Van Helsing - S1E3 - Stay Inside

Previously on Van Helsing

Van Helsing - S1E3 - “Stay Inside” | Starring: Kelly Overton, Jonathan Scarfe, Christopher Heyerdahl, Rukiya Bernard, David Cubitt, Vincent Gale, Hilary Jardine, Aleks Paunovic, Alison Wandzura

The most interesting development in this week’s Van Helsing (and there were several), was the idea that those who were turned were also victims. No one asked for the ash from a volcanic eruption to cover the sky, blocking out the sun, and making it so that the world became a vampire buffet. But here we are.

Images: Syfy

Phil was turned back to human after feeding off Vanessa in the premiere. The hospital crew is both cautious and dumbfounded. Phil has no answer for how Vanessa was able to cure him (he was instructed to turn her), and she’s just as clueless. More than that, Vanessa has no desire to be anyone’s savior. While a healthy dose of skepticism is fine, it’s surprising that there’s little sympathy for a man who was turned and then murdered his own small children. Phil doesn’t seem prepared to forgive himself either.

The feeders latest move to obtain Vanessa involved torturing John’s wife, Wendy. They whip her in the streets outside the hospital until “the dead girl” is released. John is, understandably, totally with that plan, but Axel didn’t spend three years of his life protecting her corpse to just turn her over. He puts a bullet in Wendy’s head to end the debate. In his anger, John inadvertently damages the hospital’s power source, leaving them with just three hours to repair it to maintain the UV lights keeping the feeders at bay.

Axel allows Vanessa to accompany him to get it fixed for two reasons. One, leaving her behind with a grieving John isn’t the best idea, and he hopes that if she sees for herself how bad the world has become she’ll give up the hope that her daughter Dylan is out there waiting for her. It works for the latter and Vanessa accepts that there’s no way Dylan survived.

When the feeders take advantage of the broken UV lights and try to breach the hospital, it’s Phil who becomes an unlikely hero. His former peers are downright afraid when they see he’s no longer a vampire. He says Vanessa can heal them as well; they respond by running away and reporting the development to Julius.

As much as Vanessa doesn’t want to be special, Axel needs her to be or else he blindly followed a mission for three years for nothing. He asks Vanessa to cure Doc and she reluctantly agrees. But Doc won’t bite - literally. Vanessa bites her instead and after a few moments, Doc is back.

Questions

It will be interesting to see how Vanessa’s existence changes the hierarchy of vampires. Once word gets out about what she can do, will those on the lower ladder rungs want to be returned to their former selves? If Vanessa can heal, how does Dmitri plan to stop her? And if Vanessa is special, who’s to say Dylan isn’t? Maybe she’s alive and well.

Good

Loved the flashback showing how Phil (and everyone else) was turned. He can’t be long for this world, though. How can he live through all of that guilt?

Axel’s affection for Doc is apparent. I’m assuming her transition back to human will be a bit easier than Phil’s since she’s been contained and voluntarily fed for three years. No innocent blood on her hands… or lips.

Bad

The supporting characters haven’t made much of an impression, though not that much time has been spent on them. So far, they’re just there. With the exception of Sam and Mohamad’s friendship, they’re a tad boring. But John is definitely going to be a problem.