Helix - S1E7 - Survivor Zero
Previously, on Helix: “Aniqatiga”
So, last week, our wealthy benefactors arrived to complicate things, and so she does.
Jeri Ryan (better known as the Borg, Seven of Nine, from Star Trek: TNG joins the cast as the COO of Ilaria Corporation, freshly arrived to “help you find a cure, no matter the costs”. The Good Doctor, wastes no time demanding that someone fetch Dr. Ex-wife from Level R. Seven of Nine insists that he shall have her, acting every bit the cooperative facilitator. Dr. Frankenstein spends his time kowtowing to his boss, and being pointedly ignored. Until, that is, they have a private meeting afterwards.
Seven of Nine immediately gets violent with Dr. Frank, demanding her cure, finally giving us the closest thing to an ultimate answer we’ve had yet, insisting that the virus is worthless without the cure. We get a hint of the plan of what sounds like an as yet unmentioned secret society, as Seven details that the plan is not to kill everyone, just to “thin the herd a bit”, and mentions how long “we” have been waiting for this. It becomes clear that she was unaware of the Narvik B strain, as apparently Narvik A does the job they intend, but the cure (at least Doc Frank asserts) does not yet exist. She also expresses some concern that Dr. Frank may have “betrayed” the company, whatever that means. When asked what her intentions are, Seven informs Dr. Frank that a cure will be found, and then everyone on the base will be exterminated.
Out in the storm, Captain Cold, who, disappointingly it seems, will never again wear the mask of her namesake. We’re subjected to the most terrible flirty banter between she and Shady MacGyver just long enough to make it clear that she is escorting him against his will back to the base.
Doctors Good and Girlfriend shake off their post-coitus glow to refocus on the search for the cure, The Good Doctor taking Dr. Girlfriend aside and relaying his distrust of the new regime, obligatory “Big Pharma” reference included.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ex-wife is dealing with her newfound case of the Silver Eyes, which are causing her excruciating pain whenever they crop up. She alleviates this by wrapping bandages around her eyes, leading us to believe that light sensitivity is the cause of the pain. However, aside from this, (this, and the continued hallucination of Badly Infected Brother) she is apparently completely free of the virus.
Seven of Nine pulls Son of Frank aside, requesting that he see the light and give her information that she feels Dr. Frank is not forthcoming with. Son of Frank resists her temptation for now, giving her the look of wooden fortitude that he is becoming famous for. He immediately informs his father that Seven of Nine attempted to assimilate him, and asks to be trusted with some more info on Dr. Ex-wife. Dr. Frank denies him yet again, telling him only that he fears Seven of Nine will kill her. The exclamation point is put on his assessment as we cut to Seven, filing her teeth with a grinder.
The Good Doctor calls Seven of Nine’s bluff on Dr. Ex-wife, and finally manages to corner her into not only attempting the rescue of Dr. Ex-wife, but allowing him to join in.
An alert comes to the attention of Son of Frank, and he checks a video monitor to see Captain Cold standing outside the main entrance, as she, to his surprise, hauls the very much alive Shady MacGyver onto the screen. He and a security team move to intercept. When finally face to face, Captain Cold grabs Son of Frank in a big hug, telling him that he is her long lost brother, stolen from her tribe when she was a child. He shoves her away, denying even the photograph of Brother of Son of Frank (who of course looks just like him), but is visibly shaken by her claims.
Back on Level R, Dr. Ex-wife comes under attack by one of the Vectors, but just as it seems she might be a goner, she flashes her new shiny eyes in a predatory glare, and the Vector runs away with her tail between her legs.
In Dr. Frank’s office, Seven of Nine has broken into his secret drawer of Dr. Ex-wife photos. She grills him on her background, and he attempts to throw her off the scent, claiming she is unimportant. She demands to know where exactly, Dr. Ex-wife is holed up, and he lies, saying she is in the infected ward with the other patients. Seven reminds Dr. Frank who’s side he is on, reaching up and removing contact lenses to flash her very own set of silver eyes. She leaves, and Dr. Frank immediately dives into his secret passage to check on Dr. Ex-wife.
Seven of Nine, The Good Doctor and a small team of her security ready to mount the retrieval o f Dr. Ex-wife, when a security team member pops around the corner with Shady in tow. TGD freaks out upon seeing him, and makes to smash his smarmy little head in, but Seven of Nine and the security guard interrupt, and after hearing of his murder of Additional Quirky Girl Scientist she offers to take care of Shady personally, to which TGD grudgingly accepts in order to get to the business of saving Dr. Ex-wife.
Seven escorts Shady to a cell, and then kicks the other security guards out in order to question him. She makes a show of smacking him around, but it becomes quickly apparent that the two are not new acquaintances. She reminds him that his mission was to find proof that Dr. Frank had “gone off the rails”, then proceeds to hump him.
Dr. Frank arrives in Dr. Ex-wife’s hidey hole on Level R, to find her feeling much better. He is thrilled when she tells him that she has tested herself and can find no trace of the virus. However, when she buckles over with another headache, he is shaken with emotion to see that she has the shiny eyes, just like ol’ pop (I officially surmise that she is his daughter, or at least a clone of his daughter). He proceeds to re-wrap her head in gauze, and it is unclear if he is shaking and crying with fear and sadness, or abject relief. He then frantically begs that she come with him so that he can save her from Seven of Nine.
Meanwhile, Seven of Nine and TGD arrive on Level R with their extraction team. They breach the triage room, and though they seem in control for a second, they are quickly overwhelmed by a horde of Vectors. Almost the entire team is eliminated, but TGD and Seven manage to escape behind a security gate. When he demands that they continue to find Dr. Ex-wife, Seven puts a gun to his head, and forces him back upstairs to the lab by threatening Dr. Girlfriend’s well-being as well.
Captain Cold and Son of Frank have a heart to heart, and she successfully gets him to consider that her story is true. He now finds it suspicious that there were always children at the base, but claims not to know what happened to any of them.
Dr. Frank sneaks Dr. Ex-wife back into his office via the secret passage, only to suddenly be confronted by Son of Frank and Captain Cold. Captain Cold accuses him of kidnapping. Son of Frank has a security team escort Dr. Ex-wife to the lab, but not before Dr. Frank passes along a small box to her, which she discovers to contain two sets of contact lenses.
TGD, certain that Dr. Ex-wife is gone forever, is stunned to find her waiting in the lab when he returns, and doubly shocked to see her silvery eyes and cured complexion. As a snappy little song plays, we fade out over the image of three Vectors, crashing through the top of the elevator, on which they had ridden all the way from Level R, to spread joy and black vomit.
