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RSS'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' sets its sights on Jesse
The basic problem with "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" giving us a couple of Jesse-centric episodes in a row is that Jesse is wholly unlikable. She's evil in a slow, mundanely evil way. If she were evil in a fun, over-the-top, killing folks willy-nilly, crazy way (like when she offed Riley) she'd be far more enjoyable.
The thing I find most interesting about the future in this series is that there is in fact a ton of metal fighting on the side of the humans. Jesse, on her sub in the future, was totally fine with all the Terminators fighting on the side of good, which was certainly not the attitude you and I are used to seeing from her. Gee, as soon as we saw that last week did you realize we were going to figure out just why Jesse is so against Cameron in the present? Yup, me too.
But, on to what was in that box the sub picked up for future John last week. It got opened early by less intelligent members of the crew. Clearly Skynet destroyed every horror film in the future, because otherwise at least one person would have realized how big a mistake it is to open locked boxes with unknown contents when you're miles from help. Box open, out popped a liquid metal Terminator who killed one crew member before running off and hiding in the ship. Kind of like "Alien," but underwater and without the awesome birthing scene.
From there, things went downhill fast, with Jesse trying to pull the metal captain from duty, the captain refusing, and Jesse blowing off the his head. That made sense, that I got. What I didn't get was Jesse then destroying the controls for the sub, bringing it to crush depth and ordering the sub abandoned. As the order to get into the escape pods was issued, I figured we were going to get the opening of "Alien 3." Instead, the liquid metal Terminator said to tell John that the answer was "no" and let Jesse escape without following. I was so happy they pulled back from going full-on "Alien" and fast-forwarded to Jesse back at her base in the future where she confronted Cameron (who debriefed Jesse).
We all knew that was coming, so it was nice that they finally got it out of the way. What we didn't know was that Jesse had been pregnant but after the sub mission wasn't. Cameron told Jesse that she was sorry for Jesse's loss, but I couldn't tell you whether or not Jesse had known she was pregnant in the first place. I'm thinking no, but if you feel differently comment below.
Hopefully, fingers crossed, legs crossed, we've actually seen the last of Jesse after tonight. In the present, John confronted her about her misdeeds and made sure that she knew that he knew what she'd done. Plus, he told her that her nefarious plot to poison him against Cameron wouldn't have worked anyway, and with that, he sent her packing, even Derek wished her goodbye.
Well, that's not entirely accurate, there was nothing "good" about the way Derek said "bye" to Jesse. He may, or may not, have shot her as she was fleeing. Whether she's alive or not probably depends on whether the show gets renewed for another season, but I'm hoping that she's well and truly gone. I actually yelled "shoot her, shoot her now Derek" at the TV when he hesitated with his finger on the trigger.
Come to think of it, maybe in this show's universe they've destroyed all horror movies in the present day too. Ellison was chatting with John Henry tonight, and there Ellison was, all ready to pack it in for the night, and end John Henry's painting of statues. John Henry though, asked Ellison to stay, explaining that his monster wasn't finished yet. Ellison eventually took off, but he left John Henry's body operational (apparently that's not done), leaving the monster more time to grow and learn and come into his own.
But, maybe I'm wrong, maybe John Henry wasn't the monster in question, maybe Weaver was. Weaver, John Henry learned, had written up a bunch of resignation letters wit forwarding address information (undated) for folks not yet gone from the company. Among those listed, Ellison. The implication that she was going to kill Ellison at some point down the line was pretty strong, but there again, I think we all saw that plan coming, didn't we?
So, my question for you -- did Jesse know she was pregnant? Do you think she somehow blamed Cameron for the loss?
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - we may not like horror movies, but we certainly know the do's and don'ts of being in one.
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I hope Jesse is dead and she probably did blame Cameron for the death of her baby... being one of those whiney killer's who you could tell was just gonna blame everything on someone else anyway! Couldn't stand her. Hope she's dead and gone for good!!!
I don't think that Jesse knew that she was pregnant when she got on the sub. I think she just found out when Cameron told her. As for blaming Cameron for the loss, I think she blamed ALL terminators for her loss. Not just Cameron.
Also, I think her turning on terminators isn't just about her baby. It's about everything that happened on that sub. About how so much might could have been prevented if terminators weren't trusted so much, leaving human resistance fighters feeling like the robots were taking over. Everyone won't be happy with John all of the time, or approve with everything he does (like Derek says), but I think Future John is maybe doing some things wrong, like leaving soldiers paranoid by leaving them so out of the loop.
Also, I think the entire episode was amazing. I don't understand how anyone watching it could think otherwise unless maybe they don't watch it and just were so behind that they didn't get anything. And I like Jesse. Yes, she's done some evil things, but she had reason for them. She's trying to prevent a future where the machines take over. Like she said in the episode "What are we fighting for if telling you is the same thing as telling John Connor?" It's not about getting back at them for taking away her unborn baby. Not entirely. That's just one small part of it.
Jesse's alive and well to torment our host Josh in the finale. Derek seemed to indicate as much in his scene with John. Now we know why she hates any metal.
The most interesting thing in this episode revolves around the question answered by the liquid terminator from the box. No we won't join you. It's entirely possible that this terminator becomes Weaver in the present.
Long ago I identified Weaver as one of the most interesting characters in the entire show. I haven't been disappointed. She has her own agenda separate from the cinema's established terminator narrative. It appears John Henry nears readiness for deployment by her. Dovetailing with this, Ellison and the rest of her company's staff will be terminated.
Judging from the upcoming previews, Sarah's cancer is back. Am I right? I'm going on record as predicting her death's depiction will be the major character oriented cliff hanger at the end of this season (or end of the TSCC series altogether).
It was a great episode indeed, with John surprising us with him knowing all along, his intelligence , seeing John Henry's (brilliant actor!) development and interaction with Ellison and his developing appreciation for humanity.. the scenes in the future and Derek going killer cold on Jesse.
I believe he did not kill Jesse in the end.
i will be among the guilty when this decent show gets axed. I love watching it but its so much better on my PC with headphones than on my TV I have abandoned the broadcast. Not that Im a neilson home or anything.
Anyway what struck me the last few wks was that when weaver was talking about development and learning she might as well have been talking about Ellisons growing bond with JH. In some ways I see him as the subject of her experiment as well to determine humanity's ability to serve metal. Of course if she's about to go all Trump and "fire" them all then that's probably out the window.
I think Derek did Jesse. If they need another one they can always get one from a different future. Ever since the one with the 'watchmaker' guy I've been looking for another Derek, the one from this Jesse's future.
I thought the last three weeks have all been very strong, a welcome change from the previous three weeks. I realize the show is probably doomed, but I still think it's a brilliant show which has been hurt by maybe a few weak eps at bad times -- and lack of patience, both from viewers and from Fox. (The writer's strike didn't help, either.) Anyway, I thought last night's, showing that John Connor isn't just the confused kid we see an awful lot, was fiendishly clever. Well done, people. Hope you get another season of shows, if not on Fox then somewhere else....
i ended up liking jesse by the end of this episode--and i do think derek shot her--if he could kill his best friend he could kill her too.
i ended up liking jesse by the end of this episode--and i do think derek shot her--if he could kill his best friend he could kill her too.
I was hoping for Jesse to be provided with better motivation for killing Riley and an explanation of why it is so important for John to kill Cameron. Maybe he got seduced and after some robo loving, turned on the humans and joined the machines.
I find it interesting that the most compelling characters are the machines, Weaver, John Henry and Cameron.