Sanctuary – It was Dr. Zimmerman who killed Dr. Magnus in the submarine

(Season 1, Episode 9 – “Requiem”)

Who knew a two-man play could be compelling in the world of science fiction? No crazy special effects or zany aliens or creatures; just a man and a woman and a submarine. Kudos to the writers and actors involved for making this still compelling television. The relationship between Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman has been something that’s been growing for awhile now. Too bad he had to go and kill her.

Earlier in the series, there were some lingering thoughts that there might be some sexual tension between the two, but then that shifted to Will and Ashley pretty quickly; about as quickly as Will lost the glasses so people like me would stop comparing the show to Stargate SG-1. Now we have a clear mentor-student dynamic and it was explored pretty well here.

There was some needed give and take from both parties, as Helen agreed to allow Will to question her about her longevity and some of the things she’s done in her life (she’s pretty much been at every major historical event of the past century). And she got to try and kill him. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I liked that they opened the episode with Helen’s death, which was a real and true death, before showing us how we got there. It definitely grabbed you by your … ahem … well, you know … and hooked you to your screen for the next 58 minutes or so. And when we did come back full circle to it, you bought it completely. Both Dunne and Tapping did an excellent job of selling their respective roles in her death scene.

I wonder if they were able to keep the parasite for analysis. It’s a little annoying that in science fiction shows when a host body dies, the parasite always comes out the ear or mouth or something and crawls around for awhile. I’m not a doctor, but I doubt that happens in real hospitals. I don’t know, maybe it does. That would make for an exciting episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

A lot was made of the idea that Helen sees Will as her successor in her work at the Sanctuary. I’m not sure if she’s sold this same line to all of her proteges, but if she hasn’t it makes you wonder if she has some idea about how much longer she might live. Maybe until the last episode of the series? It would make sense that with her unique physiology she might not even look old before she passes naturally of old age.

And if she does pass away, then Will has free reign to bang her daughter, unless the sasquatch or werewolf were wanting to make a move. I don’t think Will could compete with them in the age old masculinity competitions that savage species adopt. Hell, he couldn’t compete with Ashley in a physical match-up. Still, once the Sanctuary is his he can just issue an edict: “Thou shalt not bang the Ashley until such time as I am no longer interested in continuing copulation.”

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Dec 06, 2008 @ 15:07 EST5EDT