Helix - Father Knows Best?

Mind blown.

Helix loves to drop a bomb or two when they close an episode and they were in top form with this past entry.

"Scion" marks the return of Hiroyuki Sanada to the series as Hataki and as I noted above it was a mind blowing episode. 

It was great to see Hatake again and it didn't take long for him to be reunited with Julia.  As they crossed paths, Hatake surprised Julia from behind and held an axe to her throat  It reminded me of the premium Helix puts on heads in its storytelling.  In season one we finally got to meet Dr. Hvit and it wasn't long before Constance joined him in the "White Room."  Both decapitated.

It seems the ultimate threat to the Immortals is to have one's head removed.  Maybe it is an insult of sorts or maybe it is because the heads are saved only to be reunited with a torso or perhaps reanimated sans torso later on.  Is that a fate worse than death for them?  Either way, the threat of decapitation found its way into the narrative again.

Or was it just a bit of gruesome foreshadowing?

I applauded when we saw Meegwun Fairbrother again and was doubly pleased to see Amber Goldfarb as Daniel and Jaye respectively.

How wonderful for Helix to honor it's characters and find a way to work them into it's second season.

Yeah, right, wonderful.

It was a bit sad to see Hatake was only imagining them.  But at least as viewers I think we can live with seeing some of our favorites even if they are only a figment of Hatake's tortured mind.

Caleb did warn Julia she may not like what she finds out there.  I wonder how much Caleb knows about Hatake's state of mind.  Does he know Hatake is a wee bit off the wall?  Is he distrustful of Hatake because of his immortality and that is why he pulled the contacts from Julia's eyes? (Or is is something darker?)  Hatake must know about Caleb, are they in contact or just respecting an uneasy truce?

In other matters of trust, Hatake has his suspicions about Julia.  He fears she is still with Ilaria and she openly lies to him about her affiliation with them.

Don't lie to daddy.

Hatake decides to expand the familial embrace and reintroduce Julia to the rest of the group.

Holy sh*t.

Here's the real reason Caleb tried to warn Julia about what she might find.  The events of the end of Arctic Biosystems has left it's mark on Hatake.  At face value it seems Hatake has been driven insane by them.  I can't imagine what is was like to transport two corpses to St. Germaine and keep them around for thirty plus years but it looks to be an act of madness.  (Maybe he has a "White Room " there to keep them on ice.)

Aside from from this gruesome discovery we must ask ourselves why Hatake is on the island.  Is it because it is ground zero for the new virus?  Does he see value in Michael's work and will it lead to a cure or prove to be a vector to wipe out the Immortals?  Is Hatake there to safeguard the cure/weapon?

How will this change things now that he knows Julia is infected?

The other bomb

No, the other bomb that Helix dropped on us wasn't Alan's discovery of the green goo room or the fact that the casks are used to transport the green goo victims.  It was his reintroduction to his brother Peter.

We have to ask ourselves why Peter would slug Alan from behind?  My chief suspicion lies in that he still working for Ilaria and he wants to protect it's secrets.  Knocking him out is only a short term solution.  Giving him up to Brother Michael would seem to be the next logical step. 

I suppose Peter could be acting to protect Alan and prevent him from learning too much.  But we never did find out if Alan found out about Peter (it seems not) and we do know that Peter has been adamant about including Alan in anything.

I almost screamed out "I knew it!" but this being Helix I have to remind myself things are not always as they seem.

Odds and Ends

Amy has turned out to be quite the player hasn't she?  

 
She can even play the organ.

(Yep, had to go there.  Did you notice they were even playing pipe organ music in the background?  Helix has a unique sense of humor.)

Amy can swing from seductress to scientist.  She seems to be acting in the background against the wishes of Brother Michael and Anne also.  Does she wish the island to be her own?  Manipulating Landry as her goon seems to be part of this nascent power play.

She mentioned how Nature gave us free will and then us the ability to take it away.

This fits in with the existential sermon that Brother Michael was preaching in the last episode but I gather Amy isn't truly a fan of his philosophy.

Kyle learned a hard lesson when he got a little too close to the truth and what it means to reject Amy.  Nothing like a pounding from a group of kids to drive that home.  Did the Seraphim's Breath wear off or did Amy spare him?

Anne and Michael are pretty chummy aren't they?  Is this a source of jealousy for Amy?  Maybe she wants to remove the Queen so she can ascend to that seat. 

Sarah gave us a look at her pregnant abdomen.  It looks to be lined with silvery veins.  Symptomatic of carrying an immortal no doubt.  Can she bring the child to term or will stay like this forever?  I'm leaning on the 3 year pregnancy theory.

Helix gave us another examination into the family dynamic as it so often does.  Peter and Alan, Hatake and Julia, Amy and Anne/Michael and even Sarah to some degree.  All wonderfully dysfuntional. 

Is blood thicker than water on Helix?  How important will family ties prove?  Can family transcend madness?  More answers from Hatake and Amy next week!