Helix -- Day 235

"Every living thing has a weakness.  Every virus, every human being.  We have to try, there has to a way."

As it turns out there was a way.  Alan pleaded with Hatake for a solution and Hiro found a way.  As it turned out it involved a little cranial tossing but it worked in some regard.

But in a larger sense Alan's words speak to a greater purpose.  Alan is a man on a mission now and I think the aforementioned quote will be his guiding force as season two begins.  Let's take a look at Alan on day 235 and how he'll move on as the season progresses.

Bond, Alan Bond.

It seems Dr. Alan Farragut has a little of the 007 in him.  In an ironic twist from the midpoint of the  episode, Alan has adopted the eye of the tiger.  (I'm mixing my movie metaphors here.)  Where he once pleaded for leniency and restraint it's now damned the torpedoes, full speed ahead.  (Now that's a Farragut quote!)

After losing Julia to Ilaria's chief henchman, Alan is not beyond using torture to get her back.  He really put the rubber hose to that silver eyed Immortal and apparently it reaped dividends.  Alan found the location of Julia in Paris and relayed this information on to his brother Peter.  It was probably a good idea he didn't reveal to Peter how he got that information considering Peter could still be working for the Scythe.  (Not that Alan knows that.)

Alan showed a little trade craft by leaving a chalk mark at the cafe.  This is a common signal to show an item has been received at a dead drop.  Well, this was a little active for a dead drop considering the waiter left the Ilaria key card under his bill.  I'm taking it for granted the waiter is working for the "resistance" (some French customs never die) and he must have received it from someone already inside Ilaria.  (The key card would not have come from the torture victim as Alan would have it in his possession already.)

 

By the way, what an interesting device wherein Alan left a chalk mark confirming his knowledge of Julia's whereabouts and the child version of Julia also left chalk marks to record where she had been.  A nice touch by the writers.

Peter

Alan's partner in espionage, Peter, is a human with a weakness and her name is Julia.  Peter looked genuinely concerned over the safety of Julia once he met Alan in the alley.  It was pretty convincing.  Has he switched sides?  Did he really not know of Julia's whereabouts and her condition?  Perhaps with Julia ascendant with Ilaria he is on the outside looking in.  This may due to a falling out with "The Scythe."  I have to say I'm leaning that way.  Yes, Peter was convincing before he revealed his traitorous side (from what I understand the writers didn't decide upon his treachery until halfway through the season) but it seems to me Peter has joined the resistance otherwise wouldn't their efforts would have been squelched long ago?

 From Head to Toe or in this case, Finger

 I've already mused aplenty about the state of Julia in a previous post.  But as she was reintroduced during the second "half" of Day 235 we spied a prosthetic finger in place of the one chopped off by the Scythe.  You'd think with the amazing recuperative powers of the Immortals this would have grown back by now.  Why not?

Here is the finger as it appeared as a token of Spencer's appreciation. As you can see it was cut just above the knuckle and if we study the metallic appendage that Julia is now sporting we can see it is hinged at the knuckle also.  We can deduce from this that the finger hasn't grown back at all. 

Interesting.

Hatake seemed to have "cured" Julia by converting her to an Immortal. So where are the recuperative powers?   Is it because she was born of a mortal mother?  An immortal half breed?  Does this have any bearing on characters like Candace Sutton and Doctor Hvit?  They had their heads removed yet they were preserved.  Why preserve them and why was Sergio tasked with bringing Dr. Hvit's head back?

An appendage conodrum.

It's been my thinking the heads were preserved because the wierd science of the Helix would allow them to be reattched to a newly grown host body or a new body would grow from the severed heads through some wild procedure possibly involving the Willis Hypothesis.

The Immortals knew the heads were kept on ice or they wouldn't have asked for the return of Dr. Hvit.  This would preclude any experimentation involving the Willis Hypothesis since that was Dr. Hatake's baby and Sutton considered it an abomination.  At least that's my read.

Then again maybe the Immortals didn't know Dr. Hvit had been relieved of his body.  Spencer didn't know his "mother" had been beheaded also.

I spoke of some "cranial tossing" to open this post.  As we know, Sutton's head was tossed aboard the helicopter to distract the Scythe.  When her head was retieved were the rest salvaged also?  I hope so.  Maybe there will be some use for Dr. Hvit after all and we'll learn why he was beheaded and why others were treated in the same fashion.

Entering Ilarian Airspace

With access to Illaria, Alan will soon run into Julia and it will happen on day 235.  (Barring any unforseen circumstances.)  How will that reunion go?  Will Alan learn of Julia's treachery?  How will Julia treat Alan?  Will she throw him in the slammer and give him the rubber hose treatment (turnabout is fair play) or will she reveal her "long con" to dismantle Ilaria from the inside out?

 

As Alan mused, "Every living thing has a weakness."  This seemed to set the tone for season two.  I have now doubt the weakness for every major character will be sorely tested.  It'll probably come down to the sage advice of Rudyard Kipling,

 "If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs."