TV Review: Helix Season 1

Just finished watching season 1 of Helix — all 13 episodes in under a week. It definitely had me intrigued, and kept me guessing! Just when I thought I knew what the show was about, something changed and I once again had no clue.

Which makes it hard to leave a review!

Let me start by saying that at the end of season 1 I feel slightly more confused than intrigued. There is just so much going on that I don’t know which way to turn! I do plan to continue watching season 2, but I’d rate season 1 as a weak 4 stars (rounded up largely because I do intend to keep going).

The setup: A team of CDC doctors and scientists get called to an arctic research facility to handle an outbreak of some new contagious disease. The setup is very good, actually. The pilot introduced a strong central problem as well as some secondary character issues that either helped or hurt the overall plot — I’m still not sure! The team lead was once married to one of the women on the team who slept with his brother who happens to be sick with the virus. Plus, the young hot brilliant fresh-from-the-schoolroom chick has a crush on the main guy.

Follow me so far? Great. Because there’s more. Everyone’s hiding something, and some people are hiding more than one thing.

My first impression of what this show would be is the story of the start of a bio-engineered disease gone wrong. You know, BEFORE it escapes the lab rather than after, with the obligatory shot of dead scientists slumped over coffee mugs. And I guess that’s sort of what it was, but there were a lot of distractions. I kind of wished this series would have had half the number of episodes, as some of them felt unnecessary and created the need for the main CDC doctor to do some stupid things (theoretically because it was his brother who was infected). If he hadn’t spent quite so much time putting his own personal interests ahead of the good of the human race, things might have gone better. Or maybe not, but it would have taken less time. 🙂

At any rate, I tentatively recommend this if you’re looking for a new science fiction show. But be prepared to leave season 1 feeling like you know less than you did when you started it!

Posted in Movie and TV Reviews.