Helix - S1E8 - Bloodline
Previously, on Helix: “Survivor Zero”
As vectors crawl through the ceilings, Dr. Ex-wife relays her miraculous recovery to The Good Doctor and Dr. Girlfriend. She also relays the fact that Dr. Frankenstein was on the level with her, helping her.
An alert sounds, prompting TGD to investigate. He finds Son of Frankenstein hovering over a dead vector who they discern had been trying to contaminate the food supply. When TGD asks about Dr. Frank, Son of Frank informs him that Dr. Frank is no longer in charge. Later, Dr. Girlfriend takes some blood from Dr. Ex-wife, who then shows her her shiny eyes.
When informed of the vector in the food supply, Seven of Nine orders her troops to allow the vectors to run free, in hopes that “fear will promote creativity.” She also, to her chief guard (or, Suck-up Ginger, as he will be heretofore referred to) marvels at the fact that she can’t seem to put a finger on the importance of Dr. Ex-wife. Suck-up Ginger sucks up.
Son of Frank has now bought in wholly to Captain Cold’s story, and has dressed her in scrubs to disguise her, however she is worse at acting like a fake nurse than she is at acting like a cop. They determine to get some answers regarding the 30 other missing children. When Son of Frank insists that Dr. Frank will be no help, she suggests they question someone else.
TGD visits the imprisoned Dr. Frank, demanding to know what he did to Dr. Ex-wife to cure her. Dr. Frank insists that he did nothing, that Dr. Ex-wife has just managed to beat the virus herself, pointing out that this now puts her in danger, immediately from 7of9, and in the long-run of becoming a lab rat for anyone who is interested in finding a cure for the virus. He demands that TGD stick to her like glue from now on, still not letting on fully as to why he cares so much.
Dr. Ex-wife wakes to a knock at her door. Expecting TGD, she opens the door to 7of9, who snatches her by the face, marveling at her silvery eyes. TGD shows up to find the two locked in Dr. Ex-wife’s room under guard. He confronts 7of9 on her way out, demanding to see Dr. Ex-wife, and is summarily informed that Dr. Ex-wife is now the property of the Illaria Corporation, as her body harbors what she terms “a proprietary therapy”.
Shady MacGyver is poking at his stomach wound, when Captain Cold forces Son of Frank to let her check on him. Letting her scrubs go to her head, she begins to stitch him up. Shady goads the two of them on for a bit, distracting them enough to snatch a needle out of her first aid kit. He then shows that he likes her by trying to run her off, telling her that he is an evil man, and confessing that his story about children being taken from his home in Brazil was true, but that he was the one taking them. She storms off, and Son of Frank gives him the evil eye.
In Dr. Frank’s cell, 7of9 is now interrogating him about Dr. Ex-wife, letting him know that she has seen her shiny eyes. Dr. Frank insists that he has done nothing to her, that she may be a naturally occurring mutation, and that she is not “one of us”. She mentions something called the “Willis Hypothesis”, denouncing it as ludicrous, and threatening “a reckoning” when she uncovers his treachery. She rolls out a random assortment of sharp shiny things, insinuating torture, and when Dr. Frank tells her to do her worst, she informs him that they aren’t for him, they are for Dr. Ex-wife.
Back in the lab, Doctors Good and Girlfriend, under the watchful eye of Suck-up Ginger, pretend to be all sciencey while whispering about Dr. Ex-wife. When he informs her that Dr. Ex-wife is being held captive for private testing, she relays that she has already tested her blood, and that not only is she cured, but she shows absolutely no signs of ever being infected in the first place. No antibodies, no raised white blood cell count, nothing. They begin to hatch an explosive plan to bust Dr. Ex-wife out of containment. Meanwhile, Dr. Ex-wife takes things into her own hands, escaping into the ventilation shafts.
7of9 and Dr. Frank spend a little time accusing one another of sacrificing whatever the other felt was important, during which Dr. Frank admits to apparently drawing the evil line in the sand when it comes to genocide, which is what he feels the Illaria Corporation is up to. Midway through the conversation she gets the message that Dr. Ex-wife has escaped. Seeing the obvious relief on Dr. Frank’s face at this news, 7of9 attempts to deduce what his connection to her really is. He again accuses her of selling out, she pulls a knife on him, and he plays stonefaced again.
In the vents, Dr. Ex-wife is come upon by the other two loose vectors, who prowl around her like feral dogs, drooling black goo, but again they merely pass her by. Meanwhile, Doctors Good and Girlfriend trick their not so bright guard into bringing them the ingredients for their bomb.
Shady uses the needle he pilfered to pick the lock on his handcuffs, while Captain Cold, apparently over her obsession with the stolen children, allows Son of Frank to escort her out of the facility. He refuses to leave, saying that he has to clean up the mess he helped create.
As The Good Doctor and Dr. Girlfriend build their bomb, Dr. Ex-wife finds her way to the vent over the lab, and they coordinate their plan. It is revealed that they intend to kill 7of9, and Dr. Ex-wife is tasked with rescuing Dr. Frank, as it is now the consensus that he is the lesser of the two evils. Having readied their preparations for the old exploding microscope gag, TGD asks Suck-up Ginger to tell 7of9 that the cure is ready for her perusal. She immediately arrives in the lab, and is coerced into looking into the microscope. As she adjusts the focus knob, contact is made on the bomb wires, but Suck-up (but Terribly Attentive) Ginger catches a vibe between the doctors, and tackles her away from the microscope just as it explodes! While mostly a failure, the doctors do manage to use the explosion as a distraction, escaping down the hall, and hiding in another lab.
7of9 takes to the loudspeakers, demanding that The Good Doctor turn himself in, or she will kill Badly Infected Brother. Before he can turn himself in, Dr. Girlfriend finds some sort of sound device to use as a distraction to allow them to meet up with Doctors Frank and Ex-wife.
Dr. Ex-wife takes the vents to Dr. Frank’s holding cell, and drops in. Dr. Frank agrees to help TGD, but only on the condition that Dr. Ex-wife remain in hiding, again reiterating that she is more important than anyone else. Again she demands further explanation, and again he refuses to give it. She insists that she will not hide while she is needed, but as she unties his bonds, Dr. Frank pulls a syringe from his asshole, or his armpit, or an alternate dimension, and fills her full of sedative. As she passes out, he comments “You have always been persistent.”
Outside, Shady, trying to hotwire a snowmobile, is set upon by Captain Cold, whose snowmobile it was. She offers him the key, and then tackles him when he takes it. He gets the better of her, and is about to take off, when a couple of Illaria security goons start running towards them. Knowing that they will not shoot him, but they will kill her, Shady has a change of heart and gives her the keys, allowing her to escape.
Dr. Ex-wife wakes up in a dark chamber, finding a picture on her chest. Placing her hand on the wall, she hits a sensor which opens a secret panel into Dr. Frank’s office. The light rushes in to reveal an old picture of Dr. Frank, and (gasp) her as a child! However, as she steps into the office, Terribly Attentive Suck-up Ginger steps out of nowhere to put a gun to her head.
TGD allows himself to be captured and taken to 7of9, who immediately announces the severance of their partnership, and pulls the tube on BIB. She informs the guards to let BIB die, and then kill TGD. Dr. Girlfriend, from the adjacent room, sets off her weaponized sound thingy, and incapacitates the guards. 7of9 knocks out TGD, and then is summarily knocked out by Dr. Girlfriend’s sound machine, and then the weirdest thing yet happens. Two of the loose vectors burst in, and steal the body of BIB! Dr. Frank picks TGD up off the floor, and the two, with Dr. Girlfriend in tow, head back to Dr. Frank’s office to get Dr. Ex-wife, who is, of course, missing. When asked about the vectors, Dr. Frank simply replies, “They will not harm him.”
Terribly Attentive Suck-up Ginger informs 7of9 and Son of Frank that Captain Cold escaped with the help of Shady MacGyver, and that the cargo she requested (probably Dr. Ex-wife) is ready to leave in one hour. Son of Frank manages to sell her that he is still on her side, as she determines to leave Shady for the “cleanup crew”. However, Son of Frank proceeds to stroll into Dr. Frank’s office like he knew exactly where to find everyone, and informs them of 7of9’s plan to leave. He, too, has decided that Dr. Frank is the lesser of two evils. Doctors Good and Girlfriend head off to find Dr. Ex-wife, while Dr. Frank intends to take care of 7of9.
7of9 and Terribly Attentive Suck-up Ginger supervise the locking of Dr. Ex-wife in a crate. As she retreats to her room to pack, Dr. Frank enters. They discuss that he still wears a watch she gave him. She mentions a vow they took, presumably to some sort of secret society, to “author a new history”, apparently involving the murder of some large portion of the human population, which, as we’ve heard, Dr. Frank cannot abide. She calls him the greatest mind among “us”, and then accuses him of throwing it all away for this (she raises the picture of Dr. Ex-wife) “abomination”. (And now for some reason I feel aliens coming on.) And then she reveals what we all suspected, that Dr. Ex-wife is Dr. Frank’s daughter! (While again name-dropping “The Willis Hypothesis”.) And now we fight! Well, really, there’s a punch and a block, and a kick, and a tackle. Then Dr. Frank whips a garrote out of his watch, and chokes 7of9 to death.
Son of Frank slow walks down the hall as the voice of Dr. Frank informs us over the loudspeakers that the Illaria Corporation and 7of9 are no longer running the facility, and that he is back in charge. Dr. Girlfriend and TGD release Dr. Ex-wife from her crate, as Dr. Frank assures the base that the crisis will soon be under control. Son of Frank puts a bullet in Terribly Attentive Suck-up Ginger just before he shoots himself. (I would assume so that he can be interrogated later.)
Doctors Good and Ex-wife discuss the fact that she is useless for a cure, due to her lack of antibodies. She relays her crisis of faith in that she has changed, and he gives her the old “it doesn’t change who you are” bit.
Cut to Dr. Frank and Son of Frank outside in the cold (And let me just say that the lack of clothing these people go out in sub-arctic temperatures in is getting a little insulting.), as Son of Frank confronts him about stealing him from the Eskimos. Dr. Frank hopes someday he will understand, but of course gives him no clarification. As the scene expands, we see that the two are back at the head freezer, and Dr. Frank has a small cooler. And we fade out as 7of9’s head recedes into the ground in the cylinder that once held Dr. Hvit.
