“Resistance” is episode five of season four of Sanctuary.
The episode opens with Magnus and Bigfoot trying to capture an Abnormal. The stunners are not working so Henry has to tranquilise the Abnormal. Before they can take him away, armed men from Homeland Security’s new Abnormal hunting division (not that this is their official name – they are the SCIU) turn up. The men are not willing to talk and take the creature away. After first shooting him with several more tranquiliser darts. Magnus is not happy.
However, this was a ploy – the Abnormal has a tracking device in him. The creature ended up in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Which Magnus thinks is interesting – it’s the real Area 51, not the fake one on Google Maps that’s intended to throw off conspiracy theorists. Magnus feels that this is the secret Abnormal testing centre. Magnus plans to infiltrate the facility, with Henry. Bigfoot is not happy, but Will is not back from Hollow Earth yet and Magnus believes they don’t have time to wait.
Magnus and Henry manage to infiltrate but caught doing so and get a bit of a surprise. Magnus reassures Henry that they won’t look them up – just secretly execute them. They are, however, in the office of the facility director. Magnus recognises how the office is decorated – because the director is Tesla. Magnus is not happy with Tesla. He says he was approached by Homeland Security to head up a new department dealing with Hollow Earth Abnormals. Tesla had turned them down – as he points out, the last time he cooperated with the U.S. government they gave him an assistant who was actually a Nazi spy (in the episode “Normandy” during World War II). The government was persistent, and offered Tesla more money. Magnus is now really upset with Tesla, who throws them out.
Magnus has known Tesla for a long time and says he is acting in a way that he only does when he’s really rattled, and that he needs their help. Even if he is too proud to ask for it. Magnus feels that something big is happening in the facility. As they are being escorted out, lights start flashing and a panicked man says that something is happening again. Their escort says that they need to leave, but he is dragged off by a tentacle.
Magnus assumes that Tesla is responsible, given that the creature is roaming the corridors of his genetic testing facility, but he says it’s totally natural and it turned up 12 hours ago, grabbed a cleaning lady and promptly disappeared. As in, could not be found. By anything.
Roaming through darkened corridors with a monster on the loose is rather traditional. Which Tesla essentially points out. The monster may also be connected to his research – he was siphoning money from the government’s budget to create a an unlimited source of free energy. A pet project of his for decades. It seems this project may have attracted the monster.
Will has returned to the Sanctuary but he ran into problems. Bigfoot was approached by an Abnormal named Galvo in town who wants to get back to Hollow Earth and proves highly annoying company.
One of the scientists in the facility, Dr. Coates, is played by Jenn MacLean-Angus, who played Nicole Dillon in the Continuum episode “30 Minutes to Air”.