Helix Season 2 Episode 2 Recap: Were The CDC, We Dont Run

It's Day 2 on St Germaine. Alan thinks back to how he found the island. He beat up/killed some Ilarians for a thumb drive with the info. Remember back when you used to be a pacifist at the early days of Arctic Biosystems? How things change. Sarah sees Alan out the window. Uh oh, this is going to be an awkward "reunion" (which is episode 2's title).

Not A Cult

Brother Michael is doing on his daily cult sermon on "just being". Later he and sister Anne discuss the newcomers. She wants to give them the heave ho ASAP. Anne says all these women (pointing to the paintings/photos on the wall behind her) knew what they had to protect. They are her mother, grandmother etc all the way back to the beginning.

A boy (Soren) enters the chapel looking for his mother. He then attacks her. Yep he's got the TXM-7 virus. Michael and Sister Ann meet with the CDC team. Michael asks for their help in stopping the virus. I'm not at all sure he's not the one that created it in the first place.

Over in the alternate timeline (day 10952), Julia and Caleb dig up Alan's grave. Upon closer inspection, the skull is not Alan's. The mysterious deepens.

Peter and Kyle find one of the infected (Issac) in the basement. He charges towards Peter who has flashbacks of the vectors at Arctic Biosystems. Peter just stands there frozen. Kyle jumps Issac but he gets away. Next they meet up with Sarah. She asks why a cult needs a botany lab. She tells Peter about Alan. His brother has been discredited by the CDC and has open international arrest warrants. They are to have no contact with Alan whatsoever.

Michael and Alan (ie Brother Jerome) have a private chat. Michael is a geneticist. He's been making new varieties of plants. Is Michael an immortal too? It sounds like he knew Charles Darwin.

What Are These Sisters Really Up To?

Soren has fully recovered from the virus (except that he cant remember attacking his mother). The team tries to figure out where he and Issac contracted it. There are some 30 children on the island. There are a few new people but many have been there for generations. When asked if Issac and Soren were even alone, the answer is an adamant "no". Sister Amy tries to get naked with Kyle. She asks him to "be her path". She kisses him and then leaves. Dude, you work for the CDC and are tracking a deadly virus. Why would you let a possible contaminated woman kiss you?

No One Will Recognize Me In This Beard And Mustache

Sarah speaks with Alan. They pretend they dont know each other in front of Sister Agnes (who is Amy's grandmother). Alan tells Sarah to get Peter and Kyle and leave immediately. Alan must stay because he's on a very important mission. And we learn finally what happened to Sarah's baby. The injection of Julia's spinal fluid to stop her tumor made Sarah immortal. This also means that the baby inside her stopped growing at that point. She has been pregnant for 15 months. She's not happy about 15 months of morning sickness and nose bleeds. That's rough.

Poor Sarah! Abandoned By A Man Who Knocked Her Up For All Eternity.

Brother Landry wakes Soren. He takes him outside the wall at night (under the guise of meeting his mom). One of the infected creatures takes the boy (and I assume eats him).

30 years later, Julia finds some carvings on a hip bone. She also tells Caleb she's dying (I think of cancer). Julia needs answers and she needs them now. The drawing is a map of the island. Caleb reluctantly takes Julia to the area on the map she insists on visiting. He will take her to the river and no father. He is afraid of whatever is there. Along the way Julia finds a child's skeleton. Is it Soren's?

What Are The Odds Of Everyone On This Show Being Related?

Theory time: Do you think Caleb is Alan and Sarah's son? If so what causes the fetus to finally grown inside Sarah's body? And did it kill her in the process (since I assume her brain tumor started growing again too)?

Favorite Quotes:

Caleb: "The dead should rest". Julia: "He's rested enough. It's time to get back to work."
"We surrendered ourselves to a simple life. And by the loss of the self, we become truly individuals. We are free to simply be."- Brother Michael to the cult members.
"This place is riddled of underground tunnels."- Kyle.
"Why would Ilaria be interested in some crackpot isolationist cult? And why would my brother be investigating them?"- Peter to Sarah.
"Nothing is random Jerome...there is not a random atom to be found anywhere in the known universe." Alan: "So everything has a reason?" Michael: "No Jerome everything has a purpose." That Michael is a stickler for precise vocabulary.
"We're the CDC. We dont run."- Peter to Sarah.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). I'm still not sure what I think of the show's changes but there's enough interesting developments to keep me coming back (so far).