Season 2: Blood, Gore, We Want Some More!

[Bort]

Season 2 begins October 5th.

[bluvelvet]

Anyone watch the premiere 

[Philbert]

On 10/9/2017 at 10:46 AM, bluvelvet said:

Anyone watch the premiere 

Yeah I did. I thought it was okay. It was certainly eventful. I counted no fewer than 4-5 reoccurring characters from season one who got bumped off in the opening. That's not to mention the gruesome demise of those resistance fighters in the elevator.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Philbert

[FishyJoe]

I'm really disliking Vanessa. It's like she doesn't care how many people die to save her daughter. She doesn't seem to give a damn about anyone else.

[Bort]

I only was just able to watch the premiere, I realized I hadn't finished last season. Thankfully, the show is on Netflix, so I polished off the last two episodes I missed and am now good to go.

Great, now Vanessa is going to take the word of that lying doctor who lies and not try and turn Dylan back to human because the doc said it would kill her. Bet she'd be fine.

But yeah, that was quite a bloodbath, though with this show, killing off characters is par for the course.

The Rebecca/Vanessa fight was pretty awesome. Sorry to see Rebecca go, I liked her as an antagonist more than the ambiguously accented Dimitri and Anastasia, who still live to suck another day. 

[Philbert]

3 hours ago, FishyJoe said:

I'm really disliking Vanessa. It's like she doesn't care how many people die to save her daughter. She doesn't seem to give a damn about anyone else.

As been mentioned elsewhere, Vanessa is probably the least interesting character on this show. On the other hand, I continue to think Phil is one of the better people in this crap sack world.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Philbert

[snowwhyte]

I was hoping this show might have improved from it's first season but it really hasn't. Vanessa finally finds her daughter but naturally she's a vampire and is as annoying her mother. I was hoping that they would just kill her off but no such luck.

I cannot take the vampires on this show seriously. They are the worst part of the show for me. I can hardly stand to watch them.

The first season wasn't good but it showed potentially as the group started forming and interacting and i found some of the characters watchable if not likeable but now there are just no characters left that i care about except maybe Phil. I don't think i can keep watching for him though.

[Philbert]

I think the second episode was far, far better than the season opener.  Axel was one of my favorite characters from season one and he's just as fun as a vampire. It's also good seeing Doc back and desperately trying to make up for her previous cowardice. And of course.....spoiler (which was already given away by the season previews)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julius is human again. That is going to be fun.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Philbert

[snowwhyte]

Axel's back? I might try one more episode then. 

[Philbert]

5 hours ago, snowwhyte said:

Axel's back? I might try one more episode then. 

 

Oh big time and if you thought he was fun as a human, he's an absolute scream as a vampire. His scenes with Doc were totally golden. Callie is back too, believe it or not. We also have some new characters and factions (because so many of the old ones were killed off in the premiere). I was actually fairly impressed with the storytelling last night. No, it's not Game of Thrones (it's not even Z Nation) but it's improving.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Philbert

[snowwhyte]

I watched it and it was much better than the first episode. Part of the reason i was not enjoying the show was because they killed off the more interesting characters and we were left with Vanessa who i find the most annoying. I enjoy this show more with minimal Vanessa and we have five of the original group members wandering around trying to reconnect. I'm glad Axel is back and i thought Doc deserved his treatment of her. If you're trying to make up for your behavior don't intimidate a little girl into keeping your secret and stop whining about having to help the guy you abandoned to become a vampire.

[CaptainTightpants]

9 hours ago, snowwhyte said:

Axel's back? I might try one more episode then. 

Me too! I watched the first episode and it was so awful that I was losing respect for myself for even having it on. Vanessa is literally too stupid to live. When she called Mohamad an idiot I almost yelled at the tv, because he was the shining intellectual light of the premiere. Let that sink in! 

But if Axel is skulking around I will give it a try. I hope he kicks Doc's ass!

Edited October 14, 2017 by CaptainTightpants

[CaptainTightpants]

Well the second episode is certainly better that the first. And it has the charm of being shot with enough light to actually see what is going on and who is talking. 

 

Vanessa is still mind bogglingly stupid. I had a brief hope that we had got rid of both of them when Dylan cut her mother's throat and then ran into Julius. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the stupid train will keep chugging along and that the tween vampire will still be alive next week. The pair of them are embarrasinly bad actors. I am actually feeling sorry for the actor playing Julius, he will probably have all his scenes with them next week. 

Interesting addition of the samurai-ninja though. And currently not clear if it is a human, or a vampire who is like Axel and is able to retain some human reasoning. 

I'm super glad to see Axel's return! And Doc has in no way redeemed herself yet in my opinion. I'm glad that she mentioned that she remebered him feeding her everyday while she was a vampire. Because with her generally being a failure of humanity you would think she has forgotten all the times he saved her life. 

 

I do hope Mohamad pulls through, improbably I've actually come to like his deceitful ass.

So im still on the fence with this show, but I'm glad I gave it another shot after that awful premiere! Thanks Philbert for your comments, I don't think I would have watched another episode without the  recommendation. 

Edited October 13, 2017 by CaptainTightpants

[snowwhyte]

13 minutes ago, CaptainTightpants said:

Well the second episode is certainly better that the first. And it has the charm of being shot with enough light to actually see what is going on and who is talking. 

Interesting addition of the samurai-ninja though. And currently not clear if it is a human, or a vampire who is like Axel and is able to retain some human reasoning. 

I'm super glad to see Axel's return! And Doc has in no way redeemed herself yet in my opinion. I'm glad that she mentioned that she remebered him feeding her everyday while she was a vampire. Because with her generally being a failure of humanity you would think she has forgotten all the times he saved her life. 

 

I do hope Mohamad pulls through, improbably I've actually come to like his deceitful ass.

I like Mohammed still. He was one of my favourites last season and I thought it was harsh that he betrayed Vanessa but well it is Vanessa so I can forgive him. I can't forgive Doc though. She does seem to feel some guilt about what she did but I haven't seen any sign that she has changed. Helping the rebels was just a way of alleviating her guilt and she's still acting like she's the victim. 

[CaptainTightpants]

On 10/11/2017 at 0:00 AM, Philbert said:

On the other hand, I continue to think Phil is one of the better people in this crap sack world.

Phil and Mohamad together are pretty awesome. Now that Mohamad isn't being blackmailed with his sister's safety I think he can me relied on. Add Axel and all the smart people will be in one place!

 

30 minutes ago, snowwhyte said:

she's still acting like she's the victim. 

You 100% hit the nail on the head with that one. As far as I can tell she is still the weak, cowardly, selfish crap-sack she was in season 1. They are going to need to do some massive redemption arc if they want to make her a bearable character. Still a better character than Vanessa though, and the actress is miles better with her performance. 

 

30 minutes ago, snowwhyte said:

I thought it was harsh that he betrayed Vanessa but well it is Vanessa so I can forgive him.

That legitimately made me laugh! I'm kinda holding out hope that they will find a way to just kill off Vanessa and her tiresome crotch-fruit. I usually hate children on TV, but this one is just the worst. Maybe they can dig up a long lost cousin or something to replace her as the titular Van Helsing. 

Edited October 14, 2017 by CaptainTightpants

[Philbert]

On 10/13/2017 at 7:23 PM, CaptainTightpants said:

 

So im still on the fence with this show, but I'm glad I gave it another shot after that awful premiere! Thanks Philbert for your comments, I don't think I would have watched another episode without the  recommendation. 

 

No problem. I actually didn't begin to enjoy this show at all until the middle of season one, and mostly because of Axel and the other side characters. I agree with everyone that the season 2 premiere was well lacking and going back over it, the same thing happened with season one. The series premiere felt like it was in the wrong order and didn't make any sense until the second episode, and let's face it, the show lagged pretty badly until the gang got out of the hospital in season one. I haven't dumped it for the same reason I stuck with Dark Matter. It got better over time...although Dark Matter didn't improve enough to avoid cancellation after season 3. Let's hope Van Helsing continues to improve and makes it to a third season. I think we all agree that Vanessa is the weakest character (and actor) in the series and that it's the supporting cast that's holding our interest. Time will tell if that's enough.

[Philbert]

On 10/13/2017 at 8:15 PM, CaptainTightpants said:

 

You 100% hit the nail on the head with that one. As far as I can tell she is still the weak, cowardly, selfish crap-sack she was in season 1. They are going to need to do some massive redemption arc if they want to make her a bearable character. Still a better character than Vanessa though, and the actress is miles better with her performance. 

 

In the show's defense, I don't think we're supposed to like Doc. She's weak willed and prone to cowardice and doesn't handle pressure very well. But I would imagine that describes a good chunk of the human population. After all, they're in the middle of the vampire apocalypse. Most people are already dead, and perhaps the majority of them were weak willed cowards. I think what makes her redeemable, and even interesting is she's not malicious or without guilt. I think she was genuinely trying to be a good person before Callie showed up. She's just really, really bad at it. I agree with you that the actress who plays Doc is much better than the one playing Vanessa.

Vanessa, on the other hand, you got me on that one. There are some shows where I really don't get the fanbase hatred of particular characters and their actors. Still trying to puzzle out the utter loathing for the character of Julia on "The Magicians" and her actress. Vanessa...I totally get the fan hate. I don't hate her myself because I'm giving the writers the benefit of the doubt that they're going somewhere interesting with her in the future (and we know they can write interesting secondary characters) but man, they need to step it up.

[MrPissyPuppy]

I find the scenes with Vanessa and her daughter are much improved if you imagine her calling the kid Cujo instead of Dylan.   The lead actress is very flat at least in this role; she was also in True Blood which I watched and she didn't do anything memorable for me there either.   And there's no humor in this series at all.   Still I may give it another episode or two for the supporting cast.  

[Philbert]

"I am Sam...Sam I am."

OMFG this episode was soooooo much better than the first two, although as I've mentioned I thought the second was considerably better than the season opener. See, show THIS is what we want from you. Loved the Julius backstory. I liked him as a vampire, really like him as a human. The opposite goes for Sam. I enjoyed him as just a human serial killer well enough but Vampire Serial killer Sam is made of win. The relationship he has with the new kid is very reminiscent of Mohammed but then again, it's supposed to be. Sam clearly has a 'type.' Speaking of Mohammed, yeah infected wounds suck....not as much as vampires but it's still pretty bad. Glad to see Phil got out in one piece. See this is the thing about Van Helsing. I don't really care about Vanessa or her (now truly deceased) daughter, although I actually saw a spark from the actress playing Vanessa tonight. It's the supporting cast I think most of us are tuning in to watch every week. Axel and the Doc are probably my favorite 'couple' on this show and they didn't disappoint either. This show is building a fairly complicated storyline with a lot of characters, and several competing groups of characters. That means the plot tends to develop slowly and sometimes it doesn't work well (as with the season opener) and sometimes it fires on all cylinders, as it did tonight.

8/10

[snowwhyte]

Yay, we got rid of Dylan. I'm really glad they didn't drag that out. I think this episode confirmed for me that Vanessa is definitely not the hero of this story. She is just the McGuffin that everyone is chasing.

She was so awful in this episode. The selfish obsession with Dylan went too far this week. She did seem to feel a bit of guilt about killing that guy and orphaning his kids but then a few hours later was having a snowball fight. When asked for her plans after supposedly getting her daughter back she didn't have any. She knows she can turn vampires human but focused on finding her daughter when she was missing. That was understandable. She honestly doesn't seem to care about trying to save humanity after reuniting with her daughter. With Dylan dead she might just turn full villain.

I couldn't remember if Sam had died last season. I wondered if he was the ninja since he saved Mohammed but i wasn't sure. I have residual issues from his role in Hell on Wheels where he just would not die so i wasn't sure if I wanted him to to return but the show needs a decent villain and I mostly find the other vampires laughable. I do feel sorry for his Mohammed replacement though.

[CaptainTightpants]

10 hours ago, Philbert said:

Vampire Serial killer Sam is made of win

Gold star to the show for bringing Christopher Heyerdahl back in all his all his creepy, rapey glory! He is by far the scariest villain on the show so far. And I really happy that they have given him his voice back. It really ratchets up the tension when he is quoting Dr. Seuss and killing people. 

 

2 hours ago, snowwhyte said:

Yay, we got rid of Dylan. I'm really glad they didn't drag that out. I think this episode confirmed for me that Vanessa is definitely not the hero of this story.

Killing off Dylan was like curing a headache! 

Vanessa= not a good person and not a smart person. I'm not finding anything to root for with her. She and Doc are very similar. Doc is more of a coward, but she and Vanessa are both utterly selfish. Vanessa didn't seem to feel any remorse for killing that guy until she realized that he had kids. Then she let the kids scream in a van for hours while the sun went down and did nothing. 

Therefore I am really hoping that she is not some kind of "hive queen" from the last scene with her screaming and everyone she has bitten reacting to it. Every single character on the show is more interesting (and better actors). I definitely don't need to see more of Vanessa, I was hoping they were going to focus more on the side characters this season.

Even though Axel and Doc were just walking through the woods it was more engaging than any of her scenes. That being said I really hope that they give Axel something to do soon except suffer and look awful. He is being wasted right now and it is a short season!

Somehow Mohamad has become the smartest and most practical person in this entire show (Axel is still my favorite but he is understandably not at his best right now). Treating infections with cocaine is rarely effective I would imagine, but I hope he pulls through. It would be a sad loss if he died at this point. It was probably more in service to the plot but I really couldn't believe that he had to tell Phil that sharing his secret was a bad idea. Phil has consistently been more cautious than that. I don't know why he didn't just tell them he had a communicable disease like Hepatitis or AIDS. They probably would have given him a pass on blood donation at that point. 

All in all a vastly improved episode so I have hope for the rest of the season. 

[Philbert]

4 hours ago, CaptainTightpants said:

 

Vanessa= not a good person and not a smart person. I'm not finding anything to root for with her. She and Doc are very similar. Doc is more of a coward, but she and Vanessa are both utterly selfish. 

 

 

The only defense I can come up with for Doc is at least she's aware of her selfishness and cowardice and is actively trying to be better. Yeah she's failing most of the time but she's trying at least. Vanessa...

Geez, what a self involved, clueless douchebagette of a character. I hope the writers realize how unappealing she is. Now it is just possible that they know exactly what are doing and are purposely writing her as a giant pain in the ass but if that's the case, they really needed to have cast a better actress.  Kelly Overton is just not selling it. Honestly they would have done better to give this part to Melanie Scrofano (of Wynonna Earp fame). She's at least got a truck load of charisma and can handle playing a deeply flawed character with a bit of class and empathy.

[snowwhyte]

6 hours ago, CaptainTightpants said:

Even though Axel and Doc were just walking through the woods it was more engaging than any of her scenes. That being said I really hope that they give Axel something to do soon except suffer and look awful. He is being wasted right now and it is a short season!

 

I am really hoping that Axel will find Vanessa and persuade her to redeem herself by forming a resistance group that turns vampires back into humans.  I don't think that's the direction the story is going though. If Vanessa wasn't interested in saving the world when she had a daughter who would be living in it i think she will be even less interested now.

[Bort]

Yeah, that was my worry about Vanessa, really. A Vanessa with nothing that she cares about and live for? She’s going to be a huge pill now, even more than before. 

[CaptainTightpants]

4 hours ago, Philbert said:

Doc is at least she's aware of her selfishness and cowardice and is actively trying to be better.

It does look like she is on a redemption arc. Which I am fully in support of since the actress can deliver her scenes. But she is definitely not there yet. She did some super shitty things and needs to atone before she can be in the scooby gang again. 

 

1 hour ago, snowwhyte said:

If Vanessa wasn't interested in saving the world when she had a daughter who would be living in it i think she will be even less interested now.

I'm assuming we are just going to dive into a few episodes of "no one has suffered like I have suffered" from Vanessa. Just thinking about it makes me sigh. 

 

4 hours ago, Philbert said:

 Kelly Overton is just not selling it.

She just doesn't have the chops to be lead. I'm not sure she could even carry her scenes as a sidekick honestly. When I think of someone like Krysten Ritter, who can play a total asshole that you can still root for, it makes me regret that they didn't try harder with the casting. 

 

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

Yeah, that was my worry about Vanessa, really. A Vanessa with nothing that she cares about and live for? She’s going to be a huge pill now, even more than before. 

This is basically my number one fear. I hope it doesn't eat up the whole season, because nobody cares. 

[Philbert]

23 minutes ago, CaptainTightpants said:

 

She just doesn't have the chops to be lead. I'm not sure she could even carry her scenes as a sidekick honestly. When I think of someone like Krysten Ritter, who can play a total asshole that you can still root for, it makes me regret that they didn't try harder with the casting. 

 

If it were up to me I'd cast Lena Headey, who absolutely nailed this type of character in "The Sarah Conner Chronicles" over a decade ago but I hear she's got another gig now :)

[rove4]

On ‎10‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 6:43 PM, Philbert said:

If it were up to me I'd cast Lena Headey, who absolutely nailed this type of character in "The Sarah Conner Chronicles" over a decade ago but I hear she's got another gig now :)

Oh no, you've reopened that old wound.  *sigh* I still miss TSCC.  :-(

I didn't realize this show was back.  I'll have to catch up, especially is Axel is back.

[Philbert]

36 minutes ago, rove4 said:

Oh no, you've reopened that old wound.  *sigh* I still miss TSCC.  :-(

I didn't realize this show was back.  I'll have to catch up, especially is Axel is back.

 

Sorry. Didn't mean to renew the pain but yeah, I'm still heartbroken over the cancellation of what was, at the time, one of the more intelligent sci-fi shows on television. And yes, Van Helsing is back and the fourth episode (of 13) will be on this Thursday. Axel is back and fun as ever. He just doesn't like the sunlight too much anymore :)

[millahnna]

Well shit.  I love this show.  I was so utterly shocked at not just Dylan's death but how quickly it happened.  I think Overton is killing it, so to speak.  Her rage just sort of erupting as the kid blew away to dust completely worked for me.  I'll be over here at my table for one. 

 

But I join you guys in desperately missing SCC.  If they'd cancelled that in season 1, I'd not have been so angry.  But they waited until all of that awesome shit Shirley Manson went down.

[snowwhyte]

I'd like to join in the Sarah Connor Chronicles love. I still miss that show.

Back to Van Helsing, this episode was rather creepy and gross with the human skin suits and tongue removal. I felt so sorry for Felix, the actor really made me feel his fear and desperation. The Vanessa Sam reunion should be good although I would rather see Mohammed's reaction to his replacement.

I'm not sure about the group of kids. I get where Vanessa is coming from with her doubts but like Julius I want to believe that there's nothing more ominous going on.

Julius is becoming one of my favorites. I like that he manages to retain some positivity. I don't understand how he does it after 80 years as a vampire but he's a good counterpoint to Vanessa.

[CaptainTightpants]

They certainly dived right into the gore this week and went really heavy with the horror elements! I'm actually here for the post-apocalyptic part of the story, the horror is less interesting to me. That being said this was a strong episode. 

Julius is coming along as a character. He certainly has more personality and presence now that he is human again! I found him and Dimitri to be laughable as vampires, but I'm rooting for him now. 

Vanessa was somewhat less annoying than usual. Most of her actions were reasonable. :p

I did have a moment where I thought the kid, Troy was trying to play her in some nefarious way. I thought he was trying to pit her against the 2 dads who run the compound. But now it is looking like he is probably just an escapee from the Lord of the Flies detention centre. 

The Johnson's mostly come across as kinda normal in an apocalyptic sort of way. The very fact that everyone seemed somewhat happy made me assume that they were going to be revealed as something horrifying and/or in cahoots with the cannibals. Just because it is that kind of show. But I revised that thought by the end of the show. Now I assume that they were a plot point to bring Vanessa and Sam together. 

Speaking of, Christopher Heyerdahl was intensely creepy this go round! There isn't enough ick in the world to sum up his bit in this episode. But I was really confused by his attempts to teach Felix sign language. It was so puzzling that it took me out of the story. Because he definitely has his voice back, both speaking and singing as we've seen! I'm assuming that he is just so loony toons at this point that teaching Felix an extremely difficult language seemed like a necessity to him? Poor Felix, I think he might be the most tragic figure we have seen yet! 

The rest of the Lord of the Flies kids seem to suck though. So I won't be sad if they are lost in an unfortunate massacre. 

It is not a long season, so I hope they manage to get the Scooby gang back together soon! If I have to hear Doc say "I don't understand why you won't drink from me" one more time I may start wishing for her death. I think Axel has been very clear that even starving and kinda nuts he hates her so much that he would rather die. You would think that with her being a doctor she would try a more logic based approach. Like "take the blood you need, nothing personal. So we can get to Vanessa and get you de-vampired. Then we can all go on a vampire murder spree and it will be fun." I can see that line of reasoning maybe being more effective. 

[snowwhyte]

On 10/28/2017 at 3:47 AM, CaptainTightpants said:

Speaking of, Christopher Heyerdahl was intensely creepy this go round! There isn't enough ick in the world to sum up his bit in this episode. But I was really confused by his attempts to teach Felix sign language. It was so puzzling that it took me out of the story. Because he definitely has his voice back, both speaking and singing as we've seen! I'm assuming that he is just so loony toons at this point that teaching Felix an extremely difficult language seemed like a necessity to him? Poor Felix, I think he might be the most tragic figure we have seen yet! 

 

Sam is obviously crazy. He's trying to turn Felix into Mohammed and recreate the relationship that they had. An important part of his relationship with Mohammed was the fact they he was literally the only one who understood him. Even though Sam has his hearing back he can't pretend Felix is Mohammed if he doesn't use sign language so he has  to teach him.

[PallasAthena]

This show is horrible. And yet here I am in Season 2.

Quote

The rest of the Lord of the Flies kids seem to suck though. So I won't be sad if they are lost in an unfortunate massacre.

Captain Tightpants

 

Me neither, but I’m trying to cut them some slack for being adolescents who probably had serious problems even before the great cataclysm. They’re obviously posturing, since they’re all just scared children in the end. I do wish that Felix (who is obviously a better, more decent human being than all of them put together) had either kept running or hadn’t tried to defy Sam. Shut up until you can try to escape again!

 

I’m loving Julius, he’s right up there with Axel. I’m wondering about the nature of vampirism, because it turns people into psychopaths but they do seem to still feel love, at least for the people who are the most important in their lives. Julius still loved and protected his mother after the change, and Sam in his own psychotic way wanted to protect Mohammed. But it seems to be a combination of love and will, because I don’t doubt that Susan loved Vanessa but she didn’t seem to be able to fight off the bloodlust. And Axel, who is actively fighting his vampire nature in a way that we’ve never seen anybody do before.

 

I hate the Doc more than any villain on the show, and I think part of the reason why is the fear of becoming someone like her. It’s because I see glimmers of the kick-ass person that she could be that makes her cowardice and weakness so infuriating. Plus, the fact that she tried to revamp herself . . . bleh. If someone had come through for me the way Axel did I know I would never leave him behind, so I’m glad that she’s finally coming through for him.

[Philbert]

2.04 "A Home"

 

A little late on commenting but overall I enjoyed this one. While I don't think it was quite as strong as episode 3 (not nearly enough Doc and Axel) I still think it's a considerable improvement over the first two and a strong indicator that the show is moving in the right direction. 

1. Vanessa was nowhere near as annoying as she's been recently. The death of her whiney brat of a vampire spawn is actually having a positive effect on her. Keep it up please.

2. There aren't enough good (bad) things I can say about Sam. He's easily the most enjoyable character on this show. He's so insanely over the top that he's absolutely mesmerizing to watch. I'm actually hoping he manages to survive the oncoming clash with Vanessa that they're hyping for week 5.

3. I continue to like Julius. The actor is solid and he's actually a nice counterbalance to Vanessa's shallowness and stupidity.

4. No Phil and Mohammad this week but you can't have everything.

 

7/10

Edited November 4, 2017 by Philbert

[Philbert]

2.05 "Save Yourself"

 

Holy crap did this show ever just "grow the beard." Easily the best episode in the series so far. That battle between Vanessa/Julius and Sam was everything SyFy had promised in the teasers last week. They also managed to get just about every character in here this week, without making it feel crowded. I have to admit I never thought they'd actually kill Sam, at least not this early on. He's already one of the better villains currently on tv (and I watch "Game of Thrones" :): but there was a moment there when I thought he might actually buy it. I continue to ship Doc/Axel pretty hard and this week they had some very good scenes together. It was also good to see Phil and Mohammed again. The plotline is really starting to come together now as we finally see Dimitri back in the frame, gathering up Julius' remaining crew and making them swear allegiance to him.  That accent still makes me cringe somewhat but at least he's actually doing something now.

 

So yeah, first class episode and it really makes me hopeful for the rest of the season.

9/10

[snowwhyte]

I was actually a bit bored by this episode. I'm tired of watching  Axel and Doc just wandering through the woods. Something needs to happen with them soon. 

Vanessa annoyed me with her attitude that she had to be the one to go after Sam alone. If Julius hadn't followed her she would be dead. I was actually disappointed that Sam survived the fall that apparently should have killed him. I think the actor is good but he might be a bit too creepy and too calculating. Vanessa should have taken a minute to think and come up with a plan. It sounds harsh but given his obsession with Felix I might have used him as bait and set a trap. 

I enjoy this show at times but I often wish I was watching a different show based on the same premise. 

[Bort]

Yeah, I was ready for Sam to bite it because the last couple episodes have been the Sam Chewing Scenery in Addition to People show. I mean, seriously, it’s been like half of each episode devoted to him terrorizing people, while we get maybe one or two measly scenes of Axel and Doc or Mohammed’s group. Yes, Sam is crazy, I GET IT, can we move on?

[CaptainTightpants]

1 hour ago, snowwhyte said:

Vanessa should have taken a minute to think and come up with a plan

I haven't seen the episode yet, but this has been my problem with Vanessa for the entire series! She never, ever, ever, ever seems to think of a workable plan. I've lost track of the number of times that her special snowflake self has been saved by other people after some stupid impulsive thing she has done. And she never seems to learn. She is just as impulsive and short sighted when the next episode comes around. I realize that a lot of that is in service to the plot, but after a season and a half it is getting frustrating to watch. 

 

1 hour ago, snowwhyte said:

I'm tired of watching  Axel and Doc just wandering through the woods. Something needs to happen with them soon. 

Still!!! They are making the worst time ever! Now I'm kind of glad that I won't be able to catch up till next week. Hopefully there will be some reunions in the next episode. 

[Bort]

Missy Peregrym is the ninja! I had forgotten she was being added to the cast for season 2, why did it take them so long to pull the trigger on that, and Vanessa's backstory for that matter? I mean, we got a major info-dump about Harker the Ninja, that she and Vanessa are sisters -- I'm guessing a vampire never took a bite out of Harker, so she doesn't know if she can cure vampirism?

But seriously, it had been five episodes of everybody wandering around the woods. I really think they could've streamlined this better.

Also, why is Vanessa refusing to cure Axel? What happened to Dylan isn't going to happen to him, he's not a genetically engineered vampire like she was. Doc, Flesh and Julius were cured with no problems, other than the weird semi-psychic link.

[CaptainTightpants]

I watched ep 5&6 back to back and we are firmly back to Vanessa being stupid and selfish. "Use your words" can be applied to pretty much every interaction she has. She just rushes from one scene to the next while refusing to give/recieve or share information with anyone and causing unnecessary confrontations. Her refusal to help Axel has pretty much put her completely in bad guy territory for me. She really isn't the hero of this show at all. Way to make the end of the world, and not to mention the pain and suffering of others, all about yourself.

Axel really does deserve a better show, it is sad to see him alongside such a dud. Same for Doc and Julius, who were quite good in episode 6. 

Who knew that cocaine has such massive healing abilities? Mohamad was on death's door in episode 4 and now he is positively peppy in episode 5. 

And apparently everyone is psychic now and prone to prophetic group dreaming. Which came out of nowhere. 

I'm liking the new ninja, she has more personality in half an episode than Vanessa has had in the entire series so far. Now that there is another Van Helsing maybe they will kill off Vanessa as a season finale? One can but hope. 

[snowwhyte]

Aagh, Vanessa! Finally reunited with Axel and it's awful. I had an inkling that they might come up with excuses to keep him a vampire for some reason but for Vanessa to refuse to help him when he is so clearly suffering is just terrible. He would rather die than be a vampire so she should let him make the choice. To just leave him suffering to follow her vision and insisting that once again she must go it alone definitely upped my Vanessa hate.

I enjoyed the reveal of Vanessa's sister but it did just make me wish that she had been the Van Helsing  we had been following. I prefer the actress and so far much prefer the character. 

Doc was back to being annoying. She is so negative and she nearly got Julius killed. Even if its an understandable reaction to panic in times of crisis she is just going to get people killed. I don't think she can get past her fear as much as she might want to.

I just don't the about the vampires and their mythology and history. 

[snowwhyte]

So when Vanessa was sliced across the face by her sister her blood splattered across the wall. It's gross but if Axel licked the blood off the wall would that turn him human? I want him to be human again but since he seemed to be missing I am guessing that something bad has happened to him. 

[ferjy]

On 11/11/2017 at 8:00 AM, snowwhyte said:

Aagh, Vanessa! Finally reunited with Axel and it's awful. I had an inkling that they might come up with excuses to keep him a vampire for some reason but for Vanessa to refuse to help him when he is so clearly suffering is just terrible. He would rather die than be a vampire so she should let him make the choice. To just leave him suffering to follow her vision and insisting that once again she must go it alone definitely upped my Vanessa hate.

I enjoyed the reveal of Vanessa's sister but it did just make me wish that she had been the Van Helsing  we had been following. I prefer the actress and so far much prefer the character. 

Doc was back to being annoying. She is so negative and she nearly got Julius killed. Even if its an understandable reaction to panic in times of crisis she is just going to get people killed. I don't think she can get past her fear as much as she might want to.

I just don't the about the vampires and their mythology and history. 

I think there's a  good reason why she won't turn him that we don't know about yet.  I'm thinking about that scene recently when all the people she turned back seemed to feel each other. She felt it too.  It may have something to do with that. We know that their blood is different now. Vanessa may be afraid that there is something bad in store for them and she doesn't want Axel to suffer that fate.

Edited November 12, 2017 by ferjy

[snowwhyte]

They nearly lost me as a viewer when they killed Axel but luckily they brought him back. Vanessa was the most likeable she's been all season when she was chatting with Axel so naturally the writers separated them again. Maybe they're doing what some of us wanted and focusing on the more interesting characters and replacing Vanessa with a less annoying Helsing. 

[Nostariel]

I know it's not objectively a great show, but I have to say I'm genuinely enjoying this season for whatever reason. At the end of this episode I even found myself caring about the cliffhanger. Maybe the show's gotten a little better, or maybe it just grows on you. Like a fungus.

[Philbert]

On 11/12/2017 at 5:44 PM, ferjy said:

I think there's a  good reason why she won't turn him that we don't know about yet.  I'm thinking about that scene recently when all the people she turned back seemed to feel each other. She felt it too.  It may have something to do with that. We know that their blood is different now. Vanessa may be afraid that there is something bad in store for them and she doesn't want Axel to suffer that fate.

 

I think they hinted at the reason during the episode, particularly when Vanessa panicked when Axel stepped out into the sunlight. We've known since season one that Axel has a serious crush on her. I think it's starting to become apparent that she returns at least part of those feelings. Everybody she turned (back) other than Susan and Dylan she didn't give a rat's ass about. Axel is somebody she clearly cares about, and she was trying to avoid happening to him what happened to Dylan. I don't think it goes any deeper than that. As for the reason why Dylan died and the others haven't, I suspect it has something to do with the Van Helsing DNA.

[Black Knight]

Who thought it was a good idea to have Missy Peregrym come on this show? It's almost painful seeing how much better she is than Overton in every way, from acting ability to charisma. I could kinda sorta deal with Overton's Vanessa when it was just her, but I'm not sure I can deal with having to think every week about how Peregrym should've been the one cast as Vanessa. Although if they end up using this as an opportunity to change the titular Van Helsing lead from Vanessa to Scarlett, I'll take it. I won't even complain about how it's cheating because Scarlett's really a Harker. Vanessa can join her daughter and this show can finally have a really great lead.

It was nice to see the actress who played Susan come back for a brief bit. She's really the only one Vanessa ever seemed likable with, not so grimdark all the time. For that reason I always thought it was a mistake to kill Susan off.

And now that Axel is human again, the show is making no bones about its plan to go with the predictable, generic, chemistry-free Axel/Vanessa pairing, when Axel/Doc would be so much more interesting and complex. Another pity. Doc and Axel's journey this season has been one of the better plotlines, even if the wandering in the woods did go on too long.

And for the love of all that is holy, would they please end Sam already? He's beyond tiresome. He's a one-note psychopath. I'm not saying that all villains need to have a backstory explaining why they are the way they are, or some kind of nuance, or any other interests or goals besides killing, but I think that villains who get as much screentime as Sam does do, because otherwise it just becomes boring. And it's crossing the line into gratuitous torture porn, especially the stuff with the teens that went on for so long yet didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know - that he's a total psycho. I am not looking forward to the upcoming Sam and Mohamad scenes.

I really like Julius and I hope that he survives.

[ferjy]

13 hours ago, Philbert said:

 

I think they hinted at the reason during the episode, particularly when Vanessa panicked when Axel stepped out into the sunlight. We've known since season one that Axel has a serious crush on her. I think it's starting to become apparent that she returns at least part of those feelings. Everybody she turned (back) other than Susan and Dylan she didn't give a rat's ass about. Axel is somebody she clearly cares about, and she was trying to avoid happening to him what happened to Dylan. I don't think it goes any deeper than that. As for the reason why Dylan died and the others haven't, I suspect it has something to do with the Van Helsing DNA.

Yeah, that’s apparent now. I was hoping they’d go a different route, but it seems not. Maybe the bond all the “turned back” have and their altered blood will mean something later.

Edited November 20, 2017 by ferjy

[comanick]

New to the site. This show is totally C grade but I love it. Vanessa has been frustrating this season but I'm not ready for her to be replaced yet like some others are. I like the addition of Missy Peregrym but the whole sister reveal kinda came out of left field but thats ok. A few questions: 

-How did Dimitri get down into the lab? Did he climb down that hole that the group used? For some reason I just cant see dimitri doing that. Sending his minions down the hole, sure. But Dimitri comes off as someone who thinks he is too elegant to get dirty. 

-When Vanessa heard Axels heartbeat, could she physical hear it from that distance or can she hear it because they are connected now?

-Whats up with this elder and why is he calling Vanessa? 

[CaptainTightpants]

02. Ep 07 "Everything changes".

Well the episode is certainly appropriately named! Between the new noxema vampire sisterhood and the Dimitri vampire-experimentation flashbacks and finally the blackhawk kidnappers from out of nowhere I was watching this thinking "did I miss an episode somewhere?" Nope. The show just likes to throw a bunch of new junk at us mid-season clearly! 

When this season started I thought it would be about the gang all getting back together and heading for the mountain balloon village in what I assumed was Denver. Because you expect follow up on unrelated little snippets of story seen in the premiere. Instead we get a crap-ton of new storylines and presumably characters to go along with them as well. I'm not complaining, just saying that I was really wrong in my assumptions!

Let me say I am deeply grateful that Axel is back to being human again. Thank all that is holy! That got dragged out too long and for no good reason. And I'm happy that the makeup department doesn't have to go all gothy red-eyes on Jonathan Scarfe moving forward. Between his return and the semi-reunion of the main gang I was quite happy with this episode despite the fact that surprisingly little was accomplished. And the show already went and killed off Dylan for me so I have only gratitude and thanks right now. 

I did have a bit of a chuckle on Axel's gratuitous shirtlessness for half his screentime. They are clearly aware of what a draw he is to some of the viewership! I was questioning his immediate assumption that the Gman helicopter in the final scene would be full of good guys. He has to know that there is at least a 50% chance that any military vehicles ect. have been scavenged by the survivors by now. As he pointed out to Vanessa in the show, years have passed at this point. 

And I'm actually happy that Vanessa has been kidnapped to secret Gman land. Maybe we can focus more on the OG band and the new ninja since they are my favorites. Sadly the whole Mohammad storyline has gotten bad too. It is a waste of potential to have him as a cokehead and Sam an unreasoning psycho but so far that is what it looks like. In any case I'm happy I got caught up in time for the new episode this week. 

On 11/20/2017 at 11:47 AM, comanick said:

the whole sister reveal kinda came out of left field

Most of this entire season seems to have been migrating in from left field!

Edited November 29, 2017 by CaptainTightpants