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 Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:18 am
Even with the darkness hanging over this series right now, I was highly entertained by this week's episode. That always seems to happen when nerdy shows make fun of us nerds in a fun, playful way. At least in my eyes, anyway.
The beginning of this episode seemed a wee bit half-baked, though. If Will and the guy from the London Sanctuary (whose name sadly escapes me) were trying to save the empath in the tan suit, why did they chase him down with fancy motorcycle tricks, wear completely black outfits, not take off their helmets once they were off the bikes and point guns at him?! They were practically begging to get that butt-kicking they received from the episodic star, The Adjuster, who was so much of a show-off that...okay it was still funny. Maybe I could forgive it if they were creating wiggle room for the stunt guys who actually had to take that beating, but there are other ways to do that. Even the following scene with Bigfoot giving the guys massages and setting dislocated shoulders wasn't enough for me to redeem that oddness.
The secondary story had a bit of a slow start and, until the point where it crossed paths with the primary, didn't have much entertainment value to me. I wished we could have seen the bug lizard in its parasitic stage. Then again, Sanctuary's main thing is being a CGI/green screen show, not a prosthetics and makeup one, despite Bigfoot and a few other characters. Most of the secondary story here seemed like time filler. I had a greater appreciation for the tertiary story.
That third level of story was some great character development for the newest Sanctuarian. While she's no replacement for Ashley, Kate Freelander is growing on me. She also seems to be growing on Henry, who she winds up hanging around a lot (Another pairing for this series? Please say yes). The introduction of her brother was a nice bit of insight into where Kate comes from and the introduction (and eventual exit) of Constantin (not sure how to spell that one) did the same thing on a separate level. He represented her dark side, you might say. The embodiment of the business she used to be in. We also finally got to see the fate of those Abnormal tusks, a short cameo for Sally the mermaid, mention of our old scaly pal Steve (who we didn't even see!) and the bit I give the writers the greatest kudos for in this episode: Using a minor detail from earlier in the episode as a major plot point later on. I only remembered it because the CGI was impressive.
Back to the primary story, I'm surprised that the writers let slide how much of a cliche Walter, otherwise known as The Adjuster, made himself out to be. Wanting to emulate the comics is one thing (I did like the joke about Walter tricking Will into believing his comic-based story of how he got his superpowers. And that Will is, once again, no longer super-hip-man. He works better as the bookworm he used to be and I wish they'd bring back his glasses!), but not ironing out the awkward, cliched bits is another. I get that it was for us intelligent nerds to laugh at, but it didn't ring true at all to me. What I did like was the departure from cliche in how he really did get superpowers: A parasite. A particularly interesting hive-minded parasite at that. I also liked how they slipped in those pesky laws of physics that make some superhero antics impossible. But then bang, they shot right back to modern TV cliche with the rock music montage of trying to get the suit off Walter. Really it was the music that bothered me. Everybody does that now! It's getting on my nerves!
Then there was the subtle poking fun at those cliches, which redeemed it just a little bit. I liked the bits where Walter was trying to figure out his traditional superhero catchphrase and the dialogue with Henry about it. I also really enjoyed the bit at the end where Walter finally willed the parasite suit off so they could both live. The nerd cliche there was sweet ( "live long and prosper" was merited there). And then the very end was definitely smile-worthy: Converting the true story into a comic book. I even caught the joke in the scene transition: "Meanwhile...A few months later..."
Sadly, I think this episode was just relief, otherwise known by the infamous name "filler" in the entertainment industry. Next week looks to me like, in complete nerd speak, Resident Evil meets 12 Monkeys. I hope I'm wrong.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:11 pm
I missed last night's episode (I fell asleep). When will you do the summary? redface
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