Previously, on Helix: “The White Room”

We start this one off with interspersed images of someone dragging Shady MacGyver’s body away from where Son of Frank left it, and a conversation between Son of Frank and The Good Doctor regarding just where Shady’s body got off to, and the state of the obvious conspiracy on the base. The latter scenes leave us with the knowledge that The Good Doctor is well and convinced that there are larger forces at play, both from Shady’s side and Dr. Frank’s side of things, and the former scenes leave us with the awareness that Shady is still alive, as he wakes up and attempts to fight off his savior/captor, an entity in a red parka who reminds me of no one so much as Captain Cold, the Flash’s archnemesis. (So you can guess what I’ll be calling this one.)

Son of Frank and TGD continue their argument. When TGD announces his intention to retrieve Dr. Ex-wife from Level R, Son of Frank pulls his gun and declares, “No one in, No one out,” pretending to be protecting the base, when in reality, he is protecting his father, who would be found out if anyone else were to visit Level R, where he currently is with Dr. Ex-wife.

Speaking of Dr. Ex-wife, she is currently looking significantly worse, showing new sores, and hallucinating images of Badly Infected Brother, and a little girl, who I imagine to be herself as a child. Dr. Frank is resting off his injury, very literally, as when Dr. Ex-wife checks it, it is almost fully healed. He makes portentous, little joke about “having good genes”. Abruptly there is a ruckus outside, of someone being attacked by a Vector. Dr. Ex-wife makes to rescue the victim, but as she grabs for the door handle, is struck by an apparent seizure.

We quickly find out that TGD is not giving up so easily on his plan to extract Dr. Ex-wife from Level R, resolving to improvise a way down as all the stairwells are sealed and Son of Frank is the only one with a key to the elevator. He also gives Dr. Girlfriend some pills for her migraines, ordering her to keep off the morphine. The two manufacture thermite and use it to cut their way through a grate to access Level R, only to be stopped by a chain on a door. Fresh out of thermite, they break out a hacksaw and begin to cut. Dr. Girlfriend, looking through a window in the door, sees someone at the end of the hall. She cranes in closer to get a better look; and a Vector, all gooey in the mouth, shatters the window and grabs her arm. TGD immediately tries to pull her away, but a wave of several other Vectors hit the door in short course, knocking him back. He comes back in with the hacksaw and severs the Vector’s arm in very likely the fewest amount of cuts anyone has ever severed an arm, and they retreat, giving up on this as an entry point. They determine that they will have to cure the Vectors to get past them.

Dr. Ex-wife wakes up to Dr. Frank shining a light in her eyes. She freaks out for a second, but he gives her a sedative, then creepily hums and rubs her hair as she drifts off. He then barricades the door, and dashes through a secret passage in the back of the room.

Cut to Shady, waking up shirtless in a raggedy room, with plastic on the windows, handcuffed to the bed. We are quickly introduced to Captain Cold, who is the female sheriff of a nomadic Eskimo settlement called Tonrar, or “Ghost”. Shady makes a grab for something sharp, and Captain Cold regulates him, demanding all he knows about Arctic Biosystems, threatening to send him right back there if he doesn’t cooperate.

Back at the grindstone, TGD and Dr. Girlfriend finally make their way to the same discovery that Quirky made days earlier; that the virus is merely a delivery mechanism for something far nastier. As TGD looks up from the microscope, he spies Dr. Frankenstein, whom no one has seen (on this level at least) in at least a full day. He charges into Dr. Frank’s office, demanding to know what is in the virus. Dr. Frank initially denies all knowledge, but eventually admits the Narvik virus is a delivery system, claiming it is meant to deliver a gene therapy cure for cancer. However, also claims that the virus’ “payload bay” as it were is still empty; that they were only attempting to perfect the delivery system, not actually deliver anything with it yet. TGD storms off, determined that the symptoms he sees in Badly Infected Brother indicate that a payload has indeed been delivered.

Son of Frank now demands some answers of his own from his papa, who refuses even his own son. When Son of Frank informs him that he has killed Shady MacGyver, Dr. Frank backhands him for his stupidity, pointing out that when Shady does not check in, “THEY will come!”

Back in the secret headquarters of Captain Cold, she is still demanding answers and withholding food. Shady continues to play dumb. Later, pretending to be sleeping, he makes another breakout attempt, seemingly getting the upper hand, before getting smacked down again. This time she drags him off into a back room and shows him a wall full of photos of children. She says that there are 31 children who have gone missing over the last 20 years, and claims that Arctic Biosystems and Dr. Frank are responsible. Just then, the noise of a snowmobile draws her attention outside.

Dr. Ex-wife wakes up in another hallucinatory dream, with BIB and the little girl in a cozy firelit cabin. BIB convinces her that the girl is trying to get her to remember something, and it quickly becomes apparent, that I was right, and the little girl is indeed her younger self.

Ridiculous classical music accompanies TGD and Dr. Girlfriend’s colorful science montage, as they replicate Quirky’s “black snake” experiment. Their environment is not as controlled, however, so they resort to a fire extinguisher to kill it, and it works. Now armed with the knowledge that extreme cold slows down the reaction, they determine to put BIB on ice. Cold packs work a little, but they decide he needs to be colder, so Dr. Girlfriend remembers a cryogenics lab somewhere on Level G, which TGD immediately goes to check out. He barges into a lab in which a scientist is smoking, drinking vodka, and watching The Three Stooges while wearing a terrible sweater. Dr. Sweater, after negotiating to be the first one out once evacuated, shows TGD his work, which consists of a bunch of Narvik rats running around in a tank full of blue liquid (which I assume means it is very cold).

Back in the secret headquarters of Captain Cold, Shady uses a pen to pick his handcuffs, grabs a knife and a jacket, and peeks out the window to see Captain Cold run into the happy, laughing arms of… wait for it… Son of Frank, the man who just tried to kill him! In a rage, Shady charges him and just as he is ready to cut his throat, Captain Cold puts a gun to his head. He argues that this is the man who tried to kill him, but Captain Cold claims to not know any Son of Frank, this is her brother, Talook! (Who will now be known as Brother of Son of Frank, or just Captain Cold’s brother.) Captain Cold then relates to him the story of how her brother’s twin disappeared when he was just a child, and though Shady still won’t tell her anything, they resolve to go back to the base together.

Doctors Good, Girlfriend, and Sweater administer the cold immersion treatment to BIB, which involves pumping super cold fluid into a special suit and into his lungs simultaneously, while oxygenating him separately. The treatment appears as if it is going wrong, but it eventually settles out, and he stabilizes. As we pan back we can see that Dr. Frank was watching, and as he walks away, Son of Frank stops him to ask for forgiveness like a good submissive son. Dr Frank asks his son to show him Shady’s body, which he dutifully walks off to do, as if he’s forgotten he doesn’t have it.

In Dr. Ex-wife’s dream, she is now sitting down to dinner with TGD, BIB, Shady, Dr. Girlfriend, and Dr. Frank as young Dr. Ex-wife skips around the table. Something in the back of her mind is nagging at her, pushing her towards realizing that somehow this whole virus event revolves around her. She cuts the turkey to serve the table, and it begins to ooze black goo. Everyone else thinks this is hilarious, though she looks as if she now wants to cut everyone there.

After successfully administering the treatment, Dr. Girlfriend finds TGD crying in a locker room, and as is usually the case, the crying turns into sex.

Cut to outside, Dr. Frank and Son of Frank inspect the location where Shady’s body was left. Dr. Frank determines that he was taken, but when Son of Frank offers to begin searching, Dr. Frank shuts him down (it probably wouldn’t be good for business if Son of Frank ran into an Eskimo who looked just like him) as the sound of helicopters fill the air, and we see two choppers with the words Ilaria Corporation flying in and landing at the base. THEY are here.

In the final scene we are treated to Dr. Ex-wife waking from her dream, and just as she does, her eyes flash the same silver color we saw under Dr. Frank’s contact lenses in a previous episode. Apparently getting silver eyes hurts a lot, as she begins screaming.

Send to Kindle