Product: Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] (2010)
Rating: 2.0
Sanctuary Lost Its Way With Season 2
The first season of Sanctuary was so cool and different. It had an aura of mystery to it, and took the viewer into this mysterious world of Helen Magnus and the abnormals and sheer fantasy of the Sanctuary. The characters were intriguing, the writing impressive, and the setting was just so unique. Each episode was like delving into a new mystery each week with intelligent problems that needed solving by the team of well balanced, thought out characters. In the words of Magnus herself from the pilot, "you are about to leave your world behind."Sadly, Season 2 failed to live up to the promise set by Season 1. Instead, Sanctuary Season 2 saw the series turn into yet another hyped up sci-fi action series. If they gave Amanda Tapping back her blonde hair and had her loose the British accent, she could have been playing Sam Carter from Stargate this season. Don't get me wrong-I love all three Stargate series. But this was Sanctuary--something new and entirely different from Tapping's other show and character.The atmosphere of mystery is gone. The weird and unique setting has been entirely normalized. The plot points became ridiculous (the Sanctuary has its own Navy-come on!) Basically, with Season 2, they have turned the show into a "shoot the monster of the week" series. I hate to say it--some of the episodes' stories this season seemed to be taken from Sci-Fi Saturday B-monster movies.Now, that being said, is the show salvageable? Yes. There were still some elements of the show this season to make it palatable. The characters were still interesting (although they need to avoid turning Magnus into another chick with a gun in sci-fi character). There were some very good episodes this season, albeit few and far between. For example--the episode with Magnus and Zimmerman and the crashed helicopter was a great character piece. And the producers already proved they could do a good show with Season 1. They just need to return to the Season 1 formula of the show to save it.I would not recommend owning season 2. If you catch it on a re-run, it would be okay because it is mildly entertaining and you won't be wasting your money. Here is hoping for something better in Season 3.