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| Stuart Townsend |
Could such a cold-hearted clinically depraved mind like that
of Dr. Samuel Wainwright (Stuart Townsend) life be ended so quickly?
In Salem’s
episodes Dead Birds and
Wages of Sin we watched as Dr. Samuel Wainwright’s relationship with Mary Selby
(Janet Montgomery) take the expected rise only to end very dramatically the
following week with the doctor becoming a sacrifice in Mary’s attempt to save
her son from becoming the permanent host of Satan.
However,
the way in which the good doctor meets his end in the pit of Hellfire has this reviewer wondering
if he is really gone. Or, having lost
his original host would “The First Demon”, Satan, turn and use the all too
eager to learn Dr. Wainwright as his new host. After all, there is the same
cold purity in the doctor’s quest to uncover the forbidden that has sent many good
doctors to their premature destructions; among them, Dr. Jekyll and Dr.
Frankenstein top the list.
Dr. Wainwright: I seek the materiality of the soul, its embodiment and, likewise, the
soul that lives in all things. If we can understand the physical seat of the
soul, and we understand the spiritual nature of all things, then we might learn
to do so much.
On the surface this quote of the good doctor sounds innocent
enough. At least until one realizes he is
speaking of the unseen and the intangible
spiritual soul, which many fable characters believe is only possible to witness
as the result of death.
The series writers describe Dr. Wainwright’s personality in
the following quote.
“When he was a child
he survived the plague and probably this affliction has spurred him to pursue a
medical career”
As an adult he is described as "a cold-hearted but quick-witted surgeon whose predilection for
sadism", Samuel Wainwright is a man of science, strongly anchored to the
logic and not at all intimidated nor superstitions nor fear of the divine as
the Puritans. Show a great practical spirit in the most difficult circumstances
- as it can be a city overrun by the plague - and also a quite mischievous mind
. . . .”
So, the question still remains has Dr. Samuel Wainwright
really met his final end, or shall we all be surprise if he reappear as a
handsome but deeply demonic version of his already cold hearted self.
