Episode Title: “Fushugi”
Writer: Misha Green
Director: Jeremiah Chechik
Previously on “Helix”:
A special thanks goes out to Andrew Johnson for holding down the fort for me the last two Friday nights.
If last week’s episode – “Level X” – showed us anything, it’s that “Helix” may be willing to give us some answers after all. For instance, it seems as if they’re fully in camp Julia (Kyra Zagorsky), who by now is the only character with a definable past and mythos. Even the virus now has a clear origin and design since Constance Sutton (Jeri Ryan) showed up, tried taking over the base, and has since become the new Dr. Hvit. The main problem then becomes the lateness of the information, and why its audience should care.
The virus’ doomsday design lacks all of the integrity that a virus of that magnitude should have. It’s basically a zombie apocalypse waiting to happen. I do give credit to “Helix” for having what appear to be new, original zombies. They may be zombies that appear to operate under a set of rules which make no sense at all, but they’re zombies, whether the show admits to it or not. “Helix” also promotes the idea that Julia is the center of the universe, but still an Alan (Billy Campbell) run organization. One character lacks dimension while the other lacks charisma and general good acting, which rounds out a cast that suffers from the same vices.
“Fushugi” finds the pair running to another base 50 miles away to stop Dr. Victor Adrian (Julian Casey) from requesting an EVAC. Why it makes sense, I have no idea, until you realize it’s a learning opportunity for Julia. If you were going to stop someone, wouldn’t you send people with guns and not the CDC? Their relative effectiveness against stopping anybody is substantiated when a third party Ilaria member runs to the base to stop Adrian as well. This individual shoots Adrian and forces Alan and Julia down into an underground bunker where they stumble upon a mysterious stranger with the silver eyes, who’s been chained up there for nearly thirty years.
What does this little fact finding mission teach us? That whatever Julia and Hitaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) have been injected with makes them immortal, and that there are currently 500 immortals that run Ilaria. In short, that makes them the silver eyed elves of the Arctic Middle Earth. One could reason that Ilaria will probably be sending troops or their immortals to the base soon. If that’s the case, why are they still there? What’s Hitaki’s obsession with this base aside from an imitation cabin decorated room? With the stolen Narvik samples destroyed and every infected person on the same level, wouldn’t it make sense to kill them all and get the hell out of there?
The most fascinating character of the show continues to be Peter (Neil Napier), the self-elected zombie official that was re-elected to a second term in “Lexel X” when the breakout infected stole his body and re-infected him. Through a few tender scenes, we see that there is still a little bit of Peter left in him. Peter looks at photos of Julia, and through more facial expressions than Billy Campbell has ever made in his life, displays a level of longing and sadness. “Level X” also proved that the zombies are more organized than we think. As far as I can tell, no one was infected last week when they retrieved Peter’s body. The compelling reveals of last week and the tender moments this week might mean that the zombies will play a bigger role in the final three episodes.
I felt bad for Sarah (Jordan Hayes) in this episode. Not only is she dying, but she’s dying with Hitaki at her side who I’ve been referring to him as the Asian Billy Campbell the last few weeks. While his face has slightly more emotional range than Campbell, he’s just about the last character I would want to spend my final hours with. He’s lied to everybody, can’t act, and in this episode, is about as cold fish as you could get. Aside from Zombie Peter’s fifteen seconds of emotion, the emotional weight of “Fushugi” lies with Sarah. The funny thing about it though, is that it’s emotional impact is given to the audience in the past tense; at one point, Sarah films a video, a last will of sorts. It’s earnest, it’s slightly moving, and is completely negated by the previews for next weeks episode.
“Helix” continues to drop the ball with the emotional weight of its character deaths. Poor Peter has been put through the ringer on this show. He’s died, been brought back by Alan, and he’s been re-infected by his followers. If it pays off in the final episodes through, the writers will have done something right. Sarah’s death loses impact when you realize that the virus or the immortal granting serum or Julia’s DNA can save her. It’s unclear how all this will work, but they can save her! And in the previews for next week’s episode – “Black Rain” – she’s there! She’s alive!
In a way, that genuine emotion displayed in the past isn’t even irony, it’s a fake out, which is something that “Helix” has become good at. It also makes “Helix” a very predictable show: it consistently tries to fake out its audience, but takes the most obvious route to do it. It comes off as an adult trying to play peekaboo with a teenager.
How does “Helix” secure at second season for itself at this point? Whenever I think of the plot developments of the show, I’m reminded of a scene in the film Blankman. If you haven’t seen it I completely understand; Jason Alexander plays and editor at the bottom floor of a television news network. In other words, it’s the precursor to TMZ. In a scene with David Alan Grier, Alexander’s character creates a news story by throwing gum at a wall that has different words and phrases on it. The gum lands on the phrases “S&M Sex” and “Aliens.” In a way, I feel like “Helix” uses a similar method for its plots and subplots. It has a lot to do in its last three episodes, and yet Syfy’s reputation explains the outcome. Can “Helix” really surprise us?
