Matt Parkman

Matt Parkman
Portrayed by	Greg Grunberg
First appearance	Don't Look Back
In-story stats
Known ability	Telepathy
Formal name	Matthew Parkman
Nickname	Carnac
Gender
Age	39
Date of birth	June 10, 1968
Place of birth	Los Angeles, CA
Home	New York, NY; formerly Los Angeles, CA
Residences	formerly a single-family home in Los Angeles, CA, currently Mohinder Suresh's apartment in Brooklyn, NY
Occupations	NYPD detective, former private security guard, former LAPD Officer
Significant other	formerly Janice Parkman
Parent	Maury Parkman
Child	Matthew (possible future) Daniella (possible future)
Ward	Molly Walker

Matt Parkman is a detective in the New York Police Department, though he had immense trouble getting to his desired position because his dyslexia made it difficult for him to pass the entrance exam. He is an evolved human with the ability of telepathy.

Character History

Season One

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Matt Parkman: Season One History.

Matt Parkman is an officer for the LAPD, busy securing a crime scene, when he discovers he has the power of hearing people's thoughts. This enables him to locate a missing girl. However, upon mentioning the name "Sylar", Matt is arrested, but proves to Audrey that his power is real, and goes to work for the FBI. Meanwhile, after a row with his wife, Matt goes to a Los Angeles bar, collapses, and wakes up strapped to a table in a medical facility. Mr. Bennet instructs a mysterious man to "clean Matt out." Later, he discovers he has two marks on his neck, something he shares in common with Ted Sprague, the FBI's newest target.

Obsessed with Mr. Bennet, Matt orders a SWAT raid on Primatech Paper Co., which ultimately proves to be a bust. He is suspended from his job, takes a job as a body guard, and take some diamonds. Desperate, Matt joins with the fugitive Ted to confront Mr. Bennet in his own home. When things turn sour, Matt is apprehended by the Company, but quickly escapes his cell with Bennet's help. He joins with others to head to New York City and destroy the Walker System, and is horrified to learn that the system is actually Molly. Matt uses Molly's locating ability to hunt down Sylar at Kirby Plaza. However, just as he shoots the serial killer, Sylar telekinetically stops the bullets and flings them into Matt's abdomen, leaving him wounded.

Season Two

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Matt Parkman: Season Two History.

Matt is now a detective with the NYPD and lives with Mohinder to take care of Molly. When picking up Molly from school, her teacher shows Matt frightening drawings that Molly made of eyes intertwined with the symbol and informs him that she thinks Molly is living in a bad environment due to his recent injuries and divorce from Janice. At their new residence, Matt and Molly eat, and Matt tried to talk to Molly about her drawings and her nightmares but she refuses. Later he uses his telepathy to listen to Molly's dream and discovers that she is dreaming about the someone who can see her. She awakens and tells him that the person in her dreams is extremely dangerous, and if Matt tries to go after him he will die.

Matt is assigned with the investigation of Kaito's death. Detective Fuller shows Matt a portion of a photograph of Kaito with the symbol drawn on top. He informs Matt that Ando was a witness and that he saw Kaito being pushed off the building despite there being only one body found. Fuller continues and tells Matt that the photo had Angela Petrelli's fingerprint on it. While interviewing Angela, Matt hears her thoughts, and finds out that someone is seeking revenge for something terrible they did. Matt meets Nathan when Angela starts screaming in the interrogation room, and Matt breaks through the glass in the adjacent room. Nathan holds her as Matt asks who did this. Matt finds Angela holding another picture fragment of her with the symbol also drawn across her face.

The next few days, Matt and Nathan try to figure out who killed Kaito and attacked Angela. Nathan recognizes the photos that the killer sent to Kaito and Angela and shows the original to Matt. Matt sees his father in the photo and tries to get Molly to find him. Molly uses her ability and becomes unconscious after revealing Matt's father's location. Matt and Nathan find Maury, and after finding that Maury is stronger than Matt with the same ability, Maury escapes using his ability. Nathan and Matt find a picture of Bob, and go to warn him. Working with Niki and Mohinder, Bob plans to capture Maury using Matt's ability. However, Maury outsmarts Niki and turns her against Bob, Nathan and Mohinder. After dealing with them, Maury finds himself in his old home where he is keeping Molly, and where Matt has found her. Matt argues with his father, then leaves the nightmare with Molly.

Matt discovers his ability allows for him to implant thoughts into other people's mind, and uses it to his advantage on Molly and Det. Fuller. Matt interrogates Angela Petrelli to find out who the last woman in the photo is, but is too late to save her. Later, Angela explains to Matt and Nathan that 30 years ago, Adam decided the world needed to be wiped clean, and so the founders locked him away. Matt and Nathan are told to put a bullet through Adam's head to stop him, and before leaving, Matt hears Angela's thoughts, telling him to kill Peter, too, if he must. Matt and Nathan go to Primatech Paper Co., and they run into Hiro. They go to the Company vault. Matt tries to use his telepathy to convince Peter to stop Adam, but Peter resists and starts pushing Matt back with telekinesis. Later, after Peter destroys Strain 138, Matt, Nathan, and Peter discuss how they will expose and take down the Company. With Matt's telepathic assistance, Nathan calls a press conference to expose the nature of the various evolved humans and the Company. During his speech, he is shot twice in the chest by an unknown assailant. Matt looks up at the crowd, and tries to catch a glimpse of the shooter before he exits the building.

The Second Coming

After Nathan is shot by Future Peter, Matt and Peter follow the assassin. Matt finds Peter in a bathroom holding a black coat and black cap. He asks Peter if he got a good look at the assassin's face, but Peter lies and says no. Later, Matt finds Peter lurking in a storage cupboard. Matt shows him the gun and asks if he's looking for it. Peter replies that he is, but then Matt starts asking questions. Peter eventually confronts Matt and drops his illusion. He then teleports Matt to a distant location in the middle of a desert. Matt tries to use his ability to see if anyone is near by, but he finds nothing.

The Butterfly Effect

After being teleported into a large desert in an unknown area and having walked for a day in the burning sun, Matt passes out. He hears a voice and finds a turtle who appears to be talking to him. He starts to feels insane when it tells him to drink water from a plant, but as he thanks the turtle a man tells him it's not the turtle who is speaking to him. The man gives Matt his water bottle which helps Matt get back on his feet. As the two begin to walk the man tells him he is not supposed to be here and they must "spirit walk for many miles". Matt asks the man for his cellphone. Unfortunately the cellphone doesn't receive any service from where they are now and that he should have gotten Sprint. Eventually, the man refers to Matt as "Park-man", and tells Matt that his presence in Africa means the future he has foreseen has changed.

One of Us, One of Them

Matt is still in Africa getting a lesson in spirit journeys from his guide, Usutu. Parkman sees many of Usutu's paintings showing prophetic scenes from his past. He also sees one that has not yet come to pass: a happy scene in which Matt and a blonde woman are holding a baby. However, Usutu says that painting no longer depicts the future and replaces it with a new picture, in which Matt is crying and holding the blonde woman's limp body. Later, Matt enters Usutu's hut, and obtains tribal markings on his face. He eats a bowl of unknown contents, and claims that nothing is happening. Usutu then gives Matt music to listen to, and Matt seems to fall asleep. Suddenly, his eyes open wide and they are white.

I Am Become Death

Matt eats some unknown food from a bowl and has a vision of the future. In it, he finds that his future self is married to a woman named Daphne Millbrook. He has also adopted Molly Walker and has a baby girl named Daniella Parkman.

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Angels and Monsters

Daphne is assigned by Linderman, who is actually an illusion created by Maury Parkman, to find and recruit Matt to the Pinehearst Company.

Heroes Evolutions

Matt's case file (file: C002; password: MPggtn75x) at primatechpaper.com contains a personal history about Matt:

Apart from suffering from Dyslexia, Matt Parkman was about as "average" a person as they come until his ability to hear others' thoughts manifested while investigating the Walker crime scene, a family apparently murdered by Gabriel Gray (see case file C004).

Parkman was tagged by the Company and released to continue his work on the Walker case with the FBI. Later, he participated in the capture and interrogation of Theodore Sprague (see case file C003) and the continued investigation of Sylar's murder spree. However, internal reports indicate that the ability may have caused personal problems on the job--he punched a fellow officer in the precinct locker room when he learned he had been having an affair with his wife, Janice.

Sylar's attack at Union Wells High School led Parkman and FBI Agent Hanson to Odessa, Texas where they continued their investigation, during which Parkman became suspicious of Company activities. Parkman's surveillance and unsuccessful raid on Primatech Paper Company resulted in a six-month suspension from the LAPD and ruined his credibility with the FBI. He is currently divorced and working at the NYPD at detective rank.

Since his wife was pregnant by another man, his offspring no longer holds interest for The Company so any case note referring to the baby may be disregarded.

The subject's father (see psychological profile) is Company founder Maury Parkman. When last under Company care, Matt Parkman was still at the beginning of his ability's manifestation and close watch is recommended lest he manifest the more-dangerous abilities associated with his father.

The case file also contains a psychological profile:

Perhaps until recently, Matt Parkman saw himself as an "everyman," an average American suburbanite struggling to get ahead and kept down by authorities who saw him as more of a "worker bee" then as material for something more. Rather then accept his position in life as an average law officer, Matt internalized this to the point of extreme neuroses, jeopardizing his marriage in the process, as evidenced by marriage counseling records. In fact, his wife cheated on him with a fellow LAPD officer, further undoing an already damaged and fragile ego.

The manifestation of his ability gave him a renewed set of confidence, and also a new set of conflicts in his life as he learned to incorporate it into his day-to-day routine. He did so to a limited extant and succeeded more in further alienating those around him. Parkman also displays equal measures naiveté and world-weariness along with a sense that he always must strive to do right, even if what he considers "right" slides around due to others' influence on him.

It's recommended to keep close tabs, especially if he manifests additional abilities or falls under the sway of someone who may pose harmful to The Company and its work.

Evolved Human Abilities

Matt has the ability of telepathy, an ability that he has until recently only been able to use to hear thoughts. In Fight or Flight, Matt is able to project his thoughts to another in a moment of crisis, though he cannot explain what happened afterward. In Out of Time, Matt's power grows as he is able to bring Maury into the "nightmare" that Maury places Molly into. Matt then overcomes his father's advanced use of telepathy to trap Maury the same way Maury trapped Molly. By Cautionary Tales, Matt has learned how to use his abilities to command others.

Matt is sometimes unable to control his abilities and can be overwhelmed by intense thoughts, which cause him severe headaches.

According to his assignment tracker file at primatechpaper.com, Matt's control index is 25%. His data analysis shows his biological level at 25, cerebral at 90, elemental at 45, and temporal/spatial at 20.

Cranial imaging

Equipment

• Diamonds--located and kept after Aron Malsky was murdered by Jessica
• Gun--carried by Matt as a police officer and as a private security guard

Memorable Quotes

"You can't bribe me!"

- Matt (to Aron Malsky) (Run!)

"If you take this secret from me, you're not just like your father. You are him!"

- Angela (to Matt) (Cautionary Tales)

"No! I'm not scared of you anymore! I'm a good man; I'm a good cop. I'm a good father, which is something you know nothing about. You don't know what it's like to fight for someone that you love; you left. You left. All you have are your nightmares."

- Matt (to Maury) (Out of Time)

"I love you."

"I heard!"

- Matt, Molly (Out of Time)

"Thank you turtle! You saved my life!"

"Why are you talking to a turtle?"

- Matt, Usutu (The Butterfly Effect)

Notes

• Matt is on the List.
• On the official NBC Heroes page for Matt Parkman, a link hidden in the monitor on the squad car displays a video clip of an unaired incident of Parkman using his powers to locate a man speaking in a foreign tongue under a grate in the floor. This scene is from the unaired 72 minute version of In His Own Image shown at SDCC 2006.
• In an interview, Greg Grunberg insinuates that Matt is Jewish. This is also backed up by Future Matt's use of the Yiddish phrase "Mazel Tov". (Five Years Gone)

Trivia

• In an interview, Jason La Padura said that originally, the prototype for Matt's character was Ryan Phillippe in Crash.
• Matt's NYPD detective badge is number 8954.
• According to his case file (password: MPggtn75x) at primatechpaper.com, Matt weighs 190 pounds.

See Also

• For other uses of Matt, see Matt (disambig).
• For other uses of Matthew Parkman, see Matthew Parkman (disambig).
• For Matt Parkman's history in the "explosion future", see Matt Parkman (explosion future).
• For Matt Parkman's history in the "exposed future", see Matt Parkman (exposed future).
• For the article about Matt's son in a possible future, see Matthew.
• For other members of the Parkman family, see Parkman (disambig).
• For articles related to Matt, see Related Articles:Matt.
• For images of Matt, see Images of Matt Parkman.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Matt Parkman for fan-created theories and other speculation.