There are some TV shows out there that you wish were simply
miniseries instead. By the end of the pilot you question whether or not a show
of that kind, with the narrative they have established, could sustain the
typical US network series length of around twenty two episodes before it gets
super boring and stale. Helix is one of those shows.
Helix, produced by Battlestar Galactica’s Ron D. Moore,
tells the story of Alan, (Billy Campbell) a CDC genius virologist who travels
to a remote research base to investigate an outbreak in the Arctic with his
team, with his assistant Sarah (Jordan Hayes), his ex-wife Jules (Kyra
Zagorsky), a sassy biologist (Catherine Lemieux)
and a (seemingly) boring army mechanic (Mark Ghanime). At the base he runs into
Captain Kaneda/Shingen Yashida (Hiroyuki Sanada) who runs the base as well as his
estranged brother Peter (Neil Napier) who is one of the first infected with the
mysterious and deadly disease.
The show is in the genre of horror and sci fi, and handles
these science fiction elements well. It visually draws its visuals and ideas from
things like Resident Evil, The Thing, Fringe and Alien (and if Campbell kept his
beard he’s look like Captain Dallas). There’s something refreshing about a cast
made up of trained professionals, 90% of which are doctors and leaders in their
field. The base itself is outside the scientific regulations of most countries
and the multinational group of scientists can play around with the laws of
nature to their heart's content. And of course there’s all kinds of secret
corporate travesties hiding in secret labs waiting to be unleashed. It’s an
interesting starting point for science fiction shenanigans.
There is a wonderful freakiness conceit that I like, where
they play pleasant elevator music while something messed up is going on
visually. It’s my wish that the freakiness, the violence and the depravity be
accelerated ten fold (within the bounds of network television) so that the
juxtaposition can be that much stronger, but perhaps that opinion is based on
my love of American Horror Story and how amazing that show looks and how well
they use music there.
I apprecitate this stylistic conceit as it speaks to a
certain attitude of the creators whilst also helping to establish a greater
sense of location to proceedings. The vibe they’re trying to establish is one
of normality and calm in the face of horror, which speaks to the attitude of
the people who work at the base (Peter included) who have to soldier on despite
what they know is really going on.
While I applaud those choices I cannot say the same for the
visual representation of the base. It should be, for all intents and purposes,
another character of the show, and should be very distinctive in its form and function.
The outside of the base looks interesting, what looks to be a buried
radar-dish-looking structure. There is a central elevator that we see, the
window of which gives a sense of the size and depth of the structure, and there
is this one hallway that has occasional wood panelling. But that's about it.
The rest is all hallways and labs, shot in a blue
filter. Labs look like labs look like labs, and hallways and air-ducts look
like hallways and air-ducts. As they are underground for a majority of it the
geography of the base is difficult to map out in one’s head, making the base
seem much less visually distinctive as it should be. There is also a theme of escape that's present in the narrative and the base and location simply don't seem that inescapable or claustrophobic as it should be.
The characters aren’t given much to make them seem
distinctive either. Like with most modern genre shows there are typical
conflicts and mysteries set up with everyone involved, but the characters do
very little to act on those feelings within the framework of these
first two episodes.
For example, the lead
Alan has to deal with his ex-wife, who became his ex-wife after she was caught
sleeping with his brother. He’s become estranged from both it seems up until
this mission, but you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it. The decision to act
should have been far harder a choice for him, as should be the decision to put aside his baggage and care for his
brother. On the surface it seems everything is ok with him, really, which
doesn’t feel natural.
His ex-wife should have been drawn a certain way, more impulsive
and young and brash, his brother should have been portrayed as someone who is
competitive and a real arsehole. It takes a certain kind of prick to fuck his
brother’s wife, and on the show Napier’s character looks like someone’s dad (though thats not the case on his IMDB). It seems like we should all
question whether or not he’s worth saving from Alan’s POV, which would give
weight to his decision to help, but their relationship is under written. They set up potential there for
some heavy drama and family conflict but with these first two episodes there’s
not much.
And because Allen used to be the Rocketeer, his lab
assistant of course is in love with him secretly. I wouldn’t blame her.
However, it is annoying to have young female characters solely motivated by
love or a crush. Its clichéd and should stop. There needs to be more female
characters who participate for their own reasons, not because a man is
involved. Speaking of clichés, Campbell’s character is a bit of a globetrotting
older wiser heroic adventurer type, though its understated. Shit, at least he
isn’t like Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character in The Burning Zone, who was a rock
and roll Cadillac driving virologist. Hey, it was the 90s.
Going back to what I said at the beginning, I wish this show
is more of a mini series and not a whole series: there are indications that
there are only so many places they can go with it. With these first two episodes
we have two incidences of infected people escaping, two instances of an
Aliens-esque air-duct crawl around. And while I will admit that I like the show
better than most, the potential for a monster-of-the-week format with the
horrors hidden in the base dosen’t sit well with me, unless all episodes deal
with viruses, then it would take some heavy duty writing to keep it fresh. They'll also need to tease out some of that emotional truth in the characters and do so honestly to keep me around. So we’ll
see where it goes.
***stars
No comments:
Post a Comment