Helix when a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak, they quickly find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that holds the key to mankind’s salvation or total annihilation.
A hidden base deep in the arctic away from prying eyes, what could go wrong? The setup starts out very X-Files with 2 members of the CDC leading the team, along with a shady scientist at the lab and a member of the military who’s motives come into question towards the end of the pilot. Dr. Farragut’s brother Peter is infected but he is far from helpless. The black goo that comes out of the victims is very much an X-Files throw back but the way the story and the virus are fleshed out leaves it separated from that association enough to allow you to enjoy Helix as its own story. The entire team is trapped under ground as they try and keep this from spreading but the real question is just what is the lab hiding. The facility is so huge and we have seen very little of what they are doing. The slogan for the show is “Play God, Pay the Price”. That does raise the question of just what exactly they were trying to create. My gut tells me its far more than a simple virus.
Horror is another aspect of the story and while not overwhelming scary, it puts in some creepy and some freak out moments to get everyones appetite for horror rolling. It doesn’t take long for the team to realize that they are dealing with an engineered virus unlike anything they have ever seen. It appears to be focused and driven to infect more people, a vector. And what lab isn’t complete without some creepy monkeys? Better yet, how about a frozen field full of creepy monkeys!!
Helix is a great addition to the Syfy line up along side Defiance which is a push away from the reality TV area and back into the old school days of true science fiction entertainment. Of all the pilots we have watched for 2014, this is #1 on our list. The mysteries only get more intense when you get into episode 3 and one of the biggest questions we are left with after the pilot is, just who or what is Dr. Hatake?
Unanswered questions
1) Why were they experimenting with a virus that had such lethal potential? (making a super anti-virus is a BS line in our opinion)
2) What is the virus changing Peter into?
3) What deal did the military man and Dr. Hatake have prior to the CDC getting involved?
4) Why were Dr. Hatake’s eyes grey?
5) Why did they go to such great lengths to hide the monkeys?
