Things have been tough since Harper (Hazel Doupe) dropped that massive bombshell in Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale episode 3. Let’s see what happens this week with the Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale episode 4 recap.
A man arrives in Sanctuary, but he’s no ordinary man — he has magic in him. He first visits the site of the accident, then he heads to Sarah’s (Elaine Cassidy) office and rings the bell, but she’s not there. His name is Robert Alton (Marcus Lamb), and he’s from the Moot, the organization that governs witches’ affairs.
Ryan (Adam Isla O’Brien) waits for Maggie (Stephanie Levi-John) outside her hotel and he tries not to notice when she kisses their boss, Remy (Chris Newman) goodbye. She’s all business this morning, asking if he saw Harper’s interview. It could provide a motive, depending on how it’s interpreted.
Sarah is trying to find Harper with help from Bridget (Valerie O’Connor), but she’s nowhere to be found. Maggie is also looking for her and she stops by Sarah’s house to find her. Though Harper isn’t home, Maggie wants to know if she knew what happened with Harper’s statement. Maggie has to bring Sarah into the station for questioning because now both she and her daughter have a motive. She has an alibi for the night — she was at Bridget’s house — and she can do magic remotely in some cases. Maggie asks if Sarah was upset that Dan raped Harper, because he died by magic and she’s the only witch in town. Was she exacting revenge for what he did to Harper?
Sarah wants to know when the “persecution” will end, because this treatment has been going on for years. Witches have always been the first ones to be blamed for crimes. She tells the investigators she won’t say anything else until her lawyer is present.
Putting on airs
Michael (Barry John Kinsella) tells Abigail (Amy de Bhrun) that she might feel better if she gets back to normal. She can’t, not after her son was accused of rape on TV. The doorbell rings and he calls her downstairs.
Harper (Hazel Doupe) is in the kitchen when Sarah gets back. She’s defensive, telling her mother she only told the truth. Sarah points out that she’s only given them both a motive. “What happened to me was a crime, too,” Harper reminds her. Sarah wishes she could do something to erase what happened, but she can’t, so all she can do is to call in reinforcements and put a spell on all the locks so Harper can’t leave again.
Abigail goes downstairs to find all of Dan’s friends, who are there to defend Dan’s good name. They tell her that Michael called upon them to host a vigil in Dan’s honor to remind everyone who he was. Abigail loves the idea.
Sarah’s doorbell rings and she sees Robert Alton, the Moot’s legal council. He doesn’t need to know the details of the case because the Moot has provided them for him. He assures her that the Moot is behind her, provided that he doesn’t find any transgressions or wrongdoings. Sarah’s face falls when she realizes that he could find out what happened when she brought Dan back to life.
Maggie’s listening to Harper’s interview. She and Ryan realize that she says “it wasn’t just me” when it comes to the rape. Was this an isolated incident?
Michael’s plan is to host the vigil at the warehouse where Dan died. Abigail praises his brilliance.
The investigation continues
Maggie meets with the Garston family again. Julia (Kelly Campbell) and Beatrice (Holly Sturton) are at the table with her while Albie (Keith McErlean) tinkers with the coffeemaker. Maggie wants to know what they talk about at their coven meetings. Julia is insistent that Sarah didn’t kill Dan. She’d know it, because their coven is about sharing energy. But Albie doesn’t buy it. Maggie brings up the possibility that Dan assaulted other girls. Beatrice is defensive, saying he was a nice guy. She says Harper is a “slut” and blames everything on her. Maggie can’t shake the feeling that she’s covering something up.
Ted Bolt (Stephen Lord) asks his son Jake (Darragh Gilhooly) if the allegations are true. Jake says they’re not, and when Ted presses him, his wife tells him to back off.
Maggie provides Abigail with an update on the investigation. Before she leaves, Maggie asks why Sarah was gathering energy the night of their coven meeting. Abigail wonders if she’s implying that Sarah used their energy to kill Dan, which only upsets Abigail even more and makes her think it’s the truth about what happened. Michael arrives and asks what they wanted, and now Abigail is upset that Sarah used her energy to kill her son.
Maggie returns to the police station, where Robert is waiting for her. He’s there to investigate prejudicial treatment against witches. Maggie says that they called in a consultant who said that magic was used at the scene of the crime, but that’s not what Robert is there for.
Planting seeds of doubt
Abigail places a call to the news stations to tell them about the vigil. She spots Bridget and Julia having lunch and tells them about the vigil. When Abigail asks if they’ll have her back against Sarah, Abigail snaps at them and suggests that Sarah put a spell on them. Bridget reminds them that they all owe Sarah for what she’s done for them, but Abigail won’t have it.
Robert returns to the warehouse and finds a young woman setting up for the vigil. She’s the same woman Sarah helped with her pregnancy issues in the first episode. She says that they all have been taken advantage of by “that witch.” Meanwhile, Pierre (Daniel Adegboyega) is there for Sarah after she discovers that her car was vandalized. He urges her to hang on, even though she’s feeling more and more alienated in the only home she’s ever known. She thanks him for all his support.
Maggie gets frustrated by the vigil, knowing that the town will be demanding answers. She tells Ryan to get down there.
Sarah tries to speak with Jake to ask him to retract his statement. Ted gets in her way so she begs Jake’s mom to let her speak with him. Sarah pleads for him to help her, reminding him of when he asked her for help. He calls it blackmail and slams the door in her face.
Robert visits Maggie at the station and asks about the town’s anti-witch sentiment. She tries to say there isn’t any, but Ted arrives and threatens Maggie if she doesn’t do anything about Sarah. This only gives Robert more to work with.
Abigail is overcome when she sees the large crowd gathered for Dan’s vigil. She greets everyone and sees the Garston family and Bridget there with her daughter. Robert is also there.
A united front
Maggie knocks on Sarah’s door and Harper answers. She’s there to arrest Sarah, but Harper points out that her mother didn’t know about the rape until afterwards, and since she doesn’t have any magic, it means that they can’t be suspects.
At the vigil, Bridget and Julia beg Abigail to stop smearing Sarah’s name. When Abigail reveals that Julia asked Sarah to help get her husband back (after he’d been cheating on her), Albie leaves.
Ryan tells Maggie what he saw, so Maggie goes back to the Garston house and pushes Beatrice until she admits she leaked the video of Harper and Dan because she was jealous of Harper.
Robert tells Sarah that the Moot can’t support her anymore because he’s seen evidence that she used magic on people without their consent — referring to Albie, not what she did to Dan to save his life. So Sarah tells Harper that night that they need to go back to living their lives.
The next day, Harper goes to school and Beatrice is there. She spits in Harper’s face and then pretends that Harper cast a spell on her, but she miraculously recovers in time to have the boys dunk Harper in the fountain to prove she’s not a witch.
New episodes of Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale are available to stream every Thursday on AMC Plus and Sundance Now.
