The season three finale saw the destruction of Praxis at the hands of Adam Worth, and Helen Magnus going back to Victorian London…meanwhile, the abnormals that had always inhabited the underground world of Praxis came up to the surface seeking sanctuary, no pun intended.
In episode two of season four, we rejoin the present day with a bang…quite literally. The riot is still ongoing at the camp where Biggie and Kate have been taken hostage, while Will slipped out of the camp and went back to the Sanctuary in order to try to get the military to listen to him in regards to handling the new abnormals, to no avail. We go back to the camp for a moment where the abnormals are forcing out the last of the military forces as Will and Henry beg the UN and military to allow the Sanctuary to come in and smooth things over the way they know how, but no one wants to listen. The UN representative, Dr. Lillian Lee, gives full control over the situation to General Villanova, the man in charge of the military forces at the camp. They cut off the call without even giving Will a moment’s attention.
We cut back to the camp where Garrus is walking around, checking on the Hollow Earth abnormals, making sure they’re all right and trying to calm them down. He comes across a pair of abnormals strangling Biggie, who was captured trying to sneak about the camp looking for Kate. He orders the men to release him, and Biggie tries to convince Garrus to release the prisoners. Biggie goes back to the hostage tent and Garrus continues his search for Kate, only to catch up with her as she dodges between a pair of tents. He tells her that they won’t let anyone leave the camp and that he wants her with the hostages so she’ll be safe, even as she aims a knife at his throat.
Back at the Sanctuary, Will is readying himself to go back to the camp to talk to the abnormals that have taken over when they get a call from the group of Sanctuary heads that make up their executive committee, and Declan Macrae, head of the London Sanctuary, who has gone off to scout what all has gone on in Praxis and attempt to locate the missing Helen Magnus, informs Will that he is to be the acting head of the Sanctuary Network. Now that Will is in charge, he can’t go back to the camp. Henry volunteers to go in his place, and makes his way there.
They deposit Kate into the hostage tent where Biggie is being held with several of the military team from the compound and they discuss the power vacuum left behind in the wake of the deaths of both Fallon and Thelo (The WWE’s Edge), two of the abnormals that had taken charge when they came above ground from Praxis. Kate and Biggie are theorizing on the reasons for the riot when we cut back to the Sanctuary to find Will back in communication with General Villanova. He tells the General that Henry is on his way back to the camp and wants his assurance that he won’t strike against the camp again. The General tells him that the camp is no longer his priority, as the camp is already under lockdown.
As Henry arrives at the camp, he gets a pat down from one of the abnormals. When prompted with what he wants of them he unthinkingly blurts out, “Take me to your leader.” He pauses as he realizes what he’s said, then adds, “Yes. I just said that.”
The abnormal leads him to Garrus, Henry explains who he is, and then offers a trade: the Sanctuary team in exchange for the military bunch they’re keeping hostage. He tells them about the military focusing on the massive numbers of abnormals rising from Hollow Earth and then of the destruction of Praxis, which the abnormals do not take well. When they don’t like what Henry is telling them, one of the abnormals knocks Henry unconscious and then they deposit him in the hostage tent with Kate and Biggie. Back at the Sanctuary, Will is still trying desperately to get in touch with anyone and everyone who could put heat on the UN in regards to their decision. This time, he’s on the phone to try and reach the Secretary of Defense, and ultimately fails when the Secretary hears that Magnus isn’t around. Will then calls Abby to ask for her help.
As the abnormals release the military staff and take Henry to the hostage tent, Garrus demands to know why the Sanctuary would conceal the destruction of Praxis. Kate assures him that they knew nothing of it, but he doesn’t believe her. We cut to the military authorizing a strike over one of the masses of abnormals, and then back to the camp where one of the female abnormals with empathic abilities can sense the deaths of a number of their kin in Chile. Garrus cuts the bonds from Biggie and Kate, then hands Biggie Kate’s knife, telling them they may need to defend themselves before the night is over.
Abby arrives at the Sanctuary, and Will fills her in on everything that’s happened with Hollow Earth and asks for her help. He explains that he needs to use her contacts to get into Villanova’s network, and she starts making her calls as the abnormals get riled up all over again, thanks to the news of the strike on their people. The riot almost starts all over again, before Garrus steps up and smooths things out between both parties, taking up the role of the leader of the abnormals in the camp. Meanwhile, Abby gets all of the information that they need and Will starts to finally pull things together. They discover that the next strike against the emerging abnormals will be on the ones rising up from the caldera in Indonesia, and Will sets about trying to thwart that plan.
In a quick cut back to the camp, Biggie and Kate meet up somewhere on the grounds, and he tells her that Fallon’s body is gone, but that he found what could have been the weapon that killed her in Garrus’ tent, just before we head back to the Sanctuary where Will and Abby have just found secret documents linking the UN to experimentation on abnormals. They realize there are bigger plans than anyone knew for these new abnormals.
The next act takes us back to the camp where Henry and Garrus are making their way through camp to a technology truck so that Garrus can get into contact with Will. Henry decides to hack the satellite the military group is using to ready their next strike, if only to delay them for a little bit and buy some time. No one wants to see more of the abnormals die. After leaving the truck, Garrus goes to a tent, looking quite a bit suspicious and lets out a quiet whistle. A figure steps out from behind the crates and we get to see that it’s a familiar face; it’s Fallon. Garrus starts to give her an update, but then realizes she knows more than she’s told them, and that she has held out on them. He starts to regret the part he’s played in everything. Kate and Biggie burst in as if they’ve been listening all along, and the Big Guy takes hold of Fallon as she attempts to attack Garrus. She tells them that they will learn nothing from her, but then the empath from earlier steps into the tent, ready to glean what she can from Fallon.
Back at the military headquarters, Villanova and his staff are making final preparations to send out the strike on Indonesia, while Henry is working up his hack and uploading it to the satellite they’re using to pinpoint their strike location. The hack works, and then Henry picks up a piggybacked signal on his transmission, and tracks it back to the Sanctuary. Will uses a piece of Henry’s tech and tracks down the signal through the house…leading him straight to Helen Magnus sitting in front of the computer. She’s been analyzing the movements made by the abnormals leaving the different calderas they’ve been using as ways out of Hollow Earth and has found that they’ve been moving in formation with one another, in perfect time with each other.
The scene cuts to Magnus, Will, and Abby videoconferencing with Dr. Lee. They inform her that the Indonesian caldera is just above a basilisk feeding ground, and that if they were to bomb that area, due to the location, the ordnance would create a cataclysmic seismic reaction that would effect the entire world. Will begs Lee to turn over control back to the Sanctuary, that they will work with the abnormals until they stand down, and Lee agrees. Finally.
Back at the camp, Kate is taking a walk with Garrus. He says that Fallon will be dealt with by a tribunal, and that he intends to go home, back underground to Praxis. He says his people are ready to rebuild their homes, their own government. Kate cuts in and tells him that she will be going with him to Hollow Earth, on Magnus’ order. She is to go with them and sort out the abnormals that intend to do harm.
At the Sanctuary, Magnus and Will are debriefing as they walk the halls, and Will finally asks her what happened, and where she went. He says that she was out of communication for hours, and she tells him that it was actually years. 113 years, she clarifies.
“Oh, I need to be sitting down for this, don’t I?” Will asks her.
Magnus hums in affirmation, and replies, “With a ’56 Bordeaux, I should think.”
Oh yes, Will. You are in for it, and your head will be spinning by the time she’s done! Maybe…something more along the lines of TWO bottles of that wine will be necessary.
If you missed last week’s episode, be sure to read our ‘Sanctuary: Tempus’ recap to catch up! And keep an eye out; Sanctuary will be back next week with another all new episode at 10/9c on Syfy!
