Warning: Spoilers ahead if you have not seen tonight’s season 2 premiere

It’s time for a moment of truth here. Up until Thanksgiving weekend this past November, I had not seen a single episode of Helix. I cover several shows, and I had to find time to do some other things, you know, like sleep. But, then, a friend, knowing how much I love other horror dramas like The Walking Dead, The Strain, and Z Nation, casually asked if I watched the show, and when I said ‘no,’ she stood up and informed me that I should cancel my Black Friday plans because they were being replaced with Black Goo Friday.

The rest is history. I was glued to the TV all that Friday, and honestly, I don’t know how in the hell I missed this show. I even binge-watched all the episodes *again* over Christmas break, and that’s when I decided, hey, I will just have to sleep less because I’m picking this show up. Of course, being a newbie, I didn’t realize the plan for the series was to somewhat reinvent itself each season. Little did I know I was in for a shock in the premiere, and I certainly wouldn’t have guessed that I would love the series even more for it.

So, if the series had followed the predictable path, tonight’s premiere would have continued exactly where we left off, and we would still be in pursuit of Julia as well as answers about the Narvik virus, this Ilaria Corporation, and this exclusive club of immortals. And, honestly, if they had gone down this route, I probably would have been yawning 10 minutes in, and I would not have been impressed at all.

Instead, the season began fresh and new, with a totally different storyline that seemingly had very little to do with the Narvik virus — and even with Ilaria — which was the focus of the entire first season. The episode opens by hitting the ground running (literally!) with people on a ship screaming, and everyone running about and attacking each other. We are then taken to a scene of Dr. Walker arriving on an island, and we suspect she may be there to investigate the virus outbreak that we just witnessed aboard that ship.

All signs point to this island as the source of the pandemic — Dr. Julia Walker into a voice recorder

We assume she had been sent there by the CDC, but on the other hand, where is everyone else? Would the CDC actually send a 1-person team? Not likely. And, as it turns out, things aren’t quite as they seem.

Everything then breaks to Peter Farragut (Neil Napier), Sarah Jordan (Jordan Hayes), and newcomer Dr. Kyle Sommer (Matt Long) boarding the same vessel we saw in the opening scene, which makes us begin wondering what Julia was doing on that island all by herself. 27 people in total are dead with only one survivor, Layla, who appears to be immune to whatever virus they are dealing with.

Layla isn’t able to offer a great deal of information of what happened, except they made an unscheduled stop on an island about 3 days prior, just to do some hiking and swimming. Two days later people began getting sick and started to attack each other. They learn that the island in question is St. Jermaine and is not far off the coast of Seattle.

If it were me, I would have personally gotten the hell out of dodge, but Layla agrees to accompany the CDC team to St. Germaine to show them exactly which parts of the island her group had visited. Big mistake because as soon as they arrive, they encounter one freaky thing right after another. Layla sees a creepy woman in the distance. Then, the group stumbles on a graveyard of horrors full of skulls, all female, all toothless. Literally hundreds of them. Then, Sarah steps into what she thought was an animal trap when it turns out to be a trap for humans. Something bad was on this island, and a big part of it appears to be hunting humans. But, the worse was yet to come, and the biggest shocker of the night was about to be dropped in our laps.

While all of this commotion was going on, Layla completely freaks out and runs off. Peter Farragut and Co. finally track her down in an abandoned cabin, but the sight was not pretty. Layla is found hanging from the ceiling, blood everywhere, and very much dead. About this time, members of the cult that we have seen in the previews show up. Peter is adamant on finding answers as well as who killed Layla, but with their dangerous predicament of being on a strange island after dark, they reluctantly decide to accompany the strangers to their religious compound for the night.

As this scene is playing out, Julia appears to be in the exact same cabin, and we are led to believe that she is about to meet up with Peter and the rest of the group. Instead, we finally get the 411 on what is really going on. Yes, Julia and the CDC team are in the same cabin on the same island, but at completely different times. Peter and his group are there presumably during present day, but Dr. Walker is there 30 years later. There had been a major viral outbreak of a virus called TXM7, and it had been traced back to this island (we assume the “outbreak” she speaks of is the one we saw on the ship at the beginning of the episode).

The stranger, Caleb, Dr. Walker encounters on the island seems to know she is one of the “immortals” and appears surprised she is there investigating a disease that can’t hurt her. Then, there is the big reveal, which is that the immortals aren’t as immortal as they had thought because whatever this TXM7 is, Julia is dying from it. So, her mission on the island is to find the virus’ source as well as a cure.

Back in present day at the religious compound, things are about to get freakier. The members of this society offer virtually no help on what may be going on and what could have happened to Layla, and their leader, this Brother Michael (Steven Weber), gives me the creeps in about 100 different ways. He hangs in the shadows, eavesdrops on people’s conversations, and is charismatic and soft-spoken enough to give you a false sense of security. But, we should have learned from other series cults like Gareth and those cannibalistic crazies at Terminus in The Walking Dead that chances are there’s something far more sinister hiding behind that innocent smile on Brother Michael’s face.

And, if we had, we would be right. In the final scene of the episode, we learn the source of all of those toothless skulls in the woods. A young girl is being held down on a table, all of her teeth being pulled out, and a jar of yellow gunk being forced down her throat. WTH? What. The. Hell! Who are these people, and what kind of “religion” are they practicing? And, what is that yellow stuff? Is it the source of this new virus? Will it become the “yellow goo” of season 2 as Narvik was the “black goo” of season 1?

One piece of good news — well sort of. I don’t know about everyone else, but I had been wondering since the beginning of the episode where in the hell Alan Farragut was hiding out at. Well, it turns out he may be a step ahead of everyone and is actually hiding out, undercover at this compound. If that is the case, how did he find out about the virus before the outbreak on the ship? How long had he known about it? And the big question — why didn’t he fill in anyone else, especially his brother, Peter?

Regardless, whatever Alan had planned and whatever he was doing on that island, it doesn’t appear to have ended well. To Julia’s surprise, this Caleb knew of Alan Farragut when she asked about him, but what she ended up discovering was not what she had in mind at all. Caleb takes Julia to the religious compound, which was burnt to the ground and in complete ruins, and given the vegetation growth, had been that way for quite some time. And, in the cemetery on the grounds of the compound, Julia is shocked to find Alan’s tombstone. Whatever happened, Alan apparently did not make it off the island alive.

Wow. Even in my wildest dreams, I don’t think I could have imagined a more shocking, surprising, completely unexpected premiere as this one And, don’t get me wrong — this is a good thing, a very good thing. While a part of me wanted some answers from that crazy cliffhanger of a season finale, really that would have made for a somewhat less-than-exciting premiere. So we would have gotten an explanation for everything, but then what? Not to mention there are so many twists and turns in this show that I don’t think all the details could be explained in a single episode anyways. Honestly, I am quite intrigued with what we learned in this premiere, and I’m very excited to see how all of this will tie into Ilaria, their obsession with immortality, and even possibly with the Narvik virus that was the focus of last season.

I am also loving the new character, Dr. Sommer, and the creation of this character was a very good move by the writers in my opinion. One of the things this series has sorely lacked is a good comic relief, and I have a feeling Dr. Sommer is going to be providing that. I absolutely love the show but thinking back on watching last season, I don’t think I laughed a single time. Yet, I laughed several times in this premiere alone, and every instance was due to Kyle and one of his hilarious one-liners:

•  I’m from Texas. We don’t go to the bathroom without a gun — Dr. Sommer
• It’s either that or go out like Butch at Sundance — Dr. Sommer
• You haven’t seen Butch and the Sundance Kid? What kind of American are you? — Dr. Sommer to Dr. Jordan

Not to mention, I think he’s kind of sweet on Dr. Jordan, and truthfully, the girl needs to find someone more age-appropriate and definitely more available. Her relationship with Alan was never going to really happen because he was still fixated on Julia, and that wasn’t going to change in the near future. I like Sarah and had always hoped she would find someone who was worthy of her love. And, my gut says Dr. Sommer may be that person.

All in all, this episode was an excellent start to the new season. It was a startling turn of events given how season 1 ended, it introduced an interesting new character, and it put the spotlight on one of my favorite characters of the series, Dr. Peter Farragut, who, to my dismay, had been tucked away as a vector for most of the first season — I am very happy to see the character finally get the attention he deserves. And, of course, the episode raised so many new questions. What happened to Dr. Walker at the end of last season and why was she on the board of Ilaria Corporation? Did Alan ever find out his brother, Peter, was working on “the dark side” and with the Scythe? What happened with Dr. Jordan and her pregnancy? Is this new virus on the island somehow related to Narvik? How did Alan find out about the new virus and why did he decide to go undercover? And, where in the hell is Dr. Hatake? So many questions, but fortunately, we have all of season 2 (and hopefully more after that!) to learn the answers.

Helix airs on Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.

Critic Grade — A

NEXT WEEK ON “Helix” — Episode 2.02 “Reunion”

Official Synopsis from Syfy: “As the CDC team continues to investigate the island, a sick child appears. After the child’s miraculous healing, Jordan suspects that not all is right in the abbey. Meanwhile, in the future, Walker and Caleb dig up Alan’s grave and make a discovery that furthers the mystery of the island.”

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