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SANCTUARY |
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Dr Helen Magnus - Amanda Tapping Dr Will Zimmerman - Robin Dunne John Druitt - Christopher Heyerdahl Henry Foss - Ryan Robbins Kate Freelander - Agam Darshi 
OTHER SANCTUARY SEASONS Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 OTHER HERO SHOWS Birds of Prey Batman Blade Heroes 
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Kali- Part ThreeWhilst the giant tsunamis created by Big Bertha race across the Indian Ocean towards land, Magnus learns that the only way to stop the expected loss of life is for Will to die in a final attempt to contact Kali. SANCTUARY comes roaring back with the obvious intention of doing things bigger and harder than before. The cliffhanger of the last season sees the Sanctuary fleet devastated and the city of Mumbai deluged by the tidal wave in a sequence that we’ve all seen done better on the large screen (DEEP IMPACT anyone?), but which is still impressive on a television show effects budget. Other effects, such as the yacht on which the rescued Magnus finds herself, are very poorly rendered CGI. Will’s trip into the afterlife is a more satisfying strand to the story as it combines some lovely imagery (cornfields and temples) with some pretty shonky story ideas (leap of faith? Really?). Everything is told at a fast clip in order to stop the audience worrying about the huge plot holes and the fact that the whole thing is completely bonkers, but it’s a tactic that works and the whole thing holds together fairly reasonably mainly thanks to the commitment of the actors. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top FirewallWill is unable to recover from his afterlife experience and cannot function on missions any longer. Magnus believes it to be a psychological problem, but the invisible intruders might have something to do with that as well. Whilst it's nice to see the fallout from such a major storyline as the KALI one, this storyline fails to bring it all together in a compelling fashion. It's clearly setting up the show and thes season for future complications. The intruders aren't explained at all and the source of the earthquakes that saved the day are clearly to be the running plot arc, but the lack of any sort of resolution make this a bit disappointing. The action element, though, works well as the team hunt invisible enemies through the mansion with ALIEN style motion detectors, but it really needed something a bit stronger behind it. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top Bank JobWhen an egg hatches inside a bank vault, the baby killing machine inside takes up residence inside an unknowing human host. Taking the entire bank hostage, Magnus and the team have to hold off the police whilst finding a way to get the monster out of its host before it comes out on its own and kills everyone there. Seiges are naturally dramatic situations with built in conflict, tension and drama. Throw in a situation borrowed liberally from JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING and you have a situation that is amost impossible to mess up. Fortunately, the show manages to make the most of the set up for a fun episode that gets away with a very shaky start (monster eggs in bank vaults because they're mistaken for works of art indeed). The creature, when finally revealed, is the usual dodgy CGI beastie that is far too large to live inside a human without them knowing about it and the gang make for unbelievable bank robbers, but since that is part of the plot it doesn't really matter. Written by James ThorpeDirected by Peter DeLuise Top Trail Of BloodAn SOS sent by Nikolas Tesla from deep beneath the Columbian Highlands leads Magnus, Will and Henry into a dangerous situation involving giant centipedes and a Cabal laboratory. At home, the death of a priest affects the Big Guy deeply. Jonathon Young is back as the charismatic and fun Nikolas Tesla and almost makes up for a plot that isn't all that great and some CGI giant millipede things that are even less great. If not for him, this would have been dull indeed. The secondary story, involving a new and ongoing villain and plot for future development, which only manages to add an unfinished feeling to the unsatisfactory nature of the episode. Written by Gillian HorvathDirected by Steven A Adelson Top Broken ArrowAn alarm leads to an evacuation of the Sanctuary and masked men try to steal an item en route to a new location. That item is a living suit that turns the wearer into a superhero. Kate ends up wearing the suit, but without the morals to be a hero. This is a direct sequel to the story Hero which wasn't that great an episode to begin with and this proves to be as lacking. Kate is given the lamest superhero costume ever, but that's fair enough since she doesn't do anything remotely either super or heroic. It's obvious where this is going from the start and not worth the journey when you arrive. Written by Allan McCulloughDirected by Mairzee Almas Top AnimusHenry and Will follow up on a werewolf sighting in England that might lead to clues about Henry's past whilst Magnus and Tesla investigate a mysterious city. No review is currently available for this episode. If you want to add one, please click here to e-mail it to us. Written by Miranda KwokDirected by Martin Wood Top BreachMagnus gets trapped in a building with an enemy who is able to freeze time, transport instantaneously all over the place and who has no apparent desire beyond beating her up and taunting her. This is an intriguing episode that sets up an interesting mystery with the inescapable building and the stranger who taunts Magnus. This situation is then teased out and only slowly reveals the background behind it. The action is terrific as Magnus and the masked man beat the hell out of each other and she slowly builds up knowledge of how he thinks and moves and lays her plans to fight back. The location is claustrophobic and nicely judged and everything combines together to create the best episode of the season so far. Written by Damien KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top For King And CountryThe man who attacked Magnus is now locked up, but he is still playing games with her, forcing her to reveal secrets of her past to Will, dark secrets. This episode gives some insight into the past of the Helen Magnus and her remarkable friends and how they all came to prominence. The period scenes are nicely done and mask the fact that there is precious little plot and alot of setup going on. Putting Magnus' life in danger adds the ticking clock aspect and keeping Nicolas Tesla around is always a good move. Written by James ThorpeDirected by Lee Wilson Top VigilanteThe only way to save Magnus is to go into the inside of the planet, but to find the way in, she and John Druitt must claim an ancient artefact to show the way. The loss of a crate of harmless bugs leads the others to a killer targetting abnormals. The mini plot arc of the abnormal-hunting killer is thrown away here as the subplot to an equally unsatisfactory jaunt around the world to find an ancient artefact main storyline that doesn't convince for a second. Neither Druitt nor Magnus notice a major hole in the Earth before falling into it and then take the item with ease from a creature who is supposed to be really dangerous. It's really all just padding around the central plot arc of Magnus going down into the hollow place inside the Earth. Written by Allan McCulloughDirected by Steven A Adelson Top Hollow MenMagnus, Will, Kate and Henry descend into the subterranean world in search of the cure for Helen's condition. They are met with booby traps and distrust from an apparently human population, leading to their execution. Kate at one point mentions that it's all a bit Indiana Jones and that sums up this episode nicely. There are a number of obstacles to be overcome on the way to the fabled underground city, but that just adds up to a series of happenings rather than a coherent plot. This the last episode before the midseason break and so it has to end on a cliffhanger and the execution of the whole team is a good one, but the lead up to that is sluggish and not as exciting as we might have expected. Written by James ThorpeDirected by Martin Wood Top Pax RomanaRevived from death, the team learn that the underground city is being destroyed by geothermal forces that are normally regulated by a hugely powerful abnormal. Helen goes to its aid whilst Will tries to figure out what Adam is up to and prevent a catastrophe. There is rather too much plot to get through in this first episode after the midseason break and it would probably have been better served by putting it over two episodes than cramming it into just this one. As well as the veterinary trip iniside a volcanic chamber, there is the hunt for Adam, the revelation of a traitor, the discovery of a parasite and the meeting of a parent all jammed in. As a result, none of the elements get sufficient time to be developed properly. There's lots of running and technobabble, but the characters don't really get to do anything other than race through the plot as quickly as they can. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top HangoverHelen returns from a trip to prepare for a visit by a UN inspector only to find that the Sanctuary has been wrecked and Henry has been attacked and left with no memory of events. She finds that all the others have had a similar experience and the culprits would appear to be the team themselves. This starts off as an intriguing idea and the flashbacks start to bring the mystery into focus, but by the time that the true culprit for creatures being turned into aggressive monsters is revealed there is a strong sense of deja vu. It isn't all that long since the show was last dealing with passive creatures suddenly attacking everything and everyone and invasive parasites. Still, it moves quickly and is fun enough. Written by James ThorpeDirected by Andy Mikita Top One NightWill takes his date Abby on a trip to the finest restaurant there is, but they are met along the way and kidnapped by a bunch of gangsters who insist that Will save their leader from the poisoned quills of an abnormal. Not sure that he even can save the man, Will has to worry about what will happen to the prisoners even if he succeeds. Pretty much a standard police drama given a slight twist by the fact that the leader of the gang is an abnormal, this episode is not up to the show's best standards, though it does have some zingy dialogue between Will and Abby and the angry leader of the kidnappers at least makes for a believeable villain. An entertaining enough time passer whilst you're watching, it doesn't remain in the memory afterwards. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Amanda Tapping Top MetamorphosisWill wakes up to find that he has been infected by a parasite that he picked up in the underground city, a parasite that is changing him into something else. Whilst Magnus tries to find a cure, Will and the rest of the team try to come to terms with his changing looks and situation. This is a totally one trick episode. Someone thought 'wouldn't it be great to do an episode filmed from the point of view of one of the characters?' and this storyline was built up around that one single thought. Unfortunately, the gimmick is not sufficient to sustain the running time without a plot and the plot here is painfully lacking. They can't even sustain the gimmick for the whole running time, having to resort to a couple of third person scenes along the way. The episode aims for some sort of 'I'm still me' vibe, but it fails to impress or say anything new along the way. Written by Alan McCulloughDirected by Andy Mikita Top WingmanWill and Henry are both going out of dates, so when Magnus asks them to drop off an abnormal along the way they're less than keen. The abnormal is a Mothman and is waking up when it shouldn't, so they have to find a way to contain it and make their dinner reservations. The bane of serialised television, the flashback episode, strikes again as Will and Henry share moments from the past to enlighten their girlfriends about what they do in the Sanctuary and how important it is to them. These clips are mercifully usually short flashes, but they mean that there is very little likelihood of anything coming out of the episode. The framing device is pretty weak since the abnormal doesn't actually do very much and spends most of its time asleep in the sewers and never seems like a threat to anyone. All in all, though, this is one of the weakest moments of the show to date. Written by Miranda KwokDirected by Peter DeLuise Top AwakeningWhilst examining an ancient fortress, Tesla is mortally wounded and Magnus is forced to take blood from a preserved original vampire queen in order to save him. This has the added effects of making him a vampire again and loosing a power-hungry and almost invincible threat to all humanity. Any episode that features Jonathon Young's Nikolas Tesla is pretty much guaranteed to be fun and this one is no exception. It's a slight tale, but fun and frothy with some witty dialogue and a nicely threatening enemy with a sense of style. By comparison, the story of Kate trying to atone for sins of the past manages to be tedious and uninteresting. Written by Gillian HorvathDirected by Lee Wilson Top NormandyOne the eve of D-Day and the invasion of Normandy, Helen Magnus and her fantastic five take on the nazis and their weather-controlling machine only to find that there is an infinitely more dangerous threat to be dealt with. Quite apart from the fact that the whole Sanctuary team are sidelined for this little trip down memory lane, this episode is a really fun romp through nazi-occupied France where all resistance fighters wear berets or flat caps and tanks are easy to come by. The plot has quite a few twists and turns and makes good use of the talents of Magnus' first team as they face a nicely evil nazi officer and a fire elemental that cannot be destroyed. There's lots of running and shooting and very little of it makes any sense of all, but you don't mind because you're having such a good time. The period details are nice, the washed out colour makes it great to look at and if only they'd resisted the need to slot in Robin Dunne as Will's forebear, thus breaking the suspension of disbelief, then this would have been one the season's best efforts. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top CarentanPeople are disappearing near Carentan, the French town where Magnus trapped a fire elemental. The team travel to France, but are denied access to the site. Will and Magnus go in alone and find themselves inside a time bubble, days passing for every minute outside the bubble. To save the Earth, they will have to destroy everyone inside. This is a variation on a story that's been told a few times before on other shows and it creaks a bit. Will builds himself something of a life by meeting a girl, but he doesn't have the time to make this significant enough, so a colleague called Ravi is already there to have a whole lifetime behind him in order to make the sacrifice more significant, but since we barely know him, that doesn't work either. Events in the normal time stream aren't all that interesting and even the big finale gets wasted in a fade that robs it of all its drama. Written by James ThorpeDirected by Stephen A Adelson Top Out Of The BlueWill is a heart surgeon on the verge of a major surgical breakthrough whilst waiting for his wife to give birth to their first child. Helen is a painter with a thriving customer base. Why then are they dreaming of being experimented on in a strange laboratory? Ah, the normal life that really isn't. It's a standard storyline and makes no attempt to convince the audience that the false life is real. It's obvious from the outset that they're trapped in this false world and so the only question becomes why? That explanation is a clumsy info dump at the end once the story has stolen its denoument from LIFE ON MARS. At least the plot gives Amanda Tapping a chance to do some real acting rather than all the action stuff for a change, but that really isn't enough to stave off the deja vu. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top Into The BlackAdam is not dead, but intends to use the technology from Hollow Earth to go back in time and save his daughter. In order to do this, he has destroyed Praxis and organised an invasion of abnormals into the surface world. The season finale and there isn't time to take a breath as the story rips along a number of lines. There's the escalating events in the refugee camp that is far more than it appears to be. There is Adam's plot. There is the UN giving operations over to the military, there are hostages and there is the time travel element that threatens everything, but also provides the reset button. The aim of a season finale is to build to a climax that will ensure that the audience comes back next time around. That means that the story itself isn't really satisfying, but the cliffhangers are, at least, suitably different, even if Helen's is couched in the most obvious and not very convincing CGI yet. Written by Alan McCulloughDirected by Damian Kindler Top |
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