Sanctuary: Fugue “I Can Handle Monsters and Death, But I Cannot Handle Singing!”

Welcome back Sanctuary fans to another abnormal review!

This week Sanctuary aired it is eighth episode of season four, and it was everything fans would expect from the little show that could. The cast and crew of the show promised fans this episode would not be a Glee-like episode, and it was 100 percent Sanctuary from start to finish.

The word “Fugue” means two things: 1- A musical form consisting essentially of a theme repeated a fifth above or a fourth below the continuing first statement. 2- Psychiatry a dreamlike altered state of consciousness, lasting from a few hours to several days, during which a person loses his memory for his previous life and often wanders away from home.

Courtesy of Syfy we include the extended promotional trailer for the awesome ninth episode named “Chimera” airing this Tuesday evening on Syfy and on Friday on the Space Channel in Canada! on Tuesday November 29, 2011 10 PM E/P. The episode also re-airs Friday December 02, 2011 so we get twice as much Sanctuary this week!

Fugue:

Fugue begins when an unknown Abnormal attacks Abby, Magnus and Will attempt to communicate with the creature using music. The way Sanctuary was able to balance the storyline and musical aspect of the story was brilliant, and the fact that they used the music to tell the story, and not let it be something to simply entertain the viewer was both unique and smart, I love that they made the music and songs as important to the story as anything else, and they were able to do something very hard, they merged sci-fi and music together, and it all worked better than I thought it would. Musicals and Sci-fi are to very different things, but Sanctuary pulled it off very well.

The “Fugue” episode was written by Damian Kindler, who wrote the songs for the episode, alongside Andrew Lockington, the composer for the show. I would to thank the Syfy channel for their support of the show, and giving fans something to look forward to every week.

The episode starts off on a high note (mind the pun) with one of our heroes, Will Zimmerman, (Robin Dunne) being thrown through a door, when he gets up, he runs back to the room from which he was thrown out of, and inside are Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) and Declan MacRae (Robert Lawrenson) and they are firing at a humanoid abnormal with the their stun guns. Will tries to talk to the abnormal, but it’s so enraged, it doesn’t stop for anything, and it hits Will, and pushes Declan to the side.

Magnus steps in, and hits the abnormal 3 times in the head with her stun gun, giving the creature a swift hard, kick. When we see them in the room, Helen states that their guns are not having any effect.

Magnus leaves the room, quickly heading to the lab to retrieve a more powerful stun gun. She returns to the room with Will and Declan using the more powerful stun gun on the powerful abnormal, which is finally able to put it down for good.

After the creature is unconscious, Magnus, Will and Declan move in closer. Will asks Magnus again if she has ever seen anything quite like this before. She says she has not. As Will covers the creature up with a blanket, we see that the abnormal is in fact Will’s girlfriend, FBI agent, Abby Corrigan. (Pascale Hutton)

After the opening credits, we find Helen, Will and Declan looking over Abby, who is now on a gurney, and Declan takes her to the infirmary. Helen and Will talk about Abby’s condition, and Will expresses his concern for Abby since she has three transformations within 24 hours, and they have no idea what is wrong with her. Helen comforts Will, and assures him they will find a way to help her, and tells him to check in with Henry.

We find Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins) and Abby’s FBI partner, agent Gavin Crealy (Kurt Evans) in an alleyway, and they are both in search for clues that might help them lead to a solution to helping Abby. Henry is on the phone with Will, and Will is not happy that they haven not found anything helpful yet, but and Henry tries to explain but is hang up by Will before he can say anything more. Henry and Gavin talk about Abby’s condition, but soon turns into a minor argument when Gavin starts asking too many questions that annoys Henry, as does Gavin always saying sorry, but tells Henry that his mother was Canadian, so that explains why he is the way that he is.

Henry walks Gavin through the chain of events that lead to Abby changing, and finds it hard to believe that the FBI would investigate a very weird tip of an abnormal in the area. Henry then asks Gavin if he saw, found or smelled anything that could help lead to anything finding a clue to helping Abby, but Gavin cannot remember anything useful. We expect that one minute they were looking through with ally, and the next minute she was not herself anymore.

Henry explains to him that he knows it is hard, and hints to him that he is also able to change into an abnormal easily. This makes Gavin nervous, and Henry tells him that he can change into a werewolf-like abnormal, and messes with Gavin’s mind saying that he has not devoured any Canadians in a while.

Back at the Sanctuary, Magnus and Will talk more about Abby’s condition, and Will is frustrated that Magnus has not been able to find a way to help Abby yet. Magnus explains that this is unlike anything she has ever seen before, and does not know how to stop, or even how it started. Will tries to explain that it is a simple case of her being a host to a virus, but quickly stops, and leans on Magnus’ desk.

She looks at him in a comforting way, and promises him that they’ll find a way to help her, and Will tells her how he knows what she must be going through. We feel the pain on how it feels to lose yourself to something they can not control. He is most likely talking the events from Warriors, and Metamorphosis, from when his body was altered to an abnormal-like creature.

Magnus talks to him, and explains to him that she has to take Abby off her medicine slightly to see if anything changes, and encourages Will to be with her, and find any way he can to reach her, and not to give up. Will gets up, and holds Magnus’ hand in a way that tells her he trusts her, and heads off to see Abby.

In the Infirmary, Will is sitting at Abby’s bedside as Declan walks in. Declan tries to convince Will to take a break for a little telling him he has been with her for two days. It is obvious that Will needs food and sleep. However Will still refuses to leave her side. Declan decides to stay with Will, and asks if it is alright to put some music on, and Will says it is alright. Declan puts on some nice classical music, and that triggers Abby to wake up, she looks around and beings talking/singing.

Will and Declan try to talk to her, but from her point of view, she cannot understand them, and also from her point of view, she is talking normally, and does not realize that she is singing. Declan notices that she is singing, and Abby fears that since she cannot understand either of them, something is wrong with her.

In the next scene, Magnus and Will look at a brain scan of Abby, and realize that the part of Abby’s brain that processes oral patterns has been altered because of the abnormal DNA. As a result, when she speaks it comes out as song, and can only understand things explained to her in the form of music.

Magnus believes that the only way she can understand is through singing. Will is not so sure, so they head into the room with Abby to test their theory. Magnus begins singing to Abby, and Abby is able to understand everything Magnus is saying. When Will speaks to her, she cannot understand him. Magnus continues singing to her, and asks her what happened to her trying to get any sort of information she can. As Abby answers her, she tries to get information from Magnus, and they both communicate to each through song until Abby grows too tired to sing any longer.

Back in the alleyway, Henry and Gavin continue to look for anything that might help Abby, and Henry and Gavin get into it once again on how things should be done, but then Gavin apologies for using the “M” word (Monsters) and asks Henry not to go all werewolf on him.  Annoyed, Henry gives Gavin a scanner and tells him to scan the area, and tells him he is going to talk to red-list dealers in the area. After Henry walks off, Gavin quickly finds something on the scanner, and calls Henry back, and with the scanner, they find a very small cocoon behind newspapers.

Back at the Sanctuary, Magnus, Henry and Gavin study the cocoon, and determine the abnormal it must have come from. The research confirms that it can mutate human DNA. However they find it odd because such genomes are very rare, not normally found in an urban environment by accident. Magnus believes that someone put that cocoon there so it can be tested on a human host. Gavin then inquires who put it there? Henry believes it was put there by Hollow Earth insurgents.

Magnus believes that whoever left it there must somehow know that Abby is connected to the Sanctuary, and wanted to see if she could prevent the mutation on her. Henry fears she was set up, and Helen fears that this is a way for Hollow Earth Abnormals to gain a foothold situation on the surface by using humans to breed their own kind. Gavin thinks that Abby is a test subject for the Hollow earth Abnormals, and is so upset, he runs off to throw up.

In the infirmary, Will leans on Abby’s bedside, and talks to her, and tells her of how his mother used to sing to him as a kid, and how he doesn’t like singing now because it hurts him because it reminds him of those times. However, Will makes Abby a deal, he’ll try to sing for her, as long as she stays around for a little while long.

He tries to sing to her, asking her to “just stay” but does not last long. He sees Gavin looking at them through the glass, and gets up quite angry and goes to confront him. He blames Gavin for what happened to Abby, and implies that had he done a better job, this may not have happened to her. Gavin says he wants to put it right, but Will does not want to listen, and walks off.

In the next scene, Will is sitting at Abby’s bedside, when she walks up, and begins talking to him through song. Will finally tries to communicate to her through song, but things turn bad when it is in fact the creature inside her communicating, and not Abby.

She gets up out of bed, and begins explaining what she is through song, and Will tries to get her to let Abby talk to him, but the creature within her does not listen. Will tries to inject her with a syringe, but she overpowers him, continuing to explain what she is, and what she plans to do. Just then, Magnus and Declan come in being able to get Abby off of Will. Magnus then injects Abby rendering her unconscious.

In the next scene, we find Will back in the room with Abby. Abby is still unconscious. As he leaves the room to talk to Henry, Henry lets him know that he has his full support. Henry is actually able to convince him to take a break for a while. Will asks him about that song he once heard Henry sing to him, Abby and Erika (Pauline Egan), and tells him how he loved that song. Will walks off, and Henry stands on the other side of the glass, and beings singing to Abby.

We find Magnus and Declan in the large conference room, with Richard Feliz (Carlo Rota) and the other heads of the Sanctuary network. The assembly includes the head of the Indian Sanctuary (Anjali Jay) and the head of the Monrovian Sanctuary (Conrad Coates ). Declan and everyone on the screens begin telling Helen of an issue that has come up.

However but the way it is done, it appears like each person is talking in sync to someone else, even Declan. Magnus tries to get one person to talk at once, but they all keep talking in form of a song. Magnus suddenly begins doing it as well, addressing each person with a rhyming/rap-like state, and she is able to address all their issues! Suddenly things go back to normal with Declan asking her if she is alright. I loved that scene!

A quick cut scene shows each member of the team exhausted, but working on a way to help Abby. Gavin is pacing around the hallway. Will is sitting at Abby’s side. Henry is sitting in front of his computer screen. Helen is working at her desk while Declan brings her tea. It HAS to be tea does it not? With everyone occupied, Will wakes up only to find Abby is no longer in her bed, and goes off in search for her.

We find Abby on the roof of the Sanctuary. Will finds her and tries to convince her not to jump. Abby sings to Will that she feels what she is doing is for the best, that she does not think she can go on the way she is. Will sings to her trying to convince her not to give up hope. He confesses his feelings toward her as they both sing to one another. Abby finally tells him she loves him before she jumps! This scene was very well done, like a love song between two lovers who feel that they are losing one another. Very well done by Robin Dunne and Pascale Hutton. Bravo!

As Abby is falling, Will runs to the edge, watching her fall. Just as she begins to fall, Abby changes into the creature, fully transforming into the Abnormal just before landing on her feet! A few seconds go by until she is quickly shot with a stun gun by Magnus. As Will watches from above, Henry and Declan show up at the scene below.

Back in the lab, Magnus and Will are looking at a brain scan of Abby. Magnus tells Will that all new neural pathways have formed! Magnus informs Will that it may be time they start preparing for the worst, but Will does not want to accept it. Magnus tells him that they have tried all forms of music, but it is not helping anymore!

No matter what Magnus says Will refuses to give up on Abby. He even suggests that they “put her on ice” until they can find a cure. Magnus fears that could make things worse without knowing what freezing Abby would do. Will asks Magnus what is the point of the Sanctuary if they cannot save the people they love? Will stops further inquiries because he sees the look on Magnus’ face. He must have known it reminded her of how she lost Ashley. Magnus tells him it is not over and walks off.

We find Magnus in the library, with many books all around her. In frustration, she drops the book, and sees she has no tea left in her cup. Beautiful country music beings to play, and then we hear and see her father, Gregory Magnus (Jim Byrnes) singing to her. As he does so, Magnus looks through her books, and the expression on her face changes as if she has an idea. She looks at one point, and comes up with a way to help Abby. Magnus then looks over to and thanks him for helping her find the answer, and he tells her to never give up faith.

We cut to Magnus’ office, and Will tells her he is willing to hear her idea to help Abby. She explains to Will how her father had a theory of how Abnormal life came to be, and that those cells in Abnormal DNA fought to become something more.

Magnus hands Will a tablet and tells him it is the only solution they have, and tells him that if they harvest a small Abnormal and implant it into her stomach wall, there is a chance the invading DNA will be attracted to it and want to bond with that Abnormal and Abby’s system will take no more damage.

Will tells her he thinks it sounds positive, but Magnus tells him that until the smaller creature is mature enough, than it will want to leave her body quite violently. Will looks stunned. Will does not agree with Magnus’ idea, but she believes that once the creature leaves her body she can save her, but Will feels the risks are too great, and feels that Magnus may have another reason to want to perform this procedure, possibly that she likes the idea of creating a new life form to study.

Will tells her again he does not like the idea, but Magnus tells him that she has already put things into motion for the procedure, and tells him that this is the plan of action.  Will does not like it one bit, and walks off. Magnus picks up her radio, walks off, and as she is calling Henry and Declan, Gavin overhears her tell them they have a situation.

We then find Henry and Declan with stun guns while moving Will to a holding cell. Will, in an angry state, begins telling Henry how he would do the same if it were Erika. They put Will in the cell. Declan tells Henry to watch Will; Magnus’ orders. Declan walks off, leaving Henry to watch Will. In a fit of anger, Will kicks a chair in the cell!

We find Helen and Declan harvesting a new born Abnormal from a larger Abnormal. Declan asks her that if she would rather have someone else with her it would be alright with him? Magnus insists he be there in case something happens. She collects the new born Abnormal, and walks off. We then find her and Declan in an operating room with Abby as they prepare to insert the Abnormal into her. Back at the holding cell, Will tries to convince Henry to let him out, but Henry refuses insisting that Will should trust Magnus.

Will pleads with Henry to let him out. Henry continues to refuse. Will picks up a chair to throw  at the glass as Henry points the gun at him warning him not to do it. Henry is shot by Gavin with a stun gun. Will tells Gavin the code to unlock the cell door. Gavin puts in the code setting Will free. He thanks Gavin for his help before running off to Abby.

Back in the infirmary, Magnus and Declan are monitoring Abby’s condition. Everything seems fine, but suddenly, her readings spike, and Abby starts shaking a lot. Magnus sees that the creature is maturing faster than she had hoped.

Magnus and Declan fight to keep her still so Magnus can cut an opening in Abby’s stomach line to allow the creature a way out of her body. Will runs up to the infirmary and sees what is happening. Magnus turns to grab something to give to Abby, and when she turns back, she observes in horror that the creature leaving her body in a bloody mess!

The creature slowly crawls out of Abby, then jumps, but Declan quickly catches it, putting it thankfully into containment. Will watches helplessly as Magnus and Will fight to save Abby. He just collapses to the floor! In a last act of hope, Will begins to sing “just stay” as Magnus and Declan use panels on Abby. Sure enough, Abby regains her pulse beginning to show signs of life.

Will stands up watching as Magnus and Declan work feverishly to repair the damage Abby’s poor body has taken! As they do that, Magnus and Will give each other hopeful looks through the glass.

As “Fugue” winds down, we find ourselves in Abby’s room. Will walks in to see how she is, but when he thinks that she is sleeping, he walks out.  Abby wakes up to see how he is doing. He asks if she is alright? will informs Abby that he is traumatized from the singing, but she tells him that she thinks it was kind of nice and romantic.

Will shares with Abby how he thinks he is cursed because people who get close to him are always in danger. Instead Abby feels that what happened will make them stronger. Will tells Abby that he has work to do, kisses her, getting up to leave. As he begins to walk out, he looks at her with a look of uncertainty, like he does not know precisely what to do next.

In the final scene, Will stands alone in a hallway looking out a window. Magnus walks up to join him. She asks him if he has anything to say to her. Magnus asks Will to be honest. Will shares that  that while the procedure worked to saves Abby, he does not like that she went over his head to get the job accomplished in the process of saving her.

Magnus explains to him that she thinks Will is a great asset to the Sanctuary. She shares that in time he could run the Sanctuary and in fact all of the network. She also shares with him that he has stayed true to the man she hired, an admirable trait. When he asks how she feels he is doing, Magnus tells him she could not be more proud. Will nods at her, walking off leaving Magnus alone. We end the saga with Magnus looking out the window to Old City as the screen fades to black.

Overall I think this episode really worked in the long run. It was not only entertaining and smart, but they used the music and songs to actually add the the episode, and used it to add to a scene, instead of leaving it in the background to add to the tone of the scene. I think this version really worked.

Some have asked why Biggie (Christopher Heyerdahl) was not in the episode. I personally would have liked to have seen him in the episode, and even if he had not done any singing, I feel him being there would have added to the episode. However, I feel that even though he wasn’t in this episode, the episode still worked.

Would I like to see another episode done this way? Yes, I would very much like to. I’m not sure why Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, and Damian Kindler, but Amanda Tapping once said in an interview that Sanctuary does not shy away from challenges, and I’m so proud they do not.

Sanctuary is a show that’s entertaining and unique, it not only stays true to the science fiction genre with it’s science and mystery, but it adds elements from other genres and incorporates them into the show, such as action, adventure, drama and even comedy.

Every year they bring something new to each season, and each episode because despite being known as “the little show that could” and that it’s mostly self-funded, it brings so much to the Syfy channel, and the series charity, Sanctuary For Kids does very much for many children around the world.

Thank you for reading my long review for Sanctuary season four, episode eight, Fugue. Stay tuned for more Sanctuary, and you can bet that Wormholeriders will be there to keep you updated. 😉 Sanctuary For All is not an empty motto.

Thank to Kenn for extensive hyper-linking, audio video embedding and for putting final touches on this review and inviting me to become part of the ArcticGoddess1 who is now leading the WHR Sanctuary Team. Once more thanks to you for reading and visiting our news site dedicated to Sanctuary at WormholeRiders News Agency.

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Thank you.

Regards,

Mike