"Normandy" - the saviour of the season for Sanctuary.
It was going to go better than previous episodes for two reasons:
1) Very little Will
2) A whole lotta Tesla!
But before we get going on how great "Normandy" was, let's review "Metamorphosis" and " Wingman".
Both were much better episodes than Sanctuary had been putting out recently, even if both were pretty Will-centric. One plus of how they shot "Metamorphosis" was that we saw far less of Will than anyone else, even if he was in almost every scene. I know there are a ton of Will fans out there, and I don't wish to step on toes, but as I have previously said Will is not a character for whom an entire episode should be written. So I was a tad concerned that we were getting another "all about Will" ep... to the point where I was groaning aloud. Thankfully the focus was more on how the other team members were dealing with Will's ongoing changes, allowing us a different view of the Sanctuary than the usual "go out and bag us an abnormal" storyline. In fact, the best moment of the episode occured when Will was missing out on the mission. Discovering the Big Guy's hidden still and whiskey tasting room made this one of my favorite eps of the third season.
I do have to put a bit of a dig in on Amanda's acting in this one, though. I found she's just not as strong when she's acting to the camera, rather than to her co-stars. It's like she's too cognizant of the camera and is afraid of just reacting. I kept getting distracted by the fact she was rarely blinking, and her gaze was very intense, with far fewer of the sideways glances that are a normal part of a conversation. On the other side of the scale was Agam Darshi, who was far and away the best of the cast in this one. Her reactions were natural and perfectly in sync with her character. For an actor who's taken more than her fair share of criticism, Ms. Darshi is continuing to show her proffessional growth. Good on you, girl!
Moving onto "Wingman", we are treated to the fantastic return of Pauline Egan as Erika, Henry's fellow werewolf/HAP/lycan and apparent love interest. It is also the third episode in which Pascale Hutton plays FBI agent Abby Corrigan... and thankfully, this one is much better than the last.
*wipes brow in relief*
Now, this episode is actually a "clips show" something which usually sets my teeth on edge. Flashbacks should be used sparingly not as fodder for an entire episode. As my wife said "It makes it seem like they've run out of ideas. Why can't they just write a new episode?" She has a point, especially as Sanctuary is only in its third season. Do we really need a review?
That being said I felt that "Wingman" managed to work as a place holder episode as there was a storyline around the flashbacks, the acting was spot on, the episode was tongue-in-cheek the whole way (Mothman? Really?) and it was directed by the awesome Peter Deluise (who also plays the abnormal dealer with used car salesman aplomb). And the best part was that the flashbacks were kept to a minimum and well edited. Best moment for me was when Henry and Abby were stuck in the van, being attacked by a testosterone powered mothman, and Abby, for the umpteenth time says "What's going on now?"
Henry's epic response: "Yeah, still don't know. In the same van as you."
Seriously, how did this woman get to be an FBI agent? That aside we also get to see Henry not fly away to England with Erika, coming to the realization that the relationship needed more in common than both of them being werewolves. Who knew?
So, a couple of decent episodes dealing with mothman legends and Will almost turning into an angry angry gecko. (And yes, there's a Geiko joke in there for those who have yet to see "Metamorphasis")
But both pale in comparison to the greatness that is "Normandy". Which requires a blog all its own. Which shall be written as soon as I actually get more into my stomach than Mellow Yellow and BioBest drinkable yogourt.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Sunday 1 May 2011
3 Episodes In...
...and I am anything but impressed.
Before the interminable mid-season break, Sanctuary was going swimmingly. Great characters, some pretty wicked writing and an intriguing mystery that had everyone wondering what the hell was going on beneath our feet.
And did I mention everyone dies?
That is one hell of a cliffhanger and you'd better come up with a damn good resolution.
Not so much. Instead we get a great line from Henry about zombies and apparently John is getting eaten by those weird little alien things. Oh, and did I mention that though the Hollow Earth folks are far more advanced than us they still use plastic water bottles? Guess maintaining world peace doesn't include protecting the Ozone Layer.
Our team is alive, thanks to Ranna (played very well by Polly Walker. Am I the only one who kept thinking Ranna had a crush on Magnus?) deciding to bring them back. So she can interrogate them...then kill them...or get them to save a really big lava whale. Or something...
The episode had so many plot holes in it I was starting to crave Swiss cheese. Here are a few:
1) If you really wanted to know what had happened to Gregory Magnus why just kill off his daughter and her band of merry men? The Council is chock full of advanced beings... death is what they resort to?
2) They don't resolve the teaser...As far as we know John believes Helen is dead and he's about to be eaten by a couple munchkins who are as adverse to sunlight as a certain witch is to water. So how the hell did he get off the chain, beat the crap out of the munchkins, drag their bleeding bodies to the exact spot Adam was getting off the pod, and then know to send the pod back to where it came from with a note to Helen in it? Are we to assume that in thirty seconds John beat the truth out of Adam, took the time to write out a message in his blood and knew exactly how to send the pod back? Or know that the security folks were trying to override the pod's controls? In a city he hadn't actually gotten to? Seriously?
I can do suspension of disbelief but that is just plain ridiculous.
3) Gregory Magnus just sort of appears from around the corner and Helen is bloody calm about it. She's believed he was dead for years (many years... a century, in fact), was told "Oh, no wait, maybe he's not,", goes to one of the most hidden places on - well, in - the Earth to seek him and all she's says is "Father!" and gives him a hug. I get that she's British, and they aren't that demonstrative, but really? She's a daddy's girl after all. The audience was likely more engaged than she was.
4) Ranna, a highly respected member of an advanced race, apparently doesn't know how to attach a carabiner to a climbing rope properly. And the highly advanced abnormal with whom she has communicated with for years almost dumps her in the drink? Contrived bonding moment anyone?
5) Adam, a dangerous maniacal genius, is turned into a loveable scamp who enjoys stealing technology, knocking pretty ladies unconcious and then sort of, kinda, maybe, trying to end the world as we know it. But, then again, maybe he just likes to collect pretty steampunk items. This really gets me, because when we first met Adam in "Breach" he was terrifying. Now you want to ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks.
And, finally, the biggest plot hole of all...
6) Where the Hell is Tesla? The man was so integral to discovering the city beneath, but gets left behind by John in the mid-season cliffhanger. Fine, he can be a bit of a liability... but Tesla would never just wander away before the crew got back. He'd be sitting in Magnus' chair, drinking her best Chablis, listening to Wagner and annoying the crap out of the Big Guy. And all of this would be an act, as he genuinely cares for Helen and he would be worried that something had happened to her. He just wouldn't want anyone to know that he actually has feelings.
Obviously Jonathan is a very busy actor, and he is in charge of his own theatre company, so I can understand that his schedule may not have matched up perfectly with that of Sanctuary. But a quick little chaser scene with Biggie saying how Nikola, after having found out Magnus was safe, had left in a huff with a crate of her best wine as payment for getting left behind would have sufficed. Much better than this unexplained MIA thing that's going on.
So, "Pax Romana" had some decent scenes, but left me scratching my head and feeling rather disatisfied - I waited four months for that?
But I am not one to jump ship that easily, having been along for the ride since the webisodes, so I waited a week to see what would happen next.
That would be "Hangover" and I felt much better about where the show was heading. Far fewer plot holes, great Henry moments - how many times does the poor guy have to say he's sorry? - and you got to see Will get shot. However, not impressed with the final scene between Magnus and the UN Security Head. It was cute at first, but throughout the episode we learned that each affected person had memories up until they were infected by the Ugly Bug. So, Helen knew the plan wouldn't work... which is hinted at when Will says "You've done this before, haven't you?" But then why make yourself look like an incompeten liar to someone so powerful? It was blind luck and rather contrived writing that the Security Head didn't just shut everything down. Could have been dealt with much better, and not have lost the light tone the rest of the episode had going.
Still, we were going in the right direction - even if a certain magnetic genius was still MIA.
Then we got "One Night". One very looooong night.
I have been impressed again and again by Amanda Tapping's incredible skill set and have enjoyed her previous directorial moments in both Sanctuary and Stargate. But this one... what a clunker.
Will is a great ensemble character, being the Everyman drawn into this bizarre world. But he is not strong enough or interesting enough to base an entire episode around, without the majority of the main crew to help him along. Especially not when the writing was so terrible. Damian Kindler, creator, producer, writer is usually someone you can rely on for a good show. This one felt like he wrote the first couple scenes, then fell asleep for three days and realized he had missed the deadline so he just repeated himself a bunch of times, changing a few words, here and there. And he may have delved into the Book of Stereotyped Bad Guys/Gals for his guest characters. Cause cookie cutter would be a nice description of those characters.
I just finished watching the episode and I can't recall any name other than Horatio Gibbs, and that's only because I'm an NCIS and C.S. Forester fan. Oh, and Coda, because I thought it was weird some gang member would be named after a grammatical device.
At the start of the episode when Will and Abby get dragged into the warehouse I thought the woman in the shadows was Kate. The actress sounded exactly like her, and even moved like her. Had it been Kate, this would have been a much more interesting story. Sadly, we instead got stuck with Will and Abby mindlessly bantering over a dying Mafasio-wannabe whilst getting repeatedly and relentlessly told "If he dies you die", or "If you do ______, she dies", or "If you screw us over, you die", etc etc, repeat ad infinitim.
I was actually jealous of the Gibbs character, as he got to sleep through most of the episode.
I was also happy that he was such an asshole at the end, as it meant Abby might die and bloody well shut up. What the hell are they teaching their recruits at Quantico these days? Blabber on until you put the bad guys to sleep? Sadly, she survived, which anyone knew she would because we all saw Will put the needle down on the other table earlier on. Who cares about her phobia, just stick the damn thing in her already.
Anyways, Sanctuary is in danger of either jumping the shark or putting their audience to sleep. Bring back what works - ensemble scenes, great villians, witty dialogue and memorable abnormals - cause what's happening now is about as interesting as when Big Guy clips his toenails.
Actually, that may at least be more dangerous.
Before the interminable mid-season break, Sanctuary was going swimmingly. Great characters, some pretty wicked writing and an intriguing mystery that had everyone wondering what the hell was going on beneath our feet.
And did I mention everyone dies?
That is one hell of a cliffhanger and you'd better come up with a damn good resolution.
Not so much. Instead we get a great line from Henry about zombies and apparently John is getting eaten by those weird little alien things. Oh, and did I mention that though the Hollow Earth folks are far more advanced than us they still use plastic water bottles? Guess maintaining world peace doesn't include protecting the Ozone Layer.
Our team is alive, thanks to Ranna (played very well by Polly Walker. Am I the only one who kept thinking Ranna had a crush on Magnus?) deciding to bring them back. So she can interrogate them...then kill them...or get them to save a really big lava whale. Or something...
The episode had so many plot holes in it I was starting to crave Swiss cheese. Here are a few:
1) If you really wanted to know what had happened to Gregory Magnus why just kill off his daughter and her band of merry men? The Council is chock full of advanced beings... death is what they resort to?
2) They don't resolve the teaser...As far as we know John believes Helen is dead and he's about to be eaten by a couple munchkins who are as adverse to sunlight as a certain witch is to water. So how the hell did he get off the chain, beat the crap out of the munchkins, drag their bleeding bodies to the exact spot Adam was getting off the pod, and then know to send the pod back to where it came from with a note to Helen in it? Are we to assume that in thirty seconds John beat the truth out of Adam, took the time to write out a message in his blood and knew exactly how to send the pod back? Or know that the security folks were trying to override the pod's controls? In a city he hadn't actually gotten to? Seriously?
I can do suspension of disbelief but that is just plain ridiculous.
3) Gregory Magnus just sort of appears from around the corner and Helen is bloody calm about it. She's believed he was dead for years (many years... a century, in fact), was told "Oh, no wait, maybe he's not,", goes to one of the most hidden places on - well, in - the Earth to seek him and all she's says is "Father!" and gives him a hug. I get that she's British, and they aren't that demonstrative, but really? She's a daddy's girl after all. The audience was likely more engaged than she was.
4) Ranna, a highly respected member of an advanced race, apparently doesn't know how to attach a carabiner to a climbing rope properly. And the highly advanced abnormal with whom she has communicated with for years almost dumps her in the drink? Contrived bonding moment anyone?
5) Adam, a dangerous maniacal genius, is turned into a loveable scamp who enjoys stealing technology, knocking pretty ladies unconcious and then sort of, kinda, maybe, trying to end the world as we know it. But, then again, maybe he just likes to collect pretty steampunk items. This really gets me, because when we first met Adam in "Breach" he was terrifying. Now you want to ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks.
And, finally, the biggest plot hole of all...
6) Where the Hell is Tesla? The man was so integral to discovering the city beneath, but gets left behind by John in the mid-season cliffhanger. Fine, he can be a bit of a liability... but Tesla would never just wander away before the crew got back. He'd be sitting in Magnus' chair, drinking her best Chablis, listening to Wagner and annoying the crap out of the Big Guy. And all of this would be an act, as he genuinely cares for Helen and he would be worried that something had happened to her. He just wouldn't want anyone to know that he actually has feelings.
Obviously Jonathan is a very busy actor, and he is in charge of his own theatre company, so I can understand that his schedule may not have matched up perfectly with that of Sanctuary. But a quick little chaser scene with Biggie saying how Nikola, after having found out Magnus was safe, had left in a huff with a crate of her best wine as payment for getting left behind would have sufficed. Much better than this unexplained MIA thing that's going on.
So, "Pax Romana" had some decent scenes, but left me scratching my head and feeling rather disatisfied - I waited four months for that?
But I am not one to jump ship that easily, having been along for the ride since the webisodes, so I waited a week to see what would happen next.
That would be "Hangover" and I felt much better about where the show was heading. Far fewer plot holes, great Henry moments - how many times does the poor guy have to say he's sorry? - and you got to see Will get shot. However, not impressed with the final scene between Magnus and the UN Security Head. It was cute at first, but throughout the episode we learned that each affected person had memories up until they were infected by the Ugly Bug. So, Helen knew the plan wouldn't work... which is hinted at when Will says "You've done this before, haven't you?" But then why make yourself look like an incompeten liar to someone so powerful? It was blind luck and rather contrived writing that the Security Head didn't just shut everything down. Could have been dealt with much better, and not have lost the light tone the rest of the episode had going.
Still, we were going in the right direction - even if a certain magnetic genius was still MIA.
Then we got "One Night". One very looooong night.
I have been impressed again and again by Amanda Tapping's incredible skill set and have enjoyed her previous directorial moments in both Sanctuary and Stargate. But this one... what a clunker.
Will is a great ensemble character, being the Everyman drawn into this bizarre world. But he is not strong enough or interesting enough to base an entire episode around, without the majority of the main crew to help him along. Especially not when the writing was so terrible. Damian Kindler, creator, producer, writer is usually someone you can rely on for a good show. This one felt like he wrote the first couple scenes, then fell asleep for three days and realized he had missed the deadline so he just repeated himself a bunch of times, changing a few words, here and there. And he may have delved into the Book of Stereotyped Bad Guys/Gals for his guest characters. Cause cookie cutter would be a nice description of those characters.
I just finished watching the episode and I can't recall any name other than Horatio Gibbs, and that's only because I'm an NCIS and C.S. Forester fan. Oh, and Coda, because I thought it was weird some gang member would be named after a grammatical device.
At the start of the episode when Will and Abby get dragged into the warehouse I thought the woman in the shadows was Kate. The actress sounded exactly like her, and even moved like her. Had it been Kate, this would have been a much more interesting story. Sadly, we instead got stuck with Will and Abby mindlessly bantering over a dying Mafasio-wannabe whilst getting repeatedly and relentlessly told "If he dies you die", or "If you do ______, she dies", or "If you screw us over, you die", etc etc, repeat ad infinitim.
I was actually jealous of the Gibbs character, as he got to sleep through most of the episode.
I was also happy that he was such an asshole at the end, as it meant Abby might die and bloody well shut up. What the hell are they teaching their recruits at Quantico these days? Blabber on until you put the bad guys to sleep? Sadly, she survived, which anyone knew she would because we all saw Will put the needle down on the other table earlier on. Who cares about her phobia, just stick the damn thing in her already.
Anyways, Sanctuary is in danger of either jumping the shark or putting their audience to sleep. Bring back what works - ensemble scenes, great villians, witty dialogue and memorable abnormals - cause what's happening now is about as interesting as when Big Guy clips his toenails.
Actually, that may at least be more dangerous.
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