Helix Season 2 Blog: Helix [S2] Ep. 11: "Plan B" Review

In one of the most all around satisfying episodes of the series, episode 11 offered up possibly the greatest ending so far. In one climatic and quite intense scene, we finally see what I would describe as one of the ticking bombs set a few episode back finally going off. In this episode we also see the continuos rise of a new villain (another ticking bomb set earlier in the show). With so many things to talk about, let's start from the beginning.

A very brutal foreshadowing

With another great intro to add to the books, we get a scene that not only fed strongly on my love for animals, but basically sets up for our epic episode finale. An unknown scientist shows off a chemical weapon to a group of military officials that instantly irradiates a caged monkey. With one of the officials accepting the chemical compound as being useful, we get a glimpse of an entire room filled with barrels of the stuff. Another amazing job with the visual FX for the series as the quickly decomposing monkey looked incredible (depressing to watch, but incredible). Continuing on to the island, we see Peter holding onto the same baby that he basically help murder a tortured woman for in a strangely comforting children's bedroom setting. I say "strangely" as nowhere on this island has ever looked remotely settling, but I guess the children got the better end of the stick in their community. As Sister Anne walks in speaking to Peter
about his fatherly attributes (as if they didn't just brutally kill someone together), we begin to see her words weaving into his head about certain leadership decisions. Seeing these two together now has made me realize how much this season has centered around the uprising of their characters (something I've talked about more in-depth in the last episode reviews). Remembering how she emphasized a lot about having a voice and words having weight in the past, it's interesting to see her slip in seemingly optional ways for him to deal with Alan and the rest of the team. Keep in mind Peter does come up with a non lethal suggestion of getting rid of them by expelling them from the island. It's only until Sister Anne mentions the possibility of being exposed to the world that Alan slowly jumps to the idea of murder (words have weight indeed). In last week's episode I remembered strongly comparing her to Emperor Palpatine and Peter being a young Anakin beaming Darth Vader. This episode completely follows along that path as we will continue to see Peter's decent into his darker side.

With Julia explaining to a very impatient Amy about how she will become immortal with the baby inside her, an unexpected reunion between her and Alan takes place as they return with the tree sap. I very much enjoyed the scene (especially the way it was shot) where Alan sees her looking down from the window. Aside from it being a beautiful shot, it was almost as if he was looking up at a powerful figure (which in essence Julia has become after their last meeting). The music is very emotional and atmospheric lending to the brilliantly crafted scene exceptionally well. As the two finally meet, Julia tells him of Ilaria's plans and how she intends to counter it in which he immediately rejects. At first, I wasn't expecting him to completely knock down her plans, but I realized how our perspective as viewers who have watched Julia's journey with Ilaria is completely different from his. Alan is fresh on the scene with Ilaria's plans for genocide while finally finding a break in his own "save everyone" plans. Only that his mission is nowhere close in scale as Julia's. It's like watching two heroes with two completely different perspectives on how they can save the world conversing about it (much like Batman and Superman for you comic book fans). Ending off this episode intro, we see that Landry (and unfortunately not Sergio) has survived the fall from the bell tower and is still on the loose as he gets up and murders a couple of Amy's men.

With Winger's men tying up and keeping a watchful eye on Kyle, Alan breaks the news to her about Ilaria's Narvik outbreak plans and that she should get the word out to her superiors. As Winger tells him about her difficulty in reaching them, she realizes the horrific reasoning behind their shut off communication. After getting visual confirmation of their ships in the distance, she tells Alan that her superiors plan on killing every living organism on the island (that chemical weapon shown in the intro). Now with our new time bomb ticking (the fast paced theme of this season that makes it exciting), Winger explains that the military has created a two part plan after the first Narvik virus outbreak took place. With plan A's virus containment method being considered a failure after the virus reached their ships, the military has decided to take the more ruthless Plan B's method of exterminating everything at the source. With 6 hours on the "death to all" timer, Alan decides to continue to synthesize a cure in hopes to possibly negotiate with the Navy after their attack assuming that they can find a safe place to survive the chemical weapon. What I really loved about this episode is how much the entire story/event begins and ends all in one wrapped up packaged episode. The season so far has had this pattern of setting up big stories and expanding on them for many episodes leading up to more things to expand on (in a great way). It was just refreshing and a bit more intense to see our characters have just one episode to try and fix a new issue that was thrown at them (a very major one as well).

Narvik is not required to be a monster

With a new plague beginning deep within the Abby as Peter takes on his new position, we see the first phases of his "path". Peter visits Kyle (with no one knowing of his new secret) using him as a gateway key to get rid of Alan (the priority target on his list). He does this by exploiting Kyle's new illness which makes him highly suggestive to rage and murder by making Alan look like the reasoning for Kyle's "bad luck" since he's been to the island. Hearing Peter list down all the terrible things that has happen to Kyle so far and calling it bad luck made me laugh a little (thinking back on all of the Kyle jokes I've made so far in my reviews). It felt like a direct response to everything I've mentioned about the Kyle character and how much the writers must really hate him. Either way, Kyle instantly agrees to the idea of Alan being his enemy and becomes a pawn for Peter as he loosens up the ties around his hands. As one of Winger's lieutenants comes over to Kyle after Peter leaves, Kyle knocks him out and escape to get revenge on Alan. What happens after is one of the series' most brutal kills ever. Peter walks over to him and viciously stab him with a small knife until he bleeds out to death. If that wasn't bad enough, he hangs him up over the cult symbol in the room as a display (much like what what happened to Winger's soldier in the woods). What's more interesting is that he tells the lieutenant before killing him "I'm sorry lieutenant, but your path ends here". I saw this as sort of the confirmation of Peter completely turning over with no way back. Watching him say that with no sign of regret or remorse made me realize how far away a possible redemption would be for him.

As Julia and Sarah finds out about Sergio's demise, Julia takes his gun as a precaution for Amy possibly not holding up her end of the bargain. I was a little surprise to see Julia not reacting a bit more to seeing Sergio dead, but I thought of it as them learning to be cold hearted for her not to show her emotions too much. Perhaps, they made a "The mission comes first" bond beforehand, but I do feel like his death will come up later on in a conversation. We also see Sister Anne speaking to Amy about how much her actions have destroyed the lives of others. Usually with the two, we usually see Sister Anne leaving in either tears or some feeling of pain and disappointment. However, for the first time, Sister Anne actually leaves her with a warning stating "Just remember...I gave you a chance". It's the first time I have ever seen her completely take control of their conversation actually having Amy look a bit uncomfortable and nervous when she left (a foreshadowing for what's about to come no doubt). As Alan continues to create a cure from Soren's blood we get arguably the only heartwarming scene that has and probably will come for a long time. Alan tells Soren how special and unique his blood is and how he can help save everyone including Kyle. Watching Soren's excitement and interest in the situation almost gave off this image of a potential teacher-student relationship especially when he ask if he can learn how to make it. Adding to that is Soren's mother finally seeing him and thanking Alan for his safety. Do I forgive her for stabbing Sarah now because she is reunited with her son? Not entirely, but it's a start I suppose. It's just nice to see there is still some glimmer of hope in this present day conflict and Soren seems to be that glimmer.

Completely shrouding over that glimmer of hope, Sister Anne meets up with Peter who is covered in blood after his murder while holding onto the baby. After telling Sister Anne that his plans for getting rid of Alan is complete, he tells her to begin her part of their mission. With Winger and Alan discovering Peter's murderous display, she immediately assumes Kyle to be the obvious suspect. Alan however has another theory in mind after one of the soldiers reveal that Peter was the last one in the room with Kyle before he escaped. As Winger puts out a "shoot on sight" label over Kyle's head, everyone leaves the room giving Sister Anne the opportunity to take on of the soldier's protective jackets from their bags (wonder why she would need that). After glimpsing Landry with her meeting with Peter, she seeks him out to help guide him away from Amy's corruption over him. Unfortunately still having feelings for Amy, he attacks her almost choking her over the balcony. I kinda like this new transformed version of Landry as it gives me at least something interesting to see or talk about whenever he shows up. I'm still not a fan of the character, but it is interesting to see such a monstrosity with a questionable direction. We really don't know much about what's going on in his head as well as his state of living. The fact that he survived that fall definitely weighs in on him being a physically powerful figure now as well as his brute strength. His ties with Amy is also still obvious, but where this character is going is a huge question mark at this point. I'm surprised he's made it this far for someone who was simply seen as a henchman for a long time.

Forever Amy?

With Sarah and Julia finally going through with Amy's operation, we see Sarah in complete disarray of the whole situation. It also doesn't help that Amy tells her that she will make a great mother for her Sarah's child and that the three of them will be sisters in the end (just adding more heat to the situation). Finally putting Amy under the anesthesia, Sarah quickly grabs a scalpel to end Amy's life with Julia stopping her just in time telling her to trust her. It's a quick scene, but it shows just how much pressure the whole baby issue has brought on her. Killing Amy for her would be the ultimate release of that pressure so it doesn't surprise me that she would attempt to take her out any opportunity that she has. It's also worth mentioning (although it isn't that much important) Julia's quick reflexes. Makes me wonder how much she trained physically to be able to take on someone like Hatake. We know she became a powerful figure in Ilaria (even if everyone on the board does not necessarily see her as worthy) knowledge-wise, but I wonder why she decided to also become physically strong. I've been calling her a badass ever since the Hatake fight episode, but I never thought too much into why she decided to train as a fighter. Perhaps it's something required as a field agent for Ilaria. With the thoughts of seeing an Ilaria employee training video aside, we see Amy waking up from her "operation" to gaze at her silver eyes in the mirror. Going along with the ending of this episode, I was wondering why Sarah walked out the room in the way she did (perhaps going along with the act to convince Amy). Either way, it was interesting to see her with silver eyes finally after all of this time.

What else can they do to me at this point?

With Kyle on the loose, Alan walks around on his search until bumping in to Peter. Surprised to see them not fighting it out this time, Alan asks him if he had a confession to make in which he avoids detection by bringing up their pit incident. He then lures Alan into a trap by telling him how Julia wanted to meet with him in the botany lab. This sets up Peter's plans for using Kyle to kill Alan. What's worth noting is his calming whistling of the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" tune as it will come in later in the episode. Sneaking behind the corner of course is our savior Soren following along behind Alan. As Alan walks into a noose set by Kyle, Kyle begins to threaten his life while listing off all of the reasons for Alan to possibly behind everything. If he wasn't delusional enough, he actually threatens to eat his eyes out after he kills him (wonder where he got that idea from). It's pretty crazy seeing Kyle this way, but it almost makes sense that he would eventually become a product of his bad luck on the island so far. Becoming infected is the ultimate end, so in a way Kyle has undergone almost everything terrible that could possibly happen to you on this island. Soren hiding behind sees this and quickly runs to get the cure that Alan showed him earlier.

As Amy continues to admire her new eyes, Julia demands that she holds up her end of the bargain by giving up "Mother's" location. Intentional or not, I couldn't help but noticed that when Julia knocks the mirror out of Amy's hands, the cracked half of the reflection only covers over Amy instead of Julia (some foreshadowing perhaps?). I also like when Julia threatens to kill her with the scalpel on the same part of her throat that Sergio threatened her with (with a scar on continuity showing). With Julia now finally on her way to "Mother", our time bomb begins to tick louder as we see Winger's men attempt to cover every ventilation system as well as the windows from the inevitable chemical weapon attack. This is when the edge of your seat intensity begins as time has run out for anyone outside who isn't properly protected. I honestly forgot about Sister Anne taking one of the soldier's protective jackets earlier, but then it all made sense in the end. We see Winger's men alongside herself pulling out their coats and gas masks only to find them damaged and torn to shreds. With seconds off the clock, the inevitable doom shows its face in the form of a misty shrouded sky full of military planes flying over. Visually, this was one of the most beautiful scenes of the season as we get these wide shots of the planes in formation reaching the island to drop the gas. It also helps that the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" music kicks in just in time (one of the moments where Helix gets the music and charm right on the nose).

As the planes continue to drop the chemical weapon onto the island, we see our characters each reacting to the event take place. Julia watches the planes come in and hurries towards the root before it's too late, Amy runs outside in happiness of her new supposed abilities, and Winger and her men all try to find safety from the gas. Next to the Michael genocidal finale, this is one of the most intense scenes for not only this season, but for the show as a whole. We see Winger's men decomposing and dropping like flies as she attempts to get inside one of the buildings. However, Peter stands by the door and watches her slowly die in front of him without a single look of concern or regret. It's a great scene for his villain arc, but it's also the scene where see Winger's slow and agonizing death. During this attack, we also see Soren to the rescue injecting Kyle with the cure that Alan showed him earlier which immediately takes affect on him. This season has done an amazing job at making seemingly unimportant characters very significant in the long run (Landry and Soren). I've actually grown to like the Soren character as being the unexpected hero for everyone. It would be very unfortunate to see him die honestly, so I'm wondering where they'll take his character in future episodes. With Alan being saved now, we see Amy continuing to spin around with happiness as the chemical gas surrounds her. This is another beautifully crafted scene not only visually, but in context of her character. I've always stated that her impatience and blindness will be the end of her so this scene basically showcases that idea all in one. With her new sliver eyes, she's blind to the death that surrounds her and with her impatience on becoming an immortal, she never took the time to find out what was going on around the island.

As Amy begins to feel the affects of the chemical kick in, her face begins to deteriorate while she suffers from chocking on the chemical. Wondering why she's affected, we get flashes of Amy and Julia actually physically altering the color of her eyes through her operation instead of going through the baby transplant plan. One of my favorite moments is not only watching her physically and emotionally meltdown in plain sight, but the moment she looks up and sees Sarah calmly and safety looking down from behind a window. Although Sarah doesn't say anything, you can tell by the look on her face how victorious she must feel (and rightfully so). It's nice to see Sarah get her fare share of a victorious finale for a change. With Amy looking surprisingly worst than Landry at this point, the chemical attack is finally over and Peter and Anne walks outside to the surrounding result. With an apocalyptic-like setting full of dead soldiers and blood, Sister Anne tells him that he saved the Abby. Handing him and axe, she tells him that all he must do at this point is finish the job. Again with almost no sign of regret or remorse, Peter drags over one of the dead soldiers (tho we don't see what he does, I assumed they're "cleaning" up the job). Also shown being dragged offscreen is a surprisingly alive, but seriously disfigured Amy. As Julia staggery runs back to the Abbey after getting the box, she reveals to Sarah that the "Mother" root has been damaged by the chemical attack. Watching Julia and Sarah look at this fragile root really put everything in perspective. Julia's mission was so much more than a simple search and retrieve as everything on the island and the world outside was all connected to this one crop. A very impactful moment especially when Julia stated how everyone in the world will be dead now (which connects to her future timeline story).

Definitely one of my favorite episodes so far as it offered an adrenaline rush of excitement, very intense character moments, beautiful visual FX, and an ending that had packaged everything up nicely with a bow on top. Helix has been growing and growing as the series continues to show its brilliance in writing and attention to detail in its craftsmanship of scenes and character arcs. It's a show that has been one of my most difficult in selling to others to check out as it is very different from its mainstream counterparts. However, if this is season has proven anything, it is that with a variety as insane as Helix's, there's something in here for everyone.

Things To Point Out:

1. The New Michael