The newest episode of SYFY’s Van Helsing changed things up a bit by having the entire episode take place in 1896. Vanessa is sent back in a memory of Lillian Van Helsing’s to learn how to defeat the next Elder known as The B’ah. ‘I Alive’ was written by Jonathan Walker and directed by Michael Nankin.
Confused | Vanessa (Kelly Overton) wakes up in the body of Lillian Van Helsing (Julie Lynn Mortensen) in 1896 China. To say she’s confused would be an understatement. She hears something in another room and sees a girl with a dagger. She thinks it’s The Elder and attacks, but the girl reveals she’s Siobhan (Siobhan Williams), her servant. She quickly explains who Lily is and worries she mixed her a sleeping solution a little too strong. Vanessa quickly realizes what is happening and pretends to be Lily. Siobhan informs her that she has a meeting with someone about vampire business. Vanessa attends the meeting and finds out she must meet with a Master Tsui (Lee Shorten) to learn about the vampires in the area.
Training | Vanessa sneaks past Lily’s dickhead husband in order to meet with Tsui, who tells her all about the vampires in the area and the local Elder known as The B’ah. The vampires in China usually stick to countrysides, but with the spread of the bubonic plague they have been driven to the city to find clean blood.
Master Tsui does not believe Vanessa/Lillian is ready to fight The B’ah yet and agrees to train her. They fight and train and she learns to control her anger, which was the Master’s plan all along.
When she gets back to where Lily’s staying, Vanessa learns that the man she and Edward (Adrian Hough) were supposed to go to dinner with has been killed. Vanessa remembered that he worked for the East Asia Trading Co. and thinks the death is linked, so she investigates.
In some sort of storage area Vanessa finds a vampire surrounded by East Asia Trading Co. crates. They fight and it’s obvious this vampire is some sort of ninja vampire. Master Tsui shows up and tells Vanessa where to strike to kill the vamp, and it works.
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Stitches | Vanessa was wounded in her fight against the vamp and has Siobhan sew her up upon her return. Edward comes in and sees the stitches and immediately begins freaking out and telling Lily she’s relapsing. He blames Siobhan for indulging her, then storms out and leaves a guard behind to watch his wife. Master Tsui sent a message meant for Vanessa/Lily, but Edward read it and went after what is most likely The B’ah.
Vanessa and Siobhan lure the guard to them then kick his ass in order to get out. Vanessa finds Master Tsui’s letter, grabs the dagger and follows after Edward.
Drugs | Vanessa and Siobhan meet Master Tsui at an opium den. The vampires lure their victims there with drugs then feed on them. Vanessa and Tsui find The B’ah [who just happened to be with Edward]. She throws a poison dagger at Vanessa, who catches it but gets cut. They are also surrounded by more of those ninja vamps. Time to fight!
The B’ah realizes Vanessa isn’t Lillian and this is a dream so she can learn how to defeat her, and isn’t too happy about it. Vanessa and Tsui fight the ninja vamps and Vanessa cuts a rope to open the windows and dust all the vamps in their area. The B’ah had unfortunately retreated to safety before this.
A weakened Vanessa crawls towards The B’ah, then pretends to die. When The B’ah gets close Vanessa thrust her dagger through its heart, dream-killing it.
The B’ah had almost killed Edward, but now he knows vampires are real. Tsui pulls a poisoned dagger out of his body and tells her only the blood of The B’ah can cure the poison, then he dies. Vanessa quickly grabs her dagger and sucks the blood off of it and is cured.
San Francisco | Back where they’re staying, Vanessa is tucking Edward into bed when they find out that those East Asia Trading Co. crates she saw earlier have already left on a ship headed to San Francisco.
Back to Reality | Susan Elder brings Vanessa back to reality. She realizes The Elder hoped she would die in the memory, so she releases it from its duty to her family and then kills it. She doesn’t want to take any chances of being betrayed down the line. Her eyes also glow red after she kills it.
Don’t miss the next crazy episode of Van Helsing on SYFY Friday night at 10pm!
Christina is a SoCal native who enjoys spending her spare time catching up on all of her favorite television shows, especially those with badass female leads. Favorite shows include: Wynonna Earp, The 100, Quantico, The Shannara Chronicles, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and countless others.