Sanctuary - Season 4

Sanctuary Season 4  (2011)

Another fun season, although the first half does seem to be a bit of a reboot going back to the first season's episodic format. There are some excellent episodes, most notably the musical episode "Fuge" which is brilliant. Lots of Tesla episodes too (yay!). Sadly again, no mermaid content whatsoever, other than in the title sequence and a couple of mentions in dialogue.

Mermaid Sally gets a brief mention twice: once in episode 4.3, Will says why can't the government official come to do an audit of the sanctuary be satisfied with a simple photo with the mermaid. In episode 4.10 Biggie is brainwashed by the Crixorum, Magnus reveals that she is getting mermaid Sally to help repair the neurological damage. Episode 4.7 references back to episode 1.9 where we had the mermaid massacre caused by a microscopic parasite.

It looks like this is it for Sanctuary and it sadly won't be returning for a 5th season. The board is wide open for fan-fiction however :) 

Sanctuary - Season 3

I've just finished watching Sanctuary season 3 and wanted to note that despite the same mermaid image in the title credits from last season, there is no mermaid content whatsoever in this season. There aren't even any water based abnormals either. There are some really good episodes such as the Queen of the Damned style one about the resurrection of the vampire queen, and Magnus' part in the Normandy landing (yay Druitt was a Nazi, I knew it!!!). It's also quite heavily plot based dealing with the underground city of Praxus - for a while we completely shift genres and go all sci-fi, which is weird, but kind of fun. Still no mermaids at all. Wonder what season 4 will hold?

Review: Sanctuary Season 2

TV Review: Sanctuary Season 2 (2009)

As seen from season 1, the basic premise of Sanctuary is simple - A team of heroes, led by Dr. Helen Magnus have a series of "sanctuaries" based all over the world to protect and house all manner of supernatural entities - this both protects the abnormals from being killed and protects the human population from the dangerous ones. Season 2 moves away from the simple creature of the week formula to actually have a season story arc, and we also lose the annoying Ashley and replace her with tough-talking thief Kate Freelander. Both good moves.

There is hardly any mermaid content in this season, despite the mermaid image still appearing in the title credits. Sally the resident mermaid makes a brief appearance in episode 9: "Penance" - Stargate's Michael Shanks plays Jimmy, a thief who is wanted by the local mob. The mob take Will prisoner and force Magnus to trade - she outwits them by getting Sally the mermaid to send a mental projection of Jimmy (like a hologram) so they think she's made the trade but really hasn't. We see Sally for a brief flash and this is her only appearance in this season.

The use of the mermaid in this episode is pretty insane. Since the plot has nothing to do with water. The previous episode 2.8: "Next Tuesday" is a water-based episode in which a helicopter crashes in the middle of an oil rig and becomes the platform for a battle between a giant squid and a giant scorpion. Magnus and Will are stranded and it seemed to me an ideal opportunity to bring in our resident mermaid, or some other helpful merfolk but are there mermaids anywhere to be seen, are they heck? The whole squid episode makes very little sense (why would squid and scorpions be mortal enemies anyway? What with one living under the sea and the other being land dwelling.) The McGyver style plans like ripping out the helicopter's wiring to create a radio antenna and using a blowtorch to try and sever the cables holding the  helicopter (still with a tank full of fuel BTW) are equally WTF??? Still the squid vs scorpion battle on giant suspended helicopter is visually pretty damn cool.





The other episode with a water-based plot is the season finale "Kali" - This story spans the last two episodes of season 2 and the first of season 3. Despite it again not featuring mermaids, it is by far my favourite Sanctuary story I've seen thus far. Kali is a giant sea spider with the ability to move tectonic plates.  She is controlled by a priest who hosts a tiny spider in his body. The priest sees her not as a spider but as a beautiful goddess (Sahar Biniaz). The tiny spider gets into Will but then is forcibly removed by the villain, great cameo by the wonderful Callum Blue.

Kali starts sending out magnetic pulses which create tidal waves that will destroy most of India. Will, who still has a connection to Kali has to dance for the goddesses approval - yup full Bollywood with backing dancers. He pleases her and she agrees to stop the destruction when one of the other sanctuary heads decides to send depth charges at the spider, which angers her and causes widespread devastation.



We've seen all manner of evil sea goddesses, from Ursula in the Little Mermaid to Uxía Cambarro in Dagon, until Kali though, I'd never seen an underwater goddess spider.  My experience of depictions of the Hindu goddess Kali are pretty much limited to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - two childhood favourites. Though very different in Sanctuary, and not drawing on any myth I'm familiar with, I thought her portrayal was fantastic! We see her goddess persona in a dreamscape pool and the reflection on the water gives her multiple arms. I was just going yes! yes!

Ok, she doesn't have a fish tail, but - stunning much! And a shirtless Will doesn't hurt this scene much either <g>



I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with Sanctuary Season 2 - It's taken some really unusual directions. While I am disappointed that there hasn't been more mermaid content, I must applaud the decision to focus more on plot arc. Also I don't think mermaid fans will be too upset over the portrayal of Kali here - she is an ancient sea goddess and I love the dual aspect, of sexy siren and giant spider. Highly original.

verdict 7/10

Review: Sanctuary Season 1

Review: Sanctuary Season 1 (2008)

Sanctuary is one in a long line of supernatural TV shows, with a different creature focus each episode. Rather than hunting these abnormals however, a trained research team, led by Dr. Helen Magnus (Stargate's Amanda Tapping), capture creatures and offer them a refuge in 'The Sanctuary'. In the very first episode "Sanctuary for All" newcomer, police profiler Will Zimmerman gets a tour of the sanctuary and one of the first creatures he meets is the resident mermaid we later learn is nicknamed Sally. So far, so Hellboy... A female version of Abe anyone?

Sally has seaweed hair and a beautiful shimmering tail and lives in her own underwater environment - it's unclear the extent of her tank and indeed whether it is a tank or leads to open sea allowing her to come and go as she pleases. The first season offers very little mer content, despite mermaids being a feature of the opening credits:

The only thing we really learn is that merfolk are a peaceful race that live mainly in the Bermuda triangle. Oh and they have some level of telepathy. We learn absolutely nothing of Sally's history or how she came to be living at the sanctuary, something I'm crossing my fingers will be revealed in later seasons.

Other than the first double episode and the flash in the credits, the only other episode to feature mermaids is 1.9 "Requiem" - Sally sadly never makes an appearance, but we hear that she's received a distress call from her people and Helen & Will take a submarine to the Bermuda triangle to check it out.

When they arrive they find the grizzly remains of a merfolk massacre - bits of dead merfolk everywhere. They autopsy the torso and discover a parasite that causes the host to become violent and paranoid. Magnus gets infected and Will has to work out how to save them both, when all the parasite wants is to take the sub deeper and deeper...

Despite having hardly any actual mer content Requiem is an excellent episode and really chilling. It's also great to have another example to add to the list of mermaid horror - though here of course merfolk are the victims rather than the attackers. There's so much scope here for fan-fiction and back story - the outbreak from the mermaids POV. Or indeed the impact on the mercommunity. Magnus points out that about 100 died, which for such a small population is catastrophic.

Sanctuary is far from the best show in the supernatural field. However, it is entertaining enough and one of the few to have proper mermaid content. There isn't much in season 1, but I hope to see more in later seasons.

Verdict: 6/10