Helix - O Brave New World (Season Finale) - Review: "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"

Review Guide:
Episode 2.01 San Jose - Advanced Preview & Review
Episode 2.02 Reunion - Review
Episode 2.03 Scion - Review
Episode 2.04 Densho - Review
Episode 2.05 Oubliette - Review
Episode 2.06 M. Domestica - Review
Episode 2.07 Cross Pollination - Review
Episode 2.08 Vade In Pace - Advance Preview & Review
Episode 2.09 Ectogenesis - Review
Episode 2.10 Mother - Review
Episode 2.11 Plan B - Review
Episode 2.12 The Ascendant - Review
Episode 2.13 O Brave New World (Season Finale) - Review

Helix - O Brave New World (Season Finale) - Review

Last week in the penultimate episode of Helix, Sarah and Kyle planned to leave the island but were hunted by the cult now run by Brother Eli, formerly known as Peter. Peter and Anne shared an intimate shower scene, and Julia and Alan found the mother roots under the Abbey which led to more devastating events as both pulled a gun on each other.

"I wish I could see Alan one more time" Julia

Julia's story came to an end, or so we are led to believe in the future when she refuses to accept the cure that will save her life. The cure happens to be Caleb, his blood specifically. Julia whose sole purpose was to find Alan didn't complete her mission, and the entire future storyline didn't wrap up as nicely as I had imagined. I did expect to see Alan somewhere on the island and for her to find him, but I guess the writers didn't have time to fit everything in.

Having said that, the future timeline did play a key part this episode. We finally, after weeks of guessing, learned who Caleb was, he was Soren. This wasn't only shocking, but it was unexpected. Out of everyone I had pictured to be Caleb, from Sarah's child to Anne and Peter's the thought never crossed my mind that he could be Soren. It was truly shocking, but at least we now know who he is.

Something else we found out during the finale was the meaning behind "Do you know the way to San Jose." After weeks of speculating whether it was something relating to the island, the immortals or the virus it was something so very simple. It was a wedding story about how Julia and Alan got married.

"We were running late going up north to where Alan's family was, we blew a tire on the 101. The car swerved across four lanes of traffic, we got it towed to a repair shop in San Jose. City hall was just down the street and in the time it took to patch a tire, we got married and I'll never forget what he said; your love is going to kill me."

I was pleased to get a little backstory on Julia and Alan's relationship, whilst I still want to know more about them like how they met, it was nice to learn of how they got married. I didn't expect the meaning to "San Jose" to be a story though, but I imagine Alan told Soren (Caleb) to ask that to any strangers that came looking for him, trying to distinguish Julia from others and give her the cure to the virus killing immortals. They both loved her so I'm not surprised they wanted to save her, but I'm still wondering why Alan wasn't there in person. What happened to him, why didn't he stay with the cure (Soren)? The only thing I can think of is that he killed himself after creating TXM7 with Hatake as he probably couldn't stand being something he has been against for a long time (Immortals).

Speaking of TXM7, that was another shock. I had guessed earlier in the season that Hatake had some involvement with a virus, but after him being killed off I didn't think it was still probable. It turns out he and Alan teamed up to create a virus that could target immortals, and they also manufactured a cure as well. Ilaria managed to use the fungus to gain control of human procreation which is when Alan decided to enlist Hatake's help in taking out immortals once and for all. It did work, and nearly all the immortals are dead. Soren, who is the cure, was taken back to the island by Alan so he could stay out of harm’s way. This kind of explains why Hatake came to the island as well. If he was mainland he would have been infected with the virus so decided to seek refuge on the island with the cure. (Soren) Hatake did start to lose it a little which is what we were seeing in episode 4, but that could have been a side effect of the virus, maybe it managed to eventually spread to the island and infected him, but then surely Soren would have helped him, unless something happened between them two that made Soren not want to cure him.

"Family is not blood, but who you choose." Peter

Whilst a lot happened in the future storyline, the present one wrapped itself up nicely, but did still contain a few loose ends that I can only hope will be answered in Season 3, if we get one.

Peter managed to escape any real justice in the finale, I was hoping someone would end his reign, but sadly he got off the island with Anne and the baby who he now claims is his. Both Anne and Peter deserved cruel deaths after what they put everyone through, and it felt such an injustice watching them sit calmly in a hospital room. Peter did get taken away by who I believe was the FBI, but he's only going to jail, and knowing Peter he will escape or have some sort of deal arranged for him. Peter also brought the mother roots of the island, and handed them over to Ilaria, which doing so makes Alan and Hatake later on create a virus to stop immortals because of Ilaria's control over procreation. All these events piece together and create a scenario that seems believable.

Elsewhere, everyone who was a main character, except Landry and Amy, made it off the island alive. Alan, who was in terrible condition after suffering a gunshot wound and a beating from Peter is hospitalized. Alan is given immortality by someone. I'm quite sure that someone is Sarah. This scene in particular and her receiving news from the doctor can be interpreted in different ways. Sarah might have given immortality to Alan to save his life after finding out he was either, placed in a coma by the doctors to try to save him or just went into a coma state after his injuries were too severe. She might have not wanted to take the chance of him not waking up so decided to act and give him immortality to make sure he was certain to survive.

 The other possibility is that she received news from the doctor that they couldn't help, therefore save the baby, because they didn't have the knowledge or capabilities to help a baby as unique as her's. Sarah then might have wanted to save Alan as she couldn't bare loosing someone else or did it to try to prevent him from hunting immortals any further, as if he wanted to stop immortals for good now that would possibly mean killing himself. She locked herself in with Alan so all signs point towards her whatever the outcome of the news was.

I said in a previous review "I wonder who else will become immortal by the end of the season" I've found the whole becoming immortal thing a slight joke as now three core cast are immortals. That can though be seen as a good thing since they can remain on the show for a long time, I just don't like how everyone seems to be getting immortality. Immortals were meant to be a huge threat, but it doesn't seem fitting now that the three CDC members are immortal and two of them have joined them.

Helix ended its season on yet another cliffhanger, this time revolving around Sarah. Sarah, who agreed to join Ilaria in exchange for safe passage of the island for her and her now dead son. I'm not too sure what to make of what was happening, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but Sarah now has her own gestation lab in 2029. She runs a fertility program of sorts for Ilaria. Ilaria is now trying to become the "Savours of humanity" by helping women become pregnant? They now really control the human population which is what they wanted, so they come out as big winners from everything that's happened, which is not the outcome I had hoped. I'm sure if we get a Season 3 the show will look at this new facility as much as possible, but for now we can only speculate as to what's happened to everyone and what exactly is going on with Ilaria.

Questions left Unanswered: (If You know the answer to them please let me know)

1. What happened to Alan in the future timeline?
2. What Happened to everyone? Where did everyone go after the hospital?
3. How is Soren's blood so special?
4. What's in the safety deposit box?
5. Is Amy dead? (We never saw her die)
6. How do the pictures get onto the picture wall so quickly?
7. How did Julia know to look for Alan on the island in the future after they left together in the present?
8. Where did Caleb go with Hatake's sword? (When he left Julia in the middle of the night)
9. Julia came to the island and needed Michael's help, why? If Ilaria already had mother then what was his purpose?
10. What's going on with that facility? (I have too many questions about it to list here)

Summary
Helix came to a stunning conclusion last night in what was one of the shows best ever episodes. The finale easily topped Season 1's by a long mile, it was such a good finale jammed with content that I would call it one of my favorite finale's ever. The finale wrapped up a few key parts of Season 2, but also left a few things open for us to speculate. The finale also ended on a cliffhanger without showing us what happened to all the characters, except for Sarah.

Also, the actors over the season have been phenomenal whether it's the supporting or main cast, they have taken their acting to another level, and have provided some of the best performances throughout the season that I've seen from any show, and each of them from Billy Campbell to Neil Napier deserve to be applauded for their fine work on the show. Overall, this season has been fantastic, full of surprising twists and turns, and some major jaw dropping moments that have left me with my jaw firmly on the ground. If this is the last ever Helix episode then it's been a wild ride, but let's hope not as Helix is SYFY's most creative series they have to offer.


Thank you to everyone who has been reading my reviews, it's been very enjoyable, let's hope we can do this again in Season 3!

As always, thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of "O Brave New World"

About the Author - Robert Fruin

Robert is a sixth form student from the United Kingdom, who is currently studying IT, Media and Business Studies. Robert is a huge fan of the ended ABC series LOST, he has seen it many times over and has even visited some of the filming locations for it. Robert mainly watches drama series such as Game Of Thrones and Person of Interest, but has a soft spot for the comedy The Middle. Some other shows he watches are Grey's Anatomy, The Walking Dead and The 100. Some other interests include Cycling, Kayaking and Photography.Robert is currently reviewing Aquarius, Black Sails, Helix, Intruders and Z Nation. Feel free to connect with him on any of these social media sites.

Recent Reviews (All Reviews)