Helix 2×3 Review: Scion

Last week, fellow Geekiary writer Erin said that Helix 2×2 was an “unsettling” episode filled with the thing the Helix writers do best – that being, “crazy”. I certainly agree with her, and I really didn’t think they could take things much further…but in “Scion”, they absolutely did. First was the incredibly awkward opening scene featuring new season two characters Amy and Landry plotting over a hand job.

Yeah, SyFy went there. And I’m still not sure why.

But all of that was set aside when in the very next scene, Hatake came back…now sporting super long hair and a couple imaginary friends who are taking the form of his former wife, Jane and dead adopted son, Daniel. I wasn’t too fond of the blurry edges around these scenes; we all know that Daniel is dead, and moments later they reveal that Hatake is talking to himself, anyway – so it just seems like an unnecessary (and slightly annoying) effect.

I also feel that the timeline teasing needs to end sooner rather than later. It was a great twist with Julia, but it’s already getting a bit old, and therefore not as surprising or interesting as it should have been when we find out that Hatake is in Julia’s timeline rather than that of the Farraguts, Sarah, et al.

Speaking of Sarah, I’m more than a little weirded out by her apparent perpetual pregnancy. At this point, I have to hope that the writers are going to go somewhere with this and that its inclusion isn’t just for shock value – just as I have to hope that new character Kyle isn’t just there as a scapegoat, though the latter seems pretty likely at this point. Between Kyle forgetting the boat samples in the shack and getting beaten up by a bunch of children (and that’s just in this episode!), it’s hard to believe that he’s going to be sticking around for much longer. Which is a bit disappointing, because after killing off so many characters in its first season, Helix really did need some new blood, as it were…especially as, so far in season two, Alan has been relegated to something of a background character.

Or at least he was. Now that Alan is finally doing something – namely, investigating the “wine barrels” that were delivered to the colony/cult – I’m hoping we’ll see a bit more of him in future episodes…though Peter knocking him unconscious at the end of “Scion” may not bode well.

Of course, Peter knocking out Alan seems far less important when compared with Julia’s situation “thirty years in the future”. Hatake found her, drugged her, tied her up…and if that wasn’t bad enough, now he’s dressing her up as well, and seating her at the table with his two imaginary friends who are apparently only somewhat imaginary, as he seems to have both Jane and Daniel’s bodies in his possession.

As usual, this show is leaving us with far more questions than answers. How in the world are Jane and Daniel’s bodies still ‘intact’ more than thirty years after they died? Who was being tortured in the earlier episodes, and why? What’s up with the tooth (taken from the person being tortured) in the otherwise empty wine barrel? Why all the focus on grafting? Clearly these things are tied together, but how? I hope that in season two, Helix is better at giving answers than it was in its premiere season.

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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