Helstrom: Deal with the Devil

It is October.  Ghost and goblins roam the earth and the veil between the mortal plane and the afterlife thins.  It is the perfect time for a Marvel Comics based show staring the demonic characters of Daimon and Ana Helstrom.  I must confess, I know nothing of these characters and have never read their books, so I went in to this show blind with low expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.

Daimon Helstrom (Tom Austen) is an ethics professor in Portland, Oregon who works with Louise Hastings (June Carryl), the head of the psychiatric hospital where Victoria,  Daimon’s possessed mother is confined.  Together they fight demonic possession using his demonic abilities.  They are forced to work with Gabriella Rossetti, a Vatican agent sent evaluate the rise in requests for exorcisms. Daimon’s sister, Ana Helstrom (Sydney Lemmon) is a San Francisco antiques dealer who uses her powers to terrorize the human monsters.

In the opening episode, Victoria causes a nurse and two mental patients to kill a guard and escape.  Their goal is to revive a demon imprisoned in a secret tunnel under a graveyard in Colma, California.  This forces the estranged Ana and Daimon to work together   Ana and Daimon’s father is believed to be a powerful serial killer.  In flashbacks and expositional dialogue, we find out that Ana was kidnapped and taken from Victoria and Daimon when they were children.  The two were raised separately.  It is eluded that Louise had a big part in Daimon’s upbringing, but we have not been shown who raised Ana.

I do not know how faithful this is to the source material, but my impression is that they have changed and updated many things, which means purists may have a hard time with the show.  That being said, I felt the production quality was very good.  I enjoyed Tom’s performance as Daimon.  He is a self-proclaimed “asshole” but underneath it all he cares. You can see the conflict he has with his inner self.  Knowing what he is and still trying to follow a righteous path.  Likewise, Sydney does a great job with Ana, a bit cold and aloof, but under all the style and beauty is a scared little girl, a bit twisted, but vulnerable.  June’s Louise is a strong caring mother figure, where Elizabeth Marvel’s portrayal of “Mother” has a great creep factor.

The siblings’ displays of powers ranges from subtle to explicit, we see gentle ripples along the skin, psychometric induced visions of a killer’s memories, psycho-kinetic body slams and a full-on ring of hell fire.  The story line is engaging, giving me enough information to follow what is happening and yet leaving me wanting more.  The show seemed to flow well from scene to scene and the music added to the mysterious creepy vibe of the production with hints of the Omen at certain points.  The script is well written and never feels corny or cliched.  Overall it was a fun show to watch especially during the Halloween season.