This week’s Sanctuary lived up to my expectations after the disappointing mid-season finale, doing what Sanctuary does best: exposition. Whenever a show embraces character interaction and intricate dialogue without fearing they will lose the audience, I congratulate them Renaissance-style. Huzzah! While the rote December episode surrounded Hollow Earth special effects, this week’s episode overwrote past mistakes with a tight script solving mysteries from throughout season three.
I have to confess, I am a recently converted fan to the Sanctuary cult by a year. First season Sanctuary reminded me of 1970s Dr. Who: eerie, mysterious, and strange. Whenever I sporadically tuned in Helen’s accent felt forced, her historical allusions seemed unnecessary, Ashley’s hot warrior chick shtick annoyed me, Henry appeared poorly defined as well as Ryan Robbins for playing him, and don’t get me started on Robin Dunne’s history playing the second banana on straight-to-DVD remakes of ’90s movies. Yet, this summer, after watching Sanctuary’s season two, season one, and the webisodes within a two week period, everything I disliked about Sanctuary I loved, and wondered how I ever managed to avoid its eerie, hypnotic snare. This week’s episode reminded me of the mysterious and strange with its covert discovery of Hollow Earth politics, Ranna’s senate tension and her ability to place criminals into temp-death.
I love that Sanctuary continues to evolve in storyline, acting talent, and tight writing. This week they tied up the Big Bertha plot line surrounding the mysterious secondary force. Additionally, they continued to build on the traits of pre-existing characters. I loved watching Will consistently demand Magnus’ cure, even as she made it secondary. I loved John’s blood message written with love. They’re even finding better ways to work Kate into the plot without making her seem like Ashley’s most annoying personality traits 2.0. Ian Tracey serves as my new crush. Adam Worth proves such a great character that I hope he returns. I feel the writing staff left a space for his return, albeit implausible. After all, why did he need the map to Hollow Earth if he already lived there? Also, what happened to the map once he returned? Finally, what was Adam’s plan?
However, after the huge season-long build-up, I’m almost disappointed that they solved the mystery of Hollow Earth, Gregory’s disappearance, and Magnus’ illness so quickly. I also took issue with Will’s exposition when capturing Worth (both times). What is up with heroes and villains giving speeches to their enemies? Honestly, Will, just shoot! Finally, although the digital Hollow Earth old city special effects looked impressive, they also appeared digitized. I found the caverns and the rail system more intriguing and realistic.
What do you think of Sanctuary moving to Monday night opposite juggernaut Hawaii Five-0 and established mystery series, Castle? Isn’t that a bit foolish, especially if Harry’s Law returns in the fall? And, when will SyFy update their site with downloadable group photos of the entire cast for season three?
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Apr 21, 2011 @ 19:13 EST5EDT
I finally went to Hulu and caught up with the last two episodes of Sanctuary. Loving the Hollow Earth story! For me, the coolest part of the episode was meeting the super abnormal whose name I don’t know how to spell – the magma whale. But seeing the city was cool too, even though it looked very CG. I kind of wish there had been more Tesla in the episode, but there were already a lot of characters to follow. The reappearance of Druitt at the end and the message he left in blood were badass. All in all, I appreciate the way they’re building the show’s mythology, making an attempt to address unanswered questions, and also returning to the dark steampunk aesthetic through this story arc.
Ooh, nice turn of phrase “dark steampunk aesthetic.” Agreed on the CGI with Kanaan and I did wonder about Tesla. Now that they’ve wrapped up all of Season 3’s mysteries (well, the first half), I look forward to seeing what they do for the second. I know they solved the mystery of the priest, but could it return? What about Will’s potential new love interest?