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- TV Series: Sanctuary
- Episode: End of Nights, Part II
- Starring: Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Ryan Robbins, Christopher Heyerdahl, Jonathon Young and Emilie Ullerup
- Written By: Damian Kindler
- Directed By: Martin Wood
- Network: Syfy
- Series:
Sanctuary: End of Nights Part II Review
Eat Your Young By
Rob Vaux
October 18, 2009
Sanctuary Review
© Syfy/Bob Trate
Sanctuary remains a bread-and-butter staple of sci-fi programming: amusing enough to justify tuning in provided you're not a Joss Whedon fan and have nothing better to do with your Friday nights. The conclusion to the two-part season premiere fulfills that promise while offering nothing more substantive to lift it to the next level. Sufficient questions are resolved to provide adequate levels of drama, while a few plot threads are left dangling to ensure we tune in next week. It may struggle to leave all but the faintest impression behind when it's over, but at least it doesn't make you regret tuning in.
With the Cabal on the march, it now becomes imperative to find Dr. Magnus's (Amanda Tapping) daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) before she wreaks havoc on the Sanctuary network. As a newly brainwashed Natasha Henstridge clone, she possesses multiple abnormal powers and a single-mindedness that makes the T-800 look as indecisive as Brett Favre. She and her fellow killbots soon lay waste to Sanctuaries across the globe, working their way up to Mommie Dearest's at the top of the ladder. Magnus and the rest of the gang work to develop some means of stopping them in time… aided by the snarky con artist Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi) currently recuperating in their hospital ward.
The trouble is that stopping Ashley probably means killing her. Magnus makes peace with the possibility very quickly, though others on the team are less certain. Unfortunately, Tapping still can't convey sufficient levels of ruthlessness to drive the point home, while the solution itself consists of a lot of technobabble and a few shots of Tesla (Jonathan Young) working feverishly in his lab. It makes for pretty thin soup, devoid of any sense of danger or looming disaster despite Ashley's destructive rampage.
The presence of Freelander does little to help matters; her smug demeanor should probably engender far more hostility from the team than it does (make her use the damn bedpan, for God's sake!) and their indulgence of her antics belies their supposedly desperate circumstances. So too does the resolution of Big Guy's (Christopher Heyerdahl) illness fail to connect: consisting mostly of a pretty speech and a convenient change of heart. The episode includes the death of at least one prominent character as well, but its perfunctory nature further undercuts the drama, and works more out of narrative necessity than any sense of energy on its own.
"End of Nights" does much better with its various action sequences, as members of Team Ashley come crashing through the door trying to make mincemeat of everyone they see. The Sanctuary possesses some rather unique defenses, which the team deploys as their home is invaded. The best gag entails a petrifying goo released from a jar, but other incidents include CGI Abnormals fighting to protect themselves and a rather saucy appearance by Clara Griffin (Christine Chatelain) making full use of her invisibility powers. Sanctuary has precious little money to spend on effects, but proves here that an interesting concept more than makes up for any technological crudity.
Then there's Tesla--unquestionably the show's most interesting character--who has free rein to let himself go. Whether icily insulting those nearest to him or engaging in a bare-fanged throwdown with a little help from the nearby power grid, he gleefully embodies the mad scientist pulp which Sanctuary is supposed to be all about. John Druitt (Christopher Heyerdahl) displays a few twinkles in his eye as well, and though the episode can't quite figure out what to do with him, he takes full advantage of his scarce onscreen opportunities.
Together, they create a decent sense of fun which augments the modestly clever fight gags peppering the remainder of the episode. "End of Nights" needs nothing more than that, and its adroit delivery prevents it from being judged unduly harshly for its shortcomings. Comfort food it remains, and while one may sometimes wish for something more nourishing, it tastes just fine when looking at the mess more ambitious science fiction shows have made.
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I watched the episode and tactically could guess the course of the Cabal's attack pattern - no big surprise. I thought the scene where Christohper Heyerdahl's charcter used double-sword to match with three of the abnormal drones was interesting. It showed some level of choregraphy and when nearly mortally wounded, gave a hint that Ashley was still in there by the flash of her normal blue eyes. This scene sets the expectation for the rest of the show that Ashley may be saved if properly compromised.
Another scene that I thought was enjoyable is the scene where Ashley was pressing-in on Tesla who was using a electricity-water snare trying to short-circuit her nervous system. At best worse, she would not be able to move. At best would render her unconscious. Neither happened; and Tesla reaction and comments were good entertainment.
The last scene where Magnus tries to reason with her daughter when faced with the awful choice of killing her was by the book: try to reason fails, other baddie shows up and just be fore the coup de grace, Ashley steps-in to save Mom with a heart-felt "I'm Sorry". What I couldn't figure out in this last scene is how the evil abnormals were able to teleport at all when the Em shield was restored. Better yet. How the EM shield killed each abnormal who tried to teleport but the scenes from next week show that Ashley may be actually alive. Huh?
The episode was slightly enjoyable but was easily predictable and should have been more climatic or interesting such as finding a way to imprison the abnormals, reverse the mind-control, and finally to rehabilitate them to live their lives without persecution as is the mission of Sanctuary - to save and protect abnormals.