In the eighth episode of this season of SYFY’s Van Helsing we follow the Van Helsing sisters on their adventure to the third Elder. ‘Crooked Steps’ was written by showrunner Neil LaBute and directed by Jonathan Scarfe.
The Map | Vanessa (Kelly Overton) and Scarlett (Missy Peregrym) are studying the book their mother left them and are trying to figure out what to do next. During a battle with some vampires the book gets splattered with blood and reveals a map. The sisters steal a boat and row to the island on the map. On the island they find a lighthouse and check it out. The owner sits inside dead after blowing his head off with a shotgun. This place may not have been touched by The Rising, it’s still full of food and supplies. They find an old projector and project their map onto a map of the island on the wall and see that there are intersecting lines in one spot, so they decide to go check that place out.
Another Van Helsing | At the spot marked on the maps, they find a small building and inside a vampire. The third Elder, and a Van Helsing. Jacob Van Helsing (Michael Eklund). The sisters just want to collect the totem and kill the Elder, but Jacob makes them listen to how he was turned and made an Elder. He then warns them that only one of them will actually make it to the end of this journey, and that when the time was right they both would know. He tells them that the totem is around Scarlett’s neck, her necklace, and they let him out to help them. He pleads for them to either try to turn him human or feed him, and after deliberating the sisters decide to just feed him.
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Back inside the lighthouse, Jacob senses the other totems so Vanessa tells Scarlett to hide them, then she sits Jacob down to feed him. He tells her that he was like her before he was turned, he knows she’s getting closer to vampire and farther from human, because he also went through that. He was in a similar position to Vanessa over a hundred years prior. They argue about it for a second, then Vanessa “accidentally” lets Jacob slip out.
Splitting Up | Vanessa insists that she and Scarlett split up to search for him, which definitely doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. Jacob sneaks up on Scarlett and tells her similar things to what he told Vanessa. He tells her that she is the stronger one, but she’s not ready. Then he pushes her off of the ledge that was behind her, then leaves her. She gets up and finds her sister. They think he’s probably going for their boat so they run to it, only to find it’s still there. Jacob comes up behind Vanessa and bites her, and she doesn’t seem to be shocked or upset by it. Jacob tells Scarlett, who wants this to stop, that she doesn’t understand what is going on between them. Vanessa convinces him to turn her around so they’re face-to-face, and signals Scarlett to kill him. Scarlett throws a blade but Jacob catches it. Vanessa seizes this opportunity to tear his throat out with her teeth before ripping him apart. Scarlett is VERY unsettled by what Vanessa did. She thinks her blood did something to Jacob.
Vanessa reveals to her sister that Jacob wanted her to rule with him, but for some reason Jacob decided he needed to taste her blood again. So clearly Vanessa’s blood does something to Elders.
Left Behind | Suddenly Vanessa doesn’t feel well, so Scarlett volunteers to return to the lighthouse to collect the rest of the totems while Vanessa rests on the beach. Before Scarlett can go, her sister stops to hug her and tell her she’s appreciated having her around. This definitely seems a bit fishy…
Scarlett checks where she hid the totems, and they’re gone. Then something clicks in her head and she runs back to the beach to see Vanessa rowing away. Vanessa yells that she’s sorry, but she needs to make sure Scarlett lives. Scarlett pleads to her sister, but has no luck convincing her to return.
When she makes it back to the mainland, Vanessa attacks the man they stole the boat from earlier, and the Oracle (Jesse Stanley) is watching.
Catch the next episode of Van Helsing on SYFY Friday nights at 10pm!
