Helix - M. Domestica & The Master Plan

Was this an episode of Helix that answered more questions or left us with more questions than answers?

To be certain, it didn't leave us with one of those "big bang" endings they are famous for.

Unless you count the choking of Sarah by Alan.  Really, does anyone think Alan is going to choke Sarah to death?  By the next episode Kyle will have burst through the door (with another bruise on his face and break up the whole thing.  Or Sarah will stick Alan with a syringe or something and he will slip out of the "Seraphim's breath's" thrall.)

I'm resisting calling this entry a "place holder" or "building block" episode.  But I do think we got quite a bit of exposition that will set up the season and move the plot line along.

Okay, so it is a "set up" episode.

The Ilarian Plan

Alan's bombing of the Ilarian building last season didn't seem to be very effective.  The board was meeting as usual and their plans for reset the world were moving quickly apace.  In fact, with the introduction of the "Narvik C" virus they will have whittled down the world's population by 75% in three to five months.  

It seems the Immortals have run out of patience and since they've suffered through things like being burned at the stake for centuries.  I thought this interesting because it puts the Immortals into the larger mythology of mankind such as sorcerers or witches and they were put to the torch because they consorted with evil.

The evil being living longer than anyone else I suppose.  Strange magic.

Julia cried foul but in all honesty her plan was going to do virtually the same but it would take a lot longer.  Her protests fell on deaf ears.

 

Well, not all the ears were deaf to her protests.  Madam Chairperson thought genocide a bit too harsh also.

She put Julia on to a Mam'selle "Durant" who would also sympathize with Julia and apparently carries enough weight with the Immortals to get things done.

So, to recap, we have the mainstream Immortals that want to purge humanity "tout de suite" (See that?  Fours years of French comes in handy.) We have a subset of Immortals that kind of like having humanity around and we have a further subset of "renegades."

I cringed a little when I saw Mlle Durant was a child.  "Oh, no, not another adult trapped in a child's body" I thought.  The creepy powerful kid is a pretty old trope in my opinion.

None the less that is where we are going and she represents a faction within the larger faction of Ilarians that can live with humanity.  She also refers to another subset known as "renegades."

Seriously, the Immortals need a flow chart so we can understand their structure better.

Durant referred to "The Scythe" as a renegade which means he is out of the mainstream despite the fact that his taking of Julia put her in the mainstreams hands.  She then referred to another renegade.

Brother Michael!

So Michael is definitely outside the mainstream of the Immortal group except for one thing.

The pendant that Durant gives Julia is the same as the wall hanging in Michael's Abbey.

Geeeeez.  So now is there a subset of the Immortals that share a love of trees?  I'm kidding but the tree logo may represent some sort of religious ideal or philosophy that some of the Immortals follow but not all.

See what I mean about a flow chart?

Brother Michael

Brother Michael learned something about the Immortals also.  They can carry a child.  All his internal bells went off at once once he found out Sarah was carrying a fetus.  And to think he spent all this time making sure his daughters had daughters.  Now the master genecist can figure out how Sarah got pregnant and turn his talents to that.  

That's good news for Amy but not so good for Sarah.

So in all this exposition did we learn why the Immortals are interested in Michael's work and why he was left alone?  Come to think of it, did we learn why Hatake was ultimately there?  I'm assuming he is a renegade also.  No?

Apparently, Michael is not opposed to a little purging himself when it come to winnowing his own island population.  He's got all those "Veggie Vectors" running around outside the wall (should we call them "Fungi Friends?"  And he doesn't mind a little chaos inside the compound and uses that event to throw Anne under the bus.

Sorry Anne, I guess you're not his "honey" anymore.  I'm not sure what his endgame is here but it involves sparing Amy for some reason.  Maybe Michael saw through Anne's powerplay to start the show.

A little hand holding didn't work Anne.  You should have tried Sergio's plan.

The Cure for Morning Stiffness

Nothing like killing your partner's mood like calling your lover by another man's name.  Julia hasn't come up with a sure fire plan for humanity or a cure for the next Narvik virus but she can put an end to a little nookie.

To be fair, Sergio said he was still game, but there was a meeting to get to that Julia wasn't apprised of.

What is Sergio's game?  By bedding Julia does he hope to join the ranks of Immortals?  Does he have a long con for Ilaria or is he just a rat?

Speaking of bunk buddies that Julia has shared a bed with.

Peter sure does dance around his knowledge of the Immortals and Ilaria.  He won't cop to Michael about being an Immortal but he did spill the beans about Sarah.

Do you suppose he got in bed with The Scythe in order to join the ranks of the Immortals?  Would his dreams been fulfilled to share an eternity with Julia together?  He didn't know about Hatake changing Julia did he?  I didn't think so but he should know now and he needs to get out of that damned hole!

Back to Sergio.  

C'mon Julia, a little nookie with Alan, I mean Sergio (Ha!) and you hand him the Narvik cure?  Sheesh, now Sergio really does have some leverage with Ilaria.  You better be working that long con dude.

I need a hug.

Yikes, not from you Mr. "Touchy feely throw your daughter under the bus guy."  Michael has a new plan but I guess he hasn't seen the flash forwards to when his abbey is a smoking hole thirty years into the future.

Hey!  By the way, we didn't see Caleb with the Densho sword!

Yeah, so this was a more questions than answers episode.  But it was done in true X-Files fashion where we were teased with a few answers to the long game but left with a lot more in the short run.

Say, did these two ever jump in the sack with each other?  If I was Mulder I'd keep an eye out for Sergio lurking about the hallways.