Pavor Nocturnus (Sanctuary)

Helen Magnus awakens in a dilapidated corridor in the Sanctuary and finds that both the building, and the surrounding city skyline lie in ruins; Magnus has no memory on how the devastation occurred. While venturing the streets, Magnus finds herself under attack by a savage humanoid creature, but is saved by two men in Hazmat suits, who proceed to capture and decontaminate her. Magnus is later shocked to discover that her protégé, Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), is the leader of the survivalist group. Unlike his original personality, Zimmerman is acting far more violent and aggressive, and believes Magnus to be an imposter, citing she died three years ago. As more creatures attack the base, Magnus escapes and returns to the Sanctuary, where on the way she is joined by a young girl, Jessica Mitchell (Nicole Muñoz).

Zimmerman returns to the Sanctuary also after his unit are killed by the attacks. Now believing Magnus is who she says she is, Zimmerman recounts the events of the plague to her; ten years ago, a contagion was released in Old City, transforming humans to cannibalistic creatures. When containing the city failed, the disease spread throughout the globe and despite her best efforts, Magnus could not find a cure and was eventually killed in Buenos Aires. Several world governments deployed nuclear weapons in an attempt to stop the threat until they fell. All Sanctuary personnel apart from Zimmerman were killed in the process. Only around 100,000 unaffected humans remain in colonies in the Arctic and remote islands. Jessica is revealed to be infected and alerts the creatures to the Sanctuary after she transforms, forcing Zimmerman to kill her. Both Magnus and Zimmerman fortify one section of the Sanctuary so Magnus can learn, via computer files, how the plague started. Zimmerman is revealed to have been infected during his last skirmish, and sacrifices himself to buy Magnus more time.

Magnus realises that before the outbreak began, she was on a mission in Honduras; tired of losing people she loved, most recently daughter Ashley,[1] she was researching for a way to "cure" her immortality. She found out about a Mayan elixir, which allows immortals to age at a normal rate. But by taking the vial she also inadvertently released the contagion (it is also believed the elixir was responsible for the fall of the Mayan civilisation). Before she can die at the hands of the creatures, she is sent back to the same moment she discovered the vial by an incorporeal Abnormal (called a "sentient mist" by the producers[2]); the Abnormal is revealed to be a guardian of the vial and transported Magnus to the future to show her the potential consequences of her actions. She leaves the vial behind and returns to the Sanctuary.

Sanctuary depends on such audience indulgence to a certain extent. Without our willingness to turn a blind eye now and then, its charms would be utterly lost. But "Pavor Nocturnus" pushes that equation a few steps past the line, where the silliness evokes enough discomfort to merit turning away. One can easily forgive the show, of course even at its nadir, it's just too harmless to hate, and as a one-off riff, it could be worse.

— Rob Vaux[8]

A drop of almost 200,000 viewers from the previous episode, "Hero",[9] "Pavor Nocturnus" was viewed by 1.420 million Americans, making Sanctuary the sixth most seen series from Syfy the week it aired, and was the second highest viewing the day it aired, behind Stargate Universe.[10]

Critical reaction towards the episode were mixed. Rob Vaux of Mania.com graded it a C+; Vaux said that the "we've seen [the Zombie apocalypse] scenario too many times before." Vaux noted the "plenty of House of the Dead-style kung fu", but felt Tapping did not "have that Bruce Lee vibe." Dunne's portrayal received a mixed response, stating "the script doesn't give him much to do besides bark out exposition and snarl with hatred at the faceless enemy," though he and Tapping did "succeed in evoking an entire end-of-the-world scenario with just a few terse lines of dialogue."[8] In review of the first and second season releases on Blu-ray Disc, Michael Simpson of CinemaSpy named the episode "Sanctuary's take on I Am Legend", but thought the plot was "derivative". However, from a visual effects stand point, Simpson called the episode a "highlight of the second season", adding "the post-apocalyptic world created by the effects team at Anthem is worthy of a motion picture and together with the gritty production design looks disturbingly real".[11] In review of the second season, David Blackwell of Enterline Media named "Pavor Nocturnus" as a standout episode, along with "Veritas" and "Haunted".[12]

In total, the episode received six award nominations; one Constellation Award, and five Leo Awards. Robin Dunne was nominated for a Constellation Award for "Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode" for his portrayal as Will Zimmerman in the episode, but narrowly lost out to David Tennant from the Doctor Who episode "The Waters of Mars".[13] However, Dunne did win the "Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series" in the 2010 Leo Awards. Director Brenton Spencer also won "Best Direction in a Dramatic Series", while Christina McQuarrie won "Best Costume Design in a Dramatic Series" for their roles in the episode.[14] Make-up artists Francesca von Zimmermann and Andrea Manchur were nominated for "Best Make-Up in a Dramatic Series",[15] but lost out to another team from "Fragments", another Sanctuary episode.[14] Amanda Tapping was nominated for "Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series",[15] but lost to Erin Karpluk from Being Erica.[14]

• "Pavor Nocturnus" at IMDb
• "Pavor Nocturnus" on Syfy.com
• "Pavor Nocturnus" on the official website