Cast: Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky, Mark Ghanimé, Matt Long, Jordan Hayes
Summary: A team of scientists are thrust into a potentially life-or-death situation when they arrive in the Arctic to secretly investigate what could be an outbreak of a strange disease in a secluded international research facility.
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi
Season(s): 2 (Cancelled after season 2)
Watched: May 2017
During my 150 Film Challenge last year (you can find how I got on here) I decided not to set myself another challenge but instead to watch more documentaries and TV shows, especially those on my Netflix watchlist, and Helix was one of those on my list.
I had already seen the first few episodes of Helix when the show first aired on Channel 5 back in 2014, but I never actually watched the whole season. Somewhere during the season the show was moved to a later timeslot (I think from 9pm to 10pm) which meant that I missed a few episodes and then I never got back into watching it.
I had no plans to watch season 2 when it came out, firstly because I never finished season 1 and secondly it had been moved to the Syfy channel (which I didn't have).
3 years later, I have finally watched both seasons!
Season 1
Experts from the CDC Alan (Billy Campbell), Julia (Kyra Zagorsky), Sarah (Jordan Hayes) and Major Balleseros (Mark Ghanimé) head to an Arctic BioSystems Research Facility, headed by Dr Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada), to investigate a potential viral outbreak involving Alan's brother Peter (Neil Napier).
We quickly learn that Alan had been infected by an unknown virus, causing him and others to spew some sort of black gunk, Julia, Alan's ex-wife, slept with Peter while she was still married to Alan and Dr Hatake, Major Ballerseros and Sarah are all hiding secrets.
I enjoyed season one of the show and I really, really enjoyed the first few episodes especially episode 3, 4 and 5: 274, Single Strand and The White Room. Some of my favourite special effects and moments happen in the first few episodes: the first shot of the research station in the pilot in amazing, the vectors (especially the first shot of Peter in the pilot), the growing virus in the glass box in episode 3 and the frozen monkeys (but I can't remember which episode they're in).
I think my absolute favourite episode of the season is definitely The White Room, where after discovering that she is infected with the mysterious virus Julia is left on the quarantined level "R" with other infected & non infected people. Thrown out by the other abandoned workers she meets a mysterious woman named Jay who tries to help her find safety.
It was pretty much after this that things started to go downhill for me.
If you haven't seen the show look away now!
It turns out that Hatake is an immortal, the facility is run by the Ilaria Corporation, Ballerseros is working for the corporation, Hatake is actually Julia's father, Julia becomes and immortal, so does Sarah and a whole lot more!
I definitely started got a bit lost with the introduction of the whole immortality thing, Constance Sutton (Jeri Ryan), The Scythe (Robert Naylor), the connection between Hatake and Julia (was this explained, if it was I totally missed it) and that final episode, I definitely was not a fan of the final episode.
None of the questions I had were answered so I was greatly looking forward to watching season 2.
Season 2
Season 2 starts in a similar way to season 1. After a viral outbreak in another remote location, the island of St. Germain, which is inhabited by members of a religious community, Dr Farragut and his team are called in to determine the cause of the virus and how to stop it, but not the Farragut you're thinking of.
In the 15 months since season 1, Alan has been discredited by the CDC and is apparently in hiding after interrogating and killing immortals, in an attempt to locate and rescue Julia. His brother Peter is now in charge of the team, which now consists of Dr. Sarah Jordan and newcomer Dr. Kyle Sommers (Matt Long).
I thought season 2 was okay, but there definitely wasn't as many wow moments as with the first season and there were so many unanswered questions from both seasons that left me feeling disappointed.
Questions like:
What exactly happened to Julia after artic biosystems? Which in turns leads us to why did she join Ilaria? Hell what happened to all of them during that time especially Sarah, The Scythe, Hatake, Ballerseros etc.
Now, Alan, he's not in the final scene, we know the bones in the grave don't belong to him and we later learn that he is definitely not dead, so where is he and why is he not mentioned in the final scene?
Sarah's baby! Someone please tell me exactly what is up with that. It's quite a big part of the story in season 2, it's even removed from her, kidnapped and held for ransom. What was all that fuss about? Isn't the baby the reason she wanted to work for Illaria, but there's absolutely no mention of it in the final scene.
All in all I did enjoy it but I think it would have been much better if season 2 had continued on from where season 1 finished or even took place over the 15 months between seasons 1 and 2, answered some of the questions that came up in season 1 and then season 3 (had it not been cancelled) could have been what season 2 was about.
Make sense?
I had already seen the first few episodes of Helix when the show first aired on Channel 5 back in 2014, but I never actually watched the whole season. Somewhere during the season the show was moved to a later timeslot (I think from 9pm to 10pm) which meant that I missed a few episodes and then I never got back into watching it.
I had no plans to watch season 2 when it came out, firstly because I never finished season 1 and secondly it had been moved to the Syfy channel (which I didn't have).
3 years later, I have finally watched both seasons!
Season 1
Experts from the CDC Alan (Billy Campbell), Julia (Kyra Zagorsky), Sarah (Jordan Hayes) and Major Balleseros (Mark Ghanimé) head to an Arctic BioSystems Research Facility, headed by Dr Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada), to investigate a potential viral outbreak involving Alan's brother Peter (Neil Napier).
We quickly learn that Alan had been infected by an unknown virus, causing him and others to spew some sort of black gunk, Julia, Alan's ex-wife, slept with Peter while she was still married to Alan and Dr Hatake, Major Ballerseros and Sarah are all hiding secrets.
I enjoyed season one of the show and I really, really enjoyed the first few episodes especially episode 3, 4 and 5: 274, Single Strand and The White Room. Some of my favourite special effects and moments happen in the first few episodes: the first shot of the research station in the pilot in amazing, the vectors (especially the first shot of Peter in the pilot), the growing virus in the glass box in episode 3 and the frozen monkeys (but I can't remember which episode they're in).
I think my absolute favourite episode of the season is definitely The White Room, where after discovering that she is infected with the mysterious virus Julia is left on the quarantined level "R" with other infected & non infected people. Thrown out by the other abandoned workers she meets a mysterious woman named Jay who tries to help her find safety.
It was pretty much after this that things started to go downhill for me.
If you haven't seen the show look away now!
It turns out that Hatake is an immortal, the facility is run by the Ilaria Corporation, Ballerseros is working for the corporation, Hatake is actually Julia's father, Julia becomes and immortal, so does Sarah and a whole lot more!
I definitely started got a bit lost with the introduction of the whole immortality thing, Constance Sutton (Jeri Ryan), The Scythe (Robert Naylor), the connection between Hatake and Julia (was this explained, if it was I totally missed it) and that final episode, I definitely was not a fan of the final episode.
None of the questions I had were answered so I was greatly looking forward to watching season 2.
Season 2
Season 2 starts in a similar way to season 1. After a viral outbreak in another remote location, the island of St. Germain, which is inhabited by members of a religious community, Dr Farragut and his team are called in to determine the cause of the virus and how to stop it, but not the Farragut you're thinking of.
In the 15 months since season 1, Alan has been discredited by the CDC and is apparently in hiding after interrogating and killing immortals, in an attempt to locate and rescue Julia. His brother Peter is now in charge of the team, which now consists of Dr. Sarah Jordan and newcomer Dr. Kyle Sommers (Matt Long).
I thought season 2 was okay, but there definitely wasn't as many wow moments as with the first season and there were so many unanswered questions from both seasons that left me feeling disappointed.
Questions like:
What exactly happened to Julia after artic biosystems? Which in turns leads us to why did she join Ilaria? Hell what happened to all of them during that time especially Sarah, The Scythe, Hatake, Ballerseros etc.
Now, Alan, he's not in the final scene, we know the bones in the grave don't belong to him and we later learn that he is definitely not dead, so where is he and why is he not mentioned in the final scene?
Sarah's baby! Someone please tell me exactly what is up with that. It's quite a big part of the story in season 2, it's even removed from her, kidnapped and held for ransom. What was all that fuss about? Isn't the baby the reason she wanted to work for Illaria, but there's absolutely no mention of it in the final scene.
All in all I did enjoy it but I think it would have been much better if season 2 had continued on from where season 1 finished or even took place over the 15 months between seasons 1 and 2, answered some of the questions that came up in season 1 and then season 3 (had it not been cancelled) could have been what season 2 was about.
Make sense?
Rating: 6/10
One Final Word: Okay
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