I actually really really like this episode. The clips were excessively use, and totally broke the mood multiple times, but what made this episode for me was
1. Female Friendship: Abby and Erica really have excellent chemistry together. I really like how they worked out a solution while boys were quibbling instead of standing around like furniture.
2. Dyke to Watch Out For Rule Fulfilled: I liked how Abby and Erica showed immediate unprompted concern for Helen together.
3. Family Vibe: What really got me into Sanctuary was Helen and Ashley, and the whole family vibe. I like ships, I totally like Will and Abby, but I just adore Helen leading Henry to dinner after the difficult situation with Erica (which was excellenly played, I really like how NEITHER of them was wrong). Will and Abby walking in half-dress was just gold - because there is actually nothing family-unfriendly about nice consensual fun.
4. Good Fanservice: Abby and Will half-dressed. I've ranted before and I ranted it multiple times - I hate it when they have female characters dressed skimpier For Battle when they don't have invulnerable skin (and how that rant was answered with Emma Frost Has Diamond Hard Skin just makes my eyes roll more). I hate it when female characters are portrayed as not existing outside of fanservice for guys - that's just lame. What's cool is when female characters are portrayed as having agency of their own, their own concerns outside of being The Girlfriends. That said, sex and love is a PART of most people's life. So happy skimpy people is awesome fanservice.
I also like the dressed up eye candy in this episode - it'll make no sense if they went out dressed like this to do a job, but they were dressed for a date: so we get eye candy in ass kicking scene with a good reason. Is a woman actualy consulted for this? They even showed an ankle spraining as a result of what happens when you do action in impractical shoes. Since they are all dressed up and pretty, I really wish we had gotten to see more of the foursome than clipshow clipshow. The actors are already hired, how much more expensive would it be for them to get more screentime? (On that note, if they are really cheap bastards on the actors screentime front, they really missed the boat by not bringing on board the invisible girl...wait, how much expensive is CGI compared to actor on screen? Unlike Power Rangers, these guys are union right?)
...and hey now, why was Ashley completely absent from the flashbacks? Okay, I think I'm probably finally going to check out the
Riese series now that I know not only Emilie Ullerup is in it, but that so is Ryan Robbins and from the description it looks ship-worthy - and Ashley probably isn't coming back on screen (but only PROBABLY, couldn't they have her as a recurring guest star?). In universe however, considering the circumstances of her disappearance and how everyone other than Magnus seem to have largely edited her out of memory. I'm going to think this: Magnus made a deal with the multi-dimensional headbranch of the Cabal and now Ashley Magnus is shacking up with
Connor Reilly! And all shall be well until Connor remembers that he prefers Ashley's mom or grandmom
ETA: OMG, my dying wish would be for Amanda Tapping to read to me too. ♥ ♥ ♥
Crossposted to
sanctuaryforall ETA2: I'm wondering if I should watch the Kali arc. On one hand, there is the Goddess of Death, and that sounds hot, on the other hand, I heard there is a lot of Kate in this episode, and I hate her.
Most of all though, my major discomfort with the idea of the Kali arc is this: I'm not that comfortable with a whitey white white show (cast and producers probably, especially considering they shared company with SG-1 that have the same problem), portraying the God of a brown people as a giant spider! It's sci-fi, you say, well, if it's sci-fi, then give me Jesus as a tentacle monster! I'm just discomforted with how the deity of them foreigners are played with in sci-fi-fantasy, while the Christian God tend to remain sacred.
ETA3: ...and speaking of Kali, the mythology of Shiva/Kali has always fascinated me because of the huge genderflip: In battle, Kali got carried away in her killing spree, and instead of overpowering her, what Shiva did was this: he laid himself beneath her feet. Not wanting to hurt him, she stopped.