Normandy (317)

[Spimman]

7. At first I really thought Druitt was working for the Nazis, but then it dawned on me that had that been the case they would have won the war as he would have been able to time travel and give them advanced info abut future technologies

Is it still canon that he can time travel? I was thinking that was only in the webisodes and now he can only teleport.


Awesome episode, if not a little random. I would have loved for this to be one of a series of 2-parters that focused on the past activities of the five. Maybe give them more of a TV-Special separate and apart from the series, I think it could draw a bigger audience and bring in new viewers to the show!

[KayLyne]

Just one problem,
Isn't Watson supposed to look younger? He was supposed to keep his young look that we saw in Victorian England, but he looks older.

Thus the need for his life-saving body machine?

[siles]

Is it still canon that he can time travel? I was thinking that was only in the webisodes and now he can only teleport.


Awesome episode, if not a little random. I would have loved for this to be one of a series of 2-parters that focused on the past activities of the five. Maybe give them more of a TV-Special separate and apart from the series, I think it could draw a bigger audience and bring in new viewers to the show!

If he can't time travel how did he survive so many years? He isn't a vampire like Tesla!

[jasminaGo]

If he can't time travel how did he survive so many years? He isn't a vampire like Tesla!

Helen's blood is keeping him alive.

from Sanctuary For all

WILL
My God...you treated one of the most notorious serial killers of all time.


HELEN
He wasn't always that. He was dying. I gave him my blood to prolong his life, but it all went wrong.

James mentions it in this ep too I think.

[blazingfire]

If he can't time travel how did he survive so many years? He isn't a vampire like Tesla!

It's certainly possible that the source blood gave them all some form of longevity.

[blazingfire]

And now we know why Helen was so interested in Will in the first place.

''He won't be forgotten'' she says...

[mjwalshe]

thats exactly what i thought about the resistance leader

didnt the text say tesla was in portsmouth

i thought robin dunne did alrite, the voice was very similar but a little different, so you could tell they were related

wouldn't magnus and the others had Sten guns not thompsons, but at least we saw the resistance leader and griffin using stens later

Well some Thompson where sent over lend lease there's a famous pic of Churchill toting one - i suspect that Helen gets the pic of the crop the early stens where a bit cheap and chearfull and prone to going off if you looked at them in the wrong way.

[Mandysg1]

If he can't time travel how did he survive so many years? He isn't a vampire like Tesla!

Spimman was right, Druitt can't time travel like in the webisodes, he only teleports. If you recall season 1 (not sure if it was the first episode or not), but the reason for John kidnapping Ashley was to get a hold of Helen's blood, which he used to keep him from aging.

[meredithchandler73]

I. LOVED. THIS. EPISODE!!!

I didn't take notes, so here are my rambling thoughts:
--Helen looked wonderful in this episode. Liked the hairstyle and the red hair. But then - I just don't think it is possible for Helen not to look gorgeous.
--I really loved the "Darling" moment. I don't necessarily ship Helen and James, but it makes sense that they would turn to each other. I'm sure James has been in love with Helen for as long as he's known her. And after so many years of living - with most people they know dying off - it wouldn't surprise me that they'd turn to each other. Who understands them better than each other?
--I often get the show backstory mixed up between the webisodes and the series.
--Helen Magnus speaking French and flirting with the soldier...OMG!!! The moment the music changed to the romantic violins, I almost fell off my chair. I thought Amanda played the whole thing brilliantly! Which is to say, Helen played the whole thing brilliantly. It was so fun to see Helen playing the helpless French woman. None of Helen's usual authoritative air. But she didn't go overboard with the helplessness either. I can't get enough of this little scene!!!
--I try to stay away from spoilers, so I didn't know Druitt would be in this episode at all. That was an awesome surprise! Also that Druitt tried to kill Hitler, believed he failed, but he actually succeeded! Very cool twists.
--I love the dynamics between all members of The Five. I'm sorry Tesla couldn't join the gang, but he was still enjoyable in his scenes.
--Cool that James invented a weather machine (on paper) but the plans were stolen by the Nazis. And then the twist that it wasn't the weather machine that was the Nazi's secret weapon. The Fire Elemental was a nice callback to End of Days.
--I think we're all led to believe the French resistance leader turns out to be Clara's grandmother. I thought that was rather cute.
--Robin Dunne could have been playing Will's grandfather...or his grandfather's brother or cousin. Robin did fine in his role, but I didn't feel his inclusion was really necessary.
--No one knows how old James was when he invented his "age-defying machine" so I don't know what age is supposed to be his "constant". I don't assume that his machine could really keep him from aging at all - maybe just slow it down considerably. So by the time we met him in the present, the machine was more involved and covered his full body - and yet we see he has aged more than Helen has.
--There really wasn't an explanation as to why Nigel didn't look older. Unless, as someone else posited, all of The Five aged slower due to the source blood - but at different rates. Helen aged the very slowest. It would also help explain why Druitt hasn't aged a bit. But those questions are minor quibbles which didn't detract from my enjoyment of the episode!
--One more quibble - basically, a continuity error in the series. The autotype messages came out typed differently in Trail of Blood than in Normandy. (Remember how Tesla's SOS looked like?) Again - not enough to lessen my enjoyment of the episode.

[kes]

And now we know why Helen was so interested in Will in the first place.

''He won't be forgotten'' she says...

Will doesnt want secrets. Do you think she told him?

well, from what I recall - they each took at least a tiny part of the vampire blood in the original experimenet, which is how they got their powers. I'm guessing that had something to do with them all having some form of extra longevity, which varied depending on the person - it's just that Helen's longevity seems to have become the most prolonged. However, back in Revelations (I think) we hear that at present day, Watson died "over half a century ago", which would mean not very long after these events of Normandy - since this was in 1944, I'm guessing only about a decade or less. I don't think we've heard exactly how he died. Maybe it was old age, maybe it was as he was invisible and doing something he shouldn't have. The Nazi guy in this eppy said that both Helen & James were around 80 years old here. So, I'm guessing that Griffin would be approximately the same.

I think they say he died in the early sixties.
But doing that takes a bit from Magnus ability. You know?

[Dvorak Symphony No. 8]

Maybe John wasn't the only one who got shots of Helen's life-prolonging blood. Maybe she gave it to Griffin and Watson too but it was less effective in their cases and that's why they lived so long but eventually died. Come to think of it, Helen's blood might have been an essential ingredient in Watson's suit.

[Kilgharrah]

Maybe John wasn't the only one who got shots of Helen's life-prolonging blood. Maybe she gave it to Griffin and Watson too but it was less effective in their cases and that's why they lived so long but eventually died. Come to think of it, Helen's blood might have been an essential ingredient in Watson's suit.

Watson only lived long because of the suit and it didn't prolong his life. It kept him at a certain age. He never aged. Helen on the other hand ages, but she does it so slowly. Once the suit stopped working he rapidly aged and died. That's why his suit can't have been based on Helen's blood.

[majorsal]

i'm going to review without reading others thoughts first.

i'll admit, i wasn't 100 percent interested in the storyline for 'normandy', so i came into the ep without having the super interest i wanted. i liked the ep last night (but had my usual trouble hearing the dialog), but i rewatched it today and REALLY like it now. (and the rewatch let me hear the dialog i couldn't last night)

and example of what not being able to hear does to a scene: when the nazi was interrogating helen and james, i thought HE was an abnormal too. i couldn't hear what helen said to him, about his eyes being burnt and what would do that to him, so i just assumed he was one of hitler's abby fighters. also, i didn't know WHY the five were there to begin with. i couldn't hear when it was revealed that james had built the weather machine and they were trying to get it back. @ not hearing things

anyways, a very interesting and well done ep!


random:

i wanted more helen in the ep.

helen and james were an item? she called him darling, right?

did not like the john-james torture scene. in the rewatch, i skipped that part.

GREAT effects with the colorization of the film, and the music, to give it the effect of watching one of those old black/white war movies. well done!

the ending scene, where it's shown that jack zimmerman was killed, and you're hearing that beautiful music, AND then reading the dedication to the troops... that almost made me cry.


i'll stop now and read other's thoughts.

[majorsal]

This was a very good period piece! The style they used in filming was very good, and what can we say about Helen Well this time istead of a gun bum, it was a rifle bum I loved the iteractions between the 5, John and James was exceptional during the torture scene

did you notice that amanda had trouble getting her gun out of her purse? see what happens when you're used to gunbumming it!?

[majorsal]

Heaven forbid the day that Sanctuary actually ends, but I dare say MAD could be successful in making full-length movies of just exploits of The Five.

agree!! 'The Five' could be an off-shoot of sanctuary, and be it's own show or movies!