Van Helsing (Season 1) is alright in terms of its storytelling and direction. The pacing allows for intrigue as it generally opens up with the world being overrun with vampires. It’s an interesting story and its delivery is handled well enough. It’s a bit slow paced with much of the story set inside a hospital. There’s some action but its established more towards the end of the season.

After a three year nap (death/coma), Vanessa wakes up to a world run by vampires. She’s revealed to be a very special woman. She has the ability to heal extremely fast, immune to some things that would kill a normal human, and most importantly, her immunity to vampirism as well as her ability to reverse it. Kelly Overton does a pretty good job as the character. She brings a certain strength to the character. The only nitpicks I have is that she’s the strong female archetype that is annoying at times. She’s never vulnerable, can kickass all the time despite not having training, and figures out everything before everyone else. I don’t like characters like this because they’re one dimensional. Sure, she’s searching for her daughter but it’s not enough to make a compelling character.

The characters are pretty awesome, they’re well-written with a lot of personality. Axel is the best of the characters by far. Smart, badass, handy with a weapon, he’s probably the only character who doesn’t say or do stupid things. Doc’s probably the second most likable character, well atleast until she turns around and does the stupidest shit. I really like Sam, Mohamad, and Flesh. They’re great characters with a lot of great moments and interesting personalities. One of the biggest problems of the series are the characters. The survivors tend to make the dumbest decisions or say the dumbest things. Axel is struggling to save these idiots and they question him at every turn, striving to make his life even more miserable than it is for no reason, constantly bicker over the most trivial things.

There are several main antagonists including Dimitri, Rebecca, and Julius; all who’re gunning for the Vanessa. The two front runners are Rebecca and Julius. Rebecca is awesome. She’s deadly, smart, and sexy as hell. There’s nothing sexier than a smart vampire woman wearing black leather. I love how threatening she is as well as seductive. Julius is just straight up raw power. He’s definitely more memorable than Dimitri. Dimitri’s alright but he doesn’t really get enough screentime or do anything memorable. He’s charismatic and I can get behind it.

There’s this subplot that within the group of survivors there’s a killer and it’s pretty obvious who the killer is, though still quite a shocker. Sam, one of the main human antagonist, is actually cool. There’s a question as whether this storyline is relevant. To some extent it is, and it would’ve worked better had they stayed inside the facility which could’ve helped create tension.

The Verdict: In the end, Van Helsing (Season 1) is definitely a good introduction to an interesting series. I sincerely hope that in season 2 the characters are less stupid and more fleshed out. Of course, there should be more backstory on Vanessa’s past as well as exposition of her abilities. Even more backstory needs to be established on the origins of the vampires. And I’m really interested in seeing what they’re going to do with Sam. Van Helsing (Season 2) gets 3 out of 5.