Episode Title: “Pilot”
Writer: Cameron Porsandeh
Director: Jeffrey Reiner
Episode Title: “Vector”
Writer: Keith Huff
Director: Brad Turner
Whenever Syfy announces that it has a new show premiering, I tend to roll my eyes a bit. A large part of that has to do with the fact that I’ve watched this network demoralize sharks for years. They’re already a badass animal, they don’t need the Syfy bump. Secondly, I’ve always seen every show the network has put on since 2009 as a pathetic attempt to replicate the success of “Battlestar Galactica,” only without the key elements that made it such a great show. I won’t deny that there have been a few stand outs, including “Alphas,” which ended way too soon; “Warehouse 13,” ending this year; and “Haven,” which stands out for the fact that it has a former professional wrestler as part of its cast… and that it’s terrible.
Syfy attempts to bring back its glory days with “Helix,” a show set in the arctic around a group of CDC scientists investigating an outbreak that could bring about mankind’s annihilation! Haven’t we done this before? “The X-Files” did it in the first season with “Ice.” And John Carpenter’s The Thing did it remarkably well in 1982. “Helix’s” executive producer, Ronald Moore, penned the original script for the 2011 prequel/remake of The Thing, only to be scrapped. Is this an attempt to recapture a failed script? Probably not, but it’s hard to overlook the connection.
The first fifteen minutes of the “Pilot” don’t mess around. The viewer is thrown into the thick of it; Dr. Peter Farragut (Neil Napier) and two others have been infected with some kind of engineered virus. And no arctic based infection would be complete without black blood. Seriously, though, hasn’t black blood been done to death? The opening scene then cuts to the title card, which, working with the show’s opening minutes is unsettling. Like something out of the Stanley Kubrick playbook… it’s cheery and unnaturally subtle. “Helix” is great at setting the audience up for just how frightening diseases can be. A simple meeting, with a fake vial of cholera is all that’s needed to send the message home; a trip to the antarctic is all they need to make it worse.
The CDC team consists of Dr. Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell), brother of the infected Dr. Peter Farragut; Dr. Julia Walker (Kyra Zagorsky), who used to be married to Alan and slept with Peter, making it the only real character development here. Also there is Dr. Sarah Jordan (Jordan Hayes), or as I like to call her, the American Hermoine Granger, and she’s even super smart, possessing two doctorates at 26. Dr. Doreen Boyle (Catherine Lemieux) may be the most awkward scientist of the bunch; and rounding it out is Major Sergio Balleseros (Mark Ghanime) who knows more than he’s letting on. No one in the cast really stands out in their roles, and neither does the team dynamic. Those that have come before, like The Thing were able to balance the two well, making them distinctly separate. “Helix” instead focuses on plot more than character, which may prove to be a problem in the future.
Thus far, creator and showrunner Cameron Porsandeh keeps the viewer engaged in a mystery style story progression. Each piece found is creepier than the next, including experimentation on animals such as rats and monkeys. In a visually stunning scene, Major Balleseros exits the compound to upload data via a small portable satellite. When the transmission is complete, the camera pulls back to reveal a clearing full of frozen monkeys. The show’s tag line, “Play God. Pay the price,” is exemplified in Dr. Hiroshi Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada). In the opening scene, he looks over an infected Peter and notes the progress made on the viral mutagen responsible for all that’s happening.
Aside from it’s major character problems, “Helix” suffers from nostalgia. The bad kind, the kind that makes it seem more like rip off artists. Granted, the premise has been done, we know that, but even some of the scenes feel lifted right from classic science fiction filmography. Major Balleseros investigates the ductwork after a sighting of Peter. Of course he runs into him in there; and the only thing missing from that scene was an alien holding its arms out like it wanted to give someone a hug. At least, that’s what I always thought that alien wanted in Alien. I could be wrong…
When the horrors work, they really work. It’s given that the show is going to be somewhat of a slow burn. In fact, in the first two seamless episodes, “Helix” revealed almost nothing at all. The most uneasy moment of the two episodes is its very last. An innocent Dr. Walker takes a shower and out of the mist walks Peter. Of course, the tension is there, not just of Peter’s condition, but the sexual tension that was there to begin with. She tries to push him away, but to no avail. Watching her be infected is one of the most uneasy moments I’ve ever experienced on television. Part of it due to the graphic nature with which the virus is passed on, the other because of all the characters on the show, they spent the most time developing her. It kind of proves that this is a show that’s up for anything, including infecting its only relatable characters. Future episodes have the ability to prove me wrong on that one, for sure though.
Has a show ever been good despite its massively flawed characters? Not really, but did “Helix” prove that it could introduce a compelling plot that overshadows that flaw? To an extent. “Helix” is a show that can be great if it knows what to focus on being the horrors it brings to the table and the quality of its plot, including the way it’s revealed. While major character development is needed, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the show’s creators can make them work, and ultimately, this show work.
