Sanctuary: Season 2, Episodes 7-9

Episode 7 Veritas - All the evidence points to Magnus being guilty of murder and even as Will defends herthat evidence grows. Three telepaths known as 'The Triad' are brought in to uncover the truth and it's discovered that Magnus has been lying about the supposed elimination of a hugely dangerous abnormal 'Big Bertha' years previously.

More a question of 'who and how' as you're pretty sure from the off that Magnus isn't going to turn out to be guilty of murdering a regular cast member this is nonetheless well done with the tension coming out of working out the truth at the same time as Will... though to be fair you do have your suspicions about who will turn out to be the bad guy just because the story tries too hard to convince you they aren't. Some clever ideas make this a clever and enjoyable episode and, interestingly, the first time Amanda Tapping has directed 'solo' (for the episode of Stargate she did she was aided by a regular director).

Episode 8 Next Tuesday - Magnus and Will collect a rare type of abnormal but their helicopter crashes on the return journey leaving them stranded inside a disused oil platform.

Not much of a story - it's all exposition about the past (a bad thing on a visual medium generally), flashbacks to earlier in the day (which gets annoying) and a rather weak monster sub-plot (and the ending is a bit of a cop out really) but the interplay in this two-hander is decent enough and, later in the episode, certainly seems to  be suggesting a possible mutual attraction between Magnus and Will (it would have been better to swap this and the previous episode, Veritas, in my opinion as at least it would have shown why Will was so loyal in the face of the evidence). It's a shame this attraction, which seem more than just respect, is not really expanded upon in coming episodes as it would have added an extra adult dynamic to the show... especially if John Druitt wasn't happy about it.

Episode 9 Pennance - A former gang member, Jimmy, attempts to bring his friend Magnus a rare abnormal but the underground mob he stole it from want it back. After a gunfight Kate is wounded and her and Jimmy hide out whilst the mob closes in... and unpleasant secrets from Jimmy's past are revealed.

The idea behind the device for the normally anger-prone abnormal mob boss is mildly interesting but doesn't really add up on closer examination (why build it and let someone else become boss rather than taking over yourself?) but the twist used against it is quite clever. sadly the rest of the episode is more flashbacks and more exposition based back-stories and even though this time they add into the plot in the end the confrontation involved seems actually less important or realistic than the less exciting and disconnected talk between Will and Magnus last episode, since you know it's not going anywhere and Kate (now she's a good girl team member) isn't going to kill someone who is also basically good, if flawed. Even the ending isn't as shocking as intended because the whole 'mercy shown by Kate' angle is bound to have to payoff somehow.