Elle Bishop

Template:Heroes character box Elle Bishop is a fictional character in the NBC drama Heroes, portrayed by Kristen Bell. An agent of the Company, she possesses the power to generate and manipulate electricity. She is shown to have mental instability, attributed to extensive testing of her abilities when she was younger. The experiments were condoned by her father, Robert Bishop, the head of the Company.

The concept of the Elle character had been conceived by Heroes writers prior to August 2007 when Kristen Bell was announced to portray her. Elle made her first appearance in the episode "Fight or Flight" during the Heroes second season and will continue on the series for at least thirteen episodes.

Appearances

Elle first appears in "Fight or Flight", searching for Peter Petrelli in Ireland. Following a tip from Will, she goes to the Wandering Rocks Pub and questions Ricky about Peter's whereabouts. When he pretends not to know Peter, she kills him with a large bolt of electricity on her way out the door. Later on, during a telephone conversation with her father (later revealed to be Bob), she dismisses the murder as trivial and insists she can find Peter, but is pulled off the assignment, much to her frustration.

In "Four Months Ago...", an episode showing what happened in the four months prior to the second season premiere, "Four Months Later...", further character background is shown of Elle. She admits to being diagnosed as a sociopath; she explains at age six, she accidentally set her grandmother's house on fire, and at age eight, she caused a major blackout in Ohio. Elle voices that she has lived in the Company's holding facility for sixteen years. In the four months since the Company captured Peter, she seems to have developed a crush on him. When he escapes from the facility, Elle is upset and angry to the point that she blasts him, setting him ablaze during his escape.

In "Cautionary Tales", when Claire Bennet is kidnapped by Bob, Elle is captured by Noah Bennet for collateral. During this time, Noah tells Elle that her father allowed the Company to perform tests on her, including subjecting her to high doses of electricity, which led to her twisted personality. Elle has no recollection of the tests, and Noah suggests that the Haitian had a role in removing her memories. Once she is reunited with Bob, and Claire momentarily reunited with Noah, Elle attacks West and Claire as they leave, and tries to attack Noah. Noah shoots Elle in the arm before she can hurt him or anyone else, and Bob then runs to her side. At the end of the episode she is seen in the car with Bob and Mohinder Suresh, and gives Bob a look of distrust.

In "Truth & Consequences", Bob chastises Elle for allowing West and Claire to escape, indicating that he has lost faith and trust in her. In order to restore his faith in her, Bob assigns Elle to perform surveillance on Claire and her family as they prepare to leave town. Claire, however, spots Elle from a distance, leading to a physical confrontation.

Elle's latest appearance was on the episode "Powerless", in which she is reprimanded by her father for her mistakes, and to redeem herself, she attempts to re-capture Sylar for the Company. Elle does this despite knowledge learned from Noah Bennet of the testing done to her as a child; testing had begun as early as the age of seven. Later on, she uses her ability and confronts Sylar in Mohinder's research lab (formerly Isaac Mendez's loft), but Sylar, though powerless, is armed with a gun and shoots at Elle. Sylar manages to slip away, leaving Elle unharmed. She comes out somewhat defeated, but is informed by Mohinder that if not for her arrival, Sylar would have killed him, Maya and Molly, who thus owe her their lives, to which she replies, "Cool". The episode marked Bell's previously expressed interest in performing in scenes with the character Sylar, as she and actor Zachary Quinto have been good friends for almost ten years. Bell had said that she "would love to see him and Elle face off one day". In November 2007, Bell and Quinto filmed scenes at a restaurant in Los Angeles, which was set as a "New Jersey Diner" and had involved police and paramedics. The filmed scenes have yet to be used on an episode.

Bell has said in interviews that in later episodes of Heroes, "You'll find out that Elle holds the key to Claire's future" and that Elle has "a [present] with Peter and a past with Claire's dad and a future with Claire".

In literature

Elle Bishop also appears in the Heroes webcomics. The character first appears in Elle's First Assignment (Part 1), which reveals her first assignment for the Company. Elle monitors Claire Bennet, posing as a student at Union Wells High School. After following Claire home, Elle ends up confronting Eden McCain. The incident is broken up by Noah Bennet, who informs Elle that he doesn't "want [Elle] hanging around his daughter any more". In Part 2, she finds out about the tape of Claire testing her power and tries to take it from Zach. She is stopped by the Haitian and Mr Bennet, who find out about the tape as well.

Powers and abilities

File:Elle Heroes.jpg

Elle displays her ability in the episode "Powerless".

Elle has the ability to generate and manipulate electricity, discharging and directing it as electrical arcs. She has been shown being able to weld a lock, blast objects, knock people unconscious, and even kill a man. She is not entirely immune to the electricity she produces, however, as shown when she is drenched in water and attempts to create electricity — she gives herself an electric shock, causing great pain. Elle has endured a series of testing by the Company during her childhood that measured the extent of her power. Bob had stated on some occasions that Elle was in a "different league" when comparing her to Claire Bennet. When inquiring about her abilities, Elle was able to learn from Noah Bennet that the Company had wanted to record the extent of her abilities (whether she could power a flashlight, a street lamp, or an entire city block) and Bob had often prompted to continue the tests further, even after Elle had passed out.

Characteristics

When Kristen Bell was cast, she noted that with Elle it would be "unclear whether she’s good or bad". In "Four Months Ago...", Elle admits to being diagnosed as a sociopath and previous to that, she had displayed sadistic behavior as a result of testing done to her as a child. Bell explains, "Bodies are not able to take that much electricity and pain, and so Elle’s psychologically a little off her rocker." Her sociopathic nature has resulted in her being able to kill without apparent remorse, although in one instance, she reacts defensively with a "is that any of your business?" comment when Mohinder asks her how many have died by her hand.

During an interview with thescifiworld.net, Tim Kring described Elle as "a little off", and Bell added that Elle is "a little messed up in the head" and a highly conflicted individual who does not have the ability to decipher between right and wrong. Because of that, Elle comes off as more of a victim. Bell also explains that Elle is one of the few characters with abilities that embrace their power and is almost on the verge of being addicted to her ability. Elle "enjoys the emotional power it gives her over other people" which causes her to be manipulative. She is described as one who is "always out to get what she wants" and someone who "doesn’t have many boundaries". Bell describes Elle as a vixen who "feels like she has a romantic connection to everybody", and in a few episodes, Elle is shown displaying a great deal of affection to men and flirting with both Peter Petrelli and Mohinder Suresh.

Bell noted the similarities between Elle and the character Claire Bennet, saying that they "relate to each other" and "are two sides of the same coin" because, while Elle's father sanctioned testing on her, supposedly causing her mental instability, Noah kept Claire hidden, preventing Claire from experiencing the same childhood that "really messed [Elle] up".

Concept and creation

In 2007, following the cancellation of Veronica Mars, actress Kristen Bell had voiced interest in appearing on Heroes because she was a fan previous to being cast. In July 2007, during a train ride back from the San Diego Comic Con with Heroes actors Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka, and writers from the series, the writers had mentioned that if Bell "ever want[ed] to come on Heroes, give us [writers] a call", to which Bell said she would love to. Announced in August 2007, Bell was to portray Elle, a "mysterious young lady" with an "awesome power" for a total of thirteen episodes. The casting of Bell, as Heroes creator Tim Kring explains, "was not easy to pull off", but because of the large ensemble cast of the series and multiple story arcs, "we found a way to jump into a small window in [Bell’s] schedule."

The character Elle was created long before Bell was cast, however, Kring noted "when you do cast an actor ... you try to tailor that character a little closer to who the actor is. So it’s hard to know when one starts to influence the other".