|
|
| Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:46 AM |
| (Last updated on Sunday, April 12, 2009 06:45 PM) | | On the Viewer - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Season 2, Episode 22 - "Born to Run") |
 by Fëanor |
I am very pleased that both this episode and the one before it were named after really excellent Bruce Springsteen songs.
The FBI agent talking to Sarah is the cute little guy from West Wing. Aww.
John got the hint about Sarah's cancer, and wants to know if it was caused by being around Terminators and their shielded nuclear power sources all the time.
Ha! John Henry is playing D&D with the computer nerd! Awesome.
Computer nerd: "What we know to be John Henry only exists as this specific collection of hardware and software." Hmm.
I'm amused that the FBI agent refers to a priest as "black and white and God all over." Oh! It's the priest they stayed with very briefly when Cameron went crazy. Sarah's going to tell him the whole story and ask him for a favor. Interesting...
Weaver wants to meet John Connor. I'm certain she knows who he really is and how important he is. But I'm still not sure what side she's on, or what she'll do to him if she meets him.
John Henry's being all goofy and repeating whatever Weaver says. Not sure what that's about, but it's funny. It's also funny that he's just sitting around, constantly rolling natural 20s on his 20-sided die. That's a handy ability right there.
A Terminator walks into a gun shop. I've heard this joke before, and I like it!
This particular Terminator, the one after Savannah, seems dumber even than your average Terminator, at least as far as human interaction goes.
Ellison: "I had nothing to do with your mother's arrest. If I had, there would be a SWAT team outside your door right now."
John: "And the same thing would happen to that SWAT team as happened to your last one."
Wow! That's cold.
Weaver wanted Ellison to ask Cameron from her: "Will you join us?" The very same question Cameron asked the liquid metal Terminator in the future, to which that Terminator answered no. But here's the question again. Very cool.
FBI agent to Sarah: "I believe you have participated in the miraculous and the terrible and through it all you have maintained a moral and good soul." I'd like to believe he's telling the truth here, but...
FBI agent reveals very disturbing news: Miles Dyson's son, Danny Dyson, has been missing for three months.
The Terminator crashes through a security gate into the Zeira Corp underground garage. Weaver: "Hey. I liked that gate." And she totally wastes the Terminator in truly awesome fashion. Hardcore.
Now John Henry and Miss Weaver are saying the same thing at the same time. That's just creepy.
Speaking of creepy, Cameron takes her shirt and bra off, tells John to get on top of her, then hands him a knife and has him cut her open and stick his hand inside her. The feminist interpretation of this scene would not be pleasant!
Priest: "They have a message for you. She's coming... I don't know what to do."
Sarah: "You're a priest. Pray."
Hoo boy!
John Henry released all the prisoners?! To make it harder or easier for Cameron and Sarah, I wonder?
They've generally been pretty careful not to mutilate Cameron too much in this show, because, I assume, they want Summer Glau to be able to keep playing the character without having a bunch of complex makeup and prosthetics, and they want Cameron to be able to keep walking around in the world without people freaking out at the sight of her. The fact that she's now getting her face shot off tells me they're getting ready to ditch her character. Which is a little scary, but also fascinating. I really never know where they're going to go next with this show, because they're willing to make huge changes and just discard characters and storylines. It's exciting.
So, after the successful jail break they just... go hang out in the lobby of the huge corporation owned by the woman whose daughter they supposedly kidnapped?? That seems just a little dangerous!
John told Sarah he loves her. Pretty big deal! That doesn't happen very often.
Ellison: "Where's Cameron?"
Sarah: "In the car."
Ellison: "You expecting trouble?"
Sarah: "No change for the meter."
Ha!
But Cameron's already in the basement, heading towards John Henry. The question is, what will she do when she gets there? I know she understood the question, "Will you join us?" even though she claimed she didn't. What's her answer? John Henry asks her again. She pulls out a knife and closes the door. Gotta love the tension!
Everything happens at once!! Weaver reveals what she knows about Skynet, and reveals her true nature as a liquid metal Terminator, even as a flying machine crashes through the window to attack them - no doubt sent by John Henry's brother.
The eel was just a separated part of Weaver's liquid metal body?! Did I know that already and just forgot?
Sarah: "They're trying to kill my son."
Weaver: "No. They're trying to kill mine. Just like you are."
Sarah: "I'm sure she's already done it."
Weaver: "You'd better hope not. Your John may save the world. But he can't do it without mine."
So cool! As I suspected, Weaver was building John Henry as a smarter machine, a machine that would fight Skynet and stop the endless and devastating war between people and machines.
I love how Weaver tells Ellison, well, if you're not coming time traveling with us, would you mind picking up my daughter from school? She has gymnastics later.
John Henry traveled in time with Cameron's chip. Turns out they have a time machine in the basement, too?? John Connor wants to follow him with Weaver. Really, he wants Cameron back. Sarah doesn't go with him. She still wants to stay behind and stop the terrible future from happening... the future John has just traveled into! But this is a very strange future indeed. Here, no one has heard of John Connor. Derek and Kyle Reese are alive and well. And so is Cameron - the human Cameron that the Terminator version was based on.
Aaaahhh!!! My mind is blown. Is this meant to be very soon after Doomsday, and John Connor just hasn't become famous yet? Or is this a future in which John Connor had no part in saving humanity? Was it always the young John, traveling forward from the past, who saved humanity?
Even though many things happened in this episode, a lot of things were resolved, and the true shape of the conflict was revealed (one set of machines determined to destroy humanity, led by John Henry's brother; another set determined to make peace with humanity, led by John Henry), there are still many questions to be answered, and a war to be won - or ended before it even begins. Here's hoping the show gets renewed so this excellent story, so excellently told, can continue. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
