Van Helsing Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Began Again

ThisVan Helsing review contains spoilers.

Van Helsing Flavour 2 Episode ane

"What's incorrect with hope?"

Never underestimate a mother in pursuit of her child. In one of the about poignant and frightening flavor-catastrophe cliffhangers, last year's finale of SyFy'due south Van Helsing finds Vanessa standing face up to face up with the daughter she's devoted every waking hour to finding amidst the anarchy raining down on the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, for Vanessa, as one journeying ends, another more arduous one begins.

"Began Again," the season two premiere of Neil LaBute and Simon Barry'south reimagining of the traditional vampire tale, opens with a brief yet necessary scene that reminds us the fight waged by Vanessa (Kelly Overton), Flesh, and Mohamad represents the human race's tenacity for survival even in the darkest of times. Of course, vampires can likely read and so the wisdom of sending out balloons with maps to a human rubber oasis can exist questioned, just more chiefly, the visual of this retreat nestled atop a scenic mountain pass presents a tangible goal for our hero to attain.

I of the most fascinating qualities of this series lies in the knowledge that while innumerable horrific acts routinely take place in the background, it'due south the relentless emotional horror Vanessa faces that provides the true drama. Finally reunited, Dylan (Hannah Cheramy) reminds her mother that she abased her, paving the way for Rebecca to presume the role of surrogate parent. The flavour ane fight scene featuring Vanessa and Rebecca remains one of my favorite encounters, and throughout its run, Van Helsing has deftly handled activeness sequences in a manner that we don't experience bombarded by the histrionics of the scene to the point that the deeper meaning is lost.

At that place's a lot going on in this reunion scene, not the least of which is that Vanessa's willing to literally fight Rebecca for the return of her daughter who'southward at present emotionally bonded with the vampire. Yet, fifty-fifty more important to the overall arc, Vanessa's physical transformation becomes apparent afterwards her introduction to the benefits of claret consumption. There'south a certain unmistakable verse that takes over when these two become toe to toe, and fifty-fifty though Vanessa begins the fight overmatched, she quickly adapts to her nascent power. Ironically, the bloodlust here is all Vanessa. But in that location's a lot of subtext to be considered, and as often happens in existent life, the child gets defenseless in the middle and reacts in a not totally unexpected way. Viewing the situation through Dylan's eyes, aye, Vanessa has a lot to atone for, but we know there's much more to the story.

From the outset it's been articulate that Vanessa's mythos deviates from the paradigm nosotros take of a vampire slayer, and while she continues on her hero'south journeying, to a big extent, she'due south forced to make things up as she goes along. Buffy Summers she's non. She has no guide, no mentor able to point her in the correct management, helping her recover from her mistakes. However, she's fueled by raw emotion, and when she literally tears out the throat of a vampire crossing her path, we're reminded that she will practice literally anything to get her daughter dorsum. Annihilation.

This unmarried-minded arroyo to do whatever it takes to rescue Dylan sits juxtaposed against Mohamad (Trezzo Mahoro) and his quest to excerpt his sister Sheema from The Citadel and the clutches of Rebecca and Dmitri. Like Vanessa, Mohamad has no ane to guide him and continues to commit 1 corrigendum afterwards some other, the worst of which is selling out Vanessa to Dmitri. Yet, despite his disloyalty, he doggedly follows her, and she invariably forgives him because in her heart of hearts, she knows he's not done anything she wouldn't have done. And so when we examine their relationship, in the aforementioned way Vanessa has reluctantly accustomed the fact that she may in fact be mankind'southward savior, she takes the young man under her wing. No matter how many times he disappoints her, she forgives him. Having heard Dylan rebuke her mother, we have to wonder whether Vanessa sees herself in Mohamad. And while at that place will eventually come a fourth dimension when the consequences of their deportment volition have to be reckoned with, Mohamad's insistence that his sister die a human being might be an insurmountable act.

Still, while some of the players accept changed, the quest remains the same – grab Dylan and endeavour to escape the madness. Whether or not information technology's a result of her new found taste for blood, Vanessa's grown much darker, more violent, and when she slits i of the vampire's throats and stands glaring with claret dripping out of her mouth, even we take to wonder what she'southward become. Showrunner Neil LaBute's script drops more hints that Vanessa's neither man nor vampire setting up peradventure the well-nigh compelling question of the serial. What is she, and what is her importance to Dmitri's plan for world domination?

Dmitri (Paul Johansson) reveals that he knew Vanessa's mother setting up the possibility that Vanessa'due south uniqueness derives from the fact that she may be some kind of human/vampire hybrid. There is precedence for the existence of the dhampir in Slavic folklore, simply this answer seems too straightforward. Genetically, we know she'south role of the Van Helsing family unit of vampire hunters, so to accept the jump that somewhere forth the line an illicit union occurred is well inside the realm of possibility. Nonetheless, coupled with the fact that Dmitri's doctor has been experimenting with Vanessa'due south blood and seems excited at the possibilities she brings to the vampire nation, the suggestion that she may be the get-go of her kind seems a more than plausible explanation.

When we consider how many narrative details LaBute presents in this episode, it's remarkable how neatly he pieces them all together, and it's this willingness to think on such a grand scale that makes Van Helsing such a challenging and entertaining show to watch. On the one hand, Vanessa's fabricated significant progress since she's found her girl, and fifty-fifty though they've not truly been reunited, there is lite at the terminate of the tunnel. But she has yet another bulwark thrown up when the dr. tells her that if she tries to turn her daughter dorsum to the man state by biting her, Dylan will die because of the genetic tinkering he'south already conducted on the young girl. Now, of grade, he could exist lying, just she can't take that risk.

To a large extent, the encounters with Dylan grade the central focus of the episode, and director Michael Nankin'due south stunning visual presentation of her plight is positively soul crushing. We're absolutely stunned when we realize that the vicious ripping grown men apart so drinking their blood is Vanessa's preteen daughter, and like her female parent, we wonder what information technology is she's go. Afterwards, bathed in an eerie green calorie-free, the doctor finds her crouching in a corner, and when he throws her a pocketbook of blood with the hope he'll reunite her with Rebecca, her feral tendencies surface every bit she tears into his offering. Vanessa comes upon the ii now illuminated in red, only in one case again her girl slips through her fingers leading to the most emotionally charged scene of the evening as Vanessa literally tears through the steel door with her bare easily. Her newfound, superhuman strength now coincides with the darkness that continues to creep over her.

At some betoken nosotros have to consider how much Vanessa can possibly be expected to endure. She's committed unspeakable acts all in the name of finding her girl, and while most can be justified or at least understood, eventually she'll have to come to grips with the things she's done. And so when the doctor tells her that she's the "perfect synthesis of human and monster," nosotros know he'southward gone down a path from which there is no return. Just it's Dylan that makes a move hither. Does she bite him so that her mother tin kill him thus freeing her, or is this simply an beast reaction? Regardless, it'south offset to sink in that the beautiful child she once knew no longer exists, and now stands before her, blood staining her mouth and chin from her latest feeding.

And it'south hither that Vanessa utters perhaps the most important words she's spoken. Worried that with nightfall approaching, Mohamad warns her that they should withdraw and look for another opportunity to rescue Dylan. "Fuck the night," she tells him, but her words speak volumes beyond the literal. Has she resigned herself to the creature she instinctively recognizes she'southward go? How dark is she willing to become in her quest to save her girl?

While the mother/daughter reunion naturally occupies a significant amount of emotional infinite, it's like shooting fish in a barrel to forget that The Citadel and Dmitri are under a siege spearheaded by Taka (Ryan Robbins) and his resistance movement. But in any conflict of this magnitude, things are rarely as cutting and stale as they may appear. That Taka cuts a bargain with Rebecca (Laura Mennell) to bring downwards Dmitri speaks not only to his desperation just as well his naivete, and it's plumbing fixtures that the vampire leader literally and figuratively rips out his middle as Rebecca lies expressionless on the floor. Nevertheless, never underestimate the human race.

Despite the chaos raging all around, Van Helsing continues to focus on the intimate personal relationships of its characters and the anxiety and dread each feels as they simply effort to go far to the next twenty-four hour period. Has Sheema sold her soul in return for some peace of mind? Like her brother, she'due south just a child, just even Mohamad recognizes that eventually the two msut become their carve up ways since he's not virtually to make the same mistake twice. That he takes abroad her free will might be too much to overcome, but requite the immature man credit, he keeps going in the fight against a frightening alternative.

Often operating from the shadows, Flesh (Vincent Gale) remains one of the show's almost fascinating characters, and like Mohamad, refuses to exit Vanessa to fight Dmitri and his vampires alone. Similar Vanessa, he besides, struggles with his identity and what he's done leading up to the nowadays, but when he stands upwardly to Taka's insistence that Vanessa be killed during the attack, he draws ever closer to total redemption. The introduction of his new running mate, Lucky (Andrea Ware) signals us that Squad Vanessa is not expressionless quite yet; it simply needs to regroup. And that he introduces himself as Phil should not be overlooked; he knows who he is.

And if all of this isn't enough, Julius' ragtag team readies its own attack on Dmitri's fortress as the fight for command continues. Meanwhile, somewhere out there, Vanessa's protector and as much of a mentor as she's probable to ever accept, has merely climbed out of a sewer pipe similar Lazarus from the dead. But nosotros all know when Axel and Vanessa eventually find each other, it probable will non be as friends.

What makes "Began Again" and by extension Van Helsing so engaging remains its focus on the human being condition as the characters struggle with the terrible choices they've been forced to make. Yet nosotros should not overlook the plight of the vampires in this rapidly emerging new earth order, and that twist continues to drive the stories of Vanessa and those effectually her on both sides. While LaBute hasn't thrown a full blown prototype shift at viewers, he has withal begun painting a globe in which good and evil have get difficult to distinguish from one another. What more than could we ask for?