Van Helsing - S1E5 - Fear Her

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Previously on Van Helsing, “Coming Back”

Van Helsing – S1E5 – “Fear Her” | Starring: Kelly Overton, Jonathan Scarfe, Christopher Heyerdahl, Rukiya Bernard, David Cubitt, Vincent Gale, Hilary Jardine, Aleks Paunovic, Alison Wandzura

There’s nothing like laying on the pressure to test relationships, and for the second week in a row, Van Helsing put the supporting characters under extreme stress to show us what they’re made of.

Axel has a “no new friends” policy so he’s cautious when Mohamed returns with a new group of survivors and no Vanessa. While Doc works on their injured comrade, John wastes no time plotting to use the new group to his advantage. Doc returns to her patient and finds him dead. She and Axel quickly cover the body and tell Brendan, their leader, that he died of his injuries, but John removes the sheet and reveals the body had a finger cut off - just like Cynthia.

Brendan isn’t happy that the previous murder was kept from his group, so it’s not long before John assists him in taking control of the hospital. Axel, Doc, and the others are locked in the cage until someone confesses. No one steps forward so Brendan decides they’re all to be exiled, and that includes John. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. 

At first, Axel steps forward to take credit for the murders, but Brendan doesn’t believe him. He sees it for what it so clearly is: a leader trying to protect his tribe. Much to Sam’s dismay, Mohamed confesses and takes the exile punishment so his friends won’t have to. Their goodbye - as Sam signed and begged Mohamed not to go, and even tried taking the blame himself - was heartbreaking. And this sacrifice does little to save the rest of the group as Brendan admits to Mohamed he knows he’s innocent; this just buys him time to weed out the real killer and be done with the whole group eventually.

Meanwhile, Vanessa is tested before Julius and his crew. She has to fight a vampire and it’s someone she knows: Susan, her next door neighbor. Vampire Susan taunts Vanessa, claiming she killed Dylan. That’s all it takes to unleash the fury we know Vanessa has; she bites and turns her former friend human again. The two manage to escape and run through the sewers and tunnels with Julius’ minions not far behind. Susan reveals she didn’t kill Dylan, but that she lost her soon after she came to Susan’s apartment for help. Any further discussion has to wait as they’re running for their lives once more by episode’s end.

One plot point from last week managed to pique my interest more than I thought possible. Rebecca catches Sheema (Mohamed’s sister) and she’s about to make off with a set of blueprints. She recognizes Sheema’s scent, knows she’s been spying on her, but allows her to leave unharmed. I don’t believe it was a true act of mercy, but what is she playing at exactly?

With Vanessa and Mohamed both outside the safety of the hospital and the rest of the gang not fairing much better inside, Van Helsing has effectively raised the stakes - no pun intended.