Eulogy (203)

[ann_sgcfan]

I thought it was a very good episode! Very emotional at the ending! I think they left it open ended enough (Helen is the only one that believes she is still alive, although she can't prove it) that if EU is healed and can do the stunts by next season (didn't EU say during the Haven One that she had had surgery and was doing better? So hopefully she can come back) they may be able to write her back in. As long as they have a reasonable explanation as to Ashley's whereabouts and why she stayed away it could still work. I still like the idea she maintains her abilities, just not under Cabal control if she returns. Perhaps she is on the run from them, injured from her transporting/EM shield encounter, perhaps her gift turns her mad like her dad. There are many options if she is well enough to come back.

Anyone else think Dana is setting up John? John has killed several Cabal operatives over the last 6 days, between the episodes ... so would Dana really be drinking coffee/tea without a care in the world alone in a city? She has been portrayed to be very strategic in her planning... I'm guessing Dana knew John was looking for her and she was waiting for him.

The desert scene in the 1950s didn't turn out the way I had thought it would - granted it was midnight when I watched it and had been a busy day. I thought that scene was going to show that the old lady was in fact Ashley (because she kept playing with her necklace). My thought was that because of the EM shield and two people transporting out at the same time that Ashley was not only able to bend space, but time as well. That's why she couldn't be found, that's not what they showed though... lol so possibly a fic idea I need to ponder on some more

[jelgate]

Maybe its SGU or somthing else but Sanctuary is just not cutting it this year. Or maybe its an extension of the same problem I saw last year. Too much Helen and Will and not enough of the other characters. The cynic is me is disappointed that they killed off Ashley(Please no resurection cliches) they didn't know how to properly develop her which was very obvious in S1 as she wasn't used properly. So it is a little disappointing to have killed her off at the end. That said I quite liked the Helen looking for Ashley plot I'm just disappointed with the result. At least it was better then Henry and Kate Freelander hunting for that abnormal. Kate just reeks of uninteresting. I have seen these characters before and they are just boring. A final good part was Druitt. I sympathize and probably would have done what he is planning to do if someone killed a person I cared for. It seems their is no place to go but up. Lets hope it does

[AnnieS]

Loved the fact that they used Vera's Burger Shack in the show. That had to been on location since there are many of these restaurants around Vancouver, including one not to far from the Sheraton Wall Center (the home of the Sanctuary Con)!!!!

http://www.verasburgershack.com/

[EvenstarSRV]

It was an odd combo. I'm more in line with Evenstar on this one, I found it didn't work for me.

I watched the repeat and since I knew how the Ashley storyline ended, the two storylines worked a bit better for me, but not by much. I still would have rather seen Druitt and Tesla taking apart the Cabal network than Kate and Henry's search, but they probably didn't have the funds/time for that after End of Nights.

Part of it is that (while I love the guy) I don't subscribe to MW's theory that you have to kill off characters to keep jeopardy alive. First, I don't buy that because regardless of how many other people they kill off we know they'll never do it to Helen so there is no real jeopardy to her. Second, if I like a character I want to continue to see them. I don't watch this show for the visual effects or because they use the red camera. I watch it out of loyality to the cast and crew and because I love the characters. In addition, as others have said, if "no one really dies in scifi" it again makes the jeopardy argument moot.

For me, I don't really mind character deaths as long as they have a distinct and lasting impact on the other characters, it's not something that's seemingly forgotten in the next episode (ala Janet in Heroes). The whole team was affected by Ashley's death, and that should show in their future actions and interactions.

And bringing back 'dead' characters, while a much abused sci-fi cliche, I also don't mind again as long as that character's death and return impact the others characters. That's what made Daniel's death and return in SG-1 work for me, while Carson's in SGA did not. If they do bring Ashley back, it should affect her and the other characters as much as her death should.

I liked the fact we had a mother/daughter relationship on this show. I thought it held great potential. I also thought there was a wonderful opportunity to explore the relationship between John and Ashley. The storyline of using Ashley as a Cabal "weapon" was brilliant and I think it opens up great potential for Ashley to deal with what was done to her and what she did while under the Cabal's control. That potential is wasted if she is dead. I hope that is not the case.

I agree, the mother/daughter and father/daughter dynamics we saw from S1 are what I'll miss most with Ashley's death. It was an unique aspect of the show and something that I think gave it a lot of it's heart.

[P-90_177]

Really great episode I thought. I'm glad they didn't find ashley in the end. I really like her of course but in the end they killed her so she needs to be gone. At least for a while. In the end if they bring her back then it's an excuse to say that helens deductive reasoning and instincts were always right. If not then at least they're sticking to what they've said about the em shield and it doesn't make helens emotions somewhat moot. This way it's a far more powerful thing to say ashleys death has left Helen in alot of pain cos.....Ashley was her daughter. On the other hand I always find it crappy when they kill a main character off within a season. It never gives much time to get to know that person. And if they were planning on killing her the whole time then you would want to see more of the mother daughter dynamic to make her end more powerful to.
Ah well. All in all still a great ep. Kate has grown on me a little bit with it. I just hope they keep the more rogueish behaviour in it. It's nice to have someone a little less than good and a bit selfish. Course Henry was awesome in this one too. Definately hoping we see him out in the field more.

[Tittamiire]

I really enjoyed this episode...heartbreaking and sniffley.

Ashley - I am torn. I really like the character and I really like the dynamics between Ashley and the other characters, particularly Helen...but at the same time her death has such an impact that I don't want that to be cheapened by her coming back. *swithers*

Kate - was better this episode and I think the lines were actually alright...she just needs reining in a bit and she'll be much less annoying in the wrong way and more annoying in the way she's supposed to be annoying, which I'm okay with.

John - is a badass. I really like having the two biggest reactors to Ashley's death being able to go to extremes in Helen and John. Can't help cheering him on. The idea of him and Tesla off on a killing spree is so wrongly awesome and so right. Also enjoying the darker side to it and Chris is playing it so well. He's bang on the mark. Can't help feeling that as much as Helen is scared of him and knows what he's doing is wrong she also would like to have the freedom he does to go off the rails and do some damage.

Helen - heartbreaking all the way through everything, but the ending was really powerful. Her face change when she realises she has to stop was so well done.

The abnormals arriving from Beijing were fun! I liked the winged annoying guy and the scene with all the crates and trying to sort things out added some much needed humour that I enjoyed.

The split screen I like, as long as it's used sparingly. It was much more annoying in end of nights part one.

Looking forward to next week of course

[DigiFluid]

Going into this episode, I think it was pretty clear that it wasn't going to a big huge megawesome episode like 2.02. Rather, it was pretty clear it would be an aftermath episode, and they really did not disappoint. Hearing about them rebuilding the various Sanctuaries worldwide was necessary and I'm glad they didn't just gloss over it.

There was some great stuff in this episode too. Druitt was brilliant, just simply bloody brilliant. Seeing him mourning in his own way, by drinking heavily between hunting down and destroying the Cabal was awesome stuff. Having only seen Heyerdahl as Wraith before this, I had no idea what his acting range was but damn he was good.

I'm not always big on flashbacks as a story means, but the Helen historical flashbacks were really, really cool. I'm not totally clear on what they meant, but they were good. The rapport between Helen and Will was terrific too, a real credit to either their acting skills, their real-life personal relationship, or most probably both.

Something I found a bit illogical....why were they trying to use those lasso things to try to capture the slimy little bugger in the Sanctuary? That just doesn't make any sense to me. Why not a net? Or a bucket?

The end was just terrific though, the funeral being played simultaneously with Druitt finding the Cabal boss lady. And the Helen/Ashley chat was tasteful and appropriate without being ridiculous. Great stuff.


I gotta say though, this Freelander chick and the godforsaken multicam thing are absolutely ruining the season for me--to the point that I'm actually considering quitting the show entirely. Entertaining stories are great and all, but not at the expense of wanting to claw my eyes out every 5 minutes.

[Kef1]

Sorry, but no.

Apparently this show must have it's requisite "kick ass" female and now with Ashley gone that role has gone to Kate. A poor replacement in my opinion, one that I couldn't stand the moment she began speaking in the premiere and I continue to not be able to stand her.

It may all be a "tough kid" act (and I understand the psychology of that) to protect herself, but usually there needs to be more depth to that sort of characterisation in order to make it both understandable and perhaps even likeable as opposed to horrendously overblown.

Maybe I need to see her do something other than make attempts at pithy remarks or maybe they should have gotten a better actress, but whatever the problem, I'm not feeling her.

I'm sad we won't be seeing any more of the awesome dynamic between Helen and Ashley...one of the high points of season one for me. There are far too few truly dynamic, intriguing, and believable relationships between women on television (Gilmore Girls was not believable at ALL) so to wipe this one off in favour of what exactly? The sort of angst EVERY television utilises instead of being marginally more original and actually continuing to explore the amazing relationship between mother and daughter?

Thanks, but no thanks, Sanctuary. If I wanted a brash, tough, smart ass character I'd check out any other show on television.

I completely agree. I think that compared to the webisodes, the Ashley character was completely underdeveloped in season 1 (possibly SciFi's influence).

Now they've killed the character off and replaced her with something similar but much more cliched. I'm disappointed. I thought there was much to develop in character arcs with Ashley in the mix. Maybe they'll bring her back but frankly that would be a bit of a cop out. I'm a little over the whole Daniel Dead thing - it's been done to death (pardon the pun!).

I do hope that Kate Freelander improves - at the moment she's just making my teeth grind...

On the bright side AT and CH really kicked ass with their performances. I like what they did with Druitt hunting Dana - whether that will be dragged out a little more will be interesting to see.

[P-90_177]

I have to say as well that I really liked Will in this ep as well. The way he kinda started off being worried about Magnus to cautiously hopeful about ashley then realising that Magnus is just in complete denial. I loved the way he yelled at her once he finally reached breaking point with her theories.

[Inward Wind]

Definately not the ending I had hoped for, but really think they left the door wide open for Ashley to show up at some point. I don't agree with the argument that she is dead don't bring her back. Mainly because I don't think it has been confirmed...no body. If they had that, I would be more inclined to agree not to pull the resurrection bit. Where or how she will show up, I haven't got a clue, but I'm willing to stick it out for the rest of the season to see. If they don't bring her back, don't know for sure what I will do because that relationship was my prime reason for watching the show.

As for the rest of the show, I agree with those who stated the two different storylines seemed out of sink. They were too polar opposites to try to mesh together. I think that it would have been okay to have the rest of the gang trying to hold together the sanctuary while Helen figured things out. But, I think it would have flowed better if it would have shown them having a difficult time at doing that---emotionally. Seemed like they just jumped back on the saddle too quickly which sent my senses reeling everytime they switched scenes. To be honest, I think it took away some from the impact of Ashley 'being dead' in the end. I found it strange that we didn't see much intereaction between the groups the whole show and then at the end they threw everyone together for what seemed to me a very weak memorial.

For once, I did like Will in this episode. Thought he did a nice job trying to be the neutral, clear headed one between he and Helen, but then having a difficult time keeping it together by not wanting to tell Helen she was just grasping at straws. For the first time, since the show began last year, I believed his character.

Loved the Druitt and Helen scenes. Anyone else think all this revenge combined with the teleporting is going to be what eventually throws Druitt back to being the bad guy?...seems like he's heading that way. It was difficult separating what was grief from what he has always been, a killer.

Lastly, sorry for the book here, still don't like Kate. The way they are trying to parallel her character with Ashley's last season is probably what is doing it for me. She has that similar smart-aleck bad-ass attitude. Plus, I thought it very coincidental that her first time out on a mission was down under the streets and the first time we saw Ashley last season was tracking someone..... down under the streets...coincidence (I think not)

[P-90_177]

Lastly, sorry for the book here, still don't like Kate. The way they are trying to parallel her character with Ashley's last season is probably what is doing it for me. She has that similar smart-aleck bad-ass attitude. Plus, I thought it very coincidental that her first time out on a mission was down under the streets and the first time we saw Ashley last season was tracking someone..... down under the streets...coincidence (I think not)

Additionally Ashley had a pet Nubbin..........Kate has a pet killer dog.........for the record I reckon Kates is the much cooler pet.

[Inward Wind]

Additionally Ashley had a pet Nubbin..........Kate has a pet killer dog.........for the record I reckon Kates is the much cooler pet.

Yes, I remember thinking that, too when I watched it. Forgot all about it though until you said something

[Amalthea]

Ok, it's almost been a day and I'm still upset thinking about that last scene!!

I do think there are plenty of ways to bring Ashley back (if they want to/are able to) and I would bet none of us can guess how they will do it. I think it would be good if they do bring her back, if for no other reason than to be able to stop Druitt from the downward spiral I think he is heading on. Helen at least has her work, all John has is vengeance.

[P-90_177]

To be honest I think if they did bring ashley back it'd be cool if she was some sort of apparition. I mean with all of the abnormals out there you can imainge that perhaps Ghosts are there too........I mean come on..........They have Fairys even.

[jckfan55]

i am sad.

i'm not even sure what i think of the ep as a whole. while i think we 'needed' a release of the tension of helen hunting for ashley, i thought some of the creature stuff was sillish. and i wanted to bop kate a time or two.

but the meat of the ep was helen... amanda really is an amazing actress. she's always been able to convey *so* much with just a look on her face, especially her eyes...

i asked rocky to tell me if ash was alive, dead, or something else, and he told me dead. (that's the only spoiler i asked of him). so i built of this melancholy feeling till by the end of the ep, my throat hurt. it's left me very sad.

i really, really hope ashley's not dead. helen didn't 'feel' it, so...

while i love seeing amanda act her butt off, this storyline is something i hate. i adore mother/daughter relationships, and this one barely had a chance to shine. there was still SO much to show!

so maybe, somewhere, someday, ashley will come back...

(((helen and ashley)))


quick side note: mom came in to talk about amanda. she gushed. amanda, you're amazing.

Yes, I agree we needed another story as a relief valve from the Ashley search, but I could have done with a bit less of Kate. She still annoys me. ETA: oh and I agree with the person who said there should have been more sense of the loss of Ashley by the rest of the Sanctuary before the funeral scene. I know they were sort of dealing with a crisis, but I would have expected Will and Henry or Henry & BF to *mention* Ashley. Even something like Henry saying "wish we had Ash on this" ...

I *refuse* to believe Ashley's gone for good. I take as my comfort that as you say, Helen seemed to believe she was somehow alive even after she called the memorial service. (of course it seemed pretty final at the funeral...but I'm in denial.) Also, didn't Helen stop her search outside the Sanctuary when she got the idea that she could have been dropped inside the Sanctuary? She was operating on little sleep--she might have missed something. (hopes)

AT was great again. I had thought Helen would lock herself in her room in mourning, but being locked in her room doing a desperate scientific search was more in character than sitting in a dark room would have been, I think. I liked that Will had to try to get past protective Bigfoot to check on her. Her seeing Ashley various times was heartbreaking & I did get choked up at the very end when Helen has her moment alone.

So she's sort of accepted it, but I wonder now, how Helen's going to cope. I sure hope things aren't business as usual as the preview would imply.

Besides the necklace being a symbolic guide for Ashley, I'm hoping there's some mystical thing that figures into bringing her back.

I really want to see more Helen-Ashley.