Flesh

* Human
* Vampire

**Phil Fleischman**, known as **Flesh** is a main character on Syfy's *Van Hesling*. He is portrayed by Vincent Gale

Once a human named Phil, he became one of the first vampires turned by Julius. After The Rising, he served as one of Julius' top lieutenants, and was sent to bite "the dead woman," Vanessa Van Helsing. This resulted in his reversion, returning him to a human state. He currently leads his wife and son to a safe place away from vampires.

## Character Description

*“When Flesh became a vampire, his humanity disappeared. He feasted on the blood of those he once cared for with murderous glee. But after biting Vanessa Helsing, he turned human again! Dealing with vampires is nothing compared to living with the guilt of what he once was.”*

## Biography

Before The Rising, Phil lived in a family home with his wife and their two children, a five-year-old daughter and a toddler son. He worked as a manager, presumably at a store given his name tag and clothing.

On the day of the Rising, Phil was bitten by a vampire named Julius, whose brood he joined at some point.

On the sixth episode of the third season, Phil put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. A few seconds later, his head healed and he stood back up unharmed.

## Throughout the Series

* Season One
* Season Two
* Season Three
* Season Four

### Season One

Despite the Yellowstone Caldera's multiple eruptions and reports of its widespread effects, Phil still continues to go to work. He is on his way home when he suddenly sees people attacking and chasing each other. Frightened, he hurries after a seemingly calm man and asks what was happening, but is immediately attacked by the man instead. He runs home, confused and in pain, only to complete his transition as soon as he arrives. He brutally attacks his family, ripping his daughter's throat out before tearing his son's heart from his chest. He then leaves his wife unharmed, surrounded by the shredded remains of their children. Some time after that, he joins the brood of vampires who follow Julius, the vampire who turned him, and is renamed as Flesh.

Three years later, Flesh and four other vampires are sent to "turn the dead girl" being kept in Seattle Valley General Hospital. With the help of a human named Ted, they manage to infiltrate the hospital. As they enter the lab, he finds Vanessa lying unconscious on the exam table and bites her neck. After a few mouthfuls, he draws back and begins to choke and convulse, soon vomiting blood. He remains incapacitated as his fellow vampires attack the now awake woman, and is quickly knocked unconscious by Axel Miller. Assuming he was dead, the survivors tossed his body down the garbage chute; however, he regains consciousness and climbs back up. As the survivors hold him at gunpoint, they soon realize that he is no longer a vampire. John blames Vanessa for the change, and Flesh agrees that her blood must have cured him. Continue Reading Here....

Under threat of death, Flesh pleads for assistance as The Survivors slowly approach him, discovering that he's been reverted into a human by Vanessa's blood. Flesh wakes up from a nightmare yelling, causing Doc to scream and rattle her cage, pulling attention towards her and Flesh, explaining to Mohamad that he hadn't dreamed in years. Once the UV lights go out, the vampires begin to attack the hospital, Flesh finds a scalpel, opening the front doors, confronting the vampires head-on and cutting himself to prove he that he is human again. He tells them that if they want to feel and suffer for all their sins, they should enter the hospital, where "the dead woman" would turn them all human too. Continue Reading Here....

As Doc showers, Flesh waits for her in the hallway to ask how she's handling her transition. He tries to comfort her by saying she was spared from having to face that life. Doc disagrees however, pointing out that she had been locked in a cage, alone and starving, as Axel controlled how much she could drink from him. She sees her previous situation as humiliating and horrifying, but Flesh points out that she was at least safe and cared for. He mentions Julius and the ancients, citing their brutality and how lucky Doc was to have avoided it. Continue Reading Here....

The survivors begin to speculate on who the mysterious killer could be after learning that he/she had just killed Roger, Flesh quickly becomes one of the main suspects, they explain that he was once a vampire, possibly having a residual killer left in him, Flesh admits that he has been having trouble through the transition, sleep walking and nightmares mainly. Continue Reading Here....

Flesh receives a cut on his hand as Catherine tries to attack them through the cage with Mohamad's spear in a fit of rage. Later, he is seen working on a way out by trying to unscrew the grate on the ceiling. When Axel asks if Susan, who he refers to as the new girl if she would like to come, but she's not going anywhere with Flesh as he was once a vampire,, he tries to explain that he was cured, just like her, but apparently he was rather nasty as a vampire. Axel says that he's one of them now. Continue Reading Here....

After alerting the survivors of Julius' upcoming arrival, Susan suspect that maybe Julius is coming to take Flesh back as he was once a top dog, he was the lieutenant, to everyone's surprise as they had no idea that Flesh was important to Julius. Flesh explains that they don't get it as no one is important to Julius, no one except Vanessa. As the vampires attack the building, taking out he UV lights, Flesh explains that it's a tactic, they'll keep throwing their bodies at the hospital until they get inside. Continue Reading Here....

A church bell sounds as the survivors take a break from driving on the road, the survivors debate whether or not they should go to the church or the military base, Axel decides on the base, but Flesh wonders about the church, he asks how do they know if anyone isn't there. The next morning, after making it to the military base, the survivors go on about the base, Flesh claims to feel death around him, John is uncomfortable about that, he tells John not to turn away, if he has something to say then say it to his face, John then tells Flesh that he's creepy, Sam and Susan laugh. Continue Reading Here....

Flesh and Axel arrive just in time to help dispose of John's body after Vanessa finishes up cleaning the mess, Vanessa looks to the two of them, wondering if she actually had to kill John, to which the two of them agree that it was necessary. As they remove John, Axel makes a joke, Flesh asks if he's ever heard of respecting the dead, Axel then takes the chance to remind Flesh that John didn't deserve it as he killed people and cut off their fingers. Flesh thanks Axel for getting them as far as he had. Axel opens the fridge, to discover dead bodies inside, they nearly vomit as the smell is so foul. Continue Reading Here....

Flesh approaches Micah in his office, Micah explains that the only way to move forward is to let go of the pain, telling Flesh to place his hands on the table, close his eyes, breath, and let his thoughts take him back to that time where it began. In that session, Flesh reveals that he had dreams about killing his family long before becoming a vampire, Doc catches him leaving the office, they make brief eye contact and part ways. After learning that Sam was responsible for the death of one of Micah's men, he asks Flesh what he should do, to which he suggest that Micah banish both of them from ever returning, instead Micah hands him a blade, telling him to think like one of them. After learning that Micah has been feeding the vampires with mothers and their newborn babies, Flesh kills him with the very same blade he was gifted, then deciding to stay behind in Eden as the survivors move on. Continue Reading Here....

After moving on from Eden, Flesh goes out in the woods to gather water, it is then that he hears a noise, calling out to Theo and Emma but with no reply, he takes off as the noise persist. Flesh runs away but is cut off by Brendan, who has a rifle pointed at him. Brendan takes Flesh to his camp, there Flesh meets Taka, the leader of the Portland Human Resistance, he insists that Flesh tell him all about Vanessa. Continue Reading Here....

As Taka announces his plan to commence with taking down The Citadel and killing everyone inside, Flesh interrupts, asking if that includes Vanessa despite the fact that she's the one they've all been whispering about since The Rising. Taka admits that it does include her, he says that Vanessa is a liability as the vampires have her. Flesh makes it known that he's going to be doing everything in his power to save her. Continue Reading Here....

### Season Four

Flesh and Jolene find their way to Loveland. They scope out the facility from just outside the gate. Jolene points out that one of the prison buses are headed the opposite way of Denver. There’s nothing but desert for miles, and yet they loaded the bus with crates from the storage rooms. Solicite and food all headed the wrong way. She suspects there’s more going on than just mining for Denver. Flesh then spots his wife Jennifer. Flesh and Jolene sneak inside of Loveland under one of the transport buses. They find Jennifer, but are quickly apprehended by the Jeremy, very same guard Flesh shot to get to Loveland. Max Borman, the Warden arrives to question Flesh. Max is forced to pry the answer out of him. He beats Flesh with a retractable baton. Max shoots Flesh and orders Jeremy to kill Jolene. Flesh then reawakens, much to Max's surprise. Instead of killing them as originally planned, he orders Jeremy to chain Flesh up and bring Jolene to his office. Continue Reading Here....

Flesh awakens to the sight of a little kid standing in front of him. Jennifer snatches the kid away. His name is Owen. Flesh tries to explain to Jennifer that it was the virus that made him kill the kids, however, she knows the truth. He was unhappy long before that. He hated being a husband and father. Flesh asks Jennifer if Owen is there kid, but she doesn’t respond. After being tortured and beaten with a bat by Max, Flesh is approached by Jolene, who asks how is it that Flesh isn’t a vampire anymore. Flesh offers to help Jennifer and Owen escape, but she doesn’t trust him, especially not around another child. In that case, Flesh will stay and he will arrange to have Jolene help Jennifer escape. Jeremy unlocks Flesh from his chains and helps him escape. Jeremy and Flesh retrieve Jennifer and Owen and run to Axel's truck. However, Max grabs Owen and Jennifer before they can. Max takes Owen and Jennifer hostage and drives off with them. Continue Reading Here....

Flesh and Axel track Max east. They find several dead feeders strung up for display, all burned. It seems as if the daywalkers haven’t made it this far. It’s a message for feeders, from feeders. They are suddenly surrounded by a group of feeders. Flesh and Axel make a run for the bus. Axel gets on top and starts shooting while Flesh drives. One of the feeders attack Flesh, forcing Axel to intervene. He shoots at the truck's gas tank causing an explosion.Flesh and Axel track Max down to what appears to be an abandoned town. Flesh and Axel come upon Max’s Jeep outside a house. Before they can enter, Max shoots them down with a sniper. Axel comes from behind the car and intentionally opens himself up to fire as Max isn’t aware that he heals. Axel first takes a bullet to the chest and then the head. Flesh and Axel track Max down to a farm belonging to a guy named Matty. Flesh finds only Jennifer inside, and Axel learns from Matty that Max is headed for the river. Jennifer then grabs Axel's gun and shoots Matty in the head. Axel, Flesh, and Jennifer catch up to Max. Flesh comes from behind with a blade and decapitates Max. Flesh and Axel then part ways as Flesh, Jennifer, and Owen cross the river. Continue Reading Here....
## Personality

As a human, Phil seemed like a decent man. He was willing to approach a stranger despite the chaos happening around him. He also seemed like a good husband and father, as his wife and daughter were pleased when he came home.

As a vampire, Flesh had no conscience and performed no shortage of terrible acts. Now that he is human again, he feels all the pain and guilt he caused. He admitted that he couldn't live with himself after the atrocities he committed; in particular, he was horrified with what he did to his family. However, he was also still hopeful that his wife was still around, and was willing to bet that she would want to be human again.

Flesh was also quite versatile, and patiently endured the survivors' unwelcoming and suspicious attitudes. However, he was also worried they would turn on him, and worked hard to be trustworthy enough to find allies among his companions.

## Abilities

Flesh possessed the typical abilities associated with vampires, such as advanced strength, speed, longevity, etc. Any injury and disability was healed, leaving him at the peak of his physical capabilities. However after feeding on Vanessa and reverting to human state, he no longer has any of these abilities. In fact, his old shoulder injury has reemerged and his poor eyesight has returned, forcing him to use glasses (with the wrong prescription).

After being bitten by two different variations of vampires, Flesh has the following abilities

* **Vampire Virus Immunity**: Flesh, along with the others bitten by Vanessa, is immune to the vampire bite and his blood is unappetizing and does not provide nourishment to vampires. He can also sense Vanessa's presence.
* **Rapid Cellular Regeneration**: Flesh has been changed into an enhanced human due to being changed back from being a vampire and then bit by a vampire from Scar's bloodline, a vampire who was experimented on. The changes allows him to heal from any injury near instantaneously. It appears to have corrected his vision again.
* **Resurrection**: After being bitten by a daywalker, a vampire of Scar's bloodline, Flesh will resurrect anytime he is killed from damage that he cannot regenerate in time. He will go into a hibernation-like death state and he will eventually regenerate and come back to life. This has been shown after he was killed by a pack of feral daywalkers and buried; when he tried to commit suicide by a gunshot to the head and by falling off a 5 story building. The length of time it takes to resurrect, appears to be correlated with the amount of damage that he has received. He may be immortal.

## Appearances

* Seen You (credit only)
* Stay Inside
* Coming Back
* Fear Her
* Nothing Matters
* For Me
* Little Thing
* Help Out
* Stay Away
* Last Time (credit only)
* He's Coming
* It Begins
* In Redemption
* Love Bites
* Save Yourself
* Everything Changes
* Big Mama
* Crooked Falls

* Pretty Noose
* Like Suicide
* Loud Love
* Christ Pose
* Liberty or Death
* Miles And Miles

## References

1. ↑ Official Character Description From SyFy Website