Sanctuary - 309 - Vigilante
There is a wrestling award called a Slammy. And it was compared to the Tonys, the Oscars and the Grammys. And this concludes my weekly update on the WWE.
Also SyFy showed enough commercials for IceQuake that I started to think, "You know, maybe I will watch this." Advertising schemes, they work on me.
Okay, so I'm on my third time watching now. Whatever, I do what I want, it's still before 8 o'clock, so I'm fine. I think the writers were smart with this episode because I think they anticipated that after last week's cuddlefest, they were sure fans would be calling for John/Helen interaction, and that is what we got. I will say that I enjoyed this episode a whole lot. It is maybe on par with "Bank Job" for this season. "Breach" and "For King and Country" are obviously the best episodes of the season for me so far, but "Bank Job" is a close third, and "Vigilante" is right up there.
Reasons why?
1) Amanda Tapping. Every single time she was on camera, even the moments where she wasn't the focus, she was acting the shit out of things and being amazing. Like her irritation at Will. And when Adam said, "You'll have to get your kicks elsewhere, old boy" and Helen and Nikola look at each other and it was an amazing little moment? Okay and when Helen takes her pills at the top of the building and is shaking a little and says "In for a penny" and my heart died.
2) This episode could also have been called Helen and John Go on a Field Trip, which is equal to something amazing. "He's barely lucid and it's John." Love. And okay, they went to Mongolia and Helen fell on John and giggled about it. (And now whenever Amanda laughs, all I can think is, "I guess I'm going back to silent laughter...and silent tears" which is maybe my favorite line from the podcasts)(And also when she said, "I'm sorry," she said it her real voice.) Anyway, the whole sunset thing and the way John looked at her when she sat next to him and then she said "Take me to London" and my heart stopped. And when they hang the museum curator off the clock tower and it's wonderful. And then they fight the guys in Hong Kong together and are a BAMF team of awesome.
3) Special effects. I love the miniature city and all the Anthem FX stuff, except when Helen turns a page at around 4:15, she's totally not actually turning a page, and that's shoddy editing.
4) Nikola Tesla and everything he chooses to be. The unbuttoning of Abby's blouse (which I missed the first time around) and his facial expressions during that whole scene. Ugh, Jonathan Young, why are you the best. Seriously, I know any episode that he is in will be a super fantastic episode. And he watches "House," okay. You know he identifies with Gregory House. You know he does. Anyway, everything that comes out of Nikola's mouth is something that I love.
5) Will and everything Will was this week. His hair gel was made fun of (by Kate, no less, even better) and he was having an awkward party at the Sanctuary. And that he was actually useful this week and wasn't being the Frodo/Daniel of the Sanctuary. Even better when you think, "Hah, I think it's pretty obvious Will hasn't been laid sine he started at the Sanctuary" (credit for the thought to nighttones)
6) The feelings. This episode gave me so many feelings. With Magnus' hand at the end and my eyes started leaking some foreign substance. And how John wants to do anything to save her, and that he has confidence they can figure it out. And "John, take me to London."
7) Segway riding. I don't think this needs an explanation, but whenever people unnecessarily ride around on Segways, I love it more than anything. (See: Gob Bluth)
8) Henry the Bird Whisperer. And Ziggy. And the Tropicana truck. And that he does stuff on Skype.
9) Christopher Heyerdahl. Although whenever I see the Big Guy now, I can only think Todd the Wraith because they are so similar. Except that Biggie doesn't, you know, suck the life out of people. Also he pulled a Boromir there at the end, when he kept getting shot and wouldn't stay down. And when people pull Boromirs, I like them better.
10) Kate/Biggie friendship. That hug at the end. That hug. Guh, just one more bffship that is amazing on this show.
Quotes quotes quotes:
"We're being audited in Norway."
"Norwegians."
"How does Magnus do this every day?"
"Stayed off Twitter."
"You're even easier than the U.S. Congress."
"Nikola Tesla."
"Like the...scientist?"
"Remarkably so."
"John, take me to London."
"It's been a long time since I've heard you say that."
"Shoot your employee day comes but once a year"
"Magnus has shot me more times than I can count."
"Yeah, but that's you."
"You're right, bad example...and you know, kiddo, keep that up and someday you're going to be worth something to this organization"
"I was speaking to, um, Brawny and Marie, and they told me he'd been bit by a giant beetle. Well, we don't need to see an episode of 'House' to determine our probable cause, do we?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, so long as you know the Norwegian term for capital cost allowance"
"[Norwegian]"
"Show-off"
"It was a lucky break"
"Sometimes that's the best we can hope for."
Other random thoughts that didn't fit in my list or the quotes.
Dear Will, you are not Captain Obvious, you are Dr. Expendable. Or Concubine. Please remember this.
I want there to be more with the priest storyline. Like, he's not doing this all by himself, right? There has to be more? Because that's a super epic thing that happened, and stuff was happening all over, and with all the bugs and what not, and the fact that they're using abnormals as a weapon and still trying to kill abnormals makes me think there's more going on than meets the eye. I mean, I care less about that storyline than the Magnus stuff, obviously, but I still want a bigger pay-off.
I also do not much care about Abby (and we've already used Abigail as a name once this season, even if it was a throw-away line that I've attached too much importance to, so can't we have another name?) and I don't think we need another cast member, so I feel like she's either going to be secretly evil or something, or else she's going to fall in love with Will and then die and Will will become the Black Widow of sci-fi, much like Sam Carter. (Abby also reminds me of Topenga from "Boy Meets World" and I never much liked Topenga.) Anyway, she said, "I want you to know you can trust me," and that generally makes me not trust people. Also she was overeager about getting a tour of the Sanctuary.
And was Biggie dating this Father Clark? I feel like they had Friday night curry dates, and Biggie was his chauffeur and I'm not actually saying Biggie is gay but that's sure what that scene sounded like.
And, finally, throughout this episode, at least the John/Helen parts, I was definitely thinking, "This would make an amazing video game can I please have one?"
Also SyFy showed enough commercials for IceQuake that I started to think, "You know, maybe I will watch this." Advertising schemes, they work on me.
Okay, so I'm on my third time watching now. Whatever, I do what I want, it's still before 8 o'clock, so I'm fine. I think the writers were smart with this episode because I think they anticipated that after last week's cuddlefest, they were sure fans would be calling for John/Helen interaction, and that is what we got. I will say that I enjoyed this episode a whole lot. It is maybe on par with "Bank Job" for this season. "Breach" and "For King and Country" are obviously the best episodes of the season for me so far, but "Bank Job" is a close third, and "Vigilante" is right up there.
Reasons why?
1) Amanda Tapping. Every single time she was on camera, even the moments where she wasn't the focus, she was acting the shit out of things and being amazing. Like her irritation at Will. And when Adam said, "You'll have to get your kicks elsewhere, old boy" and Helen and Nikola look at each other and it was an amazing little moment? Okay and when Helen takes her pills at the top of the building and is shaking a little and says "In for a penny" and my heart died.
2) This episode could also have been called Helen and John Go on a Field Trip, which is equal to something amazing. "He's barely lucid and it's John." Love. And okay, they went to Mongolia and Helen fell on John and giggled about it. (And now whenever Amanda laughs, all I can think is, "I guess I'm going back to silent laughter...and silent tears" which is maybe my favorite line from the podcasts)(And also when she said, "I'm sorry," she said it her real voice.) Anyway, the whole sunset thing and the way John looked at her when she sat next to him and then she said "Take me to London" and my heart stopped. And when they hang the museum curator off the clock tower and it's wonderful. And then they fight the guys in Hong Kong together and are a BAMF team of awesome.
3) Special effects. I love the miniature city and all the Anthem FX stuff, except when Helen turns a page at around 4:15, she's totally not actually turning a page, and that's shoddy editing.
4) Nikola Tesla and everything he chooses to be. The unbuttoning of Abby's blouse (which I missed the first time around) and his facial expressions during that whole scene. Ugh, Jonathan Young, why are you the best. Seriously, I know any episode that he is in will be a super fantastic episode. And he watches "House," okay. You know he identifies with Gregory House. You know he does. Anyway, everything that comes out of Nikola's mouth is something that I love.
5) Will and everything Will was this week. His hair gel was made fun of (by Kate, no less, even better) and he was having an awkward party at the Sanctuary. And that he was actually useful this week and wasn't being the Frodo/Daniel of the Sanctuary. Even better when you think, "Hah, I think it's pretty obvious Will hasn't been laid sine he started at the Sanctuary" (credit for the thought to nighttones)
6) The feelings. This episode gave me so many feelings. With Magnus' hand at the end and my eyes started leaking some foreign substance. And how John wants to do anything to save her, and that he has confidence they can figure it out. And "John, take me to London."
7) Segway riding. I don't think this needs an explanation, but whenever people unnecessarily ride around on Segways, I love it more than anything. (See: Gob Bluth)
8) Henry the Bird Whisperer. And Ziggy. And the Tropicana truck. And that he does stuff on Skype.
9) Christopher Heyerdahl. Although whenever I see the Big Guy now, I can only think Todd the Wraith because they are so similar. Except that Biggie doesn't, you know, suck the life out of people. Also he pulled a Boromir there at the end, when he kept getting shot and wouldn't stay down. And when people pull Boromirs, I like them better.
10) Kate/Biggie friendship. That hug at the end. That hug. Guh, just one more bffship that is amazing on this show.
Quotes quotes quotes:
"We're being audited in Norway."
"Norwegians."
"How does Magnus do this every day?"
"Stayed off Twitter."
"You're even easier than the U.S. Congress."
"Nikola Tesla."
"Like the...scientist?"
"Remarkably so."
"John, take me to London."
"It's been a long time since I've heard you say that."
"Shoot your employee day comes but once a year"
"Magnus has shot me more times than I can count."
"Yeah, but that's you."
"You're right, bad example...and you know, kiddo, keep that up and someday you're going to be worth something to this organization"
"I was speaking to, um, Brawny and Marie, and they told me he'd been bit by a giant beetle. Well, we don't need to see an episode of 'House' to determine our probable cause, do we?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, so long as you know the Norwegian term for capital cost allowance"
"[Norwegian]"
"Show-off"
"It was a lucky break"
"Sometimes that's the best we can hope for."
Other random thoughts that didn't fit in my list or the quotes.
Dear Will, you are not Captain Obvious, you are Dr. Expendable. Or Concubine. Please remember this.
I want there to be more with the priest storyline. Like, he's not doing this all by himself, right? There has to be more? Because that's a super epic thing that happened, and stuff was happening all over, and with all the bugs and what not, and the fact that they're using abnormals as a weapon and still trying to kill abnormals makes me think there's more going on than meets the eye. I mean, I care less about that storyline than the Magnus stuff, obviously, but I still want a bigger pay-off.
I also do not much care about Abby (and we've already used Abigail as a name once this season, even if it was a throw-away line that I've attached too much importance to, so can't we have another name?) and I don't think we need another cast member, so I feel like she's either going to be secretly evil or something, or else she's going to fall in love with Will and then die and Will will become the Black Widow of sci-fi, much like Sam Carter. (Abby also reminds me of Topenga from "Boy Meets World" and I never much liked Topenga.) Anyway, she said, "I want you to know you can trust me," and that generally makes me not trust people. Also she was overeager about getting a tour of the Sanctuary.
And was Biggie dating this Father Clark? I feel like they had Friday night curry dates, and Biggie was his chauffeur and I'm not actually saying Biggie is gay but that's sure what that scene sounded like.
And, finally, throughout this episode, at least the John/Helen parts, I was definitely thinking, "This would make an amazing video game can I please have one?"