Fata Morgana (103)

[ori soldier]

this ep was alrite gotta say though i prefered the original i mean wat the hell was the ending seriously

[AvatarIII]

having not seen the webisodes, i would say i found this episode rather weak, i'm hoping for better next week

[Matt G]

Didn't see the original webbys relating to this ep so came in cold!

1. As Will said, these women were effectively in suspended animation since 800 AD. Surely the Cabal would have had cause to thaw them out before now.

2. Furthermore the Cabal do not sound like people you want to frack with.

3. Not sure why Will's girlfriend is back in the picture - thought we were done with her!

4. Wasn't so sure about Helen's willingness to throw the MOrrigan to the wolves here.

Decent ep but this isn't looking like classic TV just yet.

[Rachel500]

Fata Morgana provides a good continuation for Santuary delivering a cohesive, action packed story along with some good character moments as the audience sees Will Zimmerman begin to settle into his new job. The acting, directing and story are top notch and the overall production is high but the graphic backgrounds do get a little shaky here and there.

Having complained about the lack of action in the pilot, here there is a good mix of action and exposition. Both Ashley’s fight with the chameleon and the Morrigan’s revelation of their power provide action mid-way through but the two main action sequences at the beginning and at the end nicely bookend the episode; they are exciting, tightly choreographed and well directed. There was a danger they could have got repetitive but there is enough of a difference in location and build-up for them to be very different.

Both scenes highlight the mother-daughter relationship between Ashley and Helen very well while demonstrating Will’s relative fighting incompetence – there were two lovely moments in the first; one where Will inquires about the hand signals between the two women and the second where they sandwich him protectively between them in the fight. The end sequence with Helen noting they need Ashley and Ashley helping Will shoot the monsters is also very good.

All are nice character moments in the story which is packed with them; Helen and Ashley’s mother-daughter moments, Will’s call to his ex-girlfriend, his disgust of the forensic dissection that Helen performs and her gusto for the same; her almost forgetting his presence as she begins her study; the building of respect between Will and Helen as they discuss what is to be done with the Morrigan.

The Morrigan themselves make a good story – excellent use of flashbacks and loved the seamless transfer from future to past and past to future – very cleverly done. The three powerful women choosing their own fate is the key to the story and nicely worked in without the audience being hit over the head with it. The introduction of the all-powerful Cabal and the informant Squid also provide the show with extra depth and colour.

Speaking of which, it’s incredibly dark. Very Angel-esque. Please can we have some light? That nit-pick aside, there are two other main areas for improvement: first, is the graphics – the background graphics are impressive and the majority of the time the effect is really believable but they do appear shaky in action sequences – as Will comes flying down the stairs into the main atrium to discover the Morrigan floating, in Ashley’s fight with the chameleon and as Helen and Bigfoot face the Keepers in the house.

Secondly, I’d personally like more banter between the characters. It still feels a little too serious for me. Will’s occasional dry remarks such as the ‘sock on the door’ go down well, his exchange with Ashley on the ‘I’ll play to my strengths’ was good, Helen’s remark that she would fix Ashley’s bandages later after Ashley claimed she wasn’t injured was also good but these are few and far between. The stuff with Henry was also good but I think it would benefit if Ashley was showcased more with her mother and Will. Emilie Ullerup does a good job with the role and the character’s more direct nature tends to prompt the moments of banter. I’m not saying it needs to be a comedy but for me it still needs to lighten up more.

Those things aside, the episode was well-constructed and well-acted. Overall, not a bad outing. If it keeps up this standard I may even sign on as bona fide fan of the show.

[Rachel500]

Having read the rest of the thread, I have to say that I think I'm thankful that I don't have the webisodes to compare to what I've seen on screen. I'm sure it's difficult for those who have to see something they enjoyed reimagined for a different medium. A bit like I much prefer books to their subsequent movies most of the time.

On the mythology questions raised; for me, it doesn't matter that The Morrigan are not an exact match to known mythology. There is plenty of mythology around about three witches/the three Fates/three sisters, that I just kind of accepted it without questioning the names, etc. And Arthurian mythology at the end of the day has been added to and reimagined by authors, poets, filmmakers and even historians that there is enough wiggle room to make this Morrigan part of it. Certainly the whole Avalon/Wiccan Sisterhood/Lady of the Lake/Morgan provides the opportunity. At the end of the day, it's fiction and I'm happy enough to suspend belief and accept Damian's version of mythology as the basis for the story although I would agree that given the connection to Morgan wasn't made even if the connection to Arthur was, the title of the episode didn't really make sense.

[dosed150]

ive noticed a pretty obvious mistake, zimmerman says the last outbreak of bubonic plague in scotland was 800ad but the plague didn't reach europe until the 14th century so theyre at least 600 years off

just noticed that points been made, the its not our our world its just similar line sounds like a flimsy excuse for the creators to not fact check

oh and that accent is just so bad i think i would enjoy the show more without that attempt to sound like a posh victorian

[Falcon 304]

You're in the minority when it comes to the accent. As for the plague bit, if going for accuracy, even a monkey couldn't be off by that much. Though, *the five*

Spoiler:

they made vampires the creators of... everything

so they can make up what ever they want to.

Also, a large portion of this episode is made up of the original webisodes. Watch some of the better episodes from the season like......... all of them but this one, lol.

[dosed150]

You're in the minority when it comes to the accent. As for the plague bit, if going for accuracy, even a monkey couldn't be off by that much. Though, *the five*

Spoiler:

they made vampires the creators of... everything

so they can make up what ever they want to.

Also, a large portion of this episode is made up of the original webisodes. Watch some of the better episodes from the season like......... all of them but this one, lol.

the accent could be a lot worse if helen magnus was meant to be a modern day brit then it would really annoy me

i liked the pilot so im definetely going to carry on a bad episode doesnt mean a bad series

whats really been bugging me for ages is the massive ads that take up a third of the screen on sci fi even the most annoying channels over here arent quite that bad

[Tachyon]

This is a good episode. The storyline is interesting and well written. Sanctuary just keeps getting more promising.

[Skydiver]

Fata Morgana

aka, webbie retread #2

In a lot of ways it's the same, but there are differences. After all the original was longer so things had to be cut. We also have the introduction of the cabal, helen's nemesis for a year or two

the first change is helen's line 'we work together or we die'...can't say I like that any better than 'im cutting off your allowence'. little OTT to me.

obviolusly the whole 'ash getting her mojo back' storyline is gone. Since she doesn't have the trauma of being kidnapped by druitt and learning he's her daddy, she has no horrible flashbacks.
Instead of her going out against orders to get her nerve back, she's just going out on her own to do a job.

the rings are on the women, not on the keepers.

a lot of the rest is the same, but the women do change. they are more sympathetic and less malevolent than in the webbies.

I can't say i'm too thrilled with will's bedside manner....'the sooner you accept that the sooner we can make progress'.....don't think that's a good shrink method.

we get intro'd to squid, implying that helen and ash have a vast network of informants.

we also get a good view of the broken bridge, yet another hint to the never solved 'what happened to old city' mystery.

henry is still the bumbler, which does get kinda old but also changes as the show goes on. He's never going to be a strategic and fighting ace, but he's allowed to be smarter.

we also do not get to see Wexford in this version. and there's less of a focus on merlin and morgana and more on the cabal using hte women.

in the webbie, we never get a resolution. webbie 8 ends with a cliffie, multple characters in peril and imminent danger. In this obviously, there is a resolution. the morrigan choose to go with the cabal...and seem to have more power because they CHOOSE to go.

i noticed one big nit that would have settled the 'are they/aren't they'....helen never thought to analyze the style and kind of clothing the women were wearing? 17th century textiles should be relatively easy to determine.

wasn't horrible, wasn't great. I don't care for the 'we need ashley', which does suggest that her main purpose is to kick butt, but I do like the morrigan choosing to go....even as i really don't like what hte cabal eventually became.

[JanSam]

While I liked the mythology from the webisodes better; I do like how the episode plays out. Having the Morigan choose to leave was a good ending. I do miss the scenes with the Morigan walking in the battlefield. It was better in the webisode; not sure how it was cut but it wasn't as impressive in the episode.

I'm very glad to see Ashley's "rampage" taken out of in the episode; I just didn't care for that part of the storyline.

I agree with ya Sky about Will's bedside manner; that line just rubs the wrong way.

I noticed in the credits that Lee Wilson did the voice for Squid .

[fems]

Was rather bored throughout the episode since a lot of scenes were the same as the webisodes, although some were (badly) looped. Prefer the mythology behind the Morrigan from the webbies but knowing there will be more of the Cabal later on I understand why they changed it.

I do, however, wonder why the Cabal kept the Morrigan asleep for this long. I get they tried fooling the world into thinking the Cabal no longer exists but it would have been nice to hear at least one reference about the Morrigan's fate later on, near the end of the first season or so.

Thought it was interesting that when Squid said that the Cabal has been doing this a lot longer than Ash and her mom, Ashley mumbled "you'd be surprised" since a lot of the Abnormals and/or people working with them seem to know all about the infamous Helen Magnus later on in the show.

I was also glad the Ashley rampage was taken out and the scene in her bedroom with Magnus was changed. Wished they would have taken out the "We need Ashley!" line, since I already said during the webisodes that it made it sound like Ashley was their only security. Which is just ridiculous for someone as well organized as Helen Magnus. Not to mention that she had to have had some kind of security when Ashley was younger (she's only 23-ish after all).

While I understand reusing a lot of material from the webbies I thought it was a bit odd since Magnus' hair and demeanor was so different. And Biggie was wearing that awful manservant outfit.

[SnowWhite]

not exactly one of my fav episodes, but when I was rewatching it with my boyfriend I noticed this:
In the scene when the Morrigans start floating off-screen and Will's stiff is shaking..
Is there Damian Kindler on his mug???

[Sparky She-Demon]

My favorite bit in the episode was when Helen and Ashley were doing the hand signals. Especially the "I'm cutting your allowance" signal!

[Bonniesrg]

Glasses wearing Will ...YAY! Hate Helen's Webisodes hair with the red streaks, but not as much as when I first saw it.

I liked the original hand signal with the bit about the "Allowance" as it just seems more of a thing that would be said between a mother & daughter, rather than the new translation that doesn't really come across as well..

With what Will has seen so far he thinks there is no possible way for her to be from the past. She just has to be crazy. Why did Helen hire him again.

I'm not a psychiatrist or anything, but are you supposed to insist to your patients very early on when treating them that all they believe is false and to actually push what you believe to be true on them as fact. SHUT UP WILL!

So Will calls Meg which I get, she broke up with him not the other way round, so maybe he hopes they can get back together. But she's all "You won't even tell me where you're working"...she say's he is never at his apartment & get's jealous when she thinks he's dating someone else. Um...you broke up with him Meg, why should you know where he works or where he is all the time. Stop giving the poor man hope (O.K. So I am a little biased to her just because the actresses character in Battlestar Galactica treated poor Billy so bad).

Chuck is just brilliant, the scene in lift was fun. But wasn't he one of the ones Helen referred to as being too dangerous to roam outside the Sanctuary with other people...but it's fine for him to be in a small enclosed space with Will. All righty then.

So Bigfoot saves Helen. Her response "Where the hell have you been". Seems like those Victorian manners have diluted over the years. I believe when someone saves your life the correct response is 'Thank-you' Helen.

Druitt got the best of Henry & again in this episode Henry is captured, it looks as if he will be the resident damsel in distress. . Henry pulling all the weapons out from his person was pure gold comedy.

The End credits seem to go on for longer than most shows that I've watched, but I don't mind so much as I love the theme music.