering Bennet. He has a much greater deal of control over his powers, being able to "rip out" memories instead of passively overhearing thoughts.

Powers and abilities

Matt is a telepath, though he lacks complete control over his power. He originally could not activate it at will, and often hears other people's thoughts accidentally. He gradually learns to elicit specific thoughts from people, starting with the name "Claire" from Noah Bennet.

Though Matt learns to read minds at will, his powers can be defeated through various methods. The Haitian's power is able nullify Matt's, protecting himself and those in his vicinity. Matt overcomes this twice, accidentally the first time; in the second instance, he is only barely able to overcome the Haitian's power, but the strain causes Matt to have a severe nosebleed. Since then, he generally hasn't been able to get past what he describes as "white noise" caused by the Haitian. As demonstrated by Peter Petrelli and his father Maury Parkman, Matt has trouble reading the minds of other telepathics, and usually creates uncomfortable feedback in the attempt; he also states in "Nothing to Hide" that he has trouble discerning individual thoughts in large groups of people. Moreover, there have been times when he can't distinguish people's thoughts from their actual voices, though this particular problem diminishes as his control over his power strengthens. Matt has also realized that he can hear thoughts in any language; however, Matt can only understand thoughts in English.

In the episode "Out of Time", Bob states that Matt, like his father, should be able to control all aspects of the mind, including thoughts and senses, with practice. This is demonstrated when he is able to telepathically communicate with Nathan Petrelli and Molly Walker at various points. When Maury traps him inside Molly's "nightmare world", Matt is able to bring his father in with them and subsequently leave with Molly, trapping Maury in his own nightmare. In the episode "Cautionary Tales", Matt discovers that he can place suggestions in others through telepathic commands as a form of mind control. However, unlike Eden's power of persuasion, this ability has been shown to be resisted, as Angela Petrelli was able to disobey one of his commands with extreme effort. Matt's suggestions also seem to be more forceful (as opposed to Eden's powers which make people more absent-minded and docile) as Angela Petrelli suffered a nose bleed attempting to resist his telepathy.