History Main / TheSentinel

->''"In all tribal cultures, every village had a sentinel. Now, a sentinel is chosen because of a genetic advantage -- a sensory awareness that can be developed beyond normal humans. Your time spent in Peru has got to be connected with what's happening to you now. I've got hundreds of documented cases of one or two hyperactive senses but not one single subject with all five. You could be the real thing."''
-->-- '''Blair Sandburg''', ''{{The Sentinel}}''

''TheSentinel'' aired in the mid- to late 1990s on {{UPN}}. A cross between a CopShow and SciFi, it followed the life of Detective Jim Ellison and his civilian partner, Blair Sandburg.

Ellison, the sentinel, has five heightened senses and a genetic predisposition to protect his tribe. In this case, the city of Cascade. Blair is an anthropologist who specialises in ancient cultures, specifically the mythic tribal watchmen of old, and has a predisposition to attract every psycho to set foot in Cascade. Blair acts as Jim's guide, teaching to use his senses and act like a half way nice guy. Jim acts unofficially as Blair's 'blessed protector' by keeping Blair from getting killed by the various psychos he attracts.

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!!This show provides examples of:

* {{Aesop}}: The third season had a tendency to get this way. The episode [[GreenAesop Poaching]] came dangerously close to being {{Anvilicious}}.
* BerserkButton: Blair does not tolerate cheating, plagiarism, or you messing with his students. He jumped out of a helicopter after the last guy to do all three of those things, just to make sure the guy got to see the inside of a prison cell.
** Jim does not tolerate people hurting members of his tribe. And God help you if you hurt Blair. Lash ended up with six or so bullet holes in him.
* BigBrotherComplex: Jim is extremely protective of certain individuals, including Danny Choi and Blair Sandburg. Danny Choi got killed. Guess what happened to the guy(s) that killed him.
* BlondesAreEvil: Alex Barnes. That is all.
* BoundAndGagged: In "Cypher", Blair is kidnapped right out of the Loft, chained first to a floor and later a dentist chair, and gagged with a yellow scarf.
* BuddyCopShow: Jim and Blair's developing friendship is a major factor in early episodes, and their relationship problems provides drama in later seasons.
* BusmansHoliday: Any and every time any of the main characters leave Cascade for any reason.
* CartwrightCurse: The women Jim likes to date seem to end up dead a lot. Most are bad guys so it works out in the end.
* ChaseScene: Car chases, usually, but "Brother's Keeper" has Jim chasing the suspect on ''horseback''.
* CigarChomper: Simon. Par for the course, as he's DaChief. "Brother's Keeper" reveals that he and a couple other Cascade Police officers are in a cigar club.
* CityOfAdventure: Cascade, oh so very much Cascade.
* CoincidenceMagnet: Blair. If there is a psycho trying to blow up a bus, bring down down a trapped elevator with explosives, or poison a small town for nefarious reasons, then Blair will be on that bus, be in that elevator, or have drunk that poison. Only one of the three examples can be considered a direct result of Blair's work with Jim. Also he rented a warehouse apartment next to a drug lab that blew up.
** One has to wonder how he survived long enough to meet Jim. Of course, Jim's sentinel powers may have required someone to act as bait/damsel-in-distress to activate his guardian instincts.
* CowboyCop: Jim was this in a big way early in his career until he ended up with Jack Pendergast as his partner. By the beginning of the series he's described by his co-workers as a lone wolf and a JerkAss. Then Blair comes along and mellows him... sorta.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: Averted. [[spoiler: Jim fails to revive Blair with CPR, which makes sense since Blair's heart had stopped. The panther/wolf merger though, which made less sense, succeeded.]]
* CursedWithAwesome / BlessedWithSuck: Jim feels this way about his abilities a lot of the time. See also IJustWantToBeNormal; below.
* DaChief: Captain Simon Banks. He knows about Jim's abilities and is continually having to explain away Jim's eccentricities to his superiors along with why Blair's still hanging around when his observer's pass expired years ago.
* DeadlyClosingCredits: Season Three finale. The fans had to wait a year and a half to find out if [[spoiler: Blair would live]]
* DistaffCounterpart: An episode with [[StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]] as a woman who also gains hyper-senses. Turned out she was also [[spoiler: an EvilCounterpart]]. Cassie Welles is a female version of Blair before he figured out that listening to Jim would keep him alive longer.
* EvilCounterpart: Alex Barnes.
* GirlOfTheWeek: Most of the episodes, usually each of the two guys get the girl every other week.
* HannibalLecture: Lash for awhile in "Cypher" until Blair turns it around on him.
* HeroicBastard: Blair's mother has never told him who his father is, and may not even know.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jim and Blair live together from episode three through the finale.
* HeyItsThatGuy: [[StarTrekVoyager Jeri Ryan]] as Alex Barnes. Also Udo Kier, the go-to guy anytime anyone needs a creepy-looking German guy, as Klaus Zellar.
* HippieParents: Blair's mother Naomi.
* HoYay: Due to Blair's position as Jim's guide, he spends a lot of time touching Jim to keep him from zoning.
** The actors picked up on it and played it up in the bloopers.
* HotMom: Jim feels this way towards Blair's mother, much to the latter's chagrin.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Blair's job is essentially to help Jim learn to master his abilities. This role becomes more nominal in later episodes, though he still has to provide Jim with advice every now and then.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Jim, even after he accepts his abilities help people, never stops bitching about how he's BlessedWithSuck.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Blair really doesn't like guns. Instead he uses doors, vending machines, fire hoses, and anything else he can get his hands on when stuff hits the fan.
* InternalAffairs: Sheila Irwin. Apparently Jim was an ass to her when she was still in the Major Crimes unit. Two years later she's investigating him for the murder of his old partner and the theft of over $500,000 in ransom money. Guess how the rest of this story goes.
** In her defense, he did purchase his classy studio apartment soon after the murder - it was his collected special ops back-pay for when he was presumed lost in Peru. Of course, that's ClassifiedInformation, meaning he can't talk about it, leaving him stuck with a suspicious windfall.
* JamesBondage: Blair. Every other episode he gets kidnapped, tied up, or held hostage.
* LastNameUltimatum: It's rare that an episode passes without Simon shouting "ELLISON!" and/or Jim muttering "Sandburg" in an exasperated voice at least once.
* LogicalWeakness: When surprised or trying to focus on too many senses at once, Jim would occasionally zone out due to sensory overload. Tapping Jim on the shoulder to try to snap him out of it is almost the only reason Blair wasn't TheLoad.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Jim befriended one, as well as the rest of the tribe, during his time in Peru. He appears a couple times in the series to help Jim out.
* TheMole: In "Cypher" someone keeps leaking information about the case to the press. Simon supects Blair and Blair suspects his girlfriend. It turns out to be the killer.
* MotorMouth: Blair.
* MushroomSamba: After Blair eats the pizza in "Blind Man's Bluff."
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Played with. While Jim (or more often, Blair) figure out new things he can do with his senses every once in a while (especially in the earlier episodes), it's always something to do with the fact that his normal five senses are hyper-acute, and are generally at least somewhat logical extensions of things he already knew how to do.
* TheOtherRainforest: It's set in Washington state.
* ReallyGetsAround: Blair. But not as much as [[YaoiFanGirl some fans]] would like.
* RememberedICouldFly: Jim's Sentinel powers originally activated in Peru, but he [[LaserGuidedAmnesia forgot about them]] when he was rescued, buried under post-traumatic stress. They come back to him when a stakeout he's on forces him into isolation for days at a time, which triggers residual memories of his time in Peru.
* ScaryBlackMan: Simon qualifies. Just ask anyone in Major Crimes, or someone who messed with his son, Darryl.
* SecretKeeper: Blair and Simon. The fact that Blair is trying to keep Jim's secret while simultaneously writing his dissertation on it creates certain obvious problems, and in the series finale [[spoiler: Blair sacrifices his academic career to protect the secret]].
* SerialKiller: David Lash from "Cypher", one of the show's most memorable villains.
* SuperSenses: The whole damn premise of the show.
* {{Uncanceled}}: After the season three {{cliffhanger}}, thank god.
* VigilanteMan: Jim skirts this a couple times. When his favorite informant/[[BigBrotherComplex little brother]] figure is killed, Jim uses some questionable methods, including an illegal wire tap, to try in bring the guy(s) down.
** The in-universe outrage that this provokes is kind of funny in retrospect.
* WeirdnessMagnet: Jim. Since the activation of his Sentinel abilities, he's been contacted by a ghost, sent on vision quests, and pestered by a fricken spirit panther.
* WorkingWithTheEx: Jim's ex-wife worked in the department with him during the first season. She got PutOnABus before long, though.
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** One has to wonder how he survived long enough to meet Jim.

* RememberedICouldFly: Jim's Sentinel powers originally activated in Peru, but he [[LaserGuidedAnmesia forgot about them]] when he was rescued, buried under post-traumatic stress. They come back to him when a stakeout he's on forces him into isolation for days at a time, which triggers residual memories of his time in Peru.

& RememberedICouldFly: Jim's Sentinel powers originally activated in Peru, but he [[LaserGuidedAnmesia forgot about them]] when he was rescued, buried under post-traumatic stress. They come back to him when a stakeout he's on forces him into isolation for days at a time, which triggers residual memories of his time in Peru.

* LastNameUltimatim: It's rare that an episode passes without Simon shouting "ELLISON!" and/or Jim muttering "Sandburg" in an exasperated voice at least once.

* BusmansHoliday

* InternalAffairs: Sheila Irwin. Apparently Jim was an ass to her when she was still in the Major Crimes unit. Two years later she's investigating him for the murder of his old partner and the theft of over $50,0000 in ransom money. Guess how the rest of this story goes.

** Jim does not tolerate people hurting memebers of his tribe. And God help you if you hurt Blair. Lash ended up with six or so bullet holes in him.
* BigBrotherComplex: Jim is extremely protective of certain indiviuals, including Danny Choi and Blair Sandburg. Danny Choi got killed. Guess what happened to the guy(s) that killed him.

* BoundAndGagged: In "Cypher," Blair is kidnapped right out of the Loft, chained first to a floor and later a dentist chair, and gagged with a yellow scarf.

* HannibalLecture: Lash for awhile in ''Cypher'' until Blair turns it around on him.

* JamesBondage: Blair. Everyother episode he gets kidnapped, tied up, or held hostage.
* TheMole: In ''Cypher'' someone keeps leaking information about the case to the press. Simon supects Blair and Blair suspects his girlfriend. It turns out to be the killer.

* TheWoobie: Blair's big blue eyes, long curly hair, propensity for attracting trouble, and habit of accepting manly hugs of comfort from Jim after being rescued tend to get him this title from the fangirls.
** I forgot about his lips. He qualifies for ''TheCutie'' and ''BreakTheCutie'' by the beginning of season four.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Blair taking out two of Kincaid's men with the weapons at his disposal. A bathroom stall door and a vending machine.
** In the same episode, Blair claims he flew a helicopter in Desert Storm when the pilot wouldn't take the thing down. No clue if that was just bull, but still, holding the... flare gun? on the pilot and forcing him to take the helicopter down was awesome, either way.
** When Blair, chained up and freaked out, suddenly calms down and starts talking back to Lash, turning Lash's own psychobabble and insecurities back on him.
** About any of Jim's BigDamnHeroes moments, including but not limited to, shooting up the barrel of Veronica Sarris's gun, taking a ride on a helicopter via the landing props to rescue Blair, and anytime he makes use of that special forces training.
*** And the examples listed are just from the first two episodes.
*** A specific example of the special forces training comes in an episode when Jim saves Simon and his son from a [[ItMakesSenseInContext Peruvian drug factory]]. Complete with a montage of him putting on warpaint and gearing up for a one-man assault.
** No mention of the time Blair manages to use social counseling and sheer ''niceness'' to convince an apartment building full of elderlies to stand up to gun-wielding gang-bangers and kick them out? Without any weapons at all? That was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Blair ''and'' the elders!

* TheOtherRainforest: It's set in Washington State.

* TearJerker: ''Sentinel Too pt. 1''. Jim's reaction [[spoiler: to Blair's death]]

* YaoiFanGirl: So many. It's almost impossible to find Het or Gen in this fandom. Not that this troper is complaining.
** The fandom also suspects that Megan is a closet yaoi fan girl.

''TheSentinel'' aired in the mid- to late 1990s on {{UPN}}. A cross between a cop show and scifi, it followed the life of Detective Jim Ellison and his civilian partner, Blair Sandburg.

** About any of Jim's BigDamnHeroes moments, including but not limited to, shooting up the barrel of Veronica Sarris's gun, taking a ride on a helicopter via the landing props to rescue Blair, and anytime he makes use of that special forces training.

** What, no love for, in the same episode, Blair claiming he flew a helicopter in Desert Storm when the pilot wouldn't take the thing down? No clue if that was just bull, but still, holding the... flare gun? on the pilot and forcing him to take the helicopter down was awesome, either way.