Hello!
After watching Season 3's Hollow Earth arc and standalone episodes like One Night, Awakening, etc, I wondered why Sanctuary doesn't have higher ratings. Here's some theories and feel free to comment:
* Season 4 vs Season 3: Season 4 became more political with the UN and their investigator Addison, and the connections to the War on Terror. This made Sanctuary a lot more serious, and a little less fun, don't you think? Also, perhaps due to budget (I'm not sure), the sense of family was missing: Kate was gone to Hollow Earth, Druitt was basically gone from the show, and many episodes cut certain characters (like Henry). A collective scene at the end of Chimera, where Biggie says he misses Kate, highlights this ...
Further, the story threads around Sanctuary vs SCIU and the Hollow Earth tribes needed to be more cohesive and compelling (i.e. Caleb introduced in the Season finale, vs maybe earlier in the season). There's a scene with Will & Abby in "Uprising" looking through SCIU's "Final Solution" files for Abnormals that was really chilling, but by the finale Magnus was surprised that SCIU was willing to wipe out the Abnormal community?
* A niche show: Sanctuary is probably a cult show no matter how you look at it. It has it's own Abnormal terminology, it's a lot of fun, but in a geeky, sci-fi way. I was watching "Jeremiah" on Netflix lately, and there was a voiceover describing the show's premise during the opening credits, and Sanctuary could've benefited from this. A first time viewer jumping into Season 4 may be confused as to what the show is about.
I think that's pretty much it, that Season 4 became a little less fun, with it's political focus, that maybe due to budget, characters were cut and the Sanctuary family was missing, and that Sanctuary itself is a ready-built cult show about Abnormals, that the average person may find hard to get into. For anyone that's been on the outside or been an object of bullying or stigma, though, it's a great show to empathize with and admire.
Dean
After watching Season 3's Hollow Earth arc and standalone episodes like One Night, Awakening, etc, I wondered why Sanctuary doesn't have higher ratings. Here's some theories and feel free to comment:
* Season 4 vs Season 3: Season 4 became more political with the UN and their investigator Addison, and the connections to the War on Terror. This made Sanctuary a lot more serious, and a little less fun, don't you think? Also, perhaps due to budget (I'm not sure), the sense of family was missing: Kate was gone to Hollow Earth, Druitt was basically gone from the show, and many episodes cut certain characters (like Henry). A collective scene at the end of Chimera, where Biggie says he misses Kate, highlights this ...
Further, the story threads around Sanctuary vs SCIU and the Hollow Earth tribes needed to be more cohesive and compelling (i.e. Caleb introduced in the Season finale, vs maybe earlier in the season). There's a scene with Will & Abby in "Uprising" looking through SCIU's "Final Solution" files for Abnormals that was really chilling, but by the finale Magnus was surprised that SCIU was willing to wipe out the Abnormal community?
* A niche show: Sanctuary is probably a cult show no matter how you look at it. It has it's own Abnormal terminology, it's a lot of fun, but in a geeky, sci-fi way. I was watching "Jeremiah" on Netflix lately, and there was a voiceover describing the show's premise during the opening credits, and Sanctuary could've benefited from this. A first time viewer jumping into Season 4 may be confused as to what the show is about.
I think that's pretty much it, that Season 4 became a little less fun, with it's political focus, that maybe due to budget, characters were cut and the Sanctuary family was missing, and that Sanctuary itself is a ready-built cult show about Abnormals, that the average person may find hard to get into. For anyone that's been on the outside or been an object of bullying or stigma, though, it's a great show to empathize with and admire.
Dean
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