Sanctuary 1x09 :: Requiem Review
While looking for screencaps for this episode, I came across this "Requiem" picspam - you should totally check it out. I didn't go back and do a read-through of this, because I had to get it posted (going out of town!!) so, please forgive any illogical statements - comment and I will explain :)
I know that bottle episodes are not necessarily supposed to be people’s favorites, but I just love this episode. Crazy Magnus is so much fun and Amanda Tapping does it so well.
The suspense that you are left with after the first couple minutes of this episode is so awesome. What on earth would cause Will to want to kill Helen? So, we start off thinking that it is Will that is crazy, (they do a good job of making him look mean, but it still works at the end when the tables are turned) until we start seeing the story unfold.
With all the name-dropping that goes on in this show, it is amazing that Helen has been able to stay under the radar for this long! I guess as long as all these famous people were abnormals, she wouldn’t have to worry about being in the spotlight. She probably knew them on a more private/intimate basis rather than a public one.
Will: “The people that you've met, the history that you've witnessed, how do you relate to anybody? Dinner parties must be hell.”
Helen: “History is just that, Will; it's history. We've all experienced it. I just have more under my belt than most people.”
Helen’s facial expressions and reactions to Will and Henry’s discussion on naming the mermaid and the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle just make me laugh. The move from this great banter to the gravity of Will deciding the best way to kill her - great writing.
Helen: “You've seen too many B-Movies.”
Will: “Hey, our whole life is a B-Movie. It's a classic, don't get me wrong, but still...”
So, they have come to the Bermuda Triangle to see what the distress call that Sally received was all about. Instead of coming to the rescue, Will and Helen find themselves in the middle of the remains of a massacre. Will’s first assumption is that they were attacked by a creature, but upon further investigation, they find that it looks like they tore themselves apart! Of course, Helen is messing around with some “clear fluid [she] can’t identify” and to make it worse it came from “behind the cranial wall.” Dum Dum Dum. Anything close to the brain can’t be good. But, she doesn’t seem to think anything of it, at the moment, so they decide to head home.
Will: “Well, truthfully, trapped 10 hours in a tin can is not my idea of the most appealing mission.”
Helen: “Oh, but it's 10 hours trapped in a tin can with me, and all your questions.”
Will said he was going to get some “shut-eye before we get to port” but the next thing we see him doing is reading a book called “The Mysteries of the Triangle” (which isn’t a real book) - so much for a nap! But, it’s a good thing he was awake, because apparently Helen has collapsed. I love that she says, “Will, something is wrong.” LOL. Maybe she doesn’t know that she has blood coming out of her ear and her nose is bleeding. And the insanity begins. Of course, at this point we only see it when the pressure is bad. And who wouldn’t get a little crazy. I had a cold last June when I was flying home from a wedding. Oh man! It hurt so bad during the flight, but when we ascended and descended it was the worst! So, I can kind of understand what she might be going through.
I love this next conversation, because it is very Helen, but it later turns into something else.
Helen:If you have more questions to ask, now would be the time.
Will: So I’m guessing by how quiet Ashley’s been that she knows Druitt is her father.
Helen:She does
Will: And?
Helen:And what?
Will: Well, she just found out the her dad is the actual Jack the Ripper that's got to put some strain on your relationship.
Helen:She’s fine. We talked.
Will: Okay, Case closed.
Helen:I know my daughter, Dr. Zimmerman; she will come around, once she understands why I kept the truth from her.
Will: You see? You did it right there. You invite questions, and then when you don't like where they lead, you just walk away.
Helen:That's hardly fair.
Will: You just called me "Dr. Zimmerman" And left the room.
So, it goes from the normal Helen aversion to certain questions, to her getting very offensive and we start to see crazy side of her coming out.
Helen: I’m frustrated. Because I can’t relate to Ashley.
Will: Well, she’s 23. No species on earth can relate to people that age.
Helen: Spare me the platitudes. You’ve no idea what it’s been like.
Will: Which is why I ask the questions that I do.
Helen: Why? Because you see me as some sort of curiosity? Some perverse form of entertainment?
Then we get back to the normal Magnus. There is just so much great stuff in this scene!
Will: No, not at all. It's because I’ve never had this before-A challenge, a mentor that I could really believe in. You know, Magnus, working at the Sanctuary is more than just a job to me. It's...
Helen:What?
Will: It’s the only family I’ve ever had.
Helen:When you've been alive for as long as I have...you learn not to get too close to people. I've buried a lot of friends, colleagues, lovers; more than you can imagine. You asked me earlier how I could relate to people? Well...dinner parties are hell.
Will: Is that your way of saying that I’m boring?
Helen:Far from it. In fact, you're the first protégé I’ve had in decades who's shown any real promise. You're doing brilliantly, Will, and I should say it more often.
Will: Really?
Helen:I know that if anything should happen to me, you’ll be there to continue my work.
I love how this shows how much Will’s work has meant to her, how much he has been able to help the team. She doesn’t hand out compliments very often, but there is always that trust that she puts in them, to get their job done. And she thinks he has the passion that is required for what she does.
So, I take it that they descend a little while they are analyzing her blood, but don’t try to go back up. Her body gets used to the level they are at and then it acts up again, I am assuming that the creature likes deeper water.
The fact that she is twiddling with the pen tells us what might be going on in her head (I do this all time - it drives people crazy, because usually I carry around retractable pens so I am clicking away - which makes me think of the James Bond movie “Goldeneye” where if he clicked the pen three times it would activate a grenade and click three more times it would deactivate).
The two of them seem to be in a rather familiar situation (the fact that in season 3 she is dying and this “microscopic parasite in the pyramidal tract of [her] brain stem” is fatal - one way or another - as we have seen from the mermaids. Also, this reminds me of her radiation poisoning, because of the shaking. I wonder how many times over the last 160 years she has faced death.
CRAZY Magnus. Holy crap! Of course, Helen just said that “as long as [they] don't exchange bodily fluids, [he] shouldn't get infected.” (The whole sexual tone of these couple of scenes just cracks me up, and do mention it briefly on the commentary about the whole “deeper” joke.)
But, I couldn’t believe that she was threatening him. AT wasn’t sure if she really sold it, but I think it totally works. Especially since we have seen those quick glimpses already of the craziness, and it has just been building up to this, and will build up more.
When Helen says, “I would never have deliberately infected you. I just…I needed to convince you” I was like seriously!? I can’t imagine what Will is thinking. When she knocked on the door to let her in, he paused and you could tell that he wasn’t really sure if he should open it or not. I am sure that he really thought she was going to infect him. She is totally not acting like her normal self and he points that out: ”You are the most measure, rational person that I’ve ever met, and now I’m seeing heightened emotions, rage, threatening actions . . . this is all behavior driven by the limbic system. None of this is in your nature.” He knows that when she gets all crazy, she doesn’t really have control, so he doesn’t know what she will do. And Helen must be getting a little scared. It is different when she is putting someone else’s life in danger. She knows that she wouldn’t hurt Will, but she also knows that she has been in and out of “herself” and can’t control it. If it were just her, I think she could handle it. Like in Season 3, she is dying, but she isn’t endangering anyone else and she is much calmer about the whole thing.
Now we get to talk about doing the “proper thing if the situation requires it.”
Helen: In the event that you believe that my judgment is no longer sound, or that your life is in direct peril, I am depending on you to take care of things in a decisive manner.
Will: It’s not going to come to that.
Helen: This parasite caused an intelligent, peaceful species to tear itself apart; I can only assume that it will do the same to me. I'm counting on you to do the proper thing if the situation requires it.
Will: Magnus, you can’t expect me to--”
Helen: Dammit, Will! [She backs him right up against the wall and he looks a little worried] I have lived longer than any human has a right to. In the end, all I can hope is to choose how it ends. Being taken over by an undersea parasite is not on the list.
Will: And what is?
Helen:Just be creative, if the time comes. Do I have your word?
It’s like a switch gets turned on, and you see the subtle evil smiles turn into full-fledged delusional grins. AT does such a great job with the small details. I don’t know why I get so giddy when she goes crazy, but I just love it. And tell me you did not just love the water dripping down the wall!! It totally added to the tension.
At first I wondered why she suddenly hits him over the head with a wrench, but then looking back I noticed that he says, “That’s lucky” - referring to the fact that a shelf stopped their descent - then she says “Very” in a rather sarcastic tone. I think she realized that they weren’t on the same page. Then when he wakes up, she is like “It’s okay. It’s okay. We’re fine. It’s okay.” I just hit you with a wrench and now I have you tied to a chair, but it’s okay.
I kind of miss this part about Will's character - getting to see how sees things - as he looks around the room, you can tell that he is coming up with a plan and since the end was in the beginning, it is all starting to come together. She finally pushed him to the point where he had to make a move. When Helen takes her last breath and Will rushes in with all his equipment, you see that he really did think about this. But it is funny to see that he was so concerned about reviving Helen that he didn't think about what he was going to do with the creature once it left her body!
If I could be persuaded (which I can't) to ship Helen and Will, this last scene could probably do it. But whenever I think about them together, I think about that scene in "Nubbins" when they are both on the couch and it just creeps me out :)