Helix 1×8 Review: Bloodline

Despite giving us an action-packed eighth episode, I can’t help but feel that with Bloodline, Helix took two steps back to last week’s one step forward.

Essentially, the latest installment of this show was one giant game of cat and mouse. Hatake was locked up, Julia was locked up, Alan and Sarah were locked up. Julia escapes and sets Hatake free at Alan’s behest, then Alan and Sarah attempt to murder Sutton and are able to get away as well. Unfortunately for them, things don’t quite go to plan. Sutton survives their little blast and threatens Peter’s life – but hey, Sarah miraculously finds a sort of sound cannon/sonic weapon in the room they stumbled upon…and she knows how to use it!

Admittedly, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself…but then, so did this episode. There were several developments whose origins I couldn’t place, including – but not limited to – Julia suddenly becoming the group’s comic relief, Daniel seeming to believe Anana’s story about him being kidnapped as a child, Sarah and Julia becoming BFF’s…I could go on and on. Additionally, other seemingly important events from Survivor Zero – especially the fact that the vectors apparently now have the run of the research facility – were pushed to the side in Bloodline. And in favor of…what? They could have caused plenty of action themselves, yet after a completely pointless scene in which they supposedly attempted to contaminate the food supply, we only get glimpses of them crawling around in the air ducts and spying on the healthy.

Speaking of wasted opportunities, last week I was so excited when some new people finally arrived…and this week I was disappointed when these new characters, from the nameless security guards to Constance Sutton herself, were summarily disposed of. Granted, Sutton’s head is now Futurama’d (if that term isn’t yet coined, I’m doing it now), so it’s possible that she won’t just disappear entirely – but her death really just forced Helix into a 180. We’re back where we were before she was introduced, and a note to the writers: that’s not good.

Along with pocketing the Sutton/Ilaria storylines, Bloodline gave us an almost too obvious answer as to why Hatake seems so attached to Julia.

Are you ready for it?

Surprise surprise (not), Julia is Hatake’s daughter! And though it wasn’t clarified, I’m fairly certain – thanks to the fact that she’s now sporting the same silver eyes that Hatake has – that she is his biological daughter, not “adopted” like Daniel was.

While this episode certainly wrapped up those two dangling story lines, viewers are still left with a lot of questions. Are Alan and Hatake going to be all buddy-buddy now? Is Daniel going to run off to be with his siblings? What do the vectors want with Peter? What the heck is up with Balleseros, period? The problem is, I’m beginning to wonder if Helix even knows the answers to most of the questions it produces.

Author: Tara Lynne

Tara Lynne is an author, fandom and geek culture expert, and public speaker. She founded Ice & Fire Con, the first ever Game of Thrones convention in the US, and now runs its parent company Saga Event Planning.

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