Chimera

"" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of Sanctuary, and the fifty-fifth episode overall in the series.
== Synopsis ==
A dangerous computer program threatens the Old City Sanctuary, prompting Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla to delve into the computer network.
== Plot ==
=== Cold Open ===
Late at night, a mechanical spider makes its way through the halls of the Old City Sanctuary, all the way to the room of Helen Magnus. It crawls into her bed and towards her face, but she suddenly wakes up and grabs it. After putting it away in the lab, she asks Henry Foss to check the security cameras. They discover that the spider was already in Will Zimmerman's and Henry's room. Magnus examines Henry, and discovers two puncture wounds in the back of his skull.
=== Act I ===
Will is checked and has the same marks from the spider, which is in fact a device used by two intruders working for Adam Worth a year earlier. It has somehow gotten free, likely due to a release code being sent to its container. Henry goes to investigate.
When the front door bells rings, Will goes to check, just as Henry discovers a hidden sector in his own computer system. He wonders who could have built it, but the answer is already at the door with Will, demanding to see him -- Nikola Tesla.
Tesla explains that he had to connect the spider device to the computer system months ago in order to find the correct coordinates in Hollow Earth for John Druitt to teleport in. However, the device has left behind a sentient organic nanite that Tesla locked behind a number of firewalls. It got free when the system was changed on Magnus' orders, and now will try to gather whatever data it can find.
Tesla and Magnus decide to enter the computer system through a neural interface. Henry activates the system, causing the two to reappear in a digital copy of the Sanctuary. They try to find their way to the equivalent of Henry's office, but the rooms are changing around them. They end up in a dungeon-like room filled with books and notes, and suddenly a figure comes running towards them. Both are shocked to recognize Adam Worth, who bids them a hearty welcome.
=== Act II ===
The digital version of Worth greets them kindly and offers them beverages. They ask him about the nanite, and he is very eager to help. They deduce that fractions of Worth's personality were downloaded into the nanite, along with the complete knowledge base of Praxis.
In the real world, Henry tells Will that if the nanite were released into the public, it could take over every computer in the world.
In the system, the Worth (A.I.) interface tries to remember more details by "reading" the books around it. It mentions "Ashley", noticing how the name makes Magnus sad. After finishing the containment process, Magnus and Tesla return to the real world. Henry tells them he has contained the nanite on an independent hard drive.
Magnus goes back to sleep, but is awoken in the middle of the night by Worth (A.I.), who reveals that she never actually left the computer system. He reads her a story from one of his books, which holds information on the history of the Five, as Tesla storms in to let her know they are still in the computer.
=== Act III ===
Magnus and Tesla realize that everything that has happened so far was an illusion within the illusion. Worth (A.I.) wants to keep them around because their presence makes his existence more interesting. He wants to learn more, especially the reason why he cannot remember the rest of "his" life. Probing her mind, he finds images of Ashley and the day she died, taking pleasure from how the memory affects Magnus, making her cry.
Soon Worth (A.I.) remembers Magnus causing his death and that of his daughter, and tries to kill her. His attention is distracted from Tesla, who attacks him from behind. They get a boost from the real world, where Will gives Magnus Adrenalin in order to strengthen her system. They drive Worth (A.I.) away and make their way back to the interface. Magnus removes it to discover the representation of Henry's lab they were originally looking for. However, Worth (A.I.) soon catches up with them, hitting them with a lighting bolt that causes them to flatline in the real world.
=== Act IV ===
Will explains to Henry that their brains are shut down, but the rest of their bodies still works. He orders Henry to replicate the Praxian device that reanimated them in Hollow Earth after their execution.
Worth (A.I.) holds Magnus and Tesla, and begins to understand the difference between the real and the virtual world. He wants to take over one of their bodies to be able to walk about freely.
With his magnetic abilities, Tesla is able to send an encrypted message in Praxian that the rest of the team discovers. Worth (A.I.) catches them and shuts of the connection, but they discover that he has power problems when he tries to multi-task. Using this advantage, they get away again. Will realizes that in order to help them, he has to go virtual as well.
=== Act V ===
Will arrives in the computer system and is greeted by Magnus, while Tesla has traced the magnetic flow to the nanite. Worth (A.I.) catches him and the others after they arrive, and tells Magnus that she must decide which body he should take over. To Will's shock, she chooses him, and Worth (A.I.) takes over his mind.
Henry and Bigfoot prepare the reanimation device in the real world.
=== Act VI ===
Worth (A.I.), now in Will's form, bids Magnus and Tesla farewell, but is unable to leave the virtual environment. Magnus reveals that she has in fact taken control of the system. She and Tesla leave the angry nanite behind, as it is now locked in; Will was never actually hooked up to the system: they used the spider device to mimic his mind.
Magnus decides to return the record of Praxis' history to Hollow Earth. Bigfoot volunteers for the job, looking forward to seeing Kate Freelander again.
Later, Magnus and Tesla share a glass of wine. Tesla asks if Magnus would really have chosen him over Will, to which she says, "Do you really have to ask?" He appears not entirely sure what that implies.
== Cast ==
Series regular 	Character
Amanda Tapping 	Doctor Helen Magnus
Robin Dunne 	Doctor Will Zimmerman
Ryan Robbins 	Henry Foss
Christopher Heyerdahl	Bigfoot
Guest starring 	Character
Jonathon Young 	Nikola Tesla
Ian Tracey 	Adam Worth (A.I.)
Featuring 	Character
Emilie Ullerup 	Ashley Magnus (archive footage)
== Quotes ==
TESLA: So if an immortal vampire dies in a virtual world....MAGNUS: ....does he make a sound? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/quotes/?item=qt6140085
[Referring to Worth (A.I.)]TESLA: Damn you, leprechaun! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/quotes/?item=qt3543228
== Extras ==
* This episode has a dvd commentary track. Commentators: Ian Tracey, Lee Wilson, and Martin Wood.
== Notes ==
* Trivia: Amanda Tapping (Helen Magnus) previously appeared in an episode of "Stargate SG-1" (1997) with the same title: "Stargate SG-1: Chimera" (2004).https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/trivia/?item=tr4944832
* Reference: "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" (1977) - Henry Foss had a dream where Erika Myers was dressed like Princess Leia and he was "doing this thing with his lightsaber".https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/
* Foreshadowing: Bigfoot complaining about not being able sleep well lately at the beginning of this episode foreshadows the very next where Bigfoot has been found to have been slowly brainwashed by Wahid over the course of the last several unknown amount of months since .
* Technology / Terminology Error: Throughout the episode, the destructive Praxian sentient computer 'program' is first referred to by Nikola Tesla (denying that it was the same a a computer 'virus') and by then everyone else throughout the episode as being a "nanite". To solve the issue, Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla use their brains (biological 'computers') to quarantine the "nanite". In reality, a nanite is a term used for nanorobotics. It's a tiny microscopic machine built on the the scale of nanometers in size. Medical nanites are previously mentioned back in when Ranna/Praxis had administered them to try to treat Kanaan. Digitally trying to fight a nanite doesn't work unless you somehow upload a command to it while it's patched into the computer system. Physically, the nanite wouldn't be affected by anything done in the digital world. The nanite isn't actually in the computer (as a digital code), it's on the computer (crawling around on the i.e. motherboard and attached itself somewhere to it). For physical reference, the spiderbot and nanite would be comparable to Big Bertha and a makri. This means that to stop the nanite, it would have been more feasible for Henry Foss to just simply brush all of the computer's components to knock the nanite off. However, this process would not be the most practical option as it would have been the least efficient and most time consuming process. No one knows exactly where in the massive system the nanite currently is. Even if Henry Foss did know, being that the nanite is so tiny, it would be difficult for him to absolutely confirm that the nanite has been removed. Even if he did knock it loose, if may get lost on the table/floor and then eventually crawl its way back into the system, causing the issue to return. At the end of the episode, the only way the "nanite" could have been quarantined on an iso-drive would be if it was just digital code; meaning it's not a true nanite, but a sentient 'virus' with matching behavior corrupting the system.
** Being that a nanite is so small, it's highly unlikely for it to be able to hold enough code to make it behave with sentience. Based on the amount of atoms it is large, only very small and simple commands can be stored within its memory/programming.
* Anachronism: When Nikola Tesla shows up at the Old City Sanctuary and explains that the nanite came from a blend of the spiderbot and Adam Worth's brain when the group went to Hollow Earth back in , Henry Foss says that occurred "months ago". This is VERY incorrect.
** 3x10 occurred in the beginning of 2010, happening several unknown amount of weeks after , placing the entire first half of season 3 between in the months of January potentially spilling over into April 2010.
*** Seasons spans the length of a year, placing the season 3 finale arc / in early 2011; an entire year after the season 2 finale arc.
** It's chronologically impossible for 3x10 to have occurred "months ago" when in reality at least one-and-a-half years has past since then:
*** Chronology: The very next potentially spans across three days occurring before/on/after September 22nd, 2011 as the number 9:22 is attached to all of the flight passenger manifests for the SCIU summit attendees regardless of the specific flight they are on and those flight's individual durations; meaning it's not a departure and arrival time, but most likely the specific day the flights are occurring on.
*** (three episodes later) is confirmed to happen in early 2012, four years after in early 2008.
*** Also, (two episodes later) occurs in either very late 2011 and or also early 2012 based on Henry Foss building his FOSSSS jacket which carries over into .
* Reference: "Frankenstein" (1931) - Regarding Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla's attempt to get inside the system, Will Zimmerman says that "This Frankenstein contraption could melt your brain".https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/
* Reference: "TRON" (1982) - When Nikola Tesla says going inside the system" is kind of awesome", Henry Foss says "I beg to differ. I saw Tron".https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/ Also, Nikola Tesla says of the Adam Worth (A.I.), "Best little operating system butler this side of OS12". OS 12 was the operating system in Tron.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/trivia/?item=tr2727086
* Reference: "The Matrix" (1999) - Nikola Tesla is disappointed of the virtual reality, claiming he was expecting something "cooler, like the Matrix".https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/
* Continuity Error: In the beginning of the episode, the spiderbot is crawling around the Old City Sanctuary, going into staff bedrooms and downloading copies of their conciousnous (it made it to Henry Foss and Will Zimmerman before being caught by Helen Magnus). Nikola Tesla recounts the events seen in where Adam Worth's consciousness was downloaded using the spiderbot. The entire plot of the current episode revolving around the Adam Worth (A.I.) not being able to recall his own memories and how he's the only manifested A.I. is nonsensical.
** The entire programming purpose of the spiderbot is to copy and store memories. There is no valid reason for the Adam Worth (A.I.) manifestation to struggle and have difficulty in remembering when it literally resides inside the same device that was used to stimulate Will Zimmerman's repressed memories about his time in the avatar chamber at the end of .
** The Adam Worth (A.I.) is able to read Helen Magnus's memories by picking up books in the library and reading them, as that's how the memories are represented in the digital cloud. The Adam Worth (A.I.) would have logically also been able to read his own memories this same way as they should also be in the library as well alongside Will Zimmerman's, Henry Foss's, and Nikola Tesla's. Speculation: Memory books may be how only Helen Magnus's memories are represented, as Helen Magnus has previously been seen throughout the series journaling at her desk multiple times.
** Helen Magnus mentioned right after she and Nikola Tesla arrived in the digital cloud that their environment is being created based on their memories. While it's understandable that they start in her study as that's where they were last in the real world, there's an issue with the entire cloud realm continuing to be strictly based on memories of the Old City Sanctuary; where there is nothing else except for the remote cliff environment when the elevator door is opened (a shared memory between Helen Magnus and Adam Worth back in 1908). The Adam Worth (A.I.) wouldn't have been first found in a blended cavernous depiction of Magnus's study as Adam Worth has never been there before. That seems to be the only merge point between memories.
** Individual external memories and environments from Will Zimmerman, Henry Foss, and Nikola Tesla seem to be completely absent. None of Helen Magnus's memories from the London Sanctuary are included, as well as none of Adam Worth, Helen Magnus, and Nikola Tesla's memories of Victorian era London (aside from the Victorian styling of the research lab), and zero memories of Praxis either. It does not make sense for any other core primary memory locations of these long-lived characters to not be featured.
** If any stored memories of a character should manifest, it should have been those of Will Zimmerman and not Adam Worth. Twice the spiderbot was connected to Will Zimmerman in . The first attempt to scan his brain was interrupted, and the second scan was able to stimulate and access his repressed memories. The third occurrence was in the early morning of the current episode when it was able to finally make a full scan uninterrupted. The spiderbot was only connected to Adam Worth once (that viewers see in ) several weeks later after Will Zimmerman. Near the end of the episode, Will Zimmerman for a fourth time, connects his brain to the spiderbot. Somehow he's then able to disconnect from the spiderbot while simultaneously leaving behind a sentient avatar with memories and personality intact.
*** Why there aren't autonomous avatars for both Will Zimmerman and Henry Foss at the start of the episode wandering around alongside Adam Worth is unexplained. They are only technically seen briefly before disappearing when the Adam Worth (A.I.) creates an illusion of them in Magnus's study to trick Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla into thinking they had left the digital world when in reality they were still stuck inside the digital cloud.
* Reference: "The Terminator" (1984) - When Henry Foss begins to describe what would happen if the nanite got out, Will Zimmerman says, "Are we talking 'SkyNet'?".https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/
* Reference: "Gremlins" (1984) - Nikola Tesla refers to the power-source the Adam Worth (A.I.) is using as 'the Praxian gremlin'.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/movieconnections/
* Reference: Henry Foss mentions a Praxian 'Babblefish' program. In Douglas Adams' "Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy" everyone has a Babblefish in their ear which is a universal translator.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2089352/trivia/?item=tr2727107
== Gallery ==
File:Sanctuary_season_4_episode_9_part_1-3|4x09 - Part 1
File:Sanctuary_season_4_episode_9_part_2-3|4x09 - Part 2
File:Sanctuary_season_4_episode_9_part_3-3|4x09 - Part 3
File:s04_e0409_07_132163079709__Magnus_and_Will_face_the_idea_of_an_escaped_mind_spider..jpg|Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman
File:Sanctuary_NUP_144390_0028-.jpg|Helen Magnus and Will Zimmerman
File:s04_e0409_01_132163078322__Magnus_gets_hooked_into_the_virtual_Sanctuary..jpg|Helen Magnus
File:s04_e0409_03__Henry_runs_the_machines_that_will_transport_Magnus_and_Tesla_to_a_virtual_Sanctuary..jpg|Helen Magnus, Henry Foss, and Nikola Tesla
File:s04_e0409_05_132163079300__Henry,_master_of_technology..jpg|Henry Foss
File:s04_e0409_02_132163078704__Magnus_and_Tesla,_jacked_in..jpg|Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla
File:s04_e0409_04_132163079077__Will_and_Henry_monitor_the_virtual_action_from_the_outside..jpg|Will Zimmerman and Henry Foss
File:s04_e0409_09_132163080155__Henry_and_Will_at_the_controls..jpg|Henry Foss and Will Zimmerman
File:s04_e0409_08_132163079901__Magnus_and_Will_in_the_virtual_Sanctuary..jpg|Will Zimmerman and Helen Magnus
File:s04_e0409_10_132163080343__Will_in_the_virtual_Sanctuary..jpg|Will Zimmerman and Adam Worth (A.I.)
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_1.jpg|Nikola Tesla
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_2.jpg|Helen Magnus, Nikola Tesla, and Will Zimmerman
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_3.jpg|Helen Magnus, Adam Worth (A.I.), and Nikola Tesla
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_4.jpg|Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_5.jpg|Helen Magnus, Bigfoot, Will Zimmerman, and Nikola Tesla
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_6.jpg|Nikola Tesla and Will Zimmerman
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_7.jpg|Spiderbot in Magnus's bedroom
File:4x09_Sanctuary_IMDb_8.jpg|Spiderbot
== References ==
* 
* Watch "" on Vudu
* sanctuaryspoilers: ""
* "" on Wikipedia
Category:Season_4/Episodes