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Sanctuary: An original web based show turned primetime. Stars Amanda Tapping as Helen Magnus, scientist studying the extreme and Robin Dunne as Zimmerman the psychologist who people say sees too much.

Back in the spirit of better writing, this episode introduces the viewer to a bit more about Helen’s past. We are treated with the reason Helen was gifted with longevity and where John picked up his power of teleportation. Through flashbacks we are shown a group of several academics, though not clearly as we only are afforded a few names quickly and limited to the interactions between Helen, John, and Nikola Tesla. Like most of the folks who watched the show, I really, really wanted Tesla to be David Bowie.

Magnus is presenting something trivial to a group of international acquaintances when Tesla shows up and declares he is there to assist her in escaping from the Cabal. They wind through catacombs as the backstory of “The Five” unfolds in the flashes, detailing the event where they all decided to be injected with vampire blood in the name of science. Tesla happened to be the one with latent vampire genes and embraced his vampiric heritage, citing generations of a class of self identified superior beings that kept humans as underlings who were wiped out by the church just prior to the dark ages. Frustrated with society, Tesla wants Magnus to aid him in recreating the vampire race that he believed brought glory, knowledge, and beauty to the world.

Unable to produce anything more than mindless drones with his experimentation, the Cabal noticed the potential and were in the process of tracking Tesla down when he descended upon Magnus, creating the perfect excuse for him to arrive to persuade her to help. At the same time they are spending a (ridiculously long but no where near as bad as in the early episodes)  time discussing his work and their past, a not-so-dead John has located Ashley and wishes to find her mother. He spends just about the entire episode trying to convince Ashley to tell him where her mother is, eventually revealing that he has finally been reformed due to Helen’s actions in the first few episodes. Druitt also informs Ashley that he is her father, with the both of them teleporting to Helen and Tesla just in time to save her. This action also produces the awkward after effect of mother and daughter being dropped off in Paris, to deal with the recent revelation.

Back at the Sanctuary, something has been tearing up the place and eating a bunch of the food. At the same time, Henry has been ill and coincidentally looking really guilty. Of course its not Henry who caused all the trouble, but he is shown to be an abnormal, a big furry looking guy along the lines of Bigfoot. He is not the cause of the disturbance, but instead saves Will from the giant serpent wandering around the grounds and making a mess. Henry ends the episode tormented due to the fact that his secret of being an abnormal is exposed.

Of all the characters in the show, the ones that seem the most interesting are Henry and Bigfoot, so this turn of events was nice icing on the cake (if at times a little dry, but good nonetheless). This episode answered the “Is he an abnormal?” questions floating around about Henry, who felt out of place as a random nerdy guy in facility. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope that most of the episodes stay this good.

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