Game of Thrones doesn’t start up until April 6, but Joffrey came early to Syfy last night. His Helix incarnation is a cruel, petulant, murderous Immortal who styles himself the Scythe. (He’ll kill you with a pissy look if you call him Spencer.) Though the relative scales of these shows are hardly comparable, Helix seems to be doing everything possible to at least achieve a GoT level of knotty familial love and betrayal.
Unlike that show, the future of Helix is far from guaranteed, and without the resources to stage its own Battle of the Blackwater, the show may be looking to these blood ties to hook the audience for next season in the absence of more spectacular (and expensive) attractions. Spencer was introduced as a supposedly cold-blooded assassin—though he doesn’t even show his weapons this time, and in fact we never saw any genuine scythe-play during last episode’s slaughter. (It makes you wonder how many centuries this actor has really devoted to his killing craft.). But before we’re ten minutes in, he’s been handed his mother’s death at the hands of Hatake as a spur to revenge. That tends to water down the whole secret-parent motif; next thing you know, Alan’s going to be Sarah’s dad, which … just no, this whole place is incestuous enough already.
The Ilaria Corporation’s very own Oldboy, the eternally snotty Spencer, spends a disturbing amount of time rewatching Connie’s death. In that light, his own cruelty seems sufficient explanation for the Sophie’s choice he forces on Hatake: pick Jules or Daniel to live, or they both die from the explosive collars he’s attached to them. Daniel’s been headed for this for some time with his love-hate for Hatake; when they have a solemn, heartfelt goodbye in the cabin, Daniel’s fate is sealed. But it’s still moving, and still shocking, when Daniel tears off his collar to sacrifice his life for Jules, especially as Hatake’s anguished reaction is the most emotionally naked moment we’ve had from him.
With renewal or cancellation approaching, Helix and its characters generally seem much preoccupied by the implications of immortality. Sarah relishes the chance to accomplish not just something, but everything, she’s dreamed of in science. Jules, having lived with living forever a bit longer, sees the downside: the loss of loved ones, the need to hide from a fearful public. Hatake has been slaving since 1501 to bring this gift to humanity and still seems to believe it’s the right thing, but Alan points out Connie, and especially Gunnar, didn’t enjoy it much in the end (and it did indeed end).
Regular mortality—in the form of Jules’ aging mother, boxed and brought to the lab as a last trump by Ilaria—may have the more enduring pull. The showdown between the company’s immortal army and the survivors at the lab may or may not go off as spectacularly as portended. But we’re invested in the drama of Jules and Hatake, if somewhat less so in that of Alan, Sarah and Peter (and a lot less so when it comes to Anana and Sergio). Until Helix gets an HBO budget, we’ll just have to imagine dragons and witness more intimate, gut-wrenching forms of revenge.
Andrew Westney is a Charlotte-based (and New York-bound) writer and journalist currently reviewing Helix for Paste. You can (and should!) follow him on Twitter.