"Helix" Heats Up in "The White Room:" A Television Review

Director: Duane Clark.

Writers: Cameron Porsandeh, Ronald D. Moore and Misha Green.

Cast: Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky and Mark Ghanimé.

The SyFy Channel continues its sci-fi and horror series "Helix" with "The White Room." This fourty minute episode brought more intrigue as the villains continue to hide behind lies and misdirections. A research team also continues to be distracted as an infection riddles a remote science station. The pacing in this episode was a little more up-tempo and there were several more plot points explored here. "The White Room" was one of the better episodes for the series and horror elements were more present in Epis. 5.

This showing began with the torching of a group of frozen monkeys. Events continued into the realm of strangeness, with the character and station director Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada) wounding himself. Why is he so anxious to hurt himself, when so many other dangers abound? This question is not answered, but more questions were created. Why would Sarah (Jordan Hayes) harbour one of the infected? This sideplot was also bizarre. The infected continue to make inroads to the remaining healthy individuals. Meanwhile, Dr. Farragut (Billy Campbell) has discovered Doreen's (Catherine Lemieux) murderer - Major Balleseros (Mark Ghanimé). And, Peter showed some signs of life from his hospital bed. Many minor plot points were developed here and this episode seemed to find some much needed afterburners.

Sarah likes morphine more than research

Hatake continues to be one of the most interesting characters on the show. He reveals very little about himself. What he does reveal is often a lie. In this episode, he tagged around with Julia (Kyra Zagorsky) on Level R. His self-inflicted stab wound was fixed and he had time to show some burn scars. He also talked about his daughter and a fire in Japan. But, what is true? He is like a wolf in sheep's clothing and he is sure to strike the unwary, soon.

The character Sarah continued with one of the show's weaker sideplots. Sarah is nursing an infected person in her small room. Together, they tell sad stories and act bizarrely. The infected person, Rae, dances in the halls for illusionary boyfriends, while Sarah shoots up with morphine. An infection is ravaging the station. But, these two are content to languish in a small room. Finally, Sarah euthanizes Rae, but only after being threatened by infection herself. Sarah needs to find a darker side, if she wants to survive the dangers of this locale.

"The White Room" was one of the more exciting episodes of the season. There were several storylines developed. From retrieved frozen heads to solving Doreen's murder, there were plenty of plot reveals. The character Belleseros revealed his true murderous nature and he continues to fill the research station with more and more lies. It was nice to see Belleseros receive some of his just desserts, in the chilly clime. A frozen death for this character would suit this viewer. Though, this watcher has one critique. Are none of the dozens of doctors on the station interested in finding a cure for the infection? Most of the doctors are infected, but only one is actively looking for a cure. And, that one doctor only looks through a microscope here and there, while sidetracked with Farragut's search and rescue mission. There are some credibility issues in this series; though, the chaos, which is developing, is often entertaining.

"The White Room" brought a few more thrills, compared to earlier episodes. There were a few more horror elements here, as well. Horror elements included: shadows in the hall, a severed head in a canister, and villains getting closer to the research team. Several sideplots were developed amongst the characters and much of this episode offered a frenetic pace. Just when this viewer was getting set to abandon the show, this watcher is now getting drawn back in to all of the conflicts.

Overall: 7.75 out of 10 (the Mjr. is finally revealed, the cliffhanger was no real surprise, a few characters are not acting rationally).

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"Helix" at SyFy


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