‘Talamasca: The Secret Order’ Has One Of “Those” Endings

Talamasca: The Secret Order has one of those endings. You know the kind I mean. Episode 6 – in hindsight, six episodes were nowhere near enough – confuses delivering a bunch of revelations, or at least several revelations bundled up into one key reveal, for short-term payoff. In the meantime, it just sets up Season 2 by leaving literally every arc completely unresolved and every major question unanswered. It’s the worst kind of half-hearted half-climax, which is a shame because the second season looks like it’ll be much improved.

Sometimes I can live with shows that do this. But the balance is all off here. Outside of Doris’s true identity, there’s nothing here to keep us waiting with baited breath until the continuation. There’s no return on our Season 1 investment. Some of the characters remain compelling, the world is still interesting, but delayed gratification only works if the gratification is guaranteed. Otherwise, it’s just disappointment.

Doris Is Helen’s Sister, and the 752

Almost everything interesting that happens in “The 752” pertains to Doris. There are multiple revelations about her, several of which are revealed in parallel, with Helen interrogating Dr. Jameson, who was in charge of the Talamasca’s shady research program, which separated Helen – whose real name is Fiona – from her twin sister Emma, while Guy and Doris are being interrogated by the police after Ridge spotted them lurking near the witches’ houseboat after the massacre in the penultimate episode.

Before he’s killed by his housekeeper, Patricia, Jameson reveals that Emma was used by the Talamasca as an endless repository of their most treasured and arcane knowledge. Thanks to a photographic memory, she can recall any text she reads perfectly. She’s a walking library. This means she is, herself, the 752. I told you that the idea of all that knowledge being contained in a scrapbook was silly!

Jameson also reveals that the name Emma was given is… Doris! While this is going on, Ridge reveals that the DNA found all over Keves’s body belonged not to Guy but to Helen, which, thanks to the conversation we know is occurring elsewhere, clues us in to the fact that it’s Doris’s DNA, since she and Helen are twins. But this isn’t all there is to know about Doris.

Doris Is Also A Vampire

After Olive – who’s working with Jasper – spirits Guy and Doris out of the station, Highsmith kidnaps the latter, forcing her to reveal that she’s actually a vampire. She was forcibly turned by the Talamasca – this is hinted at in a cold open that makes more sense in hindsight – to keep her young and spritely, presumably so she could continue to be fed secret Talamasca knowledge indefinitely.

Guy’s a bit taken aback by this news, understandably. But he pretty quickly comes around to the idea that she’s one of the good vampires. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and she isn’t especially powerful vampire-wise; she just wants to be left alone to grieve Keves and live in peace. Of course, she’s much too important for that, given everything she knows.

Helen Takes the Fall

Thanks to the whole DNA debacle and Olive’s meddling, Helen is technically on the hook for a lot of crimes committed in and around London. While it stands to reason she could pretty easily sidestep them, she decides not to in order to buy Guy and Doris time to escape. Her brief reunion with her sister is quietly emotional, defined by this act of self-sacrifice as Helen is taken away by the police.

In classic Helen fashion, she uses the opportunity to try and charm Ridge, whom she evidently sees some potential in, into leaving her lowly position in the police force and moving on to bigger and better things. Ridge can tell there’s more going on here than meets the eye, and Helen can tell that Ridge is smart and capable and would be an asset to the Talamasca – or at least to her.

Is this the beginning of a beautiful friendship? I hope so, since I’ve been moaning about the pointlessness of the police subplot all season, and this would be a good way to make it matter.

The Big Bad Emerges

The ending of Talamasca: The Secret Order at least reveals the real string-puller behind all of these events – Houseman, the head of the Talamasca’s Amsterdam Mother House. In the cold open I alluded to earlier, it was Houseman who had forced a vampire to turn Doris, and he who had used her as a repository for the Talamasca’s knowledge. It stands to reason, then, that it is also he who has been pursuing her since she fled.

The finale establishes Houseman’s bad guy bona fides by having him easily scoop up Jasper from the London Mother House, taking him away in chains and keeping him captive in a fetching Hannibal Lecter getup. But he doesn’t want to harm Jasper. Instead, he has a job for him. Since Jasper is all about vampire supremacy and creating as many of his kind as possible, Houseman leads him to a room very similar to the one seen in the cold open, but instead of just Doris in there, there are many victims this time. Jasper can get his wish, and Houseman can get his, though it isn’t entirely clear what he wants to use all these newly turned vampires for. Based on how he used Doris, though, it likely isn’t anything good.

Speaking of Doris, she thinks she knows where Guy’s mother is. How many cliffhangers do we really need here?