Helix - S1E3 - “274”
Previously, on Helix: “Vector”
Day 3 begins with Dr. Ex-wife waking up on the floor of the shower after being attacked by Badly Infected Brother. She clearly remembers being infected herself, but totally lies to The Good Doctor’s face about it. Immediately thereafter, The Good Doctor follows sneaky sounds in the ceiling to a lab, where he encounters BIB, who asks for help with his creepy wiggling throat, then promptly passes out.
Back in the Infected Ward, Dr. Girlfriend, still shaken from being taken hostage, and Additional Quirky Girl Scientist deal with the increasingly antsy patients, and Son of Frankenstein informs Dr. Frankenstein and Shady MacGyver that the infection is spreading. Dr. Frankenstein evidences more creepy unexplained interest in Dr. Ex-wife, and then everyone freaks out when The Good Doctor brings BIB into the ward. Dr. Frankenstein insists that he be kept somewhere more secure due to the last escape.
Son of Frankenstein escorts The Good Doctor and Shady to “Level R”, a section of the facility that once housed an abandoned fusion project. Due to the nature of the work that was done there, it is sectioned off completely from the rest of the base. The Good Doctor deems the entire floor to be the new isolation ward, and they proceed to move all the “Vectors” (the term they’ve coined for the infected who are attacking others to spread the virus) there.
The Good Doctor and Dr. Frankenstein determine that currently there are 23 Vectors. As this is discussed, they turn a corner and come face to face with one of the three escaped Vectors from last episode. Girl Vector, black goo dripping from her mouth, approaches them, babbling, asking for help and saying, “They made me do it.” Dr. Frankenstein tells her repeatedly to stop, and when she does not, Son of Frankenstein pops a cap in her ass, to the horror of The Good Doctor. TGD performs an impromptu bullet removal to save her life, then chews Son of Frankenstein’s ass. When Dr. Frank comes to his defense, TGD threatens to pull his team out altogether unless the use of deadly force on patients is outlawed. He and Son of Frank have some very pointed conversations about shooting folks, and Son of Frank is certain that TGD would have done the same thing in his place.
The Good Doctor’s team, plus Shady MacGyver, devise a plan. Doctors Girlfriend and Ex-wife are to work on a test for infection based off their analysis of Narvik B (the ‘mutagen’ that they discovered last episode). Shady and Quirky are tasked to continue the DNA analysis of the monkey cadaver, as it is believed to be the source of the virus. The upcoming 1 hour window of internet connectivity is coming in four hours, so everyone is on a steep deadline.
Dr. Ex-wife is feeling the effects of the virus, alternating between mild panic and full-on hallucinatory freakout, as it courses through her system, but she is still keeping it hidden. She even goes so far as to cast suspicion on Dr. Girlfriend being infected.
Shady and Quirky discover the monkey has been stolen, and the autopsy table has even been cleaned with formaldehyde, showing that someone has a blatant interest in sabotaging the virus research. Quirky is immediately convinced the culprit is Dr. Frankenstein, but Shady convinces her that storming into his office and demanding answers is the wrong tactic. Instead, he lets her in on the monkey graveyard he found outside. When questioned on how he found the monkeys, he claims some bullshit about “testing the stability of the ice around the base”, but Quirky isn’t having it. Shady finally caves, telling her that the army doesn’t believe that the outbreak is an accident.
Dr. Girlfriend manages to cook up a test that she believes will work. When she shows it to Dr. Ex-wife, Dr. Ex-wife demands that she test it on herself. Dr. Girlfriend refuses and storms out of the room. The instant she is gone, Dr. Ex-wife immediately tests herself, almost collapsing in relief when it comes up negative. She is uninfected. She must have dreamt the attack by BIB.
Son of Frankenstein and The Good Doctor respond to an alert that one of the other escaped Vectors has been sighted. They find Beardy Vector with an axe, attempting to force his way into a lab. He’s raving that the cure is in this room, and that they’re keeping it from everyone. Son of Frank takes him out with a stun baton, and TGD investigates the lab further. He coaxes out the doctor who was locked inside, but when queried about a cure, the doctor replies “There is no cure,” and quickly shuts and locks the door behind him, leaving TGD quite suspicious.
Quirky and Shady perform a test on the monkey DNA which is meant to cause the cells to build at critical mass, allowing them to study what they’ve found. They put the sample in an incubator, and to their amazement, it immediately starts to grow like one of those little “black snake” fireworks on steroids, almost breaking out of the containment cage before they flood the cage with gas to kill it. Shady convinces Quirky not to tell anyone about the incubator incident, playing on her suspicion of Dr. Frankenstein. She still doesn’t trust him, but she agrees.
TGD confronts Dr. Frankenstein with the accusation of a “cure” in the locked lab, and after a little hedging and threatening, Dr. Frank admits to an antiviral called “Phoedra” which has killed every virus they’ve tested it on, admitting in the process to growing deadly viruses (which is normally against the law, when you’re in a place that has laws, anyway) in order to develop it. The catch is, that Phoedra has a 75% mortality rate. Meaning it will certainly kill whatever virus you have, but it will very likely kill you as well.
The tests are administered to all the scientists, and 43 of the 106 are deemed infected. The remainder are released back to the upper floors. TGD orders Beardy Vector and Girl Vector to be moved to Level R as well. Son of Frank takes a security team to comply, but upon opening the door, he is immediately attacked by Girl Vector, who attempts, but fails to infect him. However, she does escape, growling and screeching like a beast.
After another fainting spell, Dr. Ex-wife forces Dr. Girlfriend to take the test. It comes up negative. Son of Frank, looking for TGD, reveals that Girl Vector escaped and killed Beardy Vector in the process. The other infected doctors overhear that Girl Vector is loose and begin to panic, overtaking the guards and escaping into the hallways. The doctors get separated in the mob, as, at one end of the hallway, Girl Vector attacks and infects another guard in front of Dr. Ex-wife. As she watches, her attack comes flooding back to her, and she vomits a little into her hand. She stands, stunned, as Girl Vector charges her. Just as she is about to be attacked, a shot rings out, and we see The Good Doctor with the gun. Son of Frank takes the gun, with an I-told-you-so look, and as TGD attempts to usher Dr. Ex-wife upstairs, she shows him her hand, which is covered in black vomit goo. Turns out she IS infected. This means the tests are invalid, and now there is no clue how many people are infected.
Everyone returns from Level R, and Dr. Frank demands to know where Dr. Ex-wife is. He is informed of her infection, and both TGD and Son of Frank recommend sealing off Level R to contain the infection, until help can arrive. The Good Doctor announces his intention to call in the Army the next time the satellite link comes up, garnering him side-eyes from Dr. Frank and Shady.
Cut to a strange, unconnected scene where we see Dr. Girlfriend take her shirt off, and we are shown a nasty scar along her upper spine, and are given no exposition whatsoever.
Outside the facility, we see what looks very much like Shady MacGyver’s hand, place what looks very much like a bomb. Dr. Ex-wife realizes suddenly that the tests are invalid and rushes to tell TGD. Just as she is getting the words out, a violent explosion takes out the satellite array, which for some reason also takes out the interior phone system. So, now, the Level R patients are sealed off, with limited supplies and no communication, and the rest of the team has no idea that the test doesn’t work, so the virus they think is contained is not contained at all. DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN!
