Meanwhile, the Five lead by Magnus search for the labyrinth in which father Magnus stashed the remaining sample of ancient blood. Through Zimmerman and Watson's partnership they are able to locate the entrance.

Inside the tunnel they find Tesla who has been awaiting their entrance and mentions another passage into the caverns. Together the five find a map which instructs them to attend to various locations to be tested of their five "gifts" they each had received by injection ancient blood originally.

The various tests are each suited to the five's skills and also in some ways test both their courage (in the case of the Invisible Girl) and their morals (in the case of Druit needing to transport Watson to get their pair of keys).

I am of course keeping the description of the events in the labyrinth minimal so as not to spoil the show for audiences: it is the major accomplishment and interest in this episode. But in the end the blood is recovered, friendships seem to bond a little more strongly and Ashley and Henry manage to escape the Cabal.

The show does leave with a "to be concluded." Ashley has apparently been drugged, duped or controlled via an energy drink she was given while in custody of the Cabal to capture the ancient blood from the sanctuary. The major character development in this episode turns out to be an expression of Ashley's unique abnormality when she returns the sample to the Cabal.

What Worked:

Kindler was writing the script this week. I find it interesting that Egan took Part 1 and Kindler took this episode. One wonders how much collaboration occurred on the actual writing process as we already know they worked together on the story. I have said before that Kindler's scripts tend to keep the action moving a little better, and so they did in this episode over last's. While the action was clearly not as fast pace as "Instinct" (remember the shaky-cam insect episode?) the dialogue and the events and character development stayed on track and did not lose interest.

I'm also glad to see the Invisible Girl warming up to the crew a bit. In some ways I get tired of watching abnormals sort of come and go in each episode. (Whatever became of the three witches in "Fata Morgana"?) It would be nice to add some interplay to the core sanctuary crew on a regular basis and it now appears Tesla, Druit, and Clara Griffin (invisible girl) will fill that role somewhat.

Ashley's disappearance and threat of dying "today" she received from the cabal makes for an interesting tie in to next season. How long will Ashley be evil? Like father like daughter? Does that mean Druit's repentance is complete?

Of all thirteen episodes in the season I would say this is probably about my favorite. But then I am a big "Lost" fan and I like following a wide number of character lines and action to boot. It's like having my cake and eating it too.

What Didn't Work:

There are still some very over-used elements in this story. I will withhold my normally lengthy detail of these as I would rather let an audience make its own assessment in this case. Why? Well, because even though some of it was predictable I still enjoyed it.

I could do without some of Emilie Ullerup's puppy-dog eye looks and what I would call overacting. In the end I found I was glad to have her be the traitor: it adds some needed interest in her character.

Aside from some of the predictability we've come to expect from the series this really was a good show. Consider this like a re-read of one of your more favorite books in preparation for a new sequel release you haven't read yet. I predict season two will be several degrees more interesting now that we've familiarized ourselves with all the players in the show.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due:

"Sanctuary" was created by Damian Kindler and features Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne and Emilie Ullerup. The finale story was developed by Damian Kindler and Same Egan, produced by George Horie.

Paul Auman is a staff writer and reviewer for Rabid Doll's sister site, SyFy Portal. He can be reached at pauman@syfyportal.com.

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