Review: ‘Helix’ Premiere

Though I’ll likely not be reviewing this series in full (have to make room for Arrow next week!), I did want to at least stop off and give my opinion on the latest project that Battlestar Galactica’s Ron Moore has been producing, Helix.  It’s a viral outbreak show (which immediately means that I cringe), but there’s much more to it than just people trying to find a cure for a disease before it wipes out humanity.  Helix is a show that has plenty of secrets and is, beneath the surface, much more complicated.

The story begins with - you guessed it - a viral outbreak at a research lab.  The lab is located far off in the arctic, so there’s no immediate threat to humanity as a whole, but it’s still pretty serious.  So the lab guys call in the CDC to come take a look as see if they can do something to prevent it from getting worse.

Enter Dr. Alan Farragut and his team of CDC virus-fighting warriors.  Alan’s ex-g/f, Dr. Julia Walker, shows up to recruit him because - surprise! - his brother happened to be at the research lab and also happens to be one of the people that got infected.  Of course, Julia was stolen away from Alan by his brother, so there’s a love-triangle sort of thing going on.  So off they go to stop the evil disease menace.

What they find when they get there is much more than your usual virus.  It appears to be some sort of ancient disease and it turns its hosts into disease-spreading machines (via a sloppy kiss from infected to victim).  Naturally, the man that runs the research lab, Dr. Hiroshi Hatake is withholding all sorts of vital information about the virus.  Turns out he has other plans and is working with/for persons unknown to create some sort of super disease (?).  Not much is made clear about the dubious doctor’s intentions as of yet, but by the end of the premiere you know that something ain’t right with this guy (will resist urge to spoil…).

All-in-all, I enjoyed my time watching this show, despite much of the subject matter being of a genre I try to avoid.  The actors did a decent enough job, with some of the stars performing better than others, and the secondary and background characters were actually interesting enough to be engaging as well.  The technical aspects of the show - lighting, editing, set design, etc. - were all spot-on and made everything feel very realistic and moody.

My biggest complaint is that the show was filled with the usual clichés and tropes that often permeate sci-fi, horror and disaster films.  While it’s difficult to get away from these on even the best of shows, Helix actually does a good job of recovering from the damage that such clichés often cause.  When a character does something stupid or ignores the obvious, they tend to follow it up by doing something smart or unexpected, keeping the audience guessing as to how much of an idiot they actually are.  It balances out pretty well overall.

The premiere introduces us to many things, all going on at once, and only explains a few.  It looks like we’ll have a lot to look forward to with this show, many mysteries to slowly unravel.  So far I’m having a good time watching it and will almost certainly stick around.  Let’s just hope that it delivers on all the promises it’s making.

For a sneak peek at what next week’s episode of Helix has to offer, you can head over to this sight.

Photo Credits -

Helix courtesy of aceshowbiz.com