'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' meets the resistance
We're now two episodes into Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and so far I like where the show is headed. It's done big explosions without sacrificing character and smaller stories. Sure, I have to keep telling myself to not worry about continuity issues between the movies and the TV show, it's a hard thing not to worry about, but I'm working on it. Really I am. I promise not to talk about continuity too much tonight.
So, with that in mind, let's jump into tonight's episode. And, speaking of jumping in, the first thing that happened tonight was the appearance of a Terminator skull in 2007 (more bits of the metal skeleton would show up later). The skull was picked up by a member of a cleaning crew who didn't quite grasp how unlucky he was about to become, even if the entire audience did.
Quickly though came the continuity issues that I'm not talking about. So, I'll just say that when Cameron and Sarah were going to head out to Sarah's faked ID contact, Cameron jumped in and told her that future John, 2027 John if you will, sent back some good fake ID people.
It seems as though there are a bunch of resistance fighters in our time. Resisting what, I'm not quite sure, but they're resisting. Or, more accurately, they were resisting until some point not too far before Sarah and Cameron showed up and found them dead. Sadly for the heroines, not all the bodies there were human. There was one of those robot guys with human flesh on the outside among the bodies. What are they called again... oh yeah, Terminators.
How many Terminators get sent back from the future anyway? I would have imagined time travel to be a labor and/or energy intensive process. It seems though that however time and energy consuming it is, those folks in the future can just keep on sending Terminators back. It's like there's an endless supply of folks (real and Terminator) just aching for the chance to go back in time.
Cameron and this new Terminator went head to head for a little while before he bailed for greener pastures. Sarah was smart enough at that point to ask Cameron one of my questions - why they had to bother to jump into the future if there were going to be Terminators there too. Sarah figured that if they hadn't jumped she would have had more time to teach John about being a leader before Judgment Day came calling. Sadly, Cameron explained, Sarah was wrong in her assumption as, if they hadn't jumped, she would have died on December 4, 2005 due to cancer (well hello there Terminator 3 reference, so nice to see you!).
Cameron also explained that the Terminators that were sent back in time don't necessarily know that John is there in 2007 as he ought to have looked in 1999. Thus, they're not on the lookout for him. Of course if they figure out John is there in 1999 form he'll be terminated.
So, John Connor, who was ordered by his mom to not leave the house, was dumb enough to not listen. He was more dumb than that though. He went to the mall and there he decided to play about on the internet, finding out about his death in 1999 and looking up his mom's ex-fiancé, Charlie, whom he went to visit. How does this guy grow up to be the leader of the resistance again? I hate it when people we're supposed to see as smart act in idiotic ways. Didn't he learn anything from that whole liquid metal Terminator experience?
Elsewheres, Sarah had no luck with the fake IDs. Her contact's nephew, the contact being retired, wanted 20 grand to make them. He was also somewhat curious as to why this woman he'd seen dead on the front page of a newspaper 8 years earlier was sitting in front of him now. It was a good question. I'd want to know too.
Another thing I want to know is how the Terminator that killed the resistance fighter knew to go back to the resistance fighters' digs at the exact same time that Sarah, John, and Cameron were there (the triumvirate went to see if the fighters had any money they could pilfer for their fake IDs). One could hypothetically argue that the Terminator was there because there were supposed to be four resistance fighters and yet there were only three dead ones. The evil Terminator could have been there to find the fourth man, but it still seems a little coincidental.
In classic television "meanwhile" fashion, a Terminator body, sans skull, that I presume to be Cromartie's, eliminated the poor guy that found the Terminator skull on the side of the road. I actually hope it's not Cromartie, I hope that it's yet another Terminator, but I doubt it. That would lead to even more questions than just having a disassembled Cromartie trail through our heroes' time travel bubble and rebuild himself over the course of the episode. Okay, that leads to a lot of questions too, but I'm still calling it more logical.
Oddly, very oddly if you ask me (and I think you do), after getting hooked up with the fake IDs Sarah opted to go back to her old contact to find out if he'd lied to her about his retiring, if he had been a snitch, and if he had snitched on Sarah. He swore that he hadn't, but Cameron thought there was a possibility, a possibility, that he was lying. He was terminated. He did however leave a voicemail for Agent Ellison, teasing him with the possibility of some information prior to dying. How he knew to contact Ellison with the info on Sarah I can't guess.
The second half of the premiere ended with Sarah at the doctor's office, getting some blood drawn. How long does anyone think they'll keep us in suspense as to whether or not she has cancer?
Other bits and pieces from tonight:
- Cameron takes orders from John not Sarah, but not this John, 2027 John. And, according to Cameron the two John's aren't the same yet.
- Sarah's had 9 aliases, 23 jobs, speaks 4 languages, and spent 3 years in a mental hospital. That and $2 will get her on the subway.
Personally, I don't take the subway to work anymore, I travel via the internet superhighway over to The TV and Film Guy's Reviews.
You know when how you just can't turn away from a trainwreck, well this is pretty similar. So far it's been a straight to dvd Terminator 2.5. Some of the things they got correct were nice. Some was odd. Going back to the Dyson house was weird. There is just sooooooo much that needs explaining and they haven't really tried to explain anything. The fact that they're up against what seems to be older models, makes me yawn. If they can survive the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), they sure as hell can survive a bunch of T-99's or whatever Cromartie is. Because Arnold's T-101 would wipe him.
I just don't know where this can possibly all lead that would make me happy. Because honestly, as yawn inducing as the first 95% of T3 was, the ending was amazing and one of the most satisfying ever. It gave closure to that part of the story and puts us right where we need to be for Terminator: Salvation. Not to mention, that ending really validated it's predecessors. But I'll keep watching, because really if I can make it through Prison Break, I might as well keep the channel on for this.
It's entertirely possible I will tire of this show eventually, but (especially since there is little other scripted fair) I've had a good ole time with the show. I felt our title character shined a bit more tonight. And oh, Summer Glau, how I do love you.
One extra buggy thing is that the show will have to end with John returning to 1999, so he has time to grow up for T3 (and what year did T3 take place? The move is older than 2005, I believe: if it took place in the same year it was made than Sarah would have to have died earlier).
Not too concerned with the continuity issues since this show is trying to build its own identity. I think it's similar to the way "Smallville" has tweaked the continuity of the Superman story and timeline; Superman purists might take issue, but the show has staked out its own turf. In a sense,it doesn't really exist in the DC Universe.
This show can do likewise and still be enjoyable even if it doesn't strictly adhere to James Cameron's Terminator 'universe'.
The show is looking good so far, I hope it has legs. Not overly crazy about this John Connor yet, but maybe he'll shape up. Summer Glau is a pleasant surprise (I wasn't initially sold on her as a Terminator; mea culpa)
And hey, I know T3 can't hold a candle to the first 2 Terminator flicks (what could?) but taken simply as a straight-ahead action flick it ain't that bad!
Smallville gets away with it because the Superman universe has existed for so long, and in so many other forms, so it Smallville has the ability to be it's own show. The Terminator really just has 3 movies of lore to build itself off of, so I think it needs to be as close to the universe we know as possible. Especially because it's so recent. I mean Superman is well over 50 years old, much easier to get away from. I wish somehow James Cameron could have at least taken an executive producing role on the show and maybe just written the pilot or something. Otherwise it's just going to be Angel season 4, (where Whedon was basicly non existent because of Firefly and finishing off Buffy).
And Z-Wulf, you're right as an action movie T3 stands on it's own nicely, but the majority of movie (story wise)was been there, done that.
Maybe I missed something, but isn't time travel supposed to only convey living tissue? Isn't that why everyone shows up naked? If so, how did the Terminator parts blow through from 1999 to 2007?
I don't care that there are inconsistencies, but don't raise rules and then blatantly ignore the.
Maybe I missed something, but isn't time travel supposed to only convey living tissue? Isn't that why everyone shows up naked? If so, how did the Terminator parts blow through from 1999 to 2007?
I don't care that there are inconsistencies, but don't raise rules and then blatantly ignore them.
I'm more that willing to give this show a little grace when it comes to continuity when compared to the movies.
I'm also willing to give it a little grace when it comes to their main characters doing dumb things if for no other reason that to start/continue a story line.
What I have trouble doing is not shaking my head at the TV when I see supporting characters doing things that neither make any sense what so ever nor do they advance the story.
Can somebody please explain to me how Charlie's first reaction to seeing John wasn't surprise that he's alive but absolute shock that he's ONLY AGED ABOUT A WEEK SINCE LAST HE SAW HIM!?!?!?!
The second episode was pretty good. Lena and Summer seem to be getting less "robotic" in their performances (yeah, I know Summer has an excuse!). I'm concerned at some of Cameron's actions - killing the old guy and intending to kill the police officer. That's not how you make a sympathetic hero character. I'm more concerned about that then whetheror not Charlie in his 10 seconds before getting beaten up had any time to utter "so why haven't you aged"?
Maybe, I'm missing something, but I didn't get the whole scene with Charlie.
First, why did John go there? Second, why did John react the way he did where Charlie came towards him? He broke into Charlie's house and than beat Charlie up when he appoached him. That's the part that had me scratching my head.
I thought this was a great episode. Yeah, I too was analyzing the inconsistencies with the films and how John would now be too young for T3 but that's ok. Summer Glau alone is worth watching. I'm glad they found another amazing role for her after Serenity!