For those that know me well, you’ll recall that I’ve been complaining (and very loudly!) about how a certain, cough, cough, zombie drama has become so predictable. I’ve watched the show for years, but I swear, I could have told you virtually everything that happened in the last mid-season finale before it even aired. Now, that isn’t much fun, is it? Well, the good news is you certainly won’t have to worry about that with Helix! Wow times 10! I still have questions about LAST season and even after a long hiatus, can’t fully wrap my head around certain things that went down. And, so, I definitely can’t make even a guess where we’re going this season. But, this is a good thing, folks — a really good thing.

The truth comes out about Alan. The good, the bad, the ugly.

After it is revealed at the end of the last episode that Alan (Billy Campbell) is already on the island and has infiltrated Brother Michael’s (Steven Weber) cult, I figured it wouldn’t take too long to explain what the hell he’s been doing for the past 15 months. And, some of it isn’t pretty, and I’m really starting to wonder about this guy.

Apparently, Julia (Kyra Zagorsky) had gone missing, and Alan goes to extreme lengths — including killing several immortals — in order to find her. Still no Julia, but one immortal did give up a flash drive before he killed her, and clues on the drive led him to St. Germain. This small detail provided 2 major hints as to what is going on — Julia is probably somewhere on St. Germain, and somehow, someway, Ilaria is likely to be involved. But, as Peter (Neil Napier) said himself, “What would Ilaria want with a crackpot, isolationist cult?” Now, that’s a very good question, and one that we hope will be answered soon enough.

Brother Michael wants to cooperate with the CDC? Or does he?

Throughout the course of the episode, we see at least 2 people who has been infected with this mysterious new virus on the island. One is a young man by the name of Brother Isaac, who Sarah (Jordan Hayes) spots in the abbey. The other is a little boy, Soren, who wanders into the community meeting, very disoriented and looking for his mother.

Was it just me or did Brother Michael legitimately look surprised when he saw Soren? The look on his face indicated that he hadn’t seen this disease before, but with how much he loves to eavesdrop and meddle in people’s business, is it really possible that he knew nothing of an outbreak that had originated within his walls? Hmmm. Either way, when Peter, Sarah, and Dr. Sommers confront him and insist that they remain on the island, quarantine the infected, and try to determine the source of the virus, Brother Michael surprisingly doesn’t oppose them. In fact, he states that he *wants* them to stay and find the cause of the disease. I personally don’t trust the guy in the least, but we shall see.

Regardless, somebody knows something. Soren miraculously recovers, which was shocking in itself since we have seen the disease to be 100% fatal thus far. But, instead of embracing him and welcoming him back into the community, he is led outside of the gates in the middle of the night only to be attacked by someone else who had been infected. WTF? What. The. %%&^((@@! Obviously, Brother Michael’s followers are fully aware that there are others (and lots of them!) infected outside of their community, and so, why are they keeping that from the CDC?

Peter, Peter, Peter. You truly have changed. But, is it for the better?

In last week’s premiere, Peter was, well, just Peter. Even though he had survived the Narvik virus and had been transformed into a Vector, he seemed like an ordinary guy, just going about his job as a Team Leader with the CDC. Well, in tonight’s episode, we get a closer look at the man, and just like Alan, some of it isn’t that pretty.

When Sarah reveals to Peter that she had seen Alan on the island, you would think that Peter would be overjoyed with the possibility of seeing his brother again. After all, the season one finale ended with Alan and Peter working together to find Julia, and there was no indication that there was a rift between the two. Well, 15 months later, and apparently, Peter wants nothing to do with his brother.

In fact, Peter becomes irate with Sarah for even speaking to Alan and instructs her to stay as far away as she can from him. Here we get a few more details on what has happened to Alan since the season one finale, including his being discredited by the CDC and having multiple international arrest warrants issued for him (probably for blowing up the Ilaria Corporation buildings in Paris). I don’t know, I guess I thought Peter would have (should have!) shown more emotion and brotherly love towards Alan — after all, he IS his only brother. They grew up side by side, protecting each other against an abusive, alcoholic father. That bond isn’t one that you can erase overnight. I couldn’t help but think that perhaps he let all of that jealousy and brother rivalry get the best of him, and I’m hoping his feelings will change as the season progresses.

Also, when I talked to Neil Napier last week and asked him about any lingering affects of being a Vector, he confirmed that there might be some, and I think we just witnessed one of them. When Brother Isaac ran at him, instead of trying to defend himself like Dr. Sommers did, Peter just froze. This guy’s got some serious PTSD, and yes, I am very concerned for Peter now. Very concerned. The CDC is facing potentially a whole army of these yellow fungus freaks lurking outside the walls of Brother Michael’s compound, and the last thing any of them will need is to be paralyzed with fear.

All in all, another fantastic episode. It was action-packed, fast-paced, had some great character development — especially for Peter Farragut — and besides everything above that had happened, here are some other bombshells they dropped in our laps, and yeah, all in less than 1 hour:

• Yes, Sarah *was* pregnant in last season’s finale and is STILL pregnant! It turns out immortality stopped not only her own aging but her fetus’ as well. Now, that has to be the biggest downside to being an immortal. I wonder what will happen long-term. Will she eventually give birth, or will the baby be forever entombed inside her?
• As we knew from the sneak peek, the body in the grave was not Alan Farragut’s, which is confirmed when Julia digs it up and examines the bones. So, if that wasn’t him, where is he? And, what has Caleb so spooked that he refuses to accompany Julia to a certain area of the island?
• We do finally find out what happened to Brother Isaac, and it’s not good. He is cornered and has the perfect opportunity to attack another follower on the island, but he doesn’t. Instead, he slits his own throat, and disgusting yellow blood spews out. Eww. Why did he do that? And, what happened to his body because we never saw it again?

So many questions, and so few answers (so far!). But, we have an entire season to try and figure it out, as we are given a few more pieces of the puzzle each week. This season’s going to be a wild ride, folks, but it’s going to be fun, and I’m loving it so far.

Helix ,/a> airs on Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.

Critic Grade — A

NEXT WEEK ON “Helix” — Episode 2.03 “Scion”

We’ve known since Syfy released that promo before the season 2 premiere that Hatake would eventually be back, and it looks like next week that will finally happen!

Official Synopsis from Syfy: “While the contagion at the abbey becomes increasingly dangerous, Alan tries to take matters into his own hands as Jordan and Peter travel outside the gates only to find themselves under attack. Kyle investigates the seemingly innocent children but they turn the tables on him. Meanwhile, Walker comes upon Hatake in the future, and finds him less sane than he initially appears.”

PHOTOS

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