Homecoming (406)

[GateWorld]

SANCTUARY SEASON FOUR HOMECOMING EPISODE NUMBER - 406 A pair of flying Abnormals arrive at the Sanctuary with ulterior motives, and end up appealing to Magnus for assistance. Meanwhile Will attempts to bring aid to the Sanctuary in Liberia, but a mugging leaves him blinded. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[Mack_1]

So far so good!

[lookupwardsnshare]

So far so good!

Really? Maybe it's just me but I didn't like this episode. However, "GO SANCTS"!!

Roy Halladay...Phillies...nice shout out...Philly Phan here

[Mack_1]

Really? Maybe it's just me but I didn't like this episode. However, "GO SANCTS"!!

Roy Halladay...Phillies...nice shout out...Philly Phan here

Really !? What you didn't like about it??

[KayLyne]

I must say that I loved the fun & wacky Helen/Henry/Birds story.

The Will/Dad stuff was sweet & informative.

However, I wasn't a fan of having the two mixed together in this episode.

Bring me more sarcastic (and even SPEECHLESS) Magnus, Henry & the birds for a whole episode next time, please!

[blueray]

not sure how i felt about that...

i liked all the helen, henry and the birds storyline. i had a feeling that they were telling the truth.

while it was nice to see will's relationship with his father, it seemed to be randomly told. then the ending was kind of "huh?". at the end i found myself not caring that they were reunited. i think there should have been more drama between them, other then just a few minutes of non-connected storyline.

[Dixie_Vampiress]

That was kinda weird. But I kinda liked it. Helen's facial expressions were PRICELESS! And Henry's reactions were quite funny as well. Didn't really like the Will story. Well, it was alright I guess, just kind of random.

I have but one question: Have we seen these flying abnormals before? They made it seem like we have but I can't remember them for the life of me.

Also, Biggie was pretty dang awesome in this ep.

[selene0789]

Okay, here's my take:

I didn't NOT like it. But I didn't LIKE IT like it either.

Is it just me, or did the drama seem forced? For example-- is Will really so dumb that he would stop in the middle of a war-torn/riot-riddled city with untraceable funds on his person JUST so he could help some guys with a dead engine without introducing himself or getting a feel for the situation first?

I know, my fellow viewer in the room reminded me that when your whole life is about helping people, it's hard to NOT help, but I'm like REALLY? So Will's need to help overrode his good sense and travel-savvy AND his ROGUE NETWORK status just to help jumpstart an engine? And all that just to get him blind and lying on his back all episode having drug-induced flashbacks?

And the bird-people... With them I kept waffling back and forth between "they're mildly entertaining" and "just stun them and keep the guy from trying to manipulate you"... I've noticed Magnus does that a lot. Even when presented with a clear and present threat, she tries to talk instead of just shooting their butts (*cough* Adam, anyone?).

But presumably, the bird-people had worked with Magnus before. So shouldn't they have known that if they had said "someone's smuggling in Abnormal orphans to sell into slavery" from the get go, Magnus would have been bending over backwards to help them? Why have the convoluted turns and double-crosses?

To me, it would have been easier to have maybe one deception in there to get the tension started, but then moved on to, "here's the deal", and then "will you help us", and then maybe an honest "I don't know what happened, apparently we got duped too". But nope. It was betrayal after betrayal, and the guy refused to come clean. Always running his mouth, and Magnus kept listening, and didn't see the double-cross coming a mile away like we did...

I dunno. I guess I just feel like with the skill of the writers we know they have, they could have had the same plot with less convolution, much more practical, and blown the entire thing out of the water. Trying to force feed us the twist and turns feels kinda... insulting. Just sayin'.

Now, I liked the flashbacks. Finally we get some substance to Will's character. In the dearth of current character development, it was nice to see there had been some development in the past. And I don't mean that nearly as harsh as it sounds. I promise . I've been wondering about his Dad ever since last season's Metamorphosis, and this was a good introduction, I think. I definitely liked the viz FX in merging the past and present.

And yeah, the bird people kinda grew on me too. If they could tone it down just a *tad*, or even just stop with the lying, I would like them even more. And can I just say, that while I miss Kate, in her absence I'm detecting an uptick in Henry presence this season, and I find that I like seeing him quite a bit. He gets uber-cool points in the alley scene where he totally handles the gunfight like an absolute bad@$$.

And that's my take. What do you all think? Am I right/wrong/way off base?

[selene0789]

That was kinda weird. But I kinda liked it. Helen's facial expressions were PRICELESS! And Henry's reactions were quite funny as well. Didn't really like the Will story. Well, it was alright I guess, just kind of random.

I have but one question: Have we seen these flying abnormals before? They made it seem like we have but I can't remember them for the life of me.

Also, Biggie was pretty dang awesome in this ep.

We saw an abnormal like them in Season 1's Folding Man, but he was killed. These particular Abnormals (whom I shall affectionately term Thing 1 and Thing 2 from this point onward) we have not seen in person. But they have had off-screen interaction with the Sanctuary before, given that they all seemed to know each other so well...

[Mackandal]

Youve probably seen them before in season 4 sneak peeks

Hasnt the whole father/estranged son/dead mother thing been done to death? I can think of at least three examples off the top of my head, and thats just from the scifi that Ive seen. And honestly, all that story made me feel was that Will is even more annoying and whiny than before.

Bruno is a poor man's Tesla.

Whole episode was a letdown.

[Mackandal]

And the bird-people... With them I kept waffling back and forth between "they're mildly entertaining" and "just stun them and keep the guy from trying to manipulate you"... I've noticed Magnus does that a lot. Even when presented with a clear and present threat, she tries to talk instead of just shooting their butts (*cough* Adam, anyone?).

She's not a soldier. She's not going to shoot someone when talking is an option. An admirable trait, to say the least.

[Skydiver]

out of the mouths of babes, my 4 year old niece watching a flashback, 'is that a young harry potter?'
I'd been thinking the exact same thing.

[Mackandal]

The kid they got did look a hell of a lot like Robin.

[selene0789]

She's not a soldier. She's not going to shoot someone when talking is an option. An admirable trait, to say the least.

Then why go armed at all? She knew how big a threat Adam was. Clearly, talking him down at the turn of the century hadn't worked, talking to him while trapped in the abandoned building didn't work, and by his even being in Hollow Earth she had to know he'd done something to either Tesla or Druitt or both. She'd just been told that his experiment had killed a crapload of people, and he was planning to do it again, and still she hesitated. Even after he'd knocked Will around on the street.

I get that diplomacy is important, I do. I admit I don't have the patience for it, and so I usually leave it to other people. But there comes a point where you have to cut your losses and do what's in the interest of the common good. She could have saved all of Praxis and the trouble of living a repeated 113 years if she'd just shot him right then and there in the terminal.

And as for the bird people... I should have elaborated. By "stun them before they can manipulate you" I meant "stun them, get them restrained in the Sanctuary where you can sort it all out there where you're not totally open and exposed and where THEY have the advantage". If the bird people were smart, they could've made a mad dash to the briefcases and then flown away, and Magnus would have been standing there going "D'oh! How did I not see THAT one coming?"

[Rocky89]

Wow, I was very impressed with this episode, and I think it hit it on levels again.

I went in with high-ish expectations, and I wasn't disappointed. Robin did a fantastic job, and I really think that his first time as a director was very well done, and he should be proud of himself. This episode reminded me of Hangover, and I'm glad to see Sanctuary is still as fresh and sharp as it ever was by telling 2 stories. Helen was awesome in this episode, and I loved the humor with the A story, it was very well done. Quite a few things in this episode had connections to RL and even Stargate, the uniforms, the flag with the "Sancts" on it, and I think I saw a little Stargate like thinger next to it. I even thought of Amanda and Robin at Arma when I heard Henry say "The Bickersons" and at the end when Will asked if Helen's always been a brunette, and she said no.

It was very good to see a new side of who Will is, and I think young and "Our" will really showed the troubles he and his dad faced when he was growing up. Bruno and Sheila did a great job in the A story, and they both added a lot of wit and humor to this episode, and they brought out funny sides to Helen, Henry and Biggie. Overall, it was a solid episode, and I'm proud of this, and Robin should be as well.