Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale

I think the intrigue is there - it's not Broadchurch by any means but it's an okay crime show. All in all, this is a solid six or seven, in my opinion, as in it would get a passing grade for decent British crime/mystery TV with or without witchcraft. It treats witchcraft as mundane and commonplace, which is interesting in itself. The characters are pretty interesting, and there is enough world-building. It doesn't need all the special effects to be a decent show, and it doesn't need to be groundbreaking. Exaggerated 1 and 2/10 star reviews do this site a disservice and make it unusable over time.

Welcome to the enchanting and magical hamlet known as Sanctuary, a place supposedly dedicated to providing solace and haven for witches against persecution. Basking in the town's benevolence is the presence of a lone witch family, as the beacon of all magical prowess. Not just any ordinary witch family, mind you; the illustrious Fenn family is one where the manifestation of witch power appears to have escaped both the character's mother and daughter. Yes, you heard it right - leaving the protagonist, Sarah Fenn, as the sorcerous elite, and the official representative of witchforce and witchdom in a town, that has a grand total of one officially registered witch. Bravo, Sarah!

Of course, the makers decided to christen both the town and the series with the grandiose title "Sanctuary", because nothing says magical refuge like a place with just one witch, right? But wait, there's more! In this modern benevolent utopia, anyone can casually point fingers at anyone else, accusing them of witchcraft. It's like a community potluck, but instead of bringing casseroles, you bring accusations of spellcasting. How quaint!

And then there is the real star of the show - Abigail Whithall, the grieving mother, the narcissistic friend, the cheating wife, the blackmailing neighbour, what-have-you. Her performance is so stellar that it makes you want to enroll in an anger management class to cope with the desire to repeatedly punch her in the face. Ah, the wonders of brilliant acting - or as I like to call it, facial-punch-worthy theatrics.

Cheers to the magical-bewitching world of Sanctuary!

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The show starts with a death and a set of prejudicial and/or false conclusions. Yes, people behave irrationally, but they stay well within the confines of normal human ignorance and lack of critical thinking. The magic aspect of it is fine. The story would work just as well if you replaced the word "witch" with any other misunderstood group that's the target of bigotry and discrimination. With the magic theme we get some special effects and an enhanced feeling of uncertainty. It's a good choice.

Revelations are made at an optimal pace. Often in crime shows the "twists" elicit a yawn, an eye-roll and a complete lack of surprise. However, in this show i felt more of an: "Ohhh....interesting." They keep these coming throughout the series. For me, this is a win.

By the time you get to the last episode, the tension is remarkably high. The situation seems hopeless....

Let's pretend for a moment that the fit of utter stupidity didn't occur.

...Unexpected but totally plausible things happen and the show ends satisfactorily. In the denouement some additional revelations are made which totally add value to the story and tie up some loose ends that you didn't know were loose. Well done.

Let's go back to that fit of utter stupidity. Everything I wrote above is sincere. The ending is good. The shark-jump is irrelevant. But, at 39:45 into the last episode, it's there. I actually laughed out loud. I won't spoil it (because I want people to read the review), so here are some comparable things you might see in a sillier series:

1. A person gets a pillow held over their face for seven seconds and is suddenly dead.

2. A car drives over a sharp rock and explodes into a ball of fire.

3. A person drops a toothpick onto a table and it ricochets around the room to stab somebody fatally in the heart.

It's that bad. Anybody who knows anything about objects that might be on a stage would have called BS on this event. Is this a 1980's B-movie? Why did they include it? The rest of the show was great. Why do something completely unnecessary and ridiculous? It ranks in the top two of the most ludicrous things I've ever seen in a "serious" show.

Why?

That being said: despite the one jarringly obvious forehead-slapping error, I think it's a really good show -- neatly wrapped. There are no breadcrumbs for a second season. But, if there were one, I would totally watch it.

If you make it past the first episode, which was kind of a clumsy setup, this does actually get pretty engaging with multiple elements. The major plot is the murder mystery, and it's laced with social injustice stuff surrounding bullying/rape/evil patriarchy/outcasting. Some of the characters become over the top to the point of absurdity towards the end, but all in all this was still an engaging watch. It felt rushed into it's conclusion and felt a little anticlimactic to me, but I'm guessing they wanted to end it as a miniseries, which is fine. Ultimately, I found this trails behind the more superb (until s3) A discovey of Witches, but a better watch (lead acting capability mostly) than Mayfair witch.

One of those pieces, where first episodes are bland and won't catch, but if you make it past that, you will be hooked and suddenly wait for more. I saw six episodes so far and I still don't know, how it will end, which is impressive, as on most of current series, I know mostly after two episodes all basic story lines. IT IS UNPREDICTABLE and annoying, and I love it.

I really don't understand why are people making those 1 or 2 rating reviews after seeing one episode (mostly not whole) and writing total nonsense. Watch it first and then come back again. You won't be disappointed. But if you are only about special effects and glorious, but bland story lines, then pass. Its not for you.