"No 'I' in Team" is an episode that is best watched with absolutely zero prior knowledge of its style or content, and nobody should read much about it before watching it, beyond knowing - if you're new to Van Helsing - that it depicts the first minutes of the apocalyptic scenario which the rest of the series revolves around. In fact, other than the opening 60 seconds and closing 60 seconds, this episode stands up as its own short film, entirely independent of the rest of the show.
From a totally spoiler-free, technical point of view, this is by far the strongest and most well-made episode of the entirety of Van Helsing. This is the best-acted episode and, considering the way the scenes are shot (I'm trying to not give anything away here) this is the most impressive episode in terms of the logistics of filming like this. This episode showcases a level of competence and effort from all involved which is very rarely seen in television outside of the very highest-budget productions. Every single person involved with the creation of "No 'I' in Team" should be extremely, extremely proud of themselves.
The only problem this episode has is that it is of course stuck being two thirds of the way through the fourth - and weakest - season of what we'll charitably call a 'cult' TV show. If this had been an entirely separate short film, it'd be very popular. If this had been the pilot for a wholly new series, it'd have been a hit. As it is though, few people will want to pick up a mid-season episode of a show they've not seen before, and the few who are loyal watchers of Van Helsing have spent the last few years knee-deep in a series which is very, very different to this episode. As a result this episode might struggle to please the regular fans (which, judging by the reviews on IMDb, has indeed been the case) while also failing to appeal to new viewers. (Who might only be disappointed that the rest of the series is not like this, anyway.)
"No 'I' in Team" is a prime example of fantastic idea, executed as well as could be hoped for, hamstrung by its surroundings. If you've read this far and you're not a regular Van Helsing viewer, please give this episode a go. Even if you do not watch any other episodes of this entire show, "No 'I' in Team" is worth your time.
