Helix: Survivor Zero Review

Last week on Helix we watched the still functioning Dr. Farragut turn his brother into a comatose Doctor Freeze then knock boots with Dr. Jordan. Dr. Hatake worked overtime to help the infected Dr. Walker, and we learned that whoever Major Balls managed to contact before he was taken hostage by the locals was on their way, much to Hatake’s consternation.

This episode gave moral dilemmas a back seat to straight up plot development. Some of it good, some of it a wee over the top.

Day 7 started with the arrival of Constance Sutton, the COO of Arctic Biosystem’s parent company, the Ilaria Corporation. Once she landed and sent her helicopters away, she explained to Farragut that they will be stuck with her for two days. We get the feeling that they will be stuck with her for a long, long time. At first Sutton was solicitous of Farragut’s needs, particularly when he insisted on rescuing Walker from Level R. But it does not take long for her true nature to come out. Sutton runs the show, and before the hour is up, everyone from Farragut to Hatake knows the score. Ilaria is interested in both the virus and the cure. One without the other would not be of much use, and like any giant, faceless, evil corporation knows, someone has to be dispatched to protect the bottom line. What Sutton really wants to know is if Hatake has been holding out on her. It seems that Ilaria plans to “thin the herd”. While I am not sure what that means, it certainly sounds nefarious. Not helping the situation was the scene where Sutton appeared to be filing down her teeth. And (SPOILER) she also has silver eyes. Uh oh.

Oh Big Pharma, why are you always so evil? Oh plot, why are you sometimes so heavy handed?

Which, unfortunately, was the case tonight with Anana and Major Balls. The two made their way back to the base, stopping to make camp for the night. Camp being a loose term for sleeping under some blankets, next to an electric heater without a tent. In the snow. In the Arctic. Come on SyFy, are you really telling me there was no money in the budget for a cold weather tent? Not one? The facility is dripping in lab equipment, surely a PA could have run to Goodwill and picked up a crappy used tent!

Anyway. Once they make it back to the base, Anana was reunited with the portly security guard, Daniele, who appeared to believe her story enough to confront Hatake. Meanwhile Major Balls was taken to Sutton for a little debriefing; almost in the literal sense.

As disappointed as I was with the Sutton/Major Balls elements of tonight’s episode, the Walker/Hatake storyline is still unfolding beautifully.

Walker woke up on Level R, looking much improved from last week. While most of the outward symptoms of the virus have dissipated, she was still hallucinating her ex-boyfriend and experiencing excruciating pain in her now silver eyes. The telling moment happened when a vector who was about to attack sees Walker’s eyes and ran in the opposite direction, leaving her to wonder if she is the first actual survivor to recover from the virus.

When Hatake returns to rescue Walker, he tenderly wraps her eyes in gauze while crying over her. Not just a few tears either. Mark Ghanime needs to take an acting lesson from Hiroyuki Sanada in emoting. Great, great scene. We still don’t know his actual relationship with Walker (although it is easy to guess), but the heavy emotion is painting a pretty vivid picture of the torment Hatake is feeling, adding some serious depth to what would otherwise be another run of the mill villain.

Despite all the work Hatake put in this week, the episode went a little off the rails. There were big reveals, but at the same time, there were some really wonky sequences. A little lull in a season is to be expected tho.

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