Helix - Level X (Ep. 9) [TV Review]

Welcome to another edition of Helix As It Happens. I feel like doing another write-along with this weeks episode. What that means is that once again, I'll be writing my impressions as the show plays. Read on, or... I guess read along.


If you have a way of watching the episode while reading, that actually might be interesting. I have no idea. It does mean that this weeks rating will be at the bottom, so if you are worried about spoilers, skip to there. There will be spoilers, I imagine quite a few actually.

Here we go.

Previous on Helix. (This is as you expect, but for refreshers: see my other reviews).
But honestly, Constance getting her own head jar was quite well, both expected and cool. Brutal.

Ok. Here we go, cancer girl has just encountered a Vector. Perfect bait for the trap. Well, thanks show, that was kinda obvious. Farragut and Daniel / Miksa captured the vector easy... but the problem is that level R is near abandoned. Dun dun! Level R is not the bottom, that's Level X - we have a Title!

She'll either attract Vectors or Farragut...

Hatake made the apocalypse virus. He created Narvik A & B... this is so not news. He does imply he created something more beneficial (Silver Eyes, I presume). Jules mother was a cellular biologist. She was also Hatake's mentor... he visited her in Montana when Jules was six. I'm not buying it. Jule says he looks the same after 30 years... somethings up, obviously.

Day 11 prediction. Ilaria is gonna drop an army. Please let the be so.
Level X is an abandoned Russian Trading post? What?

Vectors are now attracted to heat. Did that detail come up before? I don't remember that...

Now! Every vector vomit in a coffee cup! Wonderful imagery. Peter is BACK! All thanks to coffee vomit. Now he look like some sort of risen god / king of the Vectors. Very black eyes.

Viral Scream Therapy!

Back to the cold storage guy, time to freeze a Vector. This makes some sense. Vectors like heat, vectors don't like the cold. This is linking back to those frozen monkeys that screamed when they burned. I think they really did scream. The heat thawed them, they came alive briefly, then burned to death.
Also, we now learn that Sutton sent a squad to kill and burn the entire nearby village. Bitch.

Alan Farragut gets a gun before he, Hatake, Jules, and Sarah head to level X. To do this they have to shut down the entire bases power... did I not see something similar in Jurrasic Park? That worked real well then... didn't it. However this is all to freeze the Vectors. However it is also most likely going to let Balleseros & one of Sutton's goons out of their improvised jail. Also, Sarah is freaking out. She cannot seem to see Hatake. Maybe she is infected and silver eyes are obscured to vectors? Just wondering aloud.

Oh Virus-baum, oh Virus-baum, how lovely are thy cylinders!

Yep. Frozen Vectors all in a room, exactly like the frozen monkeys. (That was still one of the creepiest and best things from Helix so far). The frozen vectors are making creepy breathing noises, but do not move even when shoved. And now, welcome to Hatake's virus trees... where they store a larger collection of viruses than the CDC.

Balleseros kills Sutton's goon. Hey even he can do something good... sorta.

Sarah is talking about death. Convusling, collapses in an epileptic fit. Looks like her cancer is really taking its toll. Also, hypothermia thanks to opening the base to outside air when the power was shut down. Again, how did the CDC let such a sick person as Sarah Jordan on any mission. Cancer treatment tend to damage your immune system, she would never be allowed to go to virus city. (Which is looking a lot more like Raccoon City & Umbrella).

God could the lame forced bit of camaraderie between Daniel / Miksa & Balleseros be more contrived. I think this is actually the lamest bit of the episode.

Welcome to Montana, now located above the 83rd parallel.

And Jules finds more of her own initials scratched into the floor of level X.
Oh, screw you show. Jules and Farragut descend some stairs under a grate near her initials, into her house in Montana. Burn in hell show, how can these people be so slow. I am going to assume something right now, there was never a cabin in Montana where she spent her summers. It was always there on the base. If I'm right...

Daniel / Miksa just threw the single worst fake punch ever. Either this was meant to be or someone boned the camera position and this was the best take they got. Either way... it was lame.  
And Sarah's anti-cancer surgery didn't get the cancer as it was too close to the spinal cord...
Hello, Peter, lord of the Vectors.

The little ploy Balleseros and Daniel / Miksa pulled on Sutton's minions was a moment of pure bad-guy stupidity.

Jules, "I have so many questions." Hilarious, it's so nice when a character speaks for the audience.
Also, Sarah does some mumbly sleep-talk. Now I know that sleep talking is real, but it's always so darn convenient in TV shows. Talking in your sleep.

So unexpected... no, that's not the word. Obvious! That's the word!

Oh, big reveal. Hatake shows Jules the photo of him, her, and Jule's mother. Her mother turns out to be the person she was hallucinating help her when she was infected. Interesting... maybe. Or contrived. Both probably. Her name was Jane, but a young Jules called her Jay. Here it comes... does Hatake lay the truth down? Wait for it... and Boom! Called it! No cabin in Montana! It was always the base! HAH! Also, Boom called it! He's her father. How many internets do I win?

Seriously, they are going to play Mad World? I love this song! This is the best music of the series!

Ah hah. Cold storage doctor has the Narvik Virus. And he's leaving the base... and then they just stop the best music of the series... the best.

3 out of 5 stars

This episode was a step up from last week. Still not the season high, but better than last week.

Previous Helix Reviews:
- Eps. 1 & 2: Pilot and Vector
- Ep. 4: Single Strand
- Ep. 5: The White Room
- Ep. 6: Aniqatiga
- Ep. 7: Survivor Zero
- Ep. 8: Bloodlines