(S02E18) Viewers, come back! The water is safe. The "Sad Sarah" storyline is officially over, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles has found its groove once again. Last week, we said goodbye to Sarah's depressing head-trip with an engaging episode that ended with a shocker (well, I was shocked anyway). This week, John, Sarah, Derek and Ellison struggled to answer that eternal Terminator question: Can metal be trusted?
The easy answer, of course, is "Hell no!" In John and Sarah's case, Cameron cannot be trusted. She's been withholding information -- and spare robot parts -- from them since the beginning. She tried to murder them earlier this season after her chip went all wonky, and she briefly lost control of her robo-arm last week.
Cameron might "love" John, but that won't mean a thing if her chip reverts to bad girl mode. Even with her chip operating normally, Cameron is a danger to the Connors and everyone around them. She's not above doing an evil deed to "protect the mission" like, say, killing Riley. We know she didn't do it, but it's not hard to see why John, Sarah and Derek might think she's responsible for Riley's death.
John doesn't want to believe it, though, and he knows there's more to the story. Like all of us who watch this show, he wants Cameron to stick around for good. That's why he's determined to find out the real circumstances surrounding Riley's death. I hope he CSIs his way to the truth soon, for a lot of reasons. First, the trail will lead directly to Jesse, and with any luck, Cameron will finally get to kill her dead. Second, it's never fun when the show pits Sarah (the title character) against Cameron (the only truly interesting character). I'd rather see the fully engaged, ass kicking, super sleuth Sarah working alongside Cameron than the humorless, suspicious Sarah we got in this ep. Am I alone here? Who else would rather see these two fine ladies fighting against Skynet together than quietly giving each other disapproving looks from across the room for an hour?
Cameron got to deliver the funniest line of the night again: "Goodbye, bird. There's a 51% chance I wouldn't have killed you." And just like last week, she went from hilarious to creepy in a heartbeat. Her Riley imitation was downright disturbing. Imagine being John on the other end of that phone conversation. I wouldn't be able to hold it together. I can't really fault Cameron for taking the ploy all the way like she did. She did her job and she did it well, almost too well, just like Terminators are programmed to do.
We were introduced to a new Terminator in Jesse's flashback to the future. Queeg, the steely sub captain, suspiciously took Jesse and crew way off course to follow orders that, he said, came from John Connor. I was hoping these scenes aboard the Jimmy Carter would reveal more about Jesse's motivations in the here and now, but I guess we'll have to wait for next week for those answers. Instead, we got an odd scene with some metal-skeleton Terminators and one skinjob handing over a box to one of Jesse's crew. This brings up all kinds of questions: Are these Terminators part of a faction working against Skynet? Did John Connor reprogram them? Is Queeg a double-double agent? What's in the box? Is it big enough to fit Cameron? I know, I know ... next week. I'm looking forward to finding out why Jesse hates all metal, even our loveable Cameron.
Ellison has every reason not to trust metal. Actually, it makes little sense that he would continue to work at Zeiracorp (with a Terminator boss) and try to help John Henry. With everything that he's seen, you'd think he would've blown that place – with John Henry inside – sky high the minute he saw Cromartie's dead eyes staring back at him in episode 2.10. Plus, you'd think he would've noticed Weaverbot's mechanical posturing and discovered her toaster roots by now.
I know a lot of you think Ellison lost about a million IQ points since season two started, but I'm not ready to go there just yet. I don't think the guy's dumb, I just think he's just trying to change things for the better. That's why he took the job of teaching John Henry morals and rules. He wants the killer robots from the future to be kinder, gentler killer robots from the future. OK, maybe he is a little dumb, but I think he's had enough of all the weirdness at Zeiracorp. John Henry's scary game with Savannah really seemed to piss Ellison off. I think it's time he looked up the Connors and pointed them – and their guns – to Zeiracorp's basement.
I really enjoyed this episode. Some fans might moan about John's melancholy (emo?) moments or not being able to see the submarine battle play out, but I can forgive that stuff. It's the mystery that's really driving this show, and it's got me hooked. It helps that the mystery is tied directly to the robots, aka the best thing about this show.
Other Observations:
- The Connors are moving again? Shouldn't they just buy a motor home at this point?
- Cameron might be the coolest character on the show, but John is definitely the smartest. I have no doubt that his investigation will lead straight to Jesse's door.
- I'm callin' it – Queeg is a badass.
- Jesse got her ass kicked again! That makes two eps in a row. High-fives all around!
Gossip Girl' Show & Cast Photos
Actress Leighton Meester attends the Gotham Magazine Leighton Meester cover party at Marquee on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage.com
Actress Leighton Meester attends the Gotham Magazine Leighton Meester cover party at Marquee on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage.com
Leighton Meester attends the Gotham Magazine/Leighton Meester Event sponsored by Jose Cuervo Platino at Marquee Nightclub on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Brian Ach/WireImage.com
Leighton Meester attends the Gotham Magazine/Leighton Meester Event sponsored by Jose Cuervo Platino at Marquee Nightclub on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Brian Ach/WireImage.com
Leighton Meester attends the Gotham Magazine/Leighton Meester Event sponsored by Jose Cuervo Platino at Marquee Nightclub on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Brian Ach/WireImage.com
Leighton Meester attends a Gotham Magazine celebration at Marquee on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Michael N. Todaro/FilmMagic.com
Leighton Meester attends a Gotham Magazine celebration at Marquee on September 27, 2008 in New York City.
Michael N. Todaro/FilmMagic.com
Blake Lively on location for "Gossip Girl" on September 22, 2008 in New York City.
Bobby Bank/WireImage.com
Cynthia Sparer, Dr. Herbert Pardes, Leighton Meester, Alex Cohen and Pamela W. Barnes attend the Kids for Kids celebrity carnival benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation at the Park Avenue Armory on September 20, 2008 in New York City.
Jason Kempin/WireImage.com
Actress Leighton Meester attends the Kids for Kids celebrity carnival benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation at the Park Avenue Armory on September 20, 2008 in New York City.
Jason Kempin/WireImage.com
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-14-2009 @ 6:35AM
Franklin said...
I'm sorry, but this was yet another episode where the writers dwelled excessively on death (in this case, Riley's). What the hell gives? Will there ever be action on this series before its finale (season or series)?
Honestly, I cannot remember the last episode which had action in it.
At this point, I hope by the end of the season, Jesse (played by the Actress Who Looks Like Octomom) is killed off.
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3-14-2009 @ 1:26PM
Hutch said...
EVERY episode is about death. The whole concept of the franchise is about death. It's about the near destruction of the human race. There are few funny places you can go with that. If you know that the world is soon to end bloody and you're the ONLY person who can stop it, do you really take time out for parties?
And I still don't get why people are all like, "Action, action, must have action." I mean, I like robot battles too, but the title is Terminator: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. This is a show about the Connors, specifically Sarah, and how she keeps John alive and turns him from a skinny, whiney, teen into someone who leads the human race. I even liked the Sad Sarah storylines. How are we to believe that these people face down death daily and don't have at least ONE nervous breakdown.
Personally I find this show absolutely spectacular. It's not just a show about metal and saving the world, it's a show about the psychology of the people who are forced to save the world. Don't forget, none of them volunteered for this job. Imagine what a mind-frak this has got to be for John. From the moment he's born he's told he has to save the world. No time for school or friends or girls. I say, just enjoy the ride.
3-14-2009 @ 7:07AM
bc said...
John should know already Cameron didn't kill Riley. One, it's unlikely Cameron would kill Riley by shooting her. Two, it's very unlikely Cameron would shoot Riley after getting close enough for Riley to have sustained the type of defensive wounds the body displayed--signs of an intense struggle that Cameron shows no signs of, and her model doesn't heal instantaneously. And when Derek comes in gunning for Cameron, and John stops him with this info, Derek may finally add 2+2--although Jesse's fight with the Navy guys obscures the fact that she already had wounds from a fight. Will Derek realize some of Jesse's bruises are a day older than the rest? Dunh dunh duh...tune in next week!
I think there was supposed to be something significant about the Terminator who came out of the shadows at the oil rig--didn't he look like one of the sub crew?
Like the sub episode of "Monk" I was a bit disappointed that the writers tried to milk so much drama out of things that trivial research about submarines would indicate is ridiculous.
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3-15-2009 @ 3:13AM
MT said...
Derek loves Jesse and he has cut her *a lot* of slack, but he is really struggling to understand her purpose and her mission, and its clearly very top of his mind. He was very keen to understand why she picked the fight in a bar, and he found her ready answer for what must be done to Cameron and by whom suspicious. He's just about ready to add it all up and turn on Jesse. I expect John's revelation about defensive wounds on Riley's corpse will be the final straw for Derek, and he will confront Jesse. He won't tell others about it and it will be an interesting face-off. I would *really* hate to see Jesse walk away from it alive, but I wouldn't put it past the writers. I'd give Derek 80% odds on this one.
3-14-2009 @ 8:46AM
Alex99 said...
Cameron won't kill Jesse....Derek will. Wait and see.
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3-14-2009 @ 11:26AM
CDR M said...
Anyone else think that Jessie is a machine? Twice in this episode she moved a table lamp to a specific spot.
Being a P-3 pilot, that was just horrible the scene with the Navy pilots!! There are no P-3's stationed or detached to Los Angeles (unless you count Point Magu). Naval Aviator's are NOT allowed to wear flight suits off base unless it is to go straight home. Their name tags were like nothing we wear (where were the pilot wings??). Just horrible but nice to hear P-3's mentioned!!
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3-14-2009 @ 1:08PM
Diego M said...
no i think jesse is just a lil freaked out about the murder of riley. she is trying to just get her suite back to normal. had she been a machine i don't think riley would've been able to damn near kill her if not for her hidden guns.
i thought it was weird to see pilots there. maybe they were from the knight squadron stationed at el toro? (independence day reference)
i really thought she would run into a trucker or some shit like that, but to fight with a bunch of pilots was ballsy but then again she wasn't thinkin clearly.
3-14-2009 @ 5:51PM
ryan said...
I saw the lamp moving as being her attempt to get things back to "normal" and not be reminded of the murder scene in her apartment.
3-15-2009 @ 3:18AM
Tri said...
Diego, she was *absolutely* thinking clearly -- she needed a valid excuse to cover up the wounds inflicted by Riley. She needed a credible excuse, and a fight with a bunch of anonymous pilots, who won't be around to say whether she had the wounds before the fight, was a perfect cover.
Also, agreed on moving the lamp out of shame/guilt/shock/remorse.
3-14-2009 @ 11:25AM
Ryan said...
Captain Queeg. That's just too funny.
In John's case, I would still trust Cameron, malfunctions and all, a hell of a lot more than Derek, if we're talking about lies, hidden agendas, unaccounted time and tying up "loose ends." And he's still better than Jesse.
I don't think John will be able to connect the guidance counselor to Riley. I think Jesse's deceitful enough that Derek will finally have to say something about her to Sarah and John.
Yes, John should not have teared up at all at the brutal murder of his girlfriend, or at Cameron's vocal mimicry twisting the knife. He should not act like a 16 year-old kid if it annoys a large number of internet fans.
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3-14-2009 @ 2:58PM
Cyantre said...
There would be so much comedic value if Summer Glau was in that box, especially for any Firefly fan.
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3-14-2009 @ 4:11PM
honey said...
"Cyantre said...
There would be so much comedic value if Summer Glau was in that box, especially for any Firefly fan."
Nice one.
Also, "toaster roots" - hilarious.
I love this show. But I take issue with the fact that John didn't totally lose it when he saw Riley's body. Maybe after he's seen so much death in the future he would disassociate, but for now, he's still a teenager who loved this woman. I need a little more emotion on this show. It's starting to feel like the humans are robots too.
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3-16-2009 @ 1:25PM
tcc3 said...
That's the point. Turning into what you fight against has been a recurring theme.
3-14-2009 @ 5:51PM
bruce said...
That Ellison is still working for Ziera Corp is a testament to how stupid religious people are. Any rational person in Ellison's position would have not only gotten the hell out of there, found Sarah again and helped her destroy Zeira Corp (remember, Ellison knows all about Skynet and Sarah's judgment day story from psychiatric interviews which to his great dismay have been confirmed to him via his own first-hand experience). But Ellison is an extremely religious Christian, and the Weaverbot is intelligent enough to use that against him by letting Ellison think he can bring Christ to all the Machines - a "metal missionary" to save their computer chips from eternal hellfire and damnation (heat is a computer's worst enemy, after all).
And Ellison goes right along with it. He "Knows" with a capital K that he's such a great perfect superb Christian that he is the one to teach John Henry about God. He actually has the gall to say "humans are made in God's image" to a humanoid robot!
I find this to be a sad but true commentary on the state of mankind. Computers are anything but irrational, and as such, "faith" is the last thing any computer would have. A human can "Know" that 1 + 1 does not equal 2 if it makes the human feel closer to a figment of the human's imagination. A computer, on the other hand, will always know that 1 + 1 = 2, and it has no "feelings" to induce an error in the calculation.
Ellison can't tell that Weaver is strange? Ellison never thinks to ask John Henry if there are any other robots (cyborgs, non-humans, whatever) like him at Zeira Corp? Ellison never thinks to tell Sarah Connor about what's going on at Ziera Corp? He's no longer with the FBI, and he know knows that the crazy whackjob Sarah Connor is perfectly sane and absolutely correct.
I think Ellison, as a Christian, actually wants Judgment Day to happen - as soon as possible. What Christian doesn't? Since he "Knows" that he's "saved" surely he thinks his soul will shoot straight up to heaven the moment the Skynet bombs start exploding. So at this point, I think the best explanation for Ellison's motivation is that he, like any religious person put in his position, is actively trying to bring about the end of the world, obsessed with the eschatology of the Book of Revelations.
As such, SkyNet and its robots are just following their amoral programming (although the "which came first, skynet or the robots traveling back in time to create skynet" issue certainly puts a twist on that), while religious humans like Ellison, Osama Bin Laden, etc. are actually acting upon their specific intent to bring about the end of the world.
So, I contend that James Ellison is the ultimate villian of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He's become a faith-based terrorist and he doesn't even realize it. And the Weaverbot didn't even have to do anything aside from softly rub his religious boner. "You, Mr. Ellison, are a man of superb, unyielding faith! What better person to teach morality to John Henry!" Weaverbot had him right there, hook, line and sinker.
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3-14-2009 @ 7:14PM
Diego M said...
You hate religion, so you hate america, you are the terrorist bruce!!!!
all limbaught fanaticism aside...
great insight, i have been wondering what ellison's motivation was. I debated that he thought he could stop judgement day altogether by teaching machines morality. which also made me wonder why would machines want to learn religion, and hope, humanity's greatest strength and weakness.
but then you said it, he wants it to happen so he can boast that he survived the apocalipse and he is a chosen person.
i love this show and i'll be really really sad when it ends, but for a show to get so many layers upon layers of intricacies and plots and messages is really great.
3-14-2009 @ 8:48PM
Ketsjap said...
You guys... Has anyone thought about the fact that maybe... just maybe... Jesse is metal herself?
It's just... We saw her moving that lamp two times by an inch or so. Remember in the sub, when the terminator could not miss by an inch or a second?
I don't know.. The way she moved that lamp made me think about the possibility.
Maybe she's a terminator, programmed to act as human-like as possible?
Maybe it's far fetched... But I won't rule out the possibility.
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3-14-2009 @ 10:04PM
Diego M said...
she can't be a terminator, unless she is the advanced model you can have sex with. Derek has been hittin that for a while now.
she just wants normalcy, there are dust circles that indicate where the lamp was, so she wants shit to be peaceful.
she is human, just a really bitchy, yet hot human
3-14-2009 @ 10:52PM
bruce said...
Diego:
I think all "infiltration model" terminators have working genitals. Otherwise, they'd be pretty worthless as infiltration units... "show me your junk" would be too easy a test for the humans to use in order to weed out the metal.
Ellison knows about Skynet Judgment Day, as he has read Sarah Connor's psychiatric file - he made fun of it in the series pilot episode. Now that he knows Sarah Connor is actually right, he has shown not the slightest bit of interest in stopping judgment day; rather, he just wants to spread Jesus to the robots. Like most "waiting for the rapture" Christians, the vision of burning skies, incinerated bodies, rivers of blood, and skulls on the streets gets Ellison all hard and horny. He jerks off to his collection of "Left Behind" rapture-porn, and stopping the end of the world is the last thing he'd ever want to do. To Ellison, like any Evangelical Christian put in his position, stopping Skynet would be equivalent to stopping the second coming of Christ (John Connor = Jesus Christ... both are "J.C."). As skynet destroys the world, all the Ellisons out there who "Know" that they are "Saved" will greet the nuclear explosions with a smile, expecting their souls to shoot straight up to heaven, while all the "unsaved" Jews and Muslims burn to death and then go straight to hell to suffer eternal damnation.
Praise Jesus! Praise Skynet!
I'm not sure if the TSCC writers have actually thought this out in terms of Ellison's character... I read that it was the actor, Richard T. Jones, who plays Ellison who "insisted" that his character on the show be religious (how humble of him). But Ellison's actions make perfect from my own point of view, as someone who has nothing but disdain for religion - especially that aspect of religion that causes people to hope for the end of the world.
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3-15-2009 @ 7:17AM
Ryan said...
The Christian and messianic imagery has been present in Terminator ever since the first two movies. The TV series has just taken that motif and run with it.
I think you're reading a bit too much of your own beliefs into the writing of the show and the cast interviews. Jones, the Ellison actor, never insisted on his character being religious. The creator and showrunner, Josh Friedman, just found the actor's faith intriguing and, discussing it with Jones, decided to tie it into the show's mythology. So blame Friedman if you don't care for those aspects. He's also the writer who likes to focus more on character introspection than on running-and-gunning stories.
3-15-2009 @ 2:55AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
I don't watch Terminator for action. I watch it for the layering they're doing. I like seeing the development of Connor and I'd like to see him grow more. It seems his mom has stopped training him and that bugs me.
Good show that has gotten better and I'm hoping it continues its slow march.
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