“Sanctuary Part 1″ is more about building on the themes of the show than any of the previous episodes so far. Themes like family, working together and over coming fears for the greater good.
That being said, I don’t understand why the survivors of the apocalypse have to be so stupid and greedy. Sanctuary kicks off with one of the families trying to rob Dr. Anne of all her anti-biotics, because they are going to abandon the 2nd Mass and move on. It was really nice to see Dr. Anne fight back, because too often in Sci-Fi female characters fall into the damsel in distress category. Still, the offending family was able to overpower our dear sweet Dr. Anne and escape.
Anyway, if not for the commander of the 7th Mass, Terry Clayton, all of the medicine would have been lost. After saving the day, Clayton shares the tale of the 7th Mass’ fate and why he is there. He (Clayton) claims to have orders from Porter to take all of the children under the age of 20 from the 2nd Mass and move out because of an upcoming attack.
In”Sanctuary Part 1” there was a tangible tension. A tension that, for the first time in the series, felt real. Maybe it was because the group considered separating their kids. Maybe it was because everything Terry Clayton is saying sounds to good to be true. Or maybe it is because the civilians with the 2nd Mass are starting to turn on each other, like the random angry man getting all up in Ben Mason’s grille calling him a “Razorback” and not wanting to share provisions with him.
As much as family, togetherness and overcoming fear are themes of the show, ‘Falling Skies’ is still doing a good job of showing hate, exclusion and fear. Humans are complicated creatures, and no matter what our capacity for caring and good may be, our capacity to exclude and fear what is different (even when the world is ending) will always be there.
This episode ends with a not entirely unexpected twist, yet it still felt fresh and interesting. This week’s show did a better job of staying focused than last week’s “Silent Kill”. The other big thing in this episode… we finally learn the fate of Pope. After a week away, even a glimpse of everyone’s favorite post-apolacyptic bad boy is a welcome site. Make sure to come back for the exciting conclusion next week with Sanctuary Part 2, where I’m sure we will have plenty of answers to the questions posed in this weeks very exciting and tense episode.
