"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Helix 2.2: 15 Months Pregnant

Helix continued its second season in episode 2.2 last night, on a higher, better plane than the first season.  I guess I like lush islands better than forbidding Arctic tundra.  But the story this year is also more creative.

For example, we learn near the end of the episode that Sarah is 15-months pregnant with Alan's baby. We've seen alien-human hybrids on all kinds of televisions series before - such as V - but in the context of Helix, and the partial transformation of Sarah into a more healthy human, her being with child is especially pregnant with possibilities.

The parallel narrative across 30 years continues to work well, with buildings decaying and regenerating in quick time on the screen.   I wasn't at all surprised that Alan wasn't buried in the grave with his name - he's too important a character to waste - and this raises the question of where he is 30 years from now.

A meeting between Caleb, Julia, and Alan in the future is bound to happen sooner or later, and raises the question of who is Caleb?  Is he connected to someone we've already seen in 2015?  My best guesses at this point would be he's Sarah's baby or maybe the boy who was sick and recovered in 2015.  I didn't get the boy's name, but even if it wasn't Caleb, he could always have changed his name.

The cultish part of the story on the island is the least impressive, so far.   At best, it's a warmed-over take on Lost, as I mentioned last week, and in any case it's nothing we haven't seen before, for example, also in Revolution.   But the differences in the various people in the cult have potential, and it will be fun to see where that develops.

It occurred to me last night that a story about a plague should have special relevance these days, given the Ebola outbreak that gripped much of our news this past Fall.   For that reason alone, Helix should be situated to really take off.




all kinds of epidemics in this trilogy

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