"Samson and Delilah"
"We have to kill her, John"
-Sarah Connor
Picking up exactly where the season one finale left off, Cameron's Jeep 'splodes via a car bomb planted by Sarkissian and his man, who overpower Sarah and John in their attempt to find the missing hard drive. Cameron reactivates herself and seemingly comes to the Connor's rescue; however, Sarkissian is already 'deceased' when she enters the room. All is not well as Cameron draws her weapon on John -she is about to terminate him (b/c of damage to her CPU)! An explosion gives Sarah and John enough of a delay to escape Cameron. They jump out the second story window, are injured and escape via a stolen mini-van, which Sarah ends up crashing. The wounded pair hobble off until they seek sanctuary in a local church.
Also picking up from the previous episode are Agent Ellison, Cromartie and the aftermath of the FBI massacre at the apartment complex. After this experience, apparently Ellison now believes Sarah (well..derr). Charley Dixon heads to the Connor's former residence after getting an emergency call. There, he spies two bodies that he assumes are the Connor's until he looks under the tarp revealing two, burnt men (eww). Dixon and Derek Reese pair up and follow a possible lead to the Connor's whereabouts. Later at the scene of the Connor's house fire, Ellison and Cromartie have a happenstance-like meeting. Ellison believes that he has been kept alive to help the Terminator track Sarah and John.
Cameron beautifies herself for the next stage in the hunt for her boyfriend (cough), John and tracks the pair to the church. She falls for a trap and is immobilized so that John can attempt to remove her chip. The lack of proper tools causes this plan to fail and they flee once again. The duo carjacks a SUV but are forced into the LA River where Cameron flips the vehicle. John runs away with Cameron in pursuit. Sarah saves the day by smashing/immobilizing Cameron between two trucks. Against Cameron's pleas that she is 'fixed,' John removes her CPU. Reese and Dixon are called in and help mend the two injured Connors. The group takes Cameron to a junkyard to destroy her and her chip but John pulls a double cross and re-inserts the chip into the cyborg's head. Given the choice to kill him, Cameron chooses not to. That evening, John cuts his hair.
While the events of this episode were unfolding, we are introduced to a new player in the game Catherine Weaver, the CEO of Zeira Corp. She has acquires the Turk computer for her company for reasons unknown. Well, except for the fact that she is a T-1000.
Commentary
It's good to be back and shockingly to me, this episode had more jaw dropping moments than probably all of season one combined. I was almost on the edge of my seat whilst watching it and I don't recall feeling that way over many of the episodes from s1. Although I do hope that the producers keep up this momentum for the rest of the season, I fear that they will not be able to as the characters are supposed to be in hiding and not causing a path of destruction (as even commented on by Reese). This season should be a very interesting ride, indeed. OK! Now onto the random commentaries and nitpicking! Yay!
Sarah is getting way too lax living there. Who would have thunk (yes, I said thunk) that the mother of the savior of mankind would get taken out by a door opening in her face? I believe Cameron did her a favor by inadvertently burning down her house.
I hate the term 'emo' and yet, I have no other way as to describe Sarah and Derek's treatment of John. Why exactly are they concerned about John 'seeing it all' in regards, I believe, to Sarkissian's death? Umm, hasn't he seen it before? Hey, didn't Reese just headshot the fake Sarkissian in the previous episode? Yes, it's his birthday, but seriously, instead of babying him, they should tell him to 'man up." After all, he might go and do a crazy thing like getting a hair cut...
Anyone agree that Summer is more Terminator-like in this episode than in all of last season? Of course, this could be because of the damage to her chip reverting her back to a pre-reprogrammed (heh) state. And whoa Nelly, did she look sizzlingly hot (get it? Because she was in two explosions) as she relentlessly pursued the Connors. I guess I like me my Cyborg women all crispified (get it? ha) and staplefied. Speaking of staples, how frakking cool was it to have Cameron repair her wounds via a stable gun? Also very sick, but still cool! Speaking of sick, the long camera shots of John cutting into Cameron's head in the Church were actually a lil too realistic for me. It was her head movement/reacting to John applying force as well as the cutting instrument. Eww. Speaking of eww, I do believe that Cameron was way too emotional at the end with all her pleading and "I love you John like you love me?" What!?! Visions of Eric Cartman's Awesomo 5000 and the movie producer dance through my head now. All I have to say is that Cameron was too emo for my tastes there... Wait...
Final Cameron musing: are all Terminators programmed to kill John Connor?
Sanctuary? Do Churches still offer that? I might try that after my next bank heist (please do not tell the Feds) as if any priest I encounter was as forgiving or understanding as this one was (apparently, he didn't mind a girl getting electrocuted and having a lobotomy in his chapel), I should have no problem lying low while I wait for the heat to clear.
I swear that Internal Affairs FBI agent is a Terminator!
Shirley Manson! I love Garbage (the group, not actual garbage)! Wanting to remain spoiler-free, I had no idea that she was going to become a cast member. During the opening sequence (which was hella cool -very anti-mainstream TV if I do say so myself), I thought to myself that the singer sounded like Shirley Manson. Later I couldn't place the actresses face and it bothered the heck out of me until I researched it on the FOX website. Anyways, although cool she is in the show, I thought her initial performance was lacking. It did make more sense once we see her surprise in the bathroom, so I'm willing to give her a pass now. We'll see what the future brings... wish I had a time machine... maybe a blue box? Oh, how many jaws dropped at the sight of another T-1000? I was actually trying to figure out why the urinal was moving like that; basically, not even thinking about T2.
Cool references to
Terminator 2: Cameron's "call to him" line, the return visit to the LA River and then the appearance of another T-1000.
Since this episode was so action packed, I decided it would be fun to do a violence tally (hopefully, no family friendly group will attempt to use this list as I might just have to sue):
-SUV explodes via car bomb
-attack/beating of the two Connors by Sarkissian
-accidental house fire/explosion
-three deaths; one Terminator induced, the other via the Connor family, one stabbing/impalement through the eye socket via liquid metal weapon
-one car accident involving a car and mini-van
-second accident involving an SUV and one malfunctioning Terminator
-at least one car jacking by knife point (details of the first mini-van stolen are unclear)
-one pancaked Terminator
(not included: window/roof diving; near misses via autos and random homeless people; the various surgeries performed on Cameron, the homeless vs Jeep bottle smashing incident or the deceased FBI agents from the previous episode)
I wonder how this compares to a season premiere of a show like
Gilmore Girls.
Nitpicking
(I nitpick because I love... no wait!)
I hate the fake slow-mo effect as it makes the show look cheap -especially one as slow as this. Gives the appearance that they couldn't afford to record the slow-motion footage, in-camera instead of doing in post.
Didn't any of the FBI agents investigating the crime scene notice that Cromartie's twin had been dead for a while now?
They weren't wearing seatbelts both times they stole vehicles guess this would make for a good PSA for seatbelt wearing... except that they walked away... strike that... hobbled away from both the accidents. One would figure that the two would learn their lesson the first time.
Other than to keep the background busy and less static, was there any reason why that dude was in the scene when Cameron was stapling her face? Was he the clerk? Did she kill him? You see, if two camera shots were not devoted to his reaction to Cameron, I wouldn't mind. Focus on him, then I must ask: what is his purpose? Maybe he won one of those 'walk on' roles.
The mighty Turk computer is a server storage enclosure?
Getting tired of over the shoulder close-ups of Cameron's face in this episode. It probably wasn't as many as it seemed to me. I should have kept a count for that as well.
Kinda cliché... sorry, strike that... tension-filled car driving sequences, no? Oh look out, homeless dudes pushing a shopping cart into the street while another vehicle is on the opposite side! What's next? Two guys holding a large pane of glass?
OK, maybe I should just stifle my complaints from last season about Terminators being heavily ensconced in the past... nah. If there the last one was supposed to be a prototype and now there is a second one running about (seemingly less single minded than the T2 version), I will go out on a limb and say that there are probably a few thousand more T-1000's out there in 2008 (along with standard Terminator models on every block)
Quotes
Ellison: "Sorry you had to take the blame for what is not your fault... just bad luck."
Reese: "Right now, plays a pretty mean game of chess. In a couple of years, it's going to get really pissed off and blow up the world."
Cameron: "Call to him."
Cameron: "I love you John and you love me."
John: "So burn her."
Cameron: "Faith isn't part of my programming."
Sarah: "Yeah, well I'm not sure it's part of mine either."
My chip is starting to malfunction so that's it from me this week. Opinions about the episode? Likes/dislikes? Any clarifications or further nitpicks? Until next time, "I love you (fill in your name here) and you love me!"
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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in our
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