Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale 1×06 Review: Episode 6

The penultimate episode of Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale came with a bunch of revelations as Sarah tried to keep Harper protected against the ever-growing hate mob.

Trigger Warning: This review of Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale episode 6 mentions sexual assault. Tread carefully.

Episode 6 of Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale didn’t beat around the bush when it came to answering certain questions. I mentioned in my review of episode 5 that I had been side-eyeing Izzy for a while. The young girl seemed to just exist without having much to do. Well, the latest episode changed her involvement by opening with a flashback that had a young Harper showing a young Izzy the “Starcross Grimoire”. It was a book that contained powerful dark magic and had been passed down through the generations of Sarah’s family. The moment Izzy commented on the dark symbols I knew she had somehow managed to dabble in magic without Sarah or anyone else knowing.

The flashback did provide some credence to the fan theory about Izzy being a witch without her realizing her identity. There’s a scene in episode 6 where Professor Maloney tells Maggie that witchcraft can pop up in someone after skipping four or five generations of their bloodline. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Izzy’s “pretend” spellcasting (she’s shown to be able to draw the dark symbols from memory) somehow managed to call upon some evil force without her knowing any better. Summoning the dark entity might explain her health issues as it could be feeding off her energy.

There’s a bunch of evidence that points toward Izzy being responsible for Daniel’s death. Maggie and Ryan came across a picture on social media that showed Izzy being at the party that night. She seemed to be climbing the stairs just a minute before Daniel’s fall. Izzy also told Pierre about how Daniel touched her inappropriately six years ago. And she obviously was angry at what Daniel did to Harper. It’s safe to assume that Izzy might know about what Daniel did to the members of the school’s football team. It would make sense for Izzy to try and cast a curse on him, even if she was unsure about it actually working.

I liked how Maggie tried to think of a way to handle the Izzy situation. At this point, Sarah, Izzy, and Harper were dealing with a legal system that (similar to the real world) made it tough for survivors of sexual assault to get justice. Maggie’s suggestion to Ryan about taking out the witchcraft element entirely to avoid the death penalty and making the current case be about revenge for Daniel’s vile behavior against the young girls made sense even though it meant breaking the law.

Maggie came through for Sarah in the latest episode. She helped Sarah find a place to hide when the mob came for her. Maggie’s also been the one who continued to refuse to fall for Abigail’s hate campaign against Sarah. Maggie’s all about looking at factual evidence and realizing the prejudice faced by witches. However, her work continued to be an uphill battle. By the end of the episode, the entire police force had decided to follow Ted, leaving Maggie by herself (with Ryan continuing to help her in secret).

As for Ted, we got to learn about how Sarah helped in the past. Apparently, he had a drinking problem that Sarah used witchcraft to cure. But Ted wasn’t going to allow said help to stop him from putting Sarah and Harper behind bars, especially due to how Jake’s health continued to deteriorate.

I can see how certain viewers might think of Jake dying as another example of the Bury Your Gays trope. But I feel that his death was required to demonstrate how far Abigail was willing to go to hurt Sarah, and besides, it’s not like Jake’s the sole queer character in such a show.

If you ask me, the narrative made it clear in episode 6 that there was no way back for Abigail. She had allowed her quest for revenge to consume her. Even after realizing that Michael was responsible for Jake’s agony, she didn’t stop her husband. Not only that, but when her speech about Daniel didn’t get the response she had hoped for, she gave Michael the go-ahead to kill Jake. Yes, she cried afterward, but a young boy’s still dead because of her. Her tears won’t bring Jake back. I really hope Abigail and Michael get thrown into prison for life, if not killed.

Talking about Abigail’s speech, the fandom’s been theorizing for a while about how bringing Daniel back from the dead might have messed up his soul somehow. It turns out that Abigail had the same thought. She used Daniel’s resurrection as a way to excuse his behavior. According to Abigail, Daniel was a sweet child and Sarah’s dark magic is what led him to want to sexually assault and hurt people. Abigail’s words mimicked how certain parents of very awful individuals (unfortunately) try to hide or excuse away what their offspring do to others.

With the entire town turned against her, even Sarah thought that she was responsible for twisting Daniel. She had played with the laws of nature after all. However, it’s Izzy’s testimony about how Daniel had always been evil that gave Sarah some relief.

I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen in the finale. The writers have done a good job of keeping the mystery surrounding Daniel’s death… a mystery. I have no idea who might be responsible for his fatal accident. I know that the latest episode pointed fingers at Izzy, but I feel that’s a misdirect. Something’s up, especially with how we got to see someone walk up to Jake’s dead body and quite possibly do something to it. Could the mysterious person be Harper’s father? She did bring him up to Jonny Maloney. Hmmm.

I’m going to share a fun theory. What if Daniel’s responsible for his own death? What if he somehow saw the dark symbols a young Izzy drew and was capable of tapping into dark magic? His own spell going wrong could explain his accident.

Again, the fact that I still have no idea if anyone even killed Daniel or if his death was indeed an accident goes to show how well the creative team has handled such a story. Here’s hoping the answer in the finale doesn’t come across as anticlimactic.   

Some other thoughts and questions:

• I really want to know how aware Harper was of Daniel’s behavior, because if she suspected what he had done to Izzy and the sports team and still continued to date him… ufff!
• I understand that certain stories require a lack of communication to keep them going. However, the lack of communication in Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale is unbelievable, and that’s saying something, considering it’s a show about witchcraft. It’s blatant plot convenience at this point and I wish the writers had figured out a way to make the lack of communication feel a bit more believable.
• Will Julia and Bridget finally come to Sarah’s aid? I ask that because the two did feel bad about not helping Sarah with the Sunstone spell.
• Sarah losing her magic and wondering who she was if not a witch didn’t last very long.

What did you think of Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale episode 6?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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