review of Helix 2.1 

Helix 2.1.  Last season had some good moments, but was by and large a mixed of bag of missed opportunities and implausible gambits.   Still, the first season of Helix had something, which is why I watched the beginning of the second.  And that first episode was excellent indeed, in many ways a whole new and much better science fiction series.

Harkening back to the first season, we finally get to see Peter Farragut in an hour of his own as a team leader.   Alan is barely on hand, except at the end, in a nicely unexpected reveal.

Which gets to the best part of this second season of Helix so far.  We\'re treated to not only one story, but two, in the same place, literally, but 30 years apart in time.   We first find this out in a great little scene in which a rabbit carcass turns into a dusty skeleton right before our eyes.

The Arctic environment of the first season has mercifully given way to a lush environment on the fictional island of St. Germaine off the West Coast, not too far from Seattle.  This island is apparently the source of a deadly new pathogen - not the NARVIK - which has at very least killed a shipload of people, and maybe/likely many more on the island, if the massive number of human skeletons found in the woods is any indication.   Peter - with Julia and a wise-cracking (which is to say, welcome) new addition, Dr. Kyle Sommer - get to the island to investigate.

The island has a cult - the really only trite part of this otherwise strong episode (a little too close to Lost) - but it\'s led by Brother Michael, played by Steven Weber, another fine addition to the cast. Julia\'s on hand - but thirty years in the future, and, in another significant twist, apparently no longer immortal - and the viral-hunting game, across a 30-year tableau, is on.

The second season of Helix is off to a creative, promising start, and I\'m looking forward to more.

See also Helix 1.1-1.3: Zombies with Biology ... Helix 1.4: Cold DNA ...Helix 1.5: In the White Room ... Helix 1.6: Good New Clues, Nutcracker Not Sweet ... Helix 1.7: Bright Eyes ... Helix 1.8: Glacial Speed ... Helix 1.9: Brass Tacks ... Helix 1.10: The Curse of Immortality ...Helix 1.11: Spiral Narrative ... Helix 1.12: 500 Years ... Helix Season 1 Finale: A Better Clime

Labels: Helix, Lost, Steven Weber, television

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

Chronicle of Higher Education puts Paul Levinson in Top 10 (#7) of Academic "High Flyers" on Twitter ... Online University Data puts PL in "Top 50 Online University Professors on Twitter Worth Following"...

Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren\'s fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom

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Paul Levinson appears on "The O\'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline" (ABC), the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "The Dylan Ratigan Show" (MSNBC) and frequently on NPR and all-news radio...