It had its moments of occasional witty dialogue and
heart-pounding plots. But it never quite
seemed to come together. The premise was
certainly interesting but I found the stories swiftly devolved into monster of
the week. And it was always the same two
characters featured: Dr. Magnus (the immortal) and a police
profiler/psychologist, Dr. Zimmerman.
The writers kept their relationship squarely in the mentor-protégé
category, which was refreshing, but eliminated the excuse for such a tight
focus which a romantic relationship would have required.
Maybe I was spoiled by Whedon and the Buffy and Angel series. While there was often a monster of the week,
there was also a season-long plot arc.
The season might begin with a few kill-the-monster moments but towards
the end, it felt like a miniseries as the main Big Bad and our heroes faced off
against each other. The Big Bad might be
defeated but it got a few victories in first, making it more scary and putting
uncertainty back into the mix.
With Sanctuary,
the episodes often ended and were never referred to again. Dr. Magnus lost her daughter in the first
season but there was very little reference to it. It was casual enough that I thought we were
dealing with a Marvel-universe effect where dead characters come back again and
again. They also overindulged a little
with the silliness. Watching Zimmerman
dance Bollywood to propitiate a giant spider was painful instead of funny. And the musical episode fell flat.
But there were moments of brilliance that made it worth continuing. Chris Heyerdahl’s portrayal of an immortal
(and teleporting!) Jack the Ripper was a definite draw. (I enjoy bad guys, especially tall, good
looking ones with their brood on.) Jonathon Young as Nicola Tesla was bitchily
hilarious. His arrogant ego somehow came
across as charming instead of irritating. And I loved Ryan Robbins as the uber-geek/werewolf. It was refreshing to finally have someone on screen acknowledging how cool everything was.
I did get somewhat tired of the continuous name
dropping. According to the show, Magnus
worked with everyone who ever made any mark in history from the Victorian era
onward. Even fictional characters like Jekyll
and Hyde and Sherlock Holmes.
It was a fun series and I was disappointed it never quite
coalesced into fulfilling its potential.
But I still enjoyed watching it.
No comments:
Post a Comment