Van Helsing: Season 2 – review

Director: Various

First aired: 2017-18

Contains spoilers

Whilst I did point out that Season 1 was a sy-fy show I did also say that there was something worthwhile within it. Perhaps I’ve just bought into it that bit more but this season turned it up a notch.

We get the return of some familiar characters, some weirdness and a huge amount of conspiracy. Its all good, as they say.

Hannah Cheramy as Dylan

So, we left season 1 with a raid on the vampire citadel of Dimitri (Paul Johansson). Our heroine Vanessa Helsing (Kelly Overton, True Blood) was held prisoner in there and her daughter, Dylan (Hannah Cheramy), had been turned. What we discover, as things unfold, is that Dylan had been experimented on and so no longer had an aversion to sunlight. However, when Vanessa turns her back – as her bite undoes vampirism – sunlight destroys the mortal Dylan; how is not explained but makes a sense in the series' logic.

Kelly Overton as Vanessa

The various parties are split apart and come together occasionally as Vanessa considers going above the cloud lines. Indeed a weather station is sending balloons out, with maps, enticing people to their above cloud stronghold. Meanwhile Axel (Jonathan Scarfe) returns as a vampire – but one somehow holding out from feeding but not dead/feral – looking for Vanessa to cure him. A mysterious ninja turns out to be Scarlet Harker (Missy Peregrym, Dark Angel: Love in Vein & Reaper: I Want my Baby back), who turns out to be Vanessa’s long lost (and forgotten) twin sister. She doesn’t have Vanessa’s powers… until Vanessa bites her too.

Christopher Heyerdahl as Sam

What was really rather cool was the sub-story around Sam (Christopher Heyerdahl, Sanctuary, Matthew Blackheart Monster Smasher & Are You Afraid of the Dark: Tale of the MidnightMadness), the human revealed as a serial killer last season, who is now a vampire – but what a vampire. Ok there is a degree of the Joker… there really is, but this vampire is mean and bad – with a single Achilles’ heal of Mohammed (Trezzo Mahoro), the human who actually means something to him – in a twisted way. Not only does Sam become even more interesting as a vampire than he was as a human but we also get his entire backstory laid out to us, which worked really well.

Trezzo Mahoro as Mohammed

The conspiracy side goes nuts with a shadow organisation still in existence that was researching vampires. The Van Helsing girls were split apart and hidden because Van Helsing blood is special but one of the twins (Vanessa) also carried forward blood from the first vampire (not revealed as a character in this season) after their mother was exposed whilst carrying the pair. An ancient vampire (Keith Arbuthnot) is captured in a crypt, in a mountain and only the Van Helsings can let him out (you might ask why would they do that, to be honest I’m still wondering that – it’s the part of the plot that made no sense by the end but I’m hoping next season there’ll be a logical explanation).

But, you know what, I enjoyed this season. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.