Sanctuary – Tesla returns in the Vampire Diaries episode

Sanctuary has always been unabashedly derivative, so it was only a matter of time before we got an episode that reflects the current interest in young, hot vampires. Sanctuary‘s smart move was to put a tongue-in-cheek spin on the story. Squeezing in references to True Blood, Buffy, and of course Bram Stoker, the writers entered cornball territory with the dialogue. (“I think Nikola’s about to bite off more than he can chew”? Dear God.) Still, the return of the brilliant Tesla was worth any number of unnecessary and not very clever puns.

I wish Jonathan Young would become a permanent part of the cast already. He does sarcasm right. My favorite Tesla lines of the episode: “You’ve turned what was supposed to be a symphony into rock and roll—French-Canadian rock and roll!” “Yeah, well, life’s a bitch, and then you don’t die.”

Tesla’s 30-year plan for vampire world domination was clever, but I saw a problem besides the fact that the vampire gene kicks in immediately after death. With the exception of the pre-med dropout Darren, Tesla seems to have chosen idiots for the vampire program. I supposed he expected three decades of experience would make them mature enough to run the world. Haha.

Was it not hilarious when Laura killed Steve in an attempt to turn him into a vampire? A minute earlier, the kids were thinking, “Ooh, look at us! We’re so hot! We’re vampires!” Then they’re staring stupidly at the body, wondering, “Uh … why isn’t anything happening?”

When Magnus questions the Ditz, Laura warns her that “Chad is going to whip some serious vamp action on your ass” (I was laughing out loud at this point), and then she shouts, “Why don’t you bite me, bitch!” (Groan.) At this point, Magnus looks ready to wallop Laura, and I so wish she had. Instead, Will and Kate threaten to kill her with silver bullets sprinkled with holy water, and that does the trick. Nice. Mockery really saved this episode.

Now, there were a couple of more somber moments that I enjoyed as well. First, Chad had a scene with Tesla (it’s the one pictured above) in which he reveals that he is looking for a mentor in Tesla. It’s a nice, vulnerable moment for Chad, but Tesla is so pissed at the young punk who ruined his plans that it takes a while for him to realize that all he has to do is play along in order to control said punk.

The other scene I love is the final one. We saw Tesla devastated after accidentally de-vamping himself, but in the final scene, we see that he has lost none of his wit or charm. Magnus, looking very beautiful, comforts him with a bottle of wine and tells him, “You are your real self again. Human. Mortal.” “Watch your language,” he retorts. (Was she just feeling sorry for him, or do you think she’s attracted to him now that he’s vulnerable?) They share a toast “to the glorious vampire race, once mighty, now extinct” – a nice, solemn contrast to the mocking tone directed at the young vampires.

And, of course, the surprise at the very end is that Tesla has turned into Magneto. I can’t wait to see how his character develops.

A few other observations:

• Nice little shout-out to the fanboys at Comic Con.
• Magnus found the de-vamper in a bottle of wine given to her by Winston Churchill on D-Day. She’s quite the name dropper!
• The episode is dedicated to Jonathan Young’s daughter Azra Young and her cousins Phoebe and Fergus Conway, who died in a fire in July 2009.
• Sanctuary (and John Druitt!) will return on January 8th.

One more thing:

If you could ask Amanda Tapping one question about Sanctuary, what would it be? Let me know in the comments. If I get some good ones, I may use them when I interview her later this month! Stay tuned.

Clacked by Ruby T.
on Dec 19, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT