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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – The last episode … ever … this season

Terminator: The Sarah Connor ChroniclesWho know if this episode really was just the season finale or the series finale? I suppose some suit up at FOX knows, but for the rest of us, I urge you to have some optimism. It isn’t likely that Terminator will be back next year, but I’m holding out hope until it’s officially canceled. I may be deluding myself, but I’ve decided that I’m okay with that.

Let’s get to the matter at hand, however. Before we mourn for the show (even though it hasn’t been canceled yet), we have to talk about this episode, which was the culmination of the whole season, as most season finales tend to be….

I have to say that this was a very well structured season overall. I loved the slow build up and reveal to the Zeira/Kaliba relationship. We all sort of saw it coming, but I think it was really clever making Weaver and John Henry the “good guys” trying to fight against Skynet. It made for a cool plot point, raised some interesting questions about why some machines would be fighting against their own kind, and also served to illustrate that with all the work that the Connors have done it is nearly impossible to stop the inevitable. After all, they spent all season hunting down the wrong machine. I think the writers also did a really nice job melding together the Weaver story line and the Jesse story line with the flashbacks to the sub.

With this possibly being the last episode ever, however, I have to say that I was slightly disappointed that we were only left with ten minutes (including commercials) for the meeting with Weaver and climax/ending. That’s not to say that the rest of the episode was bad, I just wanted more from the finale.

As for the ending itself … I don’t really know how I feel about it. I’ve never been into the weird crush on Cameron that John had, and it seemed like chasing her into some unknown timeline (which ended up being the future), was a stupid and impulsive thing to do. That could just be me, though. If the show does come back for a third season, it’s going to be very interesting to see how they deal with the situation. I would hope that John gets back to the present soon, but it may all be a moot point. Though I would love to see John and Weaver go all “buddy movie” with each other. That would be interesting to say the least.

There were definitely some fun touches in this episode. It was nice to see Weaver in action, and it was cool to see the eel was actually a part of her – creepy, yet appropriate. I thought the the subtle evolution of her character over the season was really well done. Early on in the season she was all machine, not understanding in the least how to relate to her “daughter.” In this episode, however, we saw her declaring her love, no matter how unconvincingly it was done, for Savannah, and making sure that she was going to be taken care of by Ellison. It almost seems like she was sent back to learn about being human as well as to develop John Henry.

It was also great to see Cameron going old school Terminator on the all the jail guards. Good times. The surprise appearance by Derek at the end of the episode was also nice. So … What did you think of the ending? Interesting, a nice setup for an unlikely third season, or way too much?

Photo Credit: FOX

Categories: | Episode Reviews | General | Polls | TV Shows |

40 Responses to “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – The last episode … ever … this season”

April 10, 2009 at 10:49 PM

I loved it. I especially loved the ending, with John Connor going to the future and meeting his family. Made kind of teary that I may not see more of this incredible show. Cameron – was she a person or a terminator in the future? I’ve always thought she started out as the former.

Weaver “spreading her wings” to save the day was a nice touch, as was all of the characters who would never leave each other being separated at the end.

I’m still processing it all, but I was very pleased with what could be the finale.

Did you notice the very long commercial for Terminator (the movie)? Guess they actually realized that people who watch the show may have been interested in the franchise after all. Duh.

April 11, 2009 at 12:56 AM

I’m a little confused on some stuff: what’s this eel you talk about? & kaliba? i also want to know why cameron gave john henry her chip & why he left. & why that flying thing came crashing in to the building?

it was great watching john meet kyle & seeing derek again. to answer above, cameron was a human girl that the terminators copied (i think because of how derek felt for her in the future)

so is this supposed to be where john starts making a name for himself? or is this a new future timeline where they don’t know who he is because he kinda skipped over judgement day?

lots of questions… damn i hope they renew this show! what a great ep!

April 11, 2009 at 9:16 AM

Weaver had an eel in an aquarium in her office that she often showed off to visitors. Kaliba was the company in the dessert that Sarah discovered and Weaver destroyed. They were, presumably, actually developing skynet (and those flying machine things that rammed into Weaver’s office).

April 11, 2009 at 6:26 PM

Damn I meant to say john instead of derek in reference to the human Alison. My bad. I had a lot going on in my head when I wrote that. Here I was wondering why people kept saying derek & didn’t realize it was because if me until someone quote me. Oops…

April 11, 2009 at 9:53 AM

@Xnifex: I think this is a future timeline where JC doesn’t exist (as he jumped into the future, I think the logic holds). I don’t think the human Cameron (if it was human), had feelings for Derek, but possible for Kyle.\

As much as I likekd this show, it was all over the place this year. There were some incredible episodes, but there were also stretches of the season that were boring (I’m looking at you, depressed Sarah), the Riley storyline was boring while it didn’t make sense and then uninteresting when it did, and Jesse’s storyline ended with no real payoff, especially after Derek’s death.

I REALLY hope it comes back, and if it does, it needs to bring some consistency with it.

April 11, 2009 at 12:05 PM

Dorv, the so, so episodes are like childbirth, as soon as one sees the ending/baby all thoughts of the labor pain dissipate!

April 11, 2009 at 4:14 PM

Dorv, obviously I disagree with the “boring” and “inconsistent” assessments. The Riley and Jesse threads informed John’s development all season, gave Derek some backstory, and tied in to Weaver’s storyline. And I think Derek not being able to forgive Jesse as John Connor did, and killing her, was the payoff for them both. Character stories aren’t suddenly moot if that character later dies. Especially on this show, where everyone but JC eventually dies.

I think xnifex meant to type “cameron was a human girl that the terminators copied (i think because of how john felt for her in the future)” which is a common fan theory. And Derek being involved with both Jesse and Allison at the same time would be a little strange for such a loyal man.

April 11, 2009 at 6:28 PM

Yep that’s what I meant. Thanks for clarifying for me.
:-)

April 11, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Fantastic episode! I say so especially after viewing the T-Salvation trailer. (Which was amazing, and yes, I watch the commercials during TSCC FOX!) What occurred to me was that in comparison to the movie our poor TSCC is woefully financially mismatched, and yet they manage to tell a brilliant, engaging story. The other feat is that the actors won us over. Whatever happens (Please give us a 3rd season FOX!), kudos to the TSCC team.

Random things I got a kick out of:
John Henry learning to roll 20’s. That was so funny!
“Yes, she’s a cyborg, don’t pretend you didn’t know.”
The gun shop reminicent of the orginal Terminator movie.
Hasta Luego!
Weaver (who is a snappy dresser by the way) protecting John, Sarah and Ellison.

Wow, wow. What a great ending. I’m not good at time loops or alternate timelines but I would sure like to see what happens next!!!!

April 11, 2009 at 1:36 PM

I didn’t think John chasing after Cameron was odd, just that his mom let him go with so little fuss.

Also, post time-travel “naked” Weaver. Why?

April 11, 2009 at 4:31 PM

You’ll have to blame T2 and T3 for post-time-travel “naked” liquid metal terminators: this show is merely being consistent. And like any fan of this universe, ignore the plot hole of them being able to time-travel at all with no living tissue.

April 11, 2009 at 3:59 PM

Bob, you may have seen the Weaver/John Henry “good guy” reveal coming, but I certainly didn’t until it was spelled out for us on screen. I agree that it was a very well constructed season in that sudden reversals like that aren’t a cheat, and the writers sprinkled plenty of clues in prior episodes. In hindsight we can see that Season 2 was much more ambitious and better planned than Season 1.

Chasing Cameron’s chip was impulsive, and might have been stupid, but don’t forget John literally had only seconds to make any decision before Weaver left. It seems that the ZeiraCorp time displacement engine, like the one in the bank, was one-use only. On the other hand, chasing John Henry might have been the smartest decision he could have made, so it’s a two-for-one.

I don’t see how you were disappointed with the Weaver meeting, as we finally saw the (awesome) return of the prototype HK, followed by her T-1001 unmasking. That certainly explains the reports of the destruction of all of the standing sets.

They faked me out with future Derek, just as they did with Cromartie –> John Henry. Even after the time jump, I did not expect him to walk into the room.

Modwild, the girl in the final scene was Allison Young. You could tell because the dog next to her didn’t bark, as it would if she were Cameron, and from the way John’s expression changed from hope to disappointment when she didn’t recognize him. It makes sense, because if there was never a John Connor, Cameron would never have copied and killed Allison to get close to him.

xnifex, the moray eel has been in the fish tank in Weaver’s office all season. Weaver even had a conversation with the LAPD detective about it in last week’s episode. I felt bad for it when its tank was smashed, then it turned into liquid metal and rejoined the larger mass of the Weaver unit.

The Kaliba Group is controlled by John Henry’s brother AI. It owned the HK factory and employed Ed Winston and all the water delivery killers. It sent the T-888 to ZeiraCorp to kill Weaver, and when that failed, flew one of its HKs directly into her office to kill her and everyone else there.

I assumed that Cameron gave John Henry her chip because he couldn’t leave the ZeiraCorp basement without it. He uploaded his data and consciousness from the server farm into the chip, and could finally unplug himself.

It’s definitely a new timeline. We know from “Gnothi Seauton” that when you jump forward, you enter a future where you disappeared the day you left. Also, John Connor led the Century work camp breakout that included Kyle Reese, so this Kyle and Derek should have known his name. I expect that without Connor’s leadership, the Resistance in this timeline is much smaller, disorganized and ultimately doomed.

My own thoughts on the finale:

John Henry: “Twenty!”

The Return of Chola, who actually speaks.

Loved the T-888’s entire last scene. Weaver suddenly appearing, nonchalantly absorbing two entire clips of twenty bullets, then bridging the gap between the T-888 and the electrical panel in order to remove its chip. This informed us that the new chip anti-tamper system is a simple chemical treatment, “a phosphorus compound.” It also answered the question I had of whether you could knock out a T-1001 with electricity. Even if it were possible, it doesn’t have a physical chip, so I doubt humans would be able to reprogram it at all.

John Henry: “I know you.”
Cameron: “And I know you.”
John Henry: “Will you join us?”

Weaver [looks at Sarah]: “I’m sorry, I wasn’t speaking to you.” [turns to John] “I was speaking to you.”

Weaver seemed almost sad that Mr. Ellison (whom she now called James) didn’t want to go with her to pick up their boy John Henry, but asked him to pick up their daughter Savannah from gymnastics class instead.

Even if John finds Cameron’s chip, he’ll need to acquire a new chassis, as her not-100% one disintegrated in the time jump.

Personally, I don’t believe the show will be back in the fall, and I don’t blame FOX if that’s the case. They would have been perfectly justified in cutting us off at “Earthlings Welcome Here” on ratings alone. Instead I appreciate what little quality television we can find, even when it’s cut short like Kings or Better Off Ted. I’m grateful for the Sarah Connor Chronicles we’ve received (my favorite show) and only hope that DVD sales will warrant a direct-to-disc movie from Warner Brothers to wrap it up.

April 11, 2009 at 4:08 PM

I just want to clarify that I wasn’t disappointed with the Weaver meeting. I was disappointed that they only left 10 minutes for it. I wanted more! :-)

I think they should just up the product placement and give it a shortened third season. For all I care rename it Terminator: The Dodge Ram Chronicles. Of course with the state of GM, that’s probably not too likely.

April 11, 2009 at 4:28 PM

Yes, a two-hour finale would have been nice, but I think you can only do that on a broadcast network when you know far in advance that the show is ending.

I never minded the Dodge product placement on this show, probably because it wasn’t as relentlessly name-checked as on Alias or Heroes. The camera lingering on the car or its logo for long moments actually helps to set the silent, mournful pace of many scenes. Unfortunately, it looks like few companies will kick in for placement any more. Fans noted that Ellison’s Mercedes was suddenly missing its hood ornament last week.

Like I said, I can only hope we get our “Pretender” movie. The first one, not the second one.

Oh, I forgot to applaud the show’s continuing legacy of perfect guest casting. No kids this week, but I thought the new FBI agent was very strong, quirky with his jail cell site office, and almost believable when he told Sarah he believed her entire story. If we were to receive a third season, I feel certain we would see him again.

April 11, 2009 at 4:52 PM

I agree with Ryan, the “Cameron” that John sees in the final scene is almost certainly the human girl, Allison Young.

I don’t understand though why everyone seems to think she must be romantically attached to either Derek or Kyle. I’ve seen no evidence of that. When Allison Young appeared back in episode 204, the only person she mentioned was John Connor. She told the not yet Cameron terminator, “He wouldn’t want to meet you”. Xnifex says, “cameron was a human girl that the terminators copied (i think because of how derek felt for her in the future)”. I’m just wondering how you reached that conclusion. I think it’s more likely that the Terminators copied her because she knew John Connor, not Derek. In fact, the flashbacks we got from Derek in season one show that he didn’t know Cameron until she was a Terminator that had been reprogrammed by John. She saved him from a T-800 that had gone bad. I also don’t see any evidence that Allison had feelings for Kyle as Dorv suggests.

I loved seeing Derek in the final scene, but to me it just confirmed that we won’t be seeing TSCC next season. They obviously can’t continue with that storyline since Brian Austin Green is set to appear in another show next season. I think it was intended as an ending, albeit an open ended one. Especially when at the last moment in the episode you hear Sarah Connor’s ghostly, “I love you too” travel through the time thingy. That was a goodbye. John never returns to the past. He eventually becomes the leader of the resistance. He falls in love with Allison Young, then she’s captured by the machines and killed. The terminator Cameron then tries to get into the camp of the Resistance, but is somehow caught, and because she looks like Allison Young, John reprograms her and sends her back to 1999 to protect his younger self.

April 11, 2009 at 5:05 PM

Kate, I agree with your analysis of the ending and the sense of finality it had. I do think they could get around the absence of BAG if the show were to continue, though. I have a feeling that the writers knew this might be the last episode, and they wanted to do something that could be an ending (with your interpretation), and something that could be continued if the show were to come back.

I got the sense that when John jumped into the future, it changed the timeline and John didn’t exist, didn’t become the leader of the resistance, and was therefore meeting Allison for the first time when we saw them. This would mean that even if past episodes showed that she probably had a relationship with John, this is another timeline, and could have a relationship with anyone now. Ah time travel, always confusing.

April 11, 2009 at 5:19 PM

I got the sense that when John jumped into the future, it changed the timeline and John didn’t exist, didn’t become the leader of the resistance, and was therefore meeting Allison for the first time when we saw them. This would mean that even if past episodes showed that she probably had a relationship with John, this is another timeline, and could have a relationship with anyone now. Ah time travel, always confusing.

Yes, that’s actually what I was trying to say, but I get a bit muddled when discussing time travel. The causality makes my brain turn inside out. :-)

This is a new timeline, sort of. Maybe this is the timeline that Cameron as we know her came from all along. But still a different timeline then the one Sarah and John were on before Cameron jumped them into the future in 1999. Put it this way, maybe John has jumped into the future 1 year before Allison Young was captured by the Cameron Terminator. He ends up falling in love with her or formiing some sort of bond with her and then she gets captured and killed. It still fits since we don’t know when John has jumped forward too. For all we know it’s John in this timeline (16 year old John) that will end up sending Kyle Reese back in time.

My head just exploded.

April 11, 2009 at 6:59 PM

It’s possible, though I’ve always been of the mind that Cameron never directly sampled Allison’s memories, only questioned, studied and tested her.

I agree, but maybe we only saw a portion of Cameron’s conversations with Allison. For all we know she held her for many months and questioned her intensively on every aspect of her relationship with John. Or, once Cameron was caught and reprogrammed by John, her resemblance to Allison Young caused him to act towards her as he did with Allison (confiding his secrets and vulnerabilities to her).

I believe my point with Cameron is still correct. We know from Derek and Jesse that when the future changes, their memories of the future didn’t change, because they came from a different future. Cameron’s memories wouldn’t have changed because both of John’s time jumps occurred after she came back to the past, so she never experienced those new futures.

Cameron’s memories wouldn’t need to change. She never indicates in her memories whether the John Connor that she refers to is a John Connor who is in his 40’s or if he’s 16-17 years old. In other words, Cameron could be from the future of the same timeline in which John Connor jumped ahead 8 years (from 1999 to 2007) and then jumped ahead again with Catherine Weaver (from 2009 to 20??). John’s time jumps occurred after she went back to the past (or more properly, after she arrived in 1999), but before she was sent back in time in 2027, assuming John’s latest jump has him arriving sometime between Judgement day and 2027.

April 11, 2009 at 5:21 PM

I know the Allison/John romance is a popular theory, but I always thought when Cameron told her “John Connor chose you,” she meant as part of his personal staff that was allowed entry into his camp and to meet him in person. This was mainly because Cameron’s memories of this scene are from before John jumped forward eight years, so that future John was 24 years older than Allison, but also because I always thought of him as the lone savior/grand strategist from T2 with no attachment, Kate Brewster notwithstanding.

Really, an infiltrator would only need to be in arm’s reach of John to kill him. She needn’t be in his bed.

April 11, 2009 at 5:24 PM

This was a reply to Bob, and my post below was a reply to Kate. Wow, this comment structure can get confusing.

April 11, 2009 at 5:32 PM

While I do in fact subscribe to the Allison/John romance theory, I agree it’s possible that she just knew him or was friends with him or whatever. I think there may have been a romance between them because it seems like the strange sexual tension between them has always been a clue to that and because of things Cameron has said about future John. She apparently was his closest confidant. Maybe it was Allison who was John’s confidant, and Cameron is simply drawing on her memories.

This was mainly because Cameron’s memories of this scene are from before John jumped forward eight years, so that future John was 24 years older than Allison…

The problem with that is that Cameron, even when she was having those memories is from the future while John was in the present. We don’t know that in Cameron’s time, the John that both Allison and she refer to isn’t 16 year old John who appeared out of nowhere 6 months earlier. Make sense?

April 11, 2009 at 6:31 PM

It’s possible, though I’ve always been of the mind that Cameron never directly sampled Allison’s memories, only questioned, studied and tested her. If mind-reading were technologically possible, then there would be no need to interrogate her or Derek. Heck, Skynet wouldn’t need infiltrators at all if it could get perfect intelligence from the brains of captured soldiers.

Sure, the Allison/John romance is always a possibility, and I think the writers have left the point intentionally vague. We never even saw Allison interact with John, so all we have is hearsay and supposition.

I believe my point with Cameron is still correct. We know from Derek and Jesse that when the future changes, their memories of the future didn’t change, because they came from a different future. Cameron’s memories wouldn’t have changed because both of John’s time jumps occurred after she came back to the past, so she never experienced those new futures.

If I have misapprehended your point, please let me know.

April 11, 2009 at 7:03 PM

It’s possible, though I’ve always been of the mind that Cameron never directly sampled Allison’s memories, only questioned, studied and tested her.

I agree, but maybe we only saw a portion of Cameron’s conversations with Allison. For all we know she held her for many months and questioned her intensively on every aspect of her relationship with John. Or, once Cameron was caught and reprogrammed by John, her resemblance to Allison Young caused him to act towards her as he did with Allison (confiding his secrets and vulnerabilities to her).

I believe my point with Cameron is still correct. We know from Derek and Jesse that when the future changes, their memories of the future didn’t change, because they came from a different future. Cameron’s memories wouldn’t have changed because both of John’s time jumps occurred after she came back to the past, so she never experienced those new futures.

Cameron’s memories wouldn’t need to change. She never indicates in her memories whether the John Connor that she refers to is a John Connor who is in his 40’s or if he’s 16-17 years old. In other words, Cameron could be from the future of the same timeline in which John Connor jumped ahead 8 years (from 1999 to 2007) and then jumped ahead again with Catherine Weaver (from 2009 to 20??). John’s time jumps occurred after she went back to the past (or more properly, after she arrived in 1999), but before she was sent back in time in 2027, assuming John’s latest jump has him arriving sometime between Judgement day and 2027.

NOTE: This comment was meant to go here but appears above because I too find the comment threading on this blog very confusing.

April 11, 2009 at 7:46 PM

Kate, I see, so you’re of the mind that the Cameron from “Pilot” came from the future we see in “Born to Run,” and that she’s merely re-enacting events that had already occurred in her timeline? An intriguing idea that didn’t occur to me at all, and the symmetry would definitely appeal to the show’s writers.

My timeline model has always been that travelers’ pasts are immutable, so that a Cameron in this future would not need to travel back, since John had already lived through those events with a different Cameron. Also each jump back or forward changes the future in ways the jumper can not predict, so doing so at all would be a big risk, as the second Cameron has different knowledge than the first Cameron. Of course, the characters don’t know this, so your point still stands.

April 12, 2009 at 12:20 AM

Kate, I see, so you’re of the mind that the Cameron from “Pilot” came from the future we see in “Born to Run,” and that she’s merely re-enacting events that had already occurred in her timeline?

Yes, except that it’ll be John who’s re-enacting the future, rather than Cameron re-enacting the past. John is the only one who already knows both the past AND the future of this timeline. Cameron, when she arrives, won’t be privy to the same information (unless John tells her). So when he sends her back, to her it’ll be like the first time.

I guess it depends on whether you see time as a loop or a straight line. I think of time as a straight line with a bunch of loops on it if that makes sense. :-)

April 12, 2009 at 1:03 AM

That makes sense, though you’re right in that I’ve never been a fan of the “closed loop” timeline that has no beginning or end. I prefer to think of the original, pre-interference timeline as a pond. When you toss a stone back up the timestream, there’s a big splash in the first iteration, followed by continuing ripples until the pond regains its steady-state equilibrium, just a little higher with the displacement of the stone.

So originally John Connor had some other father. General Connor sends back Kyle Reese to protect Sarah from Skynet’s T-800. Kyle Reese becomes John’s father, and the second time through a different John grows up to give Sarah’s picture to Kyle before sending him back again. This continues a few billion times with fewer and fewer differences between the timelines until an equilibrium is reached.

I like this theory better because it means that you can change fate. It’s just that a complex system has inherent, massive inertia, which is why they’ve thus far only been able to change the date of Judgment Day, not prevent it entirely. Killing a few people or blowing up AIs here or there makes little difference, as others will always arise to fill the vacuum.

The single exception is John Connor, who is literally irreplaceable. Killing him or moving him down the timestream is a world-changer.

April 11, 2009 at 5:09 PM

If John returns to the past, and they wrap up the future story in one or two episodes instead of half a season, they could easily find time for Green to shoot his scenes. I believe his new series also films on the Warner lot, like Summer Glau on The Big Bang Theory.

Better yet, they could have John interact mostly with Kyle and Allison in the future, with Derek only making an occasional appearance. Character-wise, John would certainly make that a priority, having never known his father.

I thought it was a lovely ending as well, and was glad it was a game-changing cliffhanger rather than a “character in imminent peril” one. Your scenario would dovetail nicely with the fact that we never saw future John in any flashbacks. It would be hard to believe the world would follow a sixteen year-old boy, though not so much if Weaver, John Henry and a restored Cameron were his new lieutenants.

April 11, 2009 at 5:43 PM

I agree, they could work around the absence of Green, but I feel pretty pessimistic and bummed about the possibility of any kind of season three at this point, even a shortened one. I don’t think FOX would bother making a one or two episode finish. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time they left the viewers hanging, and the ratings are so in the tank for this show, there’s next to no financial incentive for them to continue with it.

April 11, 2009 at 6:39 PM

Oh, certainly FOX has no responsibility or incentive to air further episodes (except possibly a karmic one for leeching off of a different WB property, “Watchmen”), but if reports of strong T:SCC international and DVD performance are true and T4 does well in May, Warner might be inclined to finish the series with a DVD movie or two for the additional profit, since it doesn’t fit the CW’s mission statement. If not, we’ll just have to hope the writers get the chance to finish their story in novel or comic book format.

April 11, 2009 at 7:11 PM

It doesn’t fit the CW, but I wish the Sci Fi Channel (soon to be SyFy) would take it over. But alas, they’re owned by NBC, so pretty much no chances of that happening.

April 12, 2009 at 8:33 PM

@Ryan: We’ll just have to agree to disagree. I found that stretch of episodes very close to unwatchable. In fact, I almost gave up on the show after falling asleep during a certain episode.

I don’t say that to be rude or because I’m a SCC hater, in fact the opposite. But those episodes did absolutely nothing for me.

April 13, 2009 at 10:15 AM

Dorv, according to my mental ledger, you seem to be pretty hard on this show in comparison to Heroes. Am I right? Do you actually think Heroes is a better show?

April 13, 2009 at 2:42 PM

BSG… You should join us for one of the Live Blog that Kona hosts. You’ll see that despite the fact that I do like Heroes, we mock it relentlessly.

I am serious in my criticism of those SCC episodes though. They weren’t badly acted/shot/produced, but it felt to me like the storywriters lost there way for a bit.

Just my opinion though.

(As a comparison, I would say that the Heroes story writers couldn’t find there way out of a box with a GPS most of the last two season).

April 13, 2009 at 2:50 PM

Alrighty then. Can’t join the live blog, west coast and never watch live anyways. But I’ll take your word for it ;)

April 13, 2009 at 8:47 PM

Dorv, I wasn’t criticizing you or your opinion, or trying to change your mind: from other boards I know there are many, many fans of the show that hated the Riley and (to a lesser extent) Jesse storylines and the Sarah in the Desert arc, and the T:SCC showrunner has stated that he felt his “Desert Cantos” to be the weakest episode they’ve ever done.

I loved the psychological twists and depths of the Sarah stories, and their showcase of Lena Headey, and just wanted to register my personal vote for them, and for the necessity of Riley and Jesse to John’s arc. It helps that I never hated any of the characters on the show, no matter how damaged or flawed.

bsgfan2003, I’ve found that you have to be heavily invested in and thoughtful about (or trolling) any series to have any true passion for or against it. Sarah Connor is a series that can withstand analysis and harsh judgments because it is simply that awesome.

And as much as I like Heroes, I think it is best enjoyed by turning off your brain and not sweating the plot holes. Dogging the writing there is like kicking a three-legged puppy.

April 15, 2009 at 6:47 AM

Here is I how I try to look at time travel, different time lines and my theories on where a 3rd season would be headed.

Follow the people that know the most about time ie see below

1.) Sarah Fails. Judgment Day happens. We dont know exactly when skynet goes online but have to assume its close to Dereks year of Judgement Day.

2.) John, Weaver, John Henery Merged with Camerons module of cpu, t-888 body, and John Henery’s (the turks) software. There is a small chance that there enough room for both cameron and john henery to fit on the same chip but not sure, we dont have enough info. Its possible part of Cameron now without John realizing is Cameron tranfered herself to the former John Henery Server Farm and thats whats saying sorry John over and over? Doubt it thou.

3.) We know that Derek has altered time because he was with John, as have the main cast.

4.) We know that this younger John Conner isnt who Derek know because in one ep on John BDay he said he partied with him on his 30yrs old. Again time chnaged.

5.) Sarah, and Ellison can still effect the time that John travels to. Knowing how protective Sarah is of John she might never mention his name again, and thats why know one has heard of him.

6.) This leaves John to not only complete his destiny but recreate it because in essence they have damaged time, the humans dont stand a chance because there has been no John, humanity rises on his shoulders. He now along with Weaver have alot to do to get the plan back into motion to fight Skynet rule the world whatever. John has to send Kyle back in time in order for himself ti exist. Now keep in mind this time travel tech is always correct as we saw in one ep, and is hard to power/find. I also think John would be very selective on changing history, would not just go crazy send people back in time to do 100’s of things just would be too much. So he must have a honor about time. I would also think at one point the resistance must have had not only the means to send people back but detect when skynet was as well, so they could counter.

If this is the last ep of the series then we could assume that john is very touchy about changing time and tries to just repair it.

If this show was to continue there could be all kinds of things that happen. One of my guesses would be Weaver and John Connor retrieve John Henry with Camerons chip, with Weavers help (tech and she owns the coltan refineries) steal her a body or build one. Copy somehow Cameron from John Henry to new Cameron body. or god forbid a different one which would suck, Summer makes the show. Armed with this knowledge they time travel back to as close to the time they left. From what most scfi shows say as long as you get within a couple month you can get back to “your time.” Of course you can throw tons of twists in there as well like John is the one who actually get her kidnapped by skynet in the future, or skynet sees his relationship with that model and send another that replaces her or again who knows. Just like the preview said the future would be changed forever so the events in the series have to actually change the future. So far all we really know is people dont know Johns Name or recognize him (i dont know kyle mind have had a look of recognition on his face for other than his jacket.) Weaver is most likley rogue T1000 but she could still be working for them in the end who knows. We know the factory where Cameron was supposed to be build was destroyed. They changed time in a major way, but seems still not enough to stop judgement day. Probably because John isnt there and thats where we would go is 1st half of Season is getting things back plotting on what to tell people, and get back home.

I know this is a long comment but thats time travel for ya. Story plot lines writers thought up were awesome and delivered perfectly by the cast.

My biggest question is however Why or Why were Camerons Eyes Red and not blue? Since when did she just become a T888 cause thats almost what they made her look like. The whole blue eyes match the hud and show how much further of a model she is.

Its pretty safe to say this show setups for T4 and had that in mind. Because the previews show skynet is capturing humans and coping them or something close. This is easily but the results of this series.

There is so many great options

April 20, 2009 at 8:48 PM

I agree, this definitely seems like a setup for T4.

Just noticed this on the Wikipedia for the new Terminator film.

“At the beginning, John does not start off as leader of the human resistance, but will work his way through the ranks in the film.”

That is pretty much where season 2 ended?.. with John going to the future, and not initially being the leader of the human resistance?

So there does seem to be some kind of continuity link between the 2? that they have tried to do. So the film follows on from where the series left off in the last episode of season 2.

John going to the future, and working his way up to becoming a leader from nothing.

Maybe after the film, they will continue on with a season 3 hopefully.

Hope they do, if they did they would have to find a way of writing Cameron back into the script.. as her and Sarah Connor are part of the show.. it wouldnt be the same without them.

There is also clearly something going on between Cameron and John..which I would like to see clarified / elaborated so we can see what happens.. I know she is a machine, but throughout the series we saw her develop and it is quite possible she is developing and understanding emotions and love. It is definitely plausible as we see John Henry develop a sense of morals.. right and wrong throughout the series.. even develops his own personality.. like a kind of soul, because a soul is not necessarily a physical attribute.. it is a uniqueness, a personality and what makes us who we are.. it is the ability to make descisions at an emotional level and have a sense of morals… If he can do that then its quite possible Cameron has as well but on a higher level as she is far more advanced. Her care/love for John is also apparent how she can selectively choose to disobey her programming when she malfunctions and tries to kill John.. her willpower not to harm John overcomes her programming… if it was just programming alone she would not of been able to do that so easily because with programming.. there is no sense that 1 set of instructions should be chosen over another, the computer just does what it is programmed to do… and if you give it a new set of instructions.. it overwrites the previous ones.. it doesnt choose not to carry out your command. So to some extent, although she was mainly saying it to protect herself.. when she said “John I love you” she could of truthfully meant that partly… as we see later on in the series references to her feelings.. like when she phones Rileys foster parents pretending to be Riley, and says “I love you” its almost as if she is saying it to John herself.

John Connor definitely must feel something for her.. because the main reason he jumped to the future was to get her chip back… If he just saw her as a “Machine” he wouldnt of cared enough to do that and would of just continued on with stopping skynet.

Cant remember the episode, but also wasnt there a revelation that John does not wish to stop skynet? just wishes to win the war?… could this be because if he stopped skynet he would loose Cameron?.. as we see in the future Cameron is very close to John.. and that it seems anybody who wants to contact John has to send a message through her.

Also, if he stops Skynet although judgement day wont occur it will cause more damage to the timeline than good.. some things are fixed and skynet is probably 1 of them.

Because if they stop skynet.. then John Connor would never of sent Kyle back in time.. and he wouldnt of been born.

April 25, 2009 at 5:23 PM

John is the only one who has figured out that we cannot beat the machines. The only way to win is to get some of them to join us. (“Will you join us?”) We must embrace the machines to survive. Some humans will resist this, so John keeps it secret to himself. John does love the machines. The ones who have taken care of him have done very well and he has loved them. John cannot admit this to other humans. He has a strategy that he must pursue without telling most people about it.

April 27, 2009 at 7:11 PM

lol, maybe with hindsight they should of offered the machines the moon to start up thier own civilisation if they couldnt live in peace with humans. No real reason why machines and humans couldnt live in peace. so John Connor has a fair point to try and make peace with machines to win the war and co-exist together peacefully.. although if machines/computers did actually become self aware and could think for themselves in reality it would be wrong to continue to use those machines/computers as we do now to do jobs none of us want to do, and if we did continue to use them in that way then who could blame machines for rising up when being used as slaves to us humans… So maybe those who do work in creating Artificial intelligence should take note of the events of the Terminator franchise!

May 29, 2009 at 7:42 PM

Ryan:
RE the Dodge connection in the series, and Ellison’s Mercedes with the missing logo…did you all hear the subtle response by Ellison to the agent when asked about his life as a head of security (private sector)? He said “he gets to drive a better car.” I got a chuckle from this, seems the writers took a subtle closing jab at Chrysler in losing their sponsorship (i.e., result…series ending, losing their jobs), then using a Mercedes as the “better car”. Too bad, I guess for legal reasons, they still had to remove the Mercedes grille logo.

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