Van Helsing - S1E8 - Little Thing

Previously on Van Helsing: “For Me”

Van Helsing - S1E8 - “Little Thing” | Starring: Kelly Overton, Jonathan Scarfe, Christopher Heyerdahl, Rukiya Bernard, David Cubitt, Vincent Gale, Hilary Jardine, Aleks Paunovic, Alison Wandzura

A whole new world of adventure has opened up for Vanessa, Axel, and the group after their escape from the hospital last time out. Together in their souped-up ambulance, they successfully score enough gasoline to carry on their journey to the army base. Mohamad is hot on their tails, but has to make do with a bicycle with a suspect chain rather than powered transport. Still, he manages to see off a few vampires before he settles in for the night, staring at a photograph of Vanessa, saying “I’m going to find you, no matter what.” Has he a special reason to seek out Vanessa, or is he just missing the company?

And what of his sister Sheema? Finding herself in comfortable surroundings, complete with a bird in a cage, Sheema’s situation takes a turn for the worst when Rebecca reveals what she’s there for. Because vampires are unable to reproduce naturally, Rebecca has been using surrogates to try and find a way to produce a new breed of human/vampire hybrid. So far, Dr. Sholomenko’s attempts have met with failure, with the unfortunate surrogates condemned to die as “feed bags”. Sheema finally begins to understand her role in Rebecca’s plans. She either obeys her new mistress, or she will die.

Despite hearing church bells ringing from some distance away, the survivors follow Axel in his mission to bring them back to the base. After negotiating land mines that have been set to ward off prowling vampires, they gain entry and encounter a lone member of the resistance, Gorman Jones, who became separated from his own group. There they find Vanessa’s file which is strangely empty, but contains reference to a research lab called The Farm, located underneath the base. This is where they hide out, because there is plenty of food and beer available down there. Gorman uses some of his dynamite to blow open one of the doors, but this also causes a cave-in on the staircase. But still, beer and food, right? And a little sing-song to boot.

Susan and John start to make out in one of the corridors, but when things get too intense for Vanessa’s friend she tries to fend him off. John gets more sexually aggressive and Susan screams for help. When the group interrupt John’s rape attempt, they truss him up and decide what to do about him. Conveniently enough, they discover wounds on Susan’s neck similar to Cynthia and Roger, both of whom were found dead back at the hospital. They also find on John’s person the knife that was used to cut off Cynthia’s finger as well as the finger itself. John claims his ignorance and innocence, but doesn’t do himself any favors when he breaks free of his bonds and holds a broken beer bottle to Susan’s neck. Vanessa takes matters to hand and throws a knife at John, catching him full-throat. He collapses, dead as dead can be. Her words are prophetic: “I hope to God we were right.” If not, then the murderer is still among them.

“Little Thing” allows the group to blow off some steam and celebrate small victories, like gasoline, food, and beer. The sing-song below the base, started off by Sam – who’s plainly missing his friend Mohamad – is quaint but touching. This group of survivors have been through so much since The Rising began that it’s quite human to see them revel in the “little things,” the little pleasures they can find along the way. We know it’s only temporary, because Julius, Dmitri, and Rebecca are still out there, planning their individual agendas, engaging in a civil war of their own, with Vanessa the key to everything. What’s intriguing is why The Farm was gathering intel on Vanessa even before the vampires appeared. How much did Doc’s sister know about these experiments? And speaking of Doc: compared to Flesh, she isn’t taking being human again well. Her interactions with Axel especially are tense and abrupt, and she may be missing the need for blood, gauging from her reaction to her own blood last episode. There’s plenty more of Doc’s story to come this season.