The Battlestar Galactica creator’s sci-fi horror series is worth watching and has a wild twist

By Jonathan Klotz | Published 1 hour ago

Ronald D. Moore changed the face of science fiction in 2004 Battlestar Galactica Rebooted, but after a few hours of failed network pilots, he returned to SyFy with Wendel in 2014. It is a dark and twisted sci-fi horror series about a deadly virus being investigated in a secret base in the Arctic.

What begins as a dialogue-heavy, slow-paced thriller slowly peels back the layers to reveal the history of bioweapons, the megacorporation behind them, and a wild twist late in the season that turns the entire premise on its head. Seemingly forgotten now, it was a minor hit for SyFy, and with only two seasons, it makes for an easy weekend binge that will keep you glued to the screen.

Nothing good happens in the Arctic

Wendel begins with the former couple Dr. Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell, The rocket launcher) and Dr. Julia Walker (Kyra Zagorsky) leads a team investigating the secret ArcTech BioSystems Facility, where Alan’s brother Peter was stationed and succumbed to a deadly new virus. The site is under the watchful eye of Dr. Hiroshi Hatake, who seems to know more than he lets on. When the new team discovers the zombie-like infected, the Vectors, they find that they are standing in their way.

The first season starts slowly, but as the number of vectors and bodies begins to pile up, it becomes clear that there is a sinister purpose behind the secret research. In episode 7 things start to pick up from the halfway point onwards Star Trek: Voyager’s Jeri Ryan arrives with heavily armed mercenaries to take control of the situation, but even a military force falls victim to the arrival of a mysterious assassin determined to keep the base’s secrets safe from prying eyes.

Avoids a lazy writing crutch

Wendel makes two bold storytelling decisions that set it apart from other mystery box shows. Each episode represents a day, keeping the timeline consistent and there are no flashbacks. I only recently liked the second part after re-watching it it after going through it recently The event. The SyFy series uses hallucinations that may or may not reveal the truth to the audience. It annoyed me at the time, but a decade later it’s a refreshing way to tell a story.

I enjoyed it Wendel Season 1 when it first aired on SyFy and I thought the pacing was well balanced, even if some episodes were a bit slow; For once, a sci-fi puzzle box series has a payoff that’s worth the trip. I wasn’t alone in this feeling either, as the first season on Rotten Tomatoes has a critic score of 79 percent and an audience score of 72. And like most of the fanbase, I didn’t return for season 2 because I was thinking about the story was completed.

Helix ends the story

Wendel Season 2 takes the same tension and mystery of what’s really going on, but shifts it to an island populated by a religious cult. Steven Weber (wing) plays Brother Michael, and there’s no reason to suspect that he’s up to no good on the island. Following on from the bold choice of the first season, the second season features real flashbacks, and lots of them, but this time they help bridge the 15-month gap between seasons, as some characters are drastically different when we see them again.

It wasn’t until recently that I even knew Wendel Season 2 existed and continued the story. Lacking the tension of the first season, it goes off the rails at the end, but goes so far into the crazy world that I just have to respect that the writers didn’t play it safe. The acceleration towards the end brings the story to a close, but whether it is satisfactory or not is left up to everyone’s interpretation. I’m glad it has a real ending and not a cliffhanger hinting at a third season that will never come.

You can stream Wendel on Tubi, Disney+ and Hulu.