Van helsing season 2 episode 136/4/2023 She’s confronted a number of horrific challenges during this journey, but nothing can prepare her for this ultimate indignity. “We’ll be able to bring one of their seed to full term, create something new and extraordinary.” It’s here, while watching Vanessa supine on the table, with Dmitri first and then the doctor, that we recognize a callback to the series premiere with Vanessa lying comatose on the table for the show’s first half hour. He plans to open her up and study her and tells her that they want to create something new. Still restrained, Vanessa is forced to listen to the doctor wax poetic about his desire to “be one of them” someday, but more importantly reveal the true purpose of her confinement. But does he mean escape his clutches or escape the fact that she, in fact, holds the key to the human race’s survival. He continues to mock her helplessness informing her that there is no way for her to escape. Having lived her life as Vanessa Seward, Dmitri mentions, for the first time, the name Van Helsing. But what does that mean? Does he know that Dylan is alive, turned, and apparently under Rebecca’s tutelage? He explains that Vanessa’s influence most certainly will change the world and the human race, but she will not be able to save it. Though we still don’t know the details, Dmitri tells her she’s the last of her kind, almost. In the end, though, does he give Vanessa ammunition with which she can fight back?Įven though the term hybrid has yet to be used in the series, it’s been evident for a while now that the key to vampires surviving once the skies clear remains Vanessa’s blood. He knows he has the upper hand and wants to make certain her submission to his command is merely a foregone conclusion. On the one hand, his character serves a greater purpose disseminating tales of Vanessa’s true lineage, but his actions also taunt her as she lies as helpless as we’ve ever seen her. Tonight, however, his hubris gets the better of him, and his passion for what Vanessa means to his community comes pouring out. Previously, it always felt as if Dmitri’s (Paul Johansson) lurid presence provided just enough substance to lend credence to the importance he seems to have to the overall story arc. The utter despair on his face, as she essentially lets him know that this is where brother and sister part ways and family doesn’t mean what he thought it meant, reminds us why we fell in love with Mohamad in the first place. I’ve always loved Amanda Tapping’s work both as an actor and a director, and here she coaxes fine performances all around, most notably in the moving scene between Sheema (Naika Toussaint) and Mohamad as she attempts to justify her decision to align herself with Rebecca while he packs to leave The Citadel. We want to live forever, and you can make that happen. Not only does the audience receive vital plot details through Dmitri and the doctor, but the dread each experiences around Vanessa simply adds to the intricate nature of the basic conflict at play. Throughout its freshman run, Van Helsing has consistently avoided science fiction and horror storytelling tropes, and LaBute’s sustained use of extended monologues at the episode’s outset plays brilliantly into the psychological trauma each of the characters experience. But make no mistake, these details are parceled out so carefully, so delicately that we don’t feel overwhelmed, and director Amanda Tapping gives us space to savor each slice. We’ve had numerous questions throughout the season, and LaBute delivers more than enough backstory and history to keep everyone happy. Ordinarily I’m not a fan of long monologues since they often drag the story down to a place where the viewer begins losing focus, but “It Begins,” written by showrunner Neil LaBute, bravely takes that narrative device and beguiles us from the first words out of Dmitri’s mouth during his opening four and half minute discourse while Vanessa lies restrained, a metal cage around her head.
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