Bob's change of heart with Mohinder, saying he's sorry, etc.
Do you think he's for real or just manipulating Mohinder?

The commentary seems to scream "manipulation!" but he does let Monica go. Er, well, sort of.

Anyway, the actor's name eludes me but the casting for Bob is perfect!

I think it's manipulation. Giving him Nikki/Jessica as a companion "to avoid futher misunderstandings" it a threat. It's not like she is going to use her great eloquence to explain more clearly what Bob means. Obviously, she is there to use force if he steps out of line.

well the preview for ep 7 does show N/J hitting mohinder throwing him 2 the wall

It seemed like he was telling the truth, but you can see in his eyes the whole time that he is "evil"

Lol! Sorry, I gotta watch the whole ep again; I missed the ''evil'' in his eyes!

i dont think he even lets monica out of his sight. he gives her some hotel room, or a room inside the company. there maybe company cameras in every inch of the room, plus, the company's other special people to moniter her every second!

Exactly.

Mohinder gets on my d*** nerves sometimes.

Agreed. Although I can't help but hope that there's something else. I think he's being a little more honest with Mohinder, but he's still using them. Especially with how Niki was acting.

What I want to know is, why on earth is he putting so much effort into holding onto Mohinder? He's not the only scientist in the world (even if he is pointedly pretty smart - note how quickly he saw Molly's condition without being told a thing about her by a simple glance at the monitor). Bob certainly doesn't keep him around to help "keep them in line."

The most obvious answer is that Mohinder's blood has the antibodies needed to combat the virus. But how difficult would it be for them to take a blood sample, put it in contact (in vitro) with the virus, and examine what exactly the antibody is? Protein isolation and sequencing is routine in any university lab these days (I mean, I did it in Bio 106). It wouldn't be hard at all for them to discover what the antibody is. Granted actually replicating it would take a lot of research money (which isn't a problem for them at all...) and sheer time. But you'd think the Company would at least be working on it, since it's the only thing they have at all to combat the virus.

[For those who might suggest they don't want to combat the virus: I believe Bob was sincere in pointing out that it could mutate and cross over to the general population. He's playing a dangerous game with it in order to subdue Adam (and other superpowered individuals) and he knows it.]

Or are they afraid that Suresh will stumble upon something that could prove detrimental to them, and would just to prefer to "keep tabs" on him in the easiest way - right under their noses? Honestly, why do they think he's dangerous enough to have to keep close? [I'm thinking of the old saying here - keep your friends close and your enemies closer]

Regardless Bob is certainly expending resources and putting extra effort into making sure Suresh doesn't 'vanish into the ether.' Perhaps because he saw the paintings and guesses some of what might happen? Or for some other reason? That's the question bugging me right now

Mini rant finished :]

Bob = Evil

He is absolutely manipulating Mohinder. I'm curiois where this is heading.

Either way, the company has just gotten another 'strike team' consisting of a 'normal' human (Mohinder) and a 'gifted' one (Nikki).

i'm on team bob is evil..

he just seemed 'too' nice to monica given how heartless he seems when he talks about offing people with 'dangerous' powers.. i mean he was going to use her as the first experiment, now he's all nice and supportive, even giving her an ipod..? i think he's just bribing her for future use..

evil and creepy..

As others have mentioned, I suspect that Bob is merely manipulating Mohinder in the hopes to keep him working for the Company. There are many reasons for him to do so:

1. To have a ready supply of the 'cure' to the virus currently affecting other gifted ones. Considering he himself isn't immune to it and there isn't a pattern to how it is spreading, I suspect Bob would rather have Mohinder handy and willing to provide the curative transfusion should he ever find himself infected with the virus.

2. While there are no doubt other scientists on the situations, I suspect that Mohinder is one of if not the top in the field and the understanding of what is happening at the genetic level. This is indicated in the Alternative Future episode where Nathan/Sylar had Mohinder as his chief adviser on the subject. If this assumption is true, it makes sense that the Company would want him working for them; firstly to better understand the mutation, and secondly, to control the development of said understanding.

3. And for the conspirationists, maybe Bob knows that Mohinder is working as a double agent for Bennet (I refuse to call him Noah) and is thus trying to outwit Bennet or manipulate him through Mohinder.

Bob is a very smart man, seems to me he knows what he is doing, and what he plans to get from it

umm..im pretty sure he takes her home!

Im guessing manipulating him but he did let Monica go.

Although now, he has where she lives and he may be able to get to her family or have jessica do the dirty work for him now

Perhaps Bob did feel, if not a change of heart, a time to pick his battles. They can use anyone, anytime to experiment on. That said, I think it is VERY wise for the company to work on their PR, as it were. I mean, getting gifted individuals to swear by the kindness/goodness of the company should be top priority. Especially since not all can be corrupted as easily as, say, candice. Case in point, Niki, Monika.

so what about adam? both bob and peter mentioned about adam. what if this adam turns out the be the evil one? but bob will still be manipulating, trying to look evil and all.

abt monica,
im beginning to think that bob keeps her there to train her and make her powerful and super-skilled and soon make her join the company!

very well thought, possibility
as the company are very smart and do certain things for a reason
they sumhow get alot of heroes to join the compnay, maybe this is their tactic to get heroes to join the company
offering to help them, give them answers, help them control their ability and then tell them to join the company to help other like them

I like that
But for what purpose ?

It's my opinion that Bob justifies what he's doing because of Adam. He does have a death threat hanging over his head, after all. There are a lot of theories concerning who Adam is - I won't go into them. However I think we can fairly safely assume that Adam has a power. I believe Bob was entirely sincere when he said "there are some abilities which must be stopped." His entire program with the virus is not only to stop as-yet unnamed threats in the future, but also to stop Adam and save his own life.

The following is just a little bit of my own personal speculation - I believe Bob especially wants to get his hands on Claire (speculation as to the nature of who Adam really is reveals why, if you want to go into that). The Company vs the Bennets provides a good set up for the Mohinder/HRG conflict displayed in pictures 7 and 8. That the rest of the pictures also have to do with the spread of the virus, or events surrounding a "Company vs Bennet" confrontation, supports this idea.

Pure speculation though.

For all we know, Bob might be homosexual.

Where did that come from?! Hehe maybe that's why he likes Mohinder so much

bob a homo? hahahahah.


maybe he is genuine towards mohinder ? ha. it's human flaw to be rash and temperamental at times.

I kinda have a feeling Bob is good. But well, perhaps I have just been conned by his manipulation.

HOW can you fell for such cheap tricks

Me too! I was so sure that he was evil at the beginning and now, I don't know, I'm not so sure anymore!

I'm not going to fall for his cheap tricks
I'm going to say hes evil and manipulates Mohinder !
Untill proven otherwise

I'm pretty sure Bob is manipulating Mohinder. And I'm also pretty sure that Niki isn't in control at the moment.

Sure, the company needs Mohinder to cure the virus, but they also need to keep him in line.

You can tell it's not Niki by the way she dresses, her hair, her makeup. Jessica is always more vampy and 'neat' than Niki, who favors casual clothes and a natural face and makeup.

im with shanniee in this one, that Bob is evil. He knows exactly what he is doing, i bet he's playing everyone

But then again, a lot of people were equally certain that HRG was evil but he turned out to be good. Hopefully, they will go the same way with Bob and turn him into a gray character, complex and not entirely good or evil.

You got a point there. But HRG was fighting for his daughter (Claire) whereas Bob is fighting for whom?
Maybe his daughter (not certain yet..) Elle? But Elle already works for the Company so for whom is he fighting for? His own life? HRG only fought for Claire's life without thinking on his own life..

Given how they've covered the whole 'fighting to protect one's family' theme through HRG, I don't think they will go the same way for Bob. Maybe he's a realist and knows that the Company would always exist regardless of whether he continues to work for it or not, and thus figures it would be better to remain in it to make sure they don't go too far? Or maybe he thinks it's a necessary evil, to keep the worse ones such as Sylar from getting out of control? Basically, there are many ways to develop Bob's role.

Additionally, it would be an interesting development if the Company isn't evil and that Adam is playing them all. Or, if it turns out there are two sides or two separate Companies.

I have never really considered the Company to be "evil" - they see a very real problem and try to combat it. The methods they use are terribly wrong and they've been devastatingly misguided, but that doesn't make them "evil" per se. If they were truly evil I'd be cheering on whoever killed them to keep up the good work, heh.

That's the real question in the end - Adam or the Company? They're sketching the battle lines, and which side are we going to end up supporting?

Yeah I don't see the Company as evil either. And as for Bob, I don't think he's evil. I can't really explain why, it's just a vibe he seems to give off to me. Same for Maury Parkman. I think Kensei's the villian.

Of course Kensei's the villain...
But the Company isnt good entirely either... as one of the above posters said their methods are terribly wrong

Manipulation...and the way he said "changes to your ability" makes me think he injected her...

i don't think he did inject her with the varied virus as he left her at her house, gave her an ipod and sed you can learn alot of stuff from this 'its loaded', meaning he wants her to learn fighting skills etc so she can help the company in the future

Bob has plans for Monica thats for sure. What it is, is unknown to the viewers *sigh*.
Hope we will find out soon

Actually, I have a feeling the 'modified' virus may have been a dud. The way I see it, Bob wouldn't have had Monica's powers deactivated. Her powers are too useful to be wasted, especially since she is likely to be easily swayed to the Company's side. Rather, I suspect it had been to test Mohinder and he failed.

This seems to make sense given the phrase "no more 'misunderstandings'" and the introduction of Niki/Jessica as Mohinder's new partner. Bob saw that Mohinder's conscience might cause him not to follow the Company's orders and thus placed Niki/Jessica as an assurance that he does as he is told.

if mohinder steps out of line, jessica will end up killing him

Hmmm this could interesting

I don't think Bob would want him killed... otherwise he'd just get it over with now. For some reason he thinks Mohinder's valuable. He set up Jessica as a nice source of... physical deterrent, but he doesn't want the geneticist totally taken out of the picture. At least, not yet.

Unfortunately Mohinder doesn't seem the type to bend his morals to that kind of threat. I predict much violence and him, once again, the one getting it... heh. But kill him? I doubt it - at least not intentionally.

Mohinder is only alive because of his blood lol..
If Bob has a way to reproduce the blood without Mohinder then bye bye Mohinder
So there must be something to it

Certainly, Mohinder is only alive still because his blood cures the virus. If Bob can find a way to synthesize the blood and make an antidote that wouldn't rely on Mohinder's 'involvement', Mohinder would definitely NOT be involved... in anything.

this is exactly wat i was thinking, once he can synthesize mohinders blood, then its bye bye mr.suresh

Still don't buy the "only because of his blood" argument. Isolating protiens (like antibodies) is a fairly routine process nowadays. Bob's had four months and unlimited resources to get that underway - if that were all he was interested in, he'd have a pretty good grasp on what that antibody is by now. It's not that big a jump from knowing the protein sequence to unraveling the DNA sequence - something else that's done pretty often nowadays. Add a little recombinant DNA technology to your batch of E coli (another piece of common modern science) and he'd have a culture of harmless bacteria reproducing that antibody in massive amounts.

It's not quite that simple, but a lot of the biggest barriers can be overcome by spreading some money around, something Bob should have no difficulty with at all. If he really is experimenting with the virus that much, it seems like an obvious precaution to take. Whatever else Bob might be, he isn't stupid.

Besides if they really only needed Mohinder for his blood, there's no way they'd put him in any kind of dangerous situation. Bob does say "try not to get killed" - but if there was really only one person who had any sort of chance of curing a deadly virus that's turning up more and more often, a little admonition like that is not strong enough. Why doesn't the Company knock him out, lock him up, make sure he stays perfectly safe and perfectly unharmed so they can use him for his blood whenever they need it? Why even bother going through the "you work for us now" charade if that's the case? They're taking a huge risk.

It seems simple and logical that they just want him to stick around so the cure is in easy reach. But the reasoning kinda falls apart - or at least I'm missing something pretty big involved here.

id say don't underestimate Bob as he is a very clever man, he does everything for a reason
always has a plan up his sleeve