Syfy’s new show Van Helsing began Sept 23 with a double-episode premiere that kept audiences engaged from start to finish. The show begins by setting the scene; it is 2019, three years after “The Rising” began, vampires are now in control. Van Helsing follows Vanessa Van Helsing (Kelly Overton) as she awakens in this new world with limited memories and with the ability to turn vampires human.
The opening scene shows a woman asleep on a table, surrounded by vampires. One of them bites her and immediately becomes violently ill. The woman wakes up and begins fighting and killing the remaining vampires.
36 Hours Earlier | Axel (Jonathan Scarfe) is sitting outside Doc’s (Rukiya Bernard) cage and feeding her his blood. Axel hears a disturbance outside and goes to check it out, turns out it is a group of people looking for a place to stay. Axel lets them in, then goes outside to fight the vampires that were chasing their new guests. Once back inside, John (David Cubitt) tells Axel that his wife is still out there and attacks when Axel tells him he won’t go look for her. After Axel leaves John takes a knife before following him out. John and the rest of the group that was with him feel uncomfortable with Doc still being alive so they go to try to kill her, but Mohamad (Trezzo Mahoro) and Sam (Christopher Heyerdahl) stop them.
Present | Tons of vampires begin breaking in, killing and causing panic along the way. This is where it meets with the beginning of the episode, Vanessa on top of a vampire she just killed. She turns and sees there are people in the room. She asks them who they are, she has no idea where she is or what is going on.
A few of the men clear out the two dead vampires from the room and dump their bodies. Axel and Ted (Tim Guinee) discuss the break in, Axel reveals nothing was broken so the vampires must have been let in. This means someone they trust has betrayed them. Back with Vanessa, she tells the group all she knows is that she has a daughter, Dylan. Axel tells her that Dylan is dead is she’s out there. Ted pulls Vanessa aside and tells her that Axel is very by-the-book, but he will help her.
“She has superpowers, great.” | Axel tells Vanessa how it all began; the volcano in Wyoming went off and the vampires took over. All he knows about her is that him and his team were given orders to keep her safe. Suddenly Vanessa grabs Axel’s gun on him and tries to lead him out, but Ted stops her. Once Axel leaves Ted reveals that this was a part of their plan and that she needs to help him now, but Axel catches them before they can leave. He tells them he knows who let the vampires in, it was Ted. Ted and Axel fight, Vanessa seizes this opportunity to get outside. This is the first time Vanessa is seeing what the world has turned into, chaos filled with smoke and ash. Ted shows up and tells Vanessa she needs to go with him, but she no longer trusts him. They fight, and Ted pulls out the knife he took earlier. He stabs Vanessa through the hand with it, and she stabs him through the eye with it sticking through her hand. She removes the knife from her hand and begins healing immediately.
“No offense, but go fu** yourself.” | Vanessa tells Axel that she is going to get out of there and find her daughter. He responds by telling her that he has to stop her. Next, see the trash chute the vampire bodies were dumped down. Suddenly, the chute opens and a man covered in blood climbs out. He stumbles down the halls looking for help. The group finds him and recognize him as a vampire they dumped earlier, only he is no longer a vampire. He says he turned human as soon as he tasted Vanessa’s blood. “I can feel again.”
What an exciting first hour! We learned all about The Rising, met Vanessa, and learned that she can turn vampires human. What do you think is coming next?
Van Helsing airs Friday’s at 10pm on Syfy.
