‘Sanctuary’ 1.03 Review: Three Witches
Episode: Fata Morgana
Original Air Date: October 10, 2008
After checking out this week’s episode “Fata Morgana,” I’m liking Sci Fi Channel’s Sanctuary. It has a nice, if familiar, contrast going on between contemplative, accepting doctor Helen (Amanda Tapping) and skeptical but surprisingly quick-witted doctor Will (Robin Dunne). Maybe it’s the dour expression or his academic air, but I didn’t expect the latter character to be capable of so much deliberate humor; I thought most of the laughs would come at his expense.
It also helps in winning me over that Helen’s daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) is a spunky gal who totally kicks paranormal and human butt, yet still makes a point of kissing her mum goodbye before she heads off on another dangerous mission, often by herself.
In this episode, the three Abnormal hunters begin their latest adventure on a Scottish island in the middle of nowhere. The mission is to evade the so-called Keepers of the Dead, nasty-looking hooded creatures with skeletal faces and huge fangs, and to get inside the crypt they’re protecting.
Of course, the intel they received from their contact is incorrect, and the trio end up attacked by the Keepers, who quickly notice them. Will makes his way into the crypt while the ladies fire on the Keepers to hold them off, and inside he finds three coffins. After he somehow trips a system that drains a green liquid from the coffins — Helen later identifies the substance’s ability to induce stasis, although Will dismisses it as nothing more than “bath products” — the boxes open to reveal three very not-dead women.
They are Danu, Tatha, and Caird, we soon learn, three sisters who have no memories besides the fact that they’re from the Middle Ages around the time that the Bubonic Plague was in vogue. Will determines that would put their youth at around 800 AD, something he’s not willing to believe. When Helen’s not busy having fun conducting an icky autopsy on a captured Keeper, she assures Will it is very well possible the sisters hail from 1200 years ago. In fact, they have a legend all their own as The Morrigan, three sisters dating back to ancient times whose sole purpose is to kill men.
Persistent Will continues to insist someone must have played mind games with the siblings, but it eventually becomes clear they are indeed witches kidnapped by the Cabalis Nocturnum, a secret society that collects ancient beings with powers in order to exploit their unusual gifts for evil. In modern times, cabal members — thought destroyed in the 19th century but really only driven underground — have been in cahoots with the captains of industry, ranging from leaders of the military to the banking fields.
Not surprisingly, now the cabal wants the sisters back, and they head to the Sanctuary, with the Keepers in tow, for an episode-ending confrontation. Yet, by the time they finally arrive, the sisters have remembered who and what they are. And thanks to Will’s continual naive insistence that they’re not evil or even Abnormals, they also come to understand they can use their powers for good, if they so choose, and ignore the cabal’s attempts to manipulate them for destructive purposes.
So, when the cabal leader informs Helen at the end of the standoff that the people he works for are far from forgiving types, Helen still allows The Morrigan to leave before ordering him off her property. She then explains to Will they gave the sisters the choice to be free, although what they do next is their choice.
Sure, that’s not the deepest or most original plot development, but it’s good enough for a story about three witches from the Medieval era. If Sanctuary can deliver a couple more episodes with the same combination of humor, storytelling, and action (mostly on Ashley’s part), I’ll sign up as a card-carrying fan.
1 opinion for ‘Sanctuary’ 1.03 Review: Three Witches
Rock Out with a Friday-Night ‘Sanctuary’ Mini-Marathon
Dec 19, 2008 at 12:15 am
[...] evening of magnificent Magnus adventures begins at 7pm with the third episode of the season, “Fata Morgana.” That’s followed at 8pm by the seventh, “The Five,” and then the tenth, [...]
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