Normandy

"" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of Sanctuary, and the forty-third episode overall in the series.
: This episode occurs in the past on the 5th & 6th of June 1944.
== Synopsis ==
In a look back to World War II, Helen Magnus, James Watson, and Nigel Griffin experience the events of D-Day...and Magnus's role in one of the most important events in history is described.
== Plot ==
=== Cold Open ===
In Normandy, France, during the Second World War, a German major stops a passing tank and inquires about its destination. After the vehicle's commander explains that they are on their way to repair a broken chain, the major notes that the other man has an interesting accent, and asks where it comes from. Becoming more and more suspicious, he asks to see the man's orders, and also reveals that he himself is from the same area he claims to be from. He orders the whole crew to leave the tank, to which the tank commander answers in English that he can't do that. Realizing they have been tricked, the Germans attack, but are quickly overwhelmed by an invisible force -- and a single cannon shot.
Helen Magnus emerges from the tank along with the commander, who turns out to be James Watson. Nigel Griffin, the Invisible Man, de-cloaks in front of them, completely naked and noting the freezing climate with a wide grin. Magnus just rolls her eyes, and says, "Welcome to France."
=== Act I ===
In the middle of the woods, the three members of the Five meet with Jeanette Anaïse, leader of the local Résistance cell, who informs them that preparations for their operation are in progress. They tell her about a secret facility where the Nazis are testing a new weapon that is to be used against an Allied invasion force. Jeanette notes that the weather in the area has been very strange lately, with far too much rain. This is consistent with the Five's suspicions that the SS is in possession of a device that can change the weather and produce storms. They need to destroy it and get their hands on the schematics.
Meanwhile, at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Portsmouth, Nikola Tesla is working with American and British soldiers. He is annoyed by the fact that there is no more black tea due to the Japanese invasion of China.
Back in France, Magnus, Watson and Jeanette are walking down a street when they come upon a German patrol. A firefight ensues, and Watson is shot in the leg and captured while Griffin is able to get the others out in a car. A German Wehrmacht colonel approaches, greeting Watson by his name and revealing that they know about him and Tesla.
From a safe place in the woods, Magnus and the others watch as another SS officer arrives at the scene. In the bunker below the city, Watson is shocked to discover that the man in question is John Druitt.
=== Act II ===
Druitt tortures Watson by turning off the device that keeps him young. Even though he is in enormous pain, Watson reveals nothing; eventually, Druitt restores him, and orders him to be moved to Berlin to slowly torture him further.
In the middle of a firefight in the woods, Magnus uses an autotype to send a partial message to Tesla, who immediately request to talk to General Eisenhower. The commander-in-chief of the Allies refuses to delay the invasion of Europe, but Tesla insists that the message -- which reads simply "Druitt is" -- is the greatest possible danger to the war effort. He wants to talk to the General himself, but Operation Overlord has already begun; the sky is covered with warplanes on their way to the French coast.
While Magnus explains to Jeanette that only Watson can turn off the weather-changing device, Druitt frees Watson and explains that he fights the Third Reich in his own way; he even tried to kill Hitler months ago, but the Nazis are using body doubles of the Führer. In order to get them all to France to fight against Hitler's plans involving abnormals, he leaked information about the weather machine himself.
Meanwhile, Griffin hides from a German patrol in a barn. The soldiers search the place, but are suddenly gunned down by a force of U.S. Army soldiers. They are part of Fox Company, 101st Airborne Division, and their commanding officer is Capt. Jack Zimmerman.
=== Act III ===
Griffin tries to convince Captain Zimmerman that they have to help him assist his friend, but the Captain is under orders to clear a way from Utah Beach, in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Druitt and Watson get in a fight, as Druitt believes his old friend to be involved with Magnus. Watson on the other hand accuses him of hurting Magnus more than he can imagine. Eventually, having let off enough steam, the two agree to teleport out of the bunker, but rematerialize in the same room again. Something keeps them from leaving.
Magnus tries to use her charms to get into the café that leads into the bunker, but is caught by Col. Franz Korba. The colonel takes her to Druitt and Watson and explains that the bunker's walls are made of loadstone which keeps Druitt from teleporting; he also reveals that Druitt did, in fact, kill Hitler, and the High Command has taken control of the Reich and the war effort using a double. He then shoots Druitt in the abdomen and has him taken away.
Griffin tells Captain Zimmerman about the weather machine; they eventually make contact with Tesla via autotype. The Captain eventually decides to help Griffin and Jeanette get into the bunker.
Meanwhile, Colonel Korba interrogates Watson and Magnus, and reveals that he is actually in command of an SS abnormal hunting division. He also reveals that the abnormal inside the weather machine is not a giant sand ray as they had suspected, but a fire elemental, one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth. The machine merely contains it until the Nazis are ready to unleash it on their enemies.
=== Act IV ===
While Captain Zimmerman's force enters the Nazi compound, the Colonel continues to torture Watson and removes a vital part from his protective armor before leaving when word of the American attack arrives. Magnus is left to watch Watson's agony. However, moments later, Griffin and Jeanette arrive and free them, saving Watson just in time.
Meanwhile, the liaison officer working with Tesla in Portsmouth enters Tesla's office and begins to copy some data when the autotype suddenly starts to type. He takes the message, which simply reads "Auf Wiedersehen" -- German for goodbye. Tesla enters in his vampire form, asking him what it was that turned him into a traitor. The officer reveals that his family are Nazi sympathizers, and that he was recruited by the SS way back in West Point. General Eisenhower never actually got the information Tesla provided. The officer is taken away to be tried for treason.
Back in the Nazi compound, Captain Zimmerman ducks under enemy fire when he is suddenly saved by a group from the 101st's Easy Company.
In the woods, Magnus and the others try to find a way to the fire elemental when a German tank attacks.
=== Act V ===
Allied bombers and Captain Zimmerman arrive to save the team, and Magnus and Watson make their way to the fire elemental. Watson discovers that his machine is being used with the wrong configurations. He uses it to create a massive wind that forces the fire elemental to hide in the depth of the Earth. The liberation of Europe can begin.
Outside, Colonel Korba is killed by Druitt. Magnus and Watson find him, but he teleports away. They also discover that Captain Zimmerman is dead from a gunshot, and Magnus tells his sergeant that what they accomplished on this day would not be forgotten.
The episode ends with a dedication title card:
"DEDICATED TO ALL THE MEN AND WOMENWHO SERVE IN THE ARMED FORCES.THANK YOU FOR GIVING US SANCTUARY."
== Cast ==
Series regular 	Character
Amanda Tapping 	Doctor Helen Magnus
Robin Dunne 	Captain Jack Zimmerman, U.S. Army
Christopher Heyerdahl	John Druitt
Guest starring 	Character
Jonathon Young 	Nikola Tesla
Peter Wingfield 	Doctor James Watson
Vincent Gale 	Nigel Griffin
Douglas O'Keefe 	Colonel Franz Korba
Erin Lacourciere 	Jeanette Anaïse
Richard de Klerk 	U.S. Sergeant
Featuring 	Character
Aaron Brooks 	Liaison Officer Lieutenant Hallman
Juan Riedinger 	German Major
Nic Rhind 	German Lieutenant
Herbert Sommerfeld 	Fox Company Sergeant
Harrison Xu 	Additional Voices (voice)
== Quotes ==
[Discussion after the James Watson, Nigel Griffin, and Helen Magnus destroy a Nazi checkpoint with a stolen German tank.] MAGNUS: A bit more violent than I expected.WATSON: Uh, bad luck.GRIFFIN: Could've used a warning before you fired that cannon.MAGNUS: - Sorry, Nigel. - Things were heating up. You all right?GRIFFIN: Fine. Bloody freezing country, though, isn't it?MAGNUS: Welcome to France.
MAGNUS: You should know... we deal with monsters.JEANETTE: I deal with Nazis. I'd say we're even.
== Extras ==
* This episode has a DVD commentary track. Commentators: Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, and Martin Wood.
* Making-Of Featurette - Behind the Scenes: ""
== Notes ==
* Continuity: This episode was, somewhat, teased in the previous , on which Henry Foss and Kate Freelander were betting whether or not Helen Magnus was on French soil on D-Day, as they both, while rummaging through the catacombs of the Old City Sanctuary, had found out a Hitler Youth knife and a vintage Luger from a ranking Gestapo agent who was stationed in that area of Europe at that time. Magnus was about to say something about that, when the three are interrupted by the environmental breach alarm in that episode.
* Trivia: Actor Robin Dunne (Jack Zimmerman) described Normandy as "the biggest episode we've ever done scope-wise, story-wise, everything".sanctuaryspoilers: ""
* Casting: Ryan Robbins (Henry Foss) and Agam Darshi (Kate Freelander) do not appear in this episode.
* Trivia: Amanda Tapping (Helen Magnus) paid tribute to her grandmother during this episode by wearing a red wig. Her grandmother had dyed her hair red during the war as a symbol of defiance against oppressive powers. In Magnus' character history, this episode marks the first and only time viewers see Helen Magnus with hair dyed another color besides her usual dyed brunette outside of her natural blonde.
* Chronology: The timeframe within the episode spans at least twelve plus hours from at some point during the day of Monday June 5th, 1944 through the night and into the early morning hours, lasting until some unknown time after 6:30 AM Tuesday June 6th, 1944; the time when the Allied invasion was launched. 
* Chronology: Character ages as of June 5th, 1944 are: James Watson (95/96-years-old), Helen Magnus (93-years-old), Nikola Tesla (87-years-old), and John Druitt (86-years-old). Nigel Griffin's birth year is unknown, so his age can only be presumed to be in a similar range with the rest of the Five.
** Trivia: During his interrogation of James Watson and Helen Magnus, Colonel Franz Korba made a generalization of their ages declaring that both of them were over 80-years-old. While this is correct, it isn't very accurate in respect to their true ages.
* Chronology: As this episode takes place during the events immediately preceding the launch of D-Day which occurred on June 6th, 1944, it means that Ashley Magnus has been a frozen embryo for the last fifty-five-and-a-half plus years ever since November of 1888. Had she been born in the middle of 1889 like she was originally supposed to be, Ashley would have been 54-years-old, turning 55-years-old around the end of the month in a few short weeks.
* Factual / Geography Error: Nikola Tesla is seen in Portsmouth, United Kingdom at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. SHAEF was historically located in Camp Griffiss, Bushy Park, Teddington, London. Tesla was most likely at Southwick House which was used as an alternative headquarters, however it was located near (not in) Portsmouth, five miles north in Hampshire, England.
* Anachronism: At approximately five minutes into this episode which is set in June 1944, Nikola Tesla is standing in front of a blackboard clearly displaying a Feynman diagram in his office in Portsmouth. These were not introduced to the world by Richard Feynman until 1984.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751630/goofs/?item=gf1642898
* Factual Error: During the first scene viewers see of Nikola Tesla in the episode, Lieutenant Hallman says to him: "You cracked the Enigma code, it changed the tide of the entire war" to which Tesla replied "It did, didn't it?" with a slight smile. In real history, Nikola Tesla had nothing to do with World War II code-breaking. The hundreds of folks at Bletchley Park in England did the code-breaking work on Enigma during World War II. Among them, and arguably the greatest among them, was the mathematician Alan Turing, who made the conceptual advances that broke Enigma thus shortening the war by years. After the war, a not so grateful UK government convicted Turing of being a homosexual and chemically castrated him.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751630/trivia/?item=tr3310371
* Fan Reaction: A lot of fans had issues with the show having Nikola Tesla steal all of the credit from Alan Turing and his entire team of bright scholars and scientists; seeing it as not being respectful to history and the real people who were actually involved in the code breaking. Which is ironic as the creators of this episode outright stated in the BTS featurette while creating the episode that they wanted to respect history and pay tribute to all those originally involved.
* Trivia: This episode lets viewers see many of Nikola Tesla's autotype machines being used by Allied Forces during World War II; something that was specifically stated and last seen back in , where in 2010 Tesla had sent a repeating "SOS" distress signal to the only surviving machine located in storage at the Old City Sanctuary to call for help.
* Chronology: The schematics for James Watson's weather machine were stolen eight months prior to D-Day; the plans were used by the Nazi's to build a containment system for a Tunisian fire elemental.
* Character Error: When Colonel Franz Korba shows his eyes to Helen Magnus she says the fire elemental has burned his retinas. The retina is the inside layer at the back of the eyeball that registers light. The red surface she is commenting on is the cornea. As a doctor, she would know this.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751630/goofs/?item=gf1658547
* Trivia: As Jack Zimmerman's squad moves toward the Nazi secret weapon, a Nazi soldier sees them, gets shot, and delivers a Wilhelm Scream. This is the first Wilhelm used in the series.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751630/trivia/?item=tr2721857
* Anachronism: The real Nikola Tesla had died on January 7th, 1943 almost a year and a half prior to D-Day on June 6th, 1944.
* Trivia: In this episode, Nikola Tesla is working for the US government. In , Tesla says that in 1942/1943 every major spy agency was looking for him due to him supplying every Allied government with plans for his Death Ray weapon, thus leading Helen Magnus to fake his death in New York in January 1943. This allowed him to disappear without a trace at some point in time well before the end of World War II, presumably after the events of D-Day as in he mentions that Magnus knew of his involvement here, claiming it was the last time he cooperated with the US government due to them giving him a Nazi spy for an aid. Apparently, the US government 'forgave' him for his past actions and completely hide the fact from the rest of the world that they knew he was actually still alive.
* Factual Error:When Nikola Tesla discovers Lieutenant Hallman is a traitor he asks how long the soldier has been working for the Nazis, Hallman replies that he was recruited by the SS at West Point. Aside from this not being an answer, it never happened. The SS never recruited in the US. If the SS had got as far as the US, a college/military training camp (with black and Jewish students), in a fortified army post, under the supervision of soldiers who value loyalty, honor and fraternity above all else is the last place they would have tried to recruit.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751630/goofs/?item=gf6193627
== Gallery ==
File:Sanctuary_-_S3_Episode17_-_Normandy_Promo|3x17 - Promo
File:Sanctuary_season_3_episode_17_part_1-3|3x17 - Part 1
File:Sanctuary_season_3_episode_17_part_2-3|3x17 - Part 2
File:Sanctuary_season_3_episode_17_part_3-3|3x17 - Part 3
File:s03_e0317_05_130584143124__Magnus_on_the_move_in_the_Sanctuary_episode_Normandy..jpg|Helen Magnus, Jeanette Anaïse, and James Watson
File:s03_e0317_03_130584142909__Helen_Magnus,_seen_here_during_World_War_II..jpg|Jeanette Anaïse and Helen Magnus
File:s03_e0317_04_130584142818__Magnus_taking_up_arms_in_one_of_history's_greatest_conflicts..jpg|Jeanette Anaïse and Helen Magnus
File:s03_e0317_01_130584143006__Even_one_as_powerful_as_Helen_Magnus_is_affected_by_the_horrors_of_war..jpg|Jeanette Anaïse, Helen Magnus, and Nigel Griffin
File:s03_e0317_02_130584142738__Helen_Magnus,_no_friend_to_the_Nazis..jpg|James Watson and Helen Magnus
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_1.jpg|Nigel Griffin
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_2.jpg|James Watson and Franz Korba
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_3.jpg|Franz Korba (right side of head) and Helen Magnus
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_4.jpg|U.S. Sergeant and Capt. Jack Zimmerman
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_5.jpg|Franz Korba, soldier, Helen Magnus, and soldier
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_6.jpg|Nikola Tesla
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_7.jpg|Nikola Tesla
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_8.jpg|Franz Korba and John Druitt
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_9.jpg|James Watson and John Druitt
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_10.jpg|Franz Korba and James Watson
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_11.jpg|James Watson
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_12.jpg|Helen Magnus
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_13.jpg|Soldier, Franz Korba, soldier, and James Watson
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_14.jpg|Nikola Tesla (right shoulder) and Lieutenant Hallman
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_15.jpg|Helen Magnus
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_16.jpg|James Watson
File:3x17_Sanctuary_IMDb_17.jpg|German Major
== References ==
* 
* Watch "" on Vudu
* "" on Wikipedia
Category:Season_3/Episodes