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The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "Edward," Episode 9 of the SciFi Channel series "Sanctuary".

Character growth continues during this first season of "Sanctuary", this time focusing on Henry and the developing of his own brand of abnormality, as we discovered last week in "The Five". The title character, Edward, however is a character somewhat unique to the SciFi shows: a "high-functioning Autistic" with savant artistic skills.

The show opens with a mother tearfully observing the scene of a murder or apparent suicide. Zimmerman?s old police buddy shows up in the next scene to make Zimmerman an offer: investigate the oddity of Edward?s amazing artistic skills and the very disturbing scenes rendered in his drawings.

One of the drawings was made during the death/murder of his father according Edward?s mother. Others are pictures of demons and monsters. Zimmerman has only 48 hours before the psychiatric evaluation will be made to make any inroads himself.

In the Sanctuary, Magnus, Zimmerman and Ashley are reviewing the kids drawings. There?s some wonderful interplay between Magnus and Zimmerman that reminds us of Amanda Tapping?s appeal. While viewing the pictures, they determine by an overhead shot of the Sanctuary drawn from a view Edward must have seen ten years earlier only once that he has a photographic memory.

Mother, Mrs. Meyers, and Edward arrive at the Sanctuary. Magnus offers to host Edward while Mrs. Meyers takes care of funeral arrangements.

In a parallel plot we then jump to Henry locked in his room, apparently not willing to participate in Sanctuary activities for some time since making known his wolfish personality in Episode 8. We catch a glimpse of Henry as a child on the Moors, and during a discussion with Magnus in the library once he comes out of his room, we learn she picked him up as a child from others of his kind. Henry is no longer the background comedic relief in this episode. There?s some wonderful scripting here that details the anxiety of becoming a werewolf and the humanity lost that just doesn?t exist in most pop sci-fi like ?Van Helsing? or even classics like ?American Werewolf in London.?

Ultimately, Henry is offered a surgery by Dr. Magnus that could remove his genetic development and remove his wolfish characteristics permanently but could potentially do the same to his personality and even his intellect. Henry pursues this opportunity while contemplating the condition of both the Big Guy and their guest Edward.

The Big Guy suggests at one point that his and Henry?s abnormalities are gifts, but that gifts also come with a curse, pointing out that reality is dependent upon perception. It?s a wonderful conversation in which we see a growing brotherhood between the two.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Sanctuary, perception is another question brought up in investigating the source of Edward?s visions and his power of recall in his sketches. During a test we see that Edward?s eyes are alight with electricity while drawing and Magnus reports her findings that he sees the world in a sort of imaging scanning with high degree of accuracy in the details.

Further testing shows that Edward can zoom in and out of his visions catching finite detail and, in one drawing Magnus, Ashley and Zimmerman come to the realization that this savant can also ?see? the manifestations of abnormals. This explains the angry monster characterizations he gives his father when he draws him.

Through the remainder of the episode we are lead on a CSI-style procedural of possible scenarios of how Edward?s father, Glen, actually died. Both Edward and his mother are hiding something. Finally, under pressure Zimmerman and Magnus go to the apartment and find a locker cell in a trap door in the apartment. It is supposed at first that Glen would lock up Edward or possibly even Robby in the locker leading Zimmerman on assumptive paths in his investigation that are proven wrong in the end.

Finally, Magnus asks Edward to draw scenes from his father?s death so that she can use a computer to fill in the blanks and get a ?video? of what actually happened using Edward?s incredible recall of detail. The first try failed, giving Edward a epileptic seizure. During this he fires a heat ray from his eyes (a la Superman). With some more footwork they learn that Edward?s father also suffered seizures.

The group concludes that Glen made the locker to keep his family safe when he had seizures himself and fired scorching heat beams from his eyes.They also found that on the night of Glen?s death he was about to commit suicide when his other son, Robby returns home to collect Edward and go out into the real world. Glen tries to stop the boys, pointing the shotgun at them while telling them he is trying to protect them from the normal world. Robby then grabs the gun. In turn, Glen grabs the end of the barrel and points it at himself.

As revealed in Edward?s drawings Glen actually killed himself by heating the shells in the barrels with his heat-vision. Mrs. Meyers then wiped the gun down to save any suspicion from being placed on either of her two sons.

In the final scenes Henry uses his new-found sense of smell to locate Robby, and the two brothers are reunited. A replica of the Sistine Chapel is painted on the ceiling of Robby?s hiding spot. Henry then rejects the operation to keep him from changing and accepts his abnormality as a gift.

What Worked

I love character, and this was another good detailing of one of the "Sanctuary?s" primary cast. Henry?s reluctance and fear of becoming a werewolf were excellently portrayed.

Edward as the primary foil for character development was a wonderful character himself. I felt he was excellently portrayed by Michael Eisner (Seen in ?The Englishman?s Boy? and ?The Guard?) was absolutely fantastic. Here?s a handsome newcomer that we should keep our eye on.

The plot was somewhat atypical of current SciFi shows as a procedural, but it was in keeping with some of the ?detective work? Amanda Tapping portrayed on ?SG-1? too. I liked it, and it wasn?t over-crowded with side plots.

The detail in the imaging over green screen was again top notch. I was glad to see a few outside and daytime scenes though.

What Didn?t Work

"Sanctuary" is slow moving. I actually prefer it. But if the producers (Tapping being one of them) want to keep this show on the air for more than just a couple of seasons, they?re going to have to put in more action for the mainstream audience. I do believe they?re working up to it?

In the closing scenes between Zimmerman and his police pal we learn the Cabal seems to be involved here too, closing the case and removing Glen?s body. If there is going to generally be a war between the Sanctuary and other factions like the Cabal, I think they need to get moving on it. By the second season at least, we'd better see a lot more "abnormals versus" battles going on or this show is going to fall into the collection of "great script but no wow for the masses."

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

?Edward? was written by Sam Egan and directed by Brenten Spencer. ?Sanctuary? airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on the SciFi Channel and stars Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, and Emilie Ullerup.

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