Welcome back for the second round of Sanctuary and of the Sanctuary Review! I'm so happy to see the series back and I'm very eager for the next part of this story. Changes have been made and I can't tell you if they're for better or for worse, but that doesn't mean I haven't got input this season.

So they started off season 2 with a six-week time skip, which is okay with me as such a small jump. We meet an abnormal with four eyelids and a piteously overplayed (or perhaps underdone) Arabic/Egyptian accent who eats worm-like things and knows things about the Cabal. In my opinion he did his best acting in his interrogation scene. Then we got to see the newly-superhumanized Ashley Magnus kick some security guard tail in England and steal some servers (though why she had to open the door to get them once the glass on it was broken completely escapes me). That about sums up our opening for season 2. Visually impressive, marginally confusing. They did sort it out, to their credit, later in the episode, but it was still a bit choppy.

Speaking of choppy, please tell me I'm not the only one annoyed by this new editing style. The multiple images on screen at once drove me nuts! It was a lot less annoying than some transition wipes I've seen on TV before, but it still seemed to be wrong for Sanctuary. Is it just me, or is every Sci-Fi...excuse me, "Syfy" original series selling out big time?! Stargate Universe has random music montages and now Sanctuary has multi-screen perspective. I was never sure which screen to pay the most attention to. I feel like I missed something every five seconds.

It also turns out that I'm starting to warm up to the reformed John Druitt. He's still such a character even without the Jack The Ripper insanity driving his actions. After years of TV experience, though, this is a red flag to me. It tells me that the writers are about to yank it out from under our noses just as we start to accept it. I'm not letting my guard down and you guys shouldn't either. I think realization hit me that this might be a problem during the scene between Helen and John on the rooftop with the impossibly large moon in the background.

And now a brief interlude to talk about Clara's role in the episode story. I have nothing against her as a character. I think she's great. However, I also think she's throwing off the intended dynamic/love triangle between Will, Helen and Ashley. It is still a triangle with Ashley missing, but come on! The female affection of this series can't all be centered on Will Zimmerman! Give the other boys a chance. Like Henry. It was neat seeing him come within inches of "wolfing" himself in this episode. Also fun to hear him quote The Princess Bride's Miracle Max. "Have fun storming the castle!"

It's always the small stuff that stands out to me in episodes of Sanctuary and this time we got quite a bit of important small stuff. First on the list: Hints at Bigfoot's backstory. I figured this would need to come up sooner rather than later. He's an integral part of the Sanctuary and just a few on-camera appearances short of being a major character. We already tackled Henry's origins for the most part, so I'm glad to see it's the big guy's turn now. Let me also say that I was right with Henry in at least wanting to make the puppy face when Bigfoot said what he said to him. Here's hoping he changes his mind.

The next important item of small stuff was the lady scientist working on Ashley. The woman's such a sweetheart that it's almost painful to watch her do what she does. "All she wants is a daughter! Why'd the Cabal make her do this?!" That's what went through my head every time she spoke to Ashley, who couldn't talk back. Ashley didn't even have any lines in this episode, which was a shame. I'd just like to hear one of her (in)famous tough-girl lines and my Sanctuary experience would be complete. But no, the sweetest, most motherly mad scientist I've ever seen had to go and inject her with mass amounts of vampire blood and turn her into a monster on a leash. Might I also add, that woman was the first I've ever heard use the expression "five-by-five" outside of the work of Joss Whedon.

Third item of small stuff was heavily wrapped up in some of this episode's big stuff: Helen's initial treatment of the hostage free agent. I like free agent characters for some reason. They do what they please, or at least what makes them the most money at once. They're fun characters to write for and I could sense that the show's writers sympathize. The girl the Sanctuarians captured got a lot of fun lines and moments, including her escape from the sniper situation and her subsequent fainting at the door of the Sanctuary (after beating the snot out of Henry while her hands were tied back when she was still a hostage). Thus I was still sort of angered by Helen shooting her in the foot when she wouldn't answer questions. This is Helen Magnus. The kind, understanding doctor who runs the "sanctuary for all." She just shot some woman in the foot! What the hell?! I can understand being angry about Ashley's capture, but it's not like that woman was directly involved! She was just hired to kidnap another guy (who I believe carried the name of one of the show's creators and directors, Martin Wood) and take him somewhere. I'm not even sure if she knew why, even if she'd been to that facility.

Aside from more appearances by our beloved psycho, scenery-chewing vampire scientist Nikola Tesla and the worst-staged military synchronized walk I've ever seen on TV (that seriously looked like it hurt), that's it for this week. If I missed something or if you'd like to talk about some aspect of the episode in greater detail, that's what the rest of this thread is for. I'd love some open discussion.