Sanctuary: For None – Wishes For a Series That May Once Again Be For All!

Welcome back Sanctuary fans,

This appears to to be our last abnormal review brought to you by Wormholeriders!

The last Sanctuary Series episode of season four aired some time ago. “Sanctuary For None” Part two is also the second half of the two part finale of the season. The stakes have never been higher for the Sanctuary team.  In this episode they have raised the stakes, with Big Guy, with Will and Helen, and with the Sanctuary itself.

Over the past four years, episodes of Sanctuary have entertained us with their exploration of the creatures we might fear lurking under our beds. Damian Kindler, Martin Wood, and Amanda Tapping have done a wonderful job of taking our irrational fears and giving them life in the form of characters with personalities, needs, ambitions and believable lives. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, at least for now.

With the non-renewal or cancellation of Sanctuary Series pending, we have two choices; we can move on and find other shows to entertain us, or we can follow the now very common practice of campaigning to save the show. If you are interested in the latter course, we ask that you please remember to do it in a positive way. Be polite and respectful. After all, the people you are sending emails and letters to are the same people who brought the show to you in the first place. They deserve to be treated well.

Before I begin what may be our final Sanctuary review, I offer a prayer:

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

Traditional Scottish Prayer

Editors note:

This review has been ready to publish since January 02, 2012. The preface above was one of two prepared In consultation with our Sanctuary review team leader ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia). Depending on which decision became manifest; Renew or cancel Sanctuary, we would publish the corresponding version. This editors note is a third, fate unknown version.

We held this review in the belief that Syfy would be able, one way or the other, announce the fate of Sanctuary in early to mid January as they had done the previous year. We had hoped our “Congratulations Sanctuary On A Season Five” would have been the tag line of this post and preface. That was not to be as of the date of this article.

Some two months later, Sanctuary has still not been announced as officially renewed. However, looking on the bright side, Sanctuary has not been announced as officially cancelled either.

This may still bode well for the fans with a future which contains Sanctuary Series in one form or another.

Although a fifth season in 2012 is not an impossibility, it is beginning to become more unlikely with each day that passes. Unfortunately the clock is running on when production needs to begin in order to meet schedules required for a late fall or early winter 2012 television season.

The recent announcements of the series production company not renewing their lease in British Columbia is telling in and of itself. Coupled with the fact that many of the actors and crews are moving on to pursue other creative projects including series producer and leading actress Amanda Tapping, Damian Kindler, Martin Wood and Gillian Horvath, as well as actors Ryan Robbins, Jonathon Young, and many more, the chances for a fifth season in 2012 are dimming. Therefore we must look to the future.

We feel that there is a positive prospect for fans to consider. The fact that an official cancellation press release from Syfy has not materialized seems like potentially good news. Such may indicate that the Sanctuary could still be under consideration to complete a wrap of the story arc inherent in the “Sanctuary For None” episodes.

We therefore remain hopeful that Sanctuary could return in a fifth season, as a series of television movies, a direct to DVD distribution, and or perhaps as an extended mini-series in 2013. One thing we know at this date is Sanctuary has not been officially cancelled. For that we will continue to hope to see more of this fine series from the people who made our abnormal dreams come true!

Best Regards,

Kenn

Sanctuary For None – Part Two:

“It’s always been a police state, Will, you just never noticed”. –Greg Addison

Sanctuary For None, part two, concludes season four of Sanctuary with a look at Humanity’s reaction to anything it does not understand- contain and destroy.

It would seem then, that humanity does not understand most of our current civilization, because the last two episodes of Sanctuary appear to take on America’s current and possible future dilemma – that of democracy replaced by a police state. The writers draw attention to the differences between the haves and have-nots.

The Abnormals are homeless. They are rounded up and placed in a fenced in “Homeland”. Would this cause rebellion? You bet it would. Would it create a new powerful enemy from within? Historically, it has created many.

Damian Kindler was the writer and director of this piece of storytelling. Did he have a point to make? Is that why he has taken such a firm hold of this story? Please consider the following review, then let me know if you agree.

Part two opens with Greg Addison (Brian Markinson) apologizing to the President for the delay in speaking with him. He was just speaking to the Joint Chiefs. It must be awesome, being able to keep the President on hold.

Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), now working for the other side, overhears Addison’s portion of the dialogue. He is not a happy man, especially since Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) has spilled the beans that there are monsters among us. From Addison’s perspective, he cannot understand how anybody, even Will can take Magnus’ side at this point.

Both Addison and Will receive phone calls. Addison’s call is from a senator, Will’s is from Magnus . She explains her position to Will. She explains that creating a prison for the Abnormals is not the final move. Will counters that Addison would not go that far. Magnus assures him that the “final solution” will come from higher up.

This statement brings to mind what happened in Germany to the Jews. People were rounded up and placed into a ghetto. “Walling people in is just the first step”, says Magnus as she talks to Henry (Ryan Robbins).

She tells Henry that she needs them to find out what SCIU is up to, including their version of the final solution. Big Guy (Chris Heyerdahl) and Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi) are both fine for the moment, Magnus assures.

Later, Addison talks on video viewer with a senior person from SCIU by the name of Fortus (Gerard Plunkett) who tells him that he has impressed some very important people with the technology he has stolen from Tesla (Jonathon Young).

Well, anybody who can put the President on hold, obviously has done well for himself. Fortus goes on to state that the tech can be used in weapons as early as Christmas. This does not please Addison who complains that he was supposed to be in control of everything.

Now Fortus tells him that his efforts to keep the Abnormals in check have been a dismal failure and he will be losing some, if not all of his power, “Congratulations for failing upwards”. Take note, readers, on how to become a successful government stooge; learn how to be a chameleon. Be nice, then nasty when the need arises, and do not give a damn who you step on.

Even later on, Addison sits down at a boardroom table with Will, “We need to talk, sport,” he begins. Odd, I thought that Will was going to do Addison an injury if he called Will, ‘sport’ again.

This bit of dialogue was likely meant to show that Addison considers himself the more powerful and ‘in-charge’ person between the two of them. Yet, he goes on to tell Will, “What would you think if I told you I was getting boned from above; that I didn’t have the control that I thought I did.”

Will catches on fast and replies, “Why are you telling me?” Because, obviously, there is more to this interaction then meets the eye. Addison wants to negotiate information for information. In other words, he wants to get back on top. Will, instead, does not play along, so Addison is forced to confess that the government wants to use Tesla’s tech to experiment on humans and Abnormals.

Will counters with a question about the Homeland, people will not want it to be there for long and the Abnormals will not want humans to continue to be their jailers.

The solution: allow Will Zimmerman to operate in the way he is used to so he can find out information. Addison gives him a security pass exiting as Abby Corrigan (Pascale Hutton) enters the board room to chat with Will about the developments.

Meanwhile, Big Guy has a friendly chat with the leader of the Abnormals, Caleb (Gil Bellows), who has a few surprises of his own. He shows Big Guy a locked box that contains a vial of blue liquid and states, “ Evolution. War is conflict, a waste of life, but this is the future.

Caleb says that a new age is coming and it will be the humans who serve us when all is said and done. We will be their gods.” Things are looking a little grim for the rest of us. We get to choose between a police state and Lord Caleb and the rest of the Abnormals as gods.

Enter Tesla and Henry at the Sanctuary. Henry has a new toy; a device that friends of his ripped off a barricade at the Homeland. After several guesses about what it is, Tesla takes a quick look and determines that it is a node for multispectrum containment, “If you have enough of these, you’ve got the ultimate invisible dog fence”.

Tesla insists that it is harmless and can contain any type of creature. Henry, on the other hand, plays the devil’s advocate and asks him a what if scenario: “If SCIU decides to pump 50 million gigawatts of pure electricity through these things, making them talk to each other…”

Tesla insists that SCIU would not do that.  Henry, now looking more worried, “Nikola, could these be turned into a giant electrified web?”

Tesla, realizing that his invention is not so harmless, replies, “Yes, they could. No incursion, no riots, one switch, hundreds of bodies…It’s not what it was meant for.” Then, he gets very upset and repeats, “It’s not what it was meant for!!!”

Magnus meets with Kate Freelander and an old semi-friend, Bruno (Adam Reid) in the Homeland. Somehow, he has assisted Magnus to gain entry into the area behind the fence.

Since we have found out in an earlier episode, that Bruno has wings, we can assume that he flew her in. Magnus is here to chat with Caleb, Mr. Not-so-Charming any more. He’s annoyed that SCIU has turned the lights out.

Surrounded by candles and preparing flashlights and more candles, he does not seem to interested in listening to Magnus’ proposal. Her offer is Hollow Earth. They can go back there and make it what they want. Caleb argues it does not have oceans, rivers, mountains, sunshine, things he now feels his people have as much right to as do humans.

Magnus updates Caleb to what she has been told by Henry and Tesla, that it is only a matter of time before SCIU creates a localized electrical-magnetic storm within the Homeland. Caleb insists that they are not leaving. This is commonly known as being caught between  a rock and a hard place.

After her meeting with Caleb, Magnus rejoins Kate with Big Guy. They discuss Caleb’s strategy. Magnus believes he is lying about wanting to stay in the Homeland and make a stand.

If he really cared about all his people, he would want them to find safety. She tells them to get Bruno on it, “Whatever Caleb is hiding, find it.”

Bruno enters a room and begins rifling through someone’s belongings. Maybe Bruno was not the right choice, because he is a little noisy. Big Guy steps out from the shadows and says, hello. He holds up the vial of blue liquid, “Looking for this? Stealing from Caleb. Not a good idea. You need a lesson in loyalty.”

Later, Bruno finds his way to Magnus’ front gate. He complains about the electrical fence around the Homeland tingling him in some unusual places. He hands Magnus the vial of blue liquid that the Big Guy had, telling her that she needs to see it asap. Then, he passes out.

Meanwhile Big Guy has arrived at an area within the Homeland with Kate. Kate admits that she thought he had gone darkside. Big Guy assures her that Caleb is a criminal like all the rest.

He just needed to know what Caleb was up to. He could not tell Kate or Magnus what he was up to because it was not safe. Kate suggests that they get out while they still can, but Big Guy will not leave, “I have to finish this.”

Abby Corrigan, Will’s girlfriend and fellow SCUI agent arrives to tell him that four of the many worldwide Sanctuary’s are up for sale. Will determines that twelve Sanctuarys have closed in the past eight months leaving, “London, New York and here”.

What was Magnus up to over the 113 years she was off the grid? It looks as if Will and Abby are putting the pieces together as per his earlier agreement with Addison.

He knows that Magnus’s mother’s maiden name was Bankcroft, so he has Abby do a computer search for a woman with that name. Helen Bankcroft starts appearing all over the world, at universities, with Albert Einstein and so on, but with no photographic evidence that she is also Helen Magnus. Will then asks himself why she had Wall Street shut down for twelve minutes. Then it comes to him, it was so she could liquidate everything without anyone knowing.

Magnus meets up with Tesla in her science lab on one of the lower levels of the Sanctuary. He is working on the chemical analysis of the blue liquid that Big Guy had Bruno deliver. Once Tesla has it figured out, he explains to Magnus that the chemicals are Praxian based for air and water absorption with recessive DNA derived from stores of source blood. You add gene binder, and you have something very, very potent.

This is why Caleb will not go back to Hollow Earth. Tesla sums it up nicely, “This vial has a replicating virus that, if released on a mass scale, would genetically alter every human being on earth”. Magnus concludes, “…bringing their latent Abnormal DNA to the surface. This could revive every hyper-species that ever lived.”

Magnus and Will meet with each other in what can only be assumed to be a neutral place, somewhere in Old City. They argue with each other for a few moments,

Will is hurt that Magnus did not trust him enough to include him in her secrets. Magnus counters that she did not trust anyone.

She further tries to emphasize to Will that while SCUI is bent on genocide, Caleb is planning a new age of the deadliest races in history.

With all this going on, she asks him, “Now do you see why your ego was the least of my worries?” Will has brought some information of his own, “whatever SCUI is planning, will happen tonight.” Will wants to be part of Magnus’ plans, but she tells him if he does anything, he will only end up getting arrested. She will try to talk sense into Caleb. Will tells Mangnus that he has her back.

Caleb, meanwhile, has discovered the missing vial of blue liquid. Since Big Guy is the only “Surface Brother” that knew about it, Caleb sends his goons out looking for him. Fortunately, Kate has been eavesdropping and finds Big Guy to warn him.

Kate insists on helping him defend himself, but Big Guy has other ideas. He tricks her into heading into a small space that he can close up and lock from the outside. He does so just in time as Caleb’s bad guys catch up with him. Big Guy puts up a fight, but there are too many and he gets severely beaten up.

Will catches up with Addison at their command center. Addison is attempting to organize the strike force after delivering an ultimatum to Caleb, he surrenders or they send people in. Will insists that Addison is being used, that Caleb won’t go for that. To solve this dilemma, Will asks for the codes for the fence around the Homeland. Will sends the codes on to Tesla and Henry. They cut the power for the entire 5th ward and Henry implements the codes for the “death fence”.

Magnus picks out her favorite gun from a supply she keeps in her drawer, and looks around at her office in the Sanctuary for the last time. As she gets ready for her final solution, Will and Abby drive up to the front gate of Homeland, shoot two guards and wait for Henry and Tesla to turn off the lights.

Henry, on the phone, tells Will that he is turning off the power, but Will has only got a few minutes before it is turned back on by SCUI. Then an alarm sounds.

Someone is at the front gate. Magnus runs to check it out. Big Guy has been left for dead just outside the front gate. Caleb and his men invite themselves into the Sanctuary, ready to cause havoc. Magnus’ response is typical for her, “By all means. Welcome to my home.”

At this point, we all know that it is, “Don’t mess with Magnus” time. As they chase each other through the Sanctuary, it becomes clear that Caleb and his men seem to be impervious to bullets.

As Tesla goes Vampire, they encounter more of Caleb’s followers. Henry goes Hap with hand to hand combat to follow. Fortunately, they both succeed in taking down their unpleasant guests.

Meanwhile, at some risk to themselves, Abby and Will are attempting to convince the other Abnormals in the Homeland to come with them. Will tells them that they will be safer if they leave.

Once he has managed that goal, he heads off in search of Big guy and Kate. He finds Kate still locked up and manages to release her.

Back at the Sanctuary, Magnus and Tesla both connect at the main lab. Tesla comments that all the resident Abnormals are gone. Henry is securing the last sector and Caleb and his men are on their way. Magnus sends Tesla to safety and faces Caleb and two of his men on her own. After a struggle, Caleb has Magnus on the floor. He is about to finish her off when he notices a countdown on a tablet before him. The tablet states it is an Auto Destruct.

She pushes some buttons on another device sending a robot arm with a drill into Caleb’s back, impaling him. As the countdown continues, and Caleb dies,

Magnus tries to put on a suit that Henry and Tesla were working on to save herself from the massive explosion that is about to take out the Sanctuary.

We also see Henry and Tesla attempting to escape when the explosion occurs. Will, Kate and Abby watch from a safe distance, all alarmed by what they see.

Later, Will climbs down a ladder into what appears to be a sewer or access tunnel. He looks around, waving a flashlight ahead of him as he walks. Once he reaches a device set into the wall, it completes an eye scan which then opens a door.

He continues along what is now a rock walled tunnel around a couple of corners, and then face to face with Magnus. Her first words to him are, “No secrets. I broke our deal, didn’t I.” Then as they continue their banter, Magnus offers, “What if I offered you the chance to explore a world you have wanted to see since you were a child?” She takes him along the tunnel until it opens into a huge cavern where a small but futuristic city has been built.

There are several questions left to be answered, such as, did Big Guy make it? We know that Henry and Tesla survived, as well as Kate and Abby and Will, but where is John Druitt? Has Christopher Heyerdahl bowed out of the series? Will there be a season 5? We hope that these questions will be answered soon. The new city that Magnus has built looks enticing. Fans want to find out what happens next and so do I, hoping there will be more “Sanctuary Series For All“!

As my last Sanctuary news article for WHR  for this series, I would appreciate it if you could leave a comment. Thank you.

Thanks to Kenn Weeks of WormholeRiders for putting final touches on this review. And thanks to you for reading and visiting our news site dedicated to Sanctuary at WormholeRiders News Agency!

Please feel free to leave a comment here, click an icon below to share this interview, or you can visit and follow me on Twitter by clicking on my avatar to the right.

Regards,

Thank you.

ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)