Sanctuary 1x07 : The Five
This is probably my favorite episode in Season 1. Though I hate to admit this, it may have something to do with Nikola Tesla. I am not saying that I dislike him, but there is always trouble when he is around. Of course, we don’t know that at this point in the show, but we do get a glimpse at his character very quick off, but we will get to that in a bit. I think that I like this episode so much because we finally get to see where Helen and John came from and who the other members of The Five are.
In the “previously on Sanctuary”, I don’t know why they chose to use the clip where John says, “The Five will come”. It didn’t make sense in SFA and it doesn’t make any more sense now. I just thought it had been a story idea, but they had decided to go a different direction. So, bringing it up again confuses me.
Helen & Tesla
The introduction to Nikola Tesla is important. His whole personal bearing - manner and appearance - give us such insight into this character. And if you notice, Helen is surprised by his presence, but continues on with her speech, but she does seem to smirk slightly. And Tesla’s reaction is one that we will see a lot - utter amusement. He does always seem to be amused - or is it just me? We don’t know what to expect, as far as the note goes, and reading it for the first time (actually, everytime) I roll laughing!
There is such urgency to it, but then we have the Tesla we all know and love: “PS. You look hot.” From this point on, I think this line really helped us to see what type of character he was. He always has a secret agenda. Helen does seem a bit shocked at what she reads, but I am sure she is responding to the “hot” comment. We know she must be used to his comments by now. And the fact that someone is going to kill her probably isn’t anything new. But the fact that she hasn’t seen him in 60 years, the thing running through her head is probably “what is he up to now?” Because . . . when she comes out into the hallway to meet him, she seems in no rush. So, I don’t think she believed him, which should tell us that we shouldn’t either. But she is obviously not afraid of him and walks right up to him.
Tesla: Helen Magnus. Kiss me and I'll save your life.
Helen: And if I don't?
Tesla: Aw-w-w … It's been over sixty years, just plant one on me already.
(Tesla indicates his cheek but turns as Helen leans in, kissing her on the lips)
Helen: Nikola Tesla. You always did know how to get attention.
Tesla: And you're still boring as ever when it comes to giving a lecture. But to business. Cabal agents are all over the building. If we don't leave now, things are going to get … rather bullet-ridden.
Helen: And why should I believe you? (Tesla turns her attention to the armed Cabal agents entering the lecture hall and she resumes walking) I assume you have a plan other than kissing me?
Tesla: Genius, remember?
Helen: Ah.
We don’t know anything about Tesla when he shows up at this conference, but we assume he is telling the truth about the Cabal being after Helen, especially since we know that she has not made a good impression on the Cabal. Even though I am not a Teslen shipper, I do think they have a great chemistry together which always make for very interesting scenes.
Helen: I'm assuming there are other exits further on?
Tesla: Should be. My contact said there would be.
Helen: Contact?
Tesla: Mm-hmm. Concierge at my hotel. Don't you love Rome?
I love how TPTB always talk about Helen’s “Gun Bum” - if you don’t know what I am talking about, you should really listen to the commentary for this episode! But, in case you don’t have the DVDs handy this will do: “Helen Magnus has an uncanny ability to produce a gun at any given moment, which actress Amanda Tapping attributes to her 'gun bum.'”
Our belief that Tesla is telling the truth is confirmed in that Helen obviously believes him. I like how the writers use this time to give us a little more information on Tesla and we are also learning more about Helen and the extent in which she will go to help a friend.
Tesla: Well, they're really pissed at you. What did you do?
Helen: I stole three witches from a crypt in Scotland.
Tesla: Stealing? You? I'm appalled.
Helen: Oh, shut up and help me.
Tesla: My god, you look sexy with a gun.
Okay, Tesla is really scary! You combine the arrogance with those kind of skills and you have a very dangerous enemy - or friend - as we see later. Anthem did a really great job creating a vampire face for him. So, Helen is slowly getting pieces of the whole story - the really reason that Tesla is here for her. On the other hand, we are getting more information from Druitt’s conversation with Ashley.
“Pure-bred vampires were wiped out years ago.”
I think that he only told her he loved her because he thought that it would help him to get her to his side. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t doubt that he has feelings for her; he just doesn’t know how to express those feelings in a genuine manner and he uses them when it serves him.
Even after all the things that Helen has seen, she is still appalled, scared at the thought of him recreating a race of vampires. She knows what it could mean for the human race and she isn’t going to be a part of it. But she knows him well enough to realize that he is not going to give up. I did not expect her to shoot him, though I wondered how she was going to get out of this alive. Shooting him was probably not the best idea and I can’t help thinking it was kind of a stupid move on her part. But maybe there was no alternative - she obviously hadn’t thought that John would show up - or Ashley. She was in Rome after all, which is like 9,000 miles away from the Sanctuary.
Helen: Guess I can tell you that at Oxford . . . no one liked you.
Tesla: Oh. Was it because I was a genius?
Helen: No, because you were an obnoxious ass.
It’s times like these that really bring people together. I just love that she doesn’t back away when cornered - she walks right up to him and insults him. It took me a long time to get over this aspect of Nikola’s personality - to just realize that it is what makes him so interesting.
So, when John suddenly shows up with his hand through Nikola’s gut, I was very surprised. I didn’t watch the webisodes until after I had seen this episode, so I didn’t know that this idea was being reused. At this point, I think that John just wanted to distract Nikola long enough to get Helen away from him. If John’s intention had been to kill him I am sure he would have done something a little more drastic. Once John has teleported them to safety, Helen’s line catches me off guard every time, because I forget that the last time she saw him was in SFA and she thought he was dead. And John’s graceful bow as he leaves them is . . . *sigh*
John & Ashley
There’ll be no gloating. I find that extremely ill-mannered.
So, we know from Big Guy’s conversation with Will that Ashley is supposed to be out meeting with Squid. I don’t think we really had any reason to suspect that this was a setup, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be John. (Now, the first time I saw this show, I watched in on Netflix, so I didn’t see any previews/spoilers that might have given anything away.) When I realized that it was John my first reaction was “Oh crap.” And that creepy music was back, so I didn’t expect anything good out his reappearance.
Ashley: You have a kind of violent way of asking for help, FYI.
John: I wish you no harm. It was urgent that we speak.
Ashley: And I’m listening. Let the insanity fly.
John: Of course, that’s what you’d think of me. That I’m unstable, deranged.
Ashley: That’s pretty much what I call everybody who feeds me to lizard creatures. But I can be a bit harsh.
John: Ashley, what happened before was . . . deeply regrettable. I apologize for my actions without reservations. I can only ask you for your forgiveness. There are things you need to know . . . about your mother. She’s in grave danger.
Ashley: Dude, she’s my mom. She’s always in grave danger.
I totally fell in love with John’s character in this episode. There is just something about his calmness and Victorian gentleman behaviors that make me sigh. Completely different side of him that what we saw in SFA - and now I think we can start to see what it was about him that made Helen fall in love with him.
It is episodes like this when I miss Ashley. The writers gave her so many great lines and I think she pulled them off with the perfect amount of attitude. She doesn’t really have any reason to believe that what John is saying is the truth and that is partly Helen’s fault. Now as far as the fact that Ashley still does not know who John is . . . he is obviously upset about it, but it is not a priority at the moment. He doesn’t want to have to explain all of this to her and you can see him getting more frustrated with every moment that is lost.
So somewhere in here Ashley figures out who he is and the scene between her and Helen at the end breaks my heart every time I watch it. The agony that Helen must be feeling as she waits to see if Ashley will take her outstretched hand or not - it’s just heartbreaking.
I have a lot to make up for . . . Shall we?
Henry, Big Foot & Will
The sub-story in this episode is also great. We get to learn more about the members of Helen’s team. Also, we see that though Will might be learning the ropes of the Sanctuary, he still has some things to learn. “I’m not really in charge here, am I?”
Although Helen seems to trust Will, her team hasn’t entirely welcomed him into the team - he hasn’t earned their trust yet, like he has Helen’s. But he still isn’t allowed into every aspect of the Sanctuary. I guess I didn’t really think about why he couldn’t get into Henry’s files - It seemed kind of normal to me, but if you think about it; there are still things he doesn’t know. He hasn’t really been there that long and it will take a while longer before all of the secrets are told to him.
BTW - I would love to have Big Guy as a friend!
I was very surprised at the outcome of this sub-story. Who would have thought that it would have such an important piece of the Sanctuary story in it? I do have to say for future reference, that the special effects for the vampires is much better than it is for the werewolves.