Sarah Connor Chronicles 2x18-2x19
Sat, Mar. 21st, 2009 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI have never been so glad to hear a show is on the bubble before; I was convinced that Fox was just going to cancel SCC. Damnit! I was doing fine, watching but not obsessed, and now I am going to be heartbroken if this is canceled! I actually want to sic this on people now! And S2 is better than S1, and there are all sorts of really interesting questions up in the air, and I actually care about all the characters.
Oh networks, please don't kill Pushing Daisies and this.
Spoilers court heartbreak
They killed Jesse, woe! I mean, I suppose you could say she survived, as they didn't show the actual shot, but I am more inclined to believe that Derek shot her and lied to John, given his previous history.
I'm glad we finally got to see more of her, although I don't think they quite succeeded in making her as understandable and sympathizable as they wanted. Questions I still have: how did she get to the past with Jesse? The time machine's a fairly closely guarded secret, and I'm not convinced it would be easy to work by a person presumably taking it over at gunpoint. I also don't completely buy the shift from XO Jesse, who is suspicious of machines but ultimately trusts Connor's judgment and clearly values human life, to our Jesse, who is so convinced of Cameron's danger to all of them that she's willing to throw away the life of a girl. I can sort of see how that happens, but I need more steps, not just a miscarried child and Connor asking the machines to join them.
I can believe that the latter would completely turn her against Connor, but it's the step from that to sending someone back through time to have John love and have Cameron kill that's somewhat puzzling. And how does she know Cameron has been sent back, unless use of the time machine is common knowledge in her future? Derek didn't know what mission Kyle was sent off on until he met John and Sarah, right?
That said, I like XO Jesse a lot. I am somewhat annoyed with Jesse-in-swimsuit, although I am glad it was at least an athletic-looking one, not a skimpy bikini. And the rape threat was also off-putting; I wish we had more of Jesse fist-fighting, like we usually get of the other women on the show. Although I very much enjoyed the bar fight of Jesse vs. four army guys, heh. I also love that Derek's reaction is to bandage her hand; he's the most typically masculine of the men on the show (save perhaps Connor, but we don't see much of him), but there's still the caretaking instinct with Jesse and Kyle and John.
And oh, Sarah. It can't be easy knowing that Cameron possibly wants you dead. I also love that after the first accusation of Cameron, she mostly just wants to protect John from losing Riley.
I still have no idea what's going on with Weaver and John Henry and Ellison, save that if Ellison's role is as a father figure to a benevolent machine, I can go with that. The emphasis on him being the moral authority figure for John Henry is particularly interesting, given the traditional stereotype of the missing or criminal black father who does nothing to keep their kids away from street life. I just wish he hadn't been preceded by a few other dead black men. That said, something Ellison is saying must be working, because even though we have John Henry playing a frightening game with Savannah, he also argues with Weaver about the value of human life.
I am also weirded out by getting an actual Terminator black man.
Am still creeped out by Cameron's voice thing.
Oh Derek. Andy Goode was your best friend and your brother (Kyle substitute?) and you killed him in the past, just like your brother was killed in the past. But instead of fathering John Connor, Andy Goode fathers Skynet. The fathers in this show seem to be the maternal ones; Kyle shows up in Sarah's head as a gentle man, Ellison teaches John Henry not to kill, Charley loves John. Even the Andy we see loves his program and is excited about its developmental progress, albeit in a rather obsessive way. And the women, the mothers? They're the ones who teach the hard lessons in life: I took you out of Hell and gave you Paradise. I will make you into humanity's savior. Sometimes human life is not sacred, sometimes they are just not dependable enough.
For people who track plot better than me, do we ever figure out what that strange music from the basement Derek was in was? I am assuming it was him being tortured by Fischer, but I'm not entirely sure. I also remember that he doesn't know Andy in that episode; why else would Andy introduce himself to Derek? Possibly I am remembering wrong though.
And, oh, John. I like him more and more now, and just as Skynet must be taught about humans and human life to change the future, John must also change so he doesn't become John Connor. Sarah gets a glimpse of what it takes to be John Connor: to be alone, without family or friends, with only machines to trust, nearly a machine himself. She's trying her best to keep him from that even as she trains him to be a general, even as Derek I think pushes John to be more ruthless to match his own vision (the assumption of more traditional parental roles here?). I love John so for knowing about Riley and for wanting it to be real, for letting Jesse go, for knowing that living with something is sometimes the only thing you can do and the best tribute as well.
I loved the conversation between him and Jesse, the way she completely drops her guard because after everything, he's still Connor and she can't lie to him. I love that she did care for Riley in her own way (daughter-substitute, but maybe it hurt to much to care for someone who's dead anyway), that she thinks it was a damn waste. And I love that our John wouldn't have killed Cameron even if the plan had worked. I just really like how he's grown and how he is becoming humanity's future but not humanity's leader.
And the last scene made me cry. Sarah leaning back, John leaning back, but not Cameron, because machines don't tire and they don't need support, they don't turn to the person next to them for reassurance, and they don't break down crying in their mother's lap after they've spared their girlfriend's murderer.
Oh networks, please don't kill Pushing Daisies and this.
Spoilers court heartbreak
They killed Jesse, woe! I mean, I suppose you could say she survived, as they didn't show the actual shot, but I am more inclined to believe that Derek shot her and lied to John, given his previous history.
I'm glad we finally got to see more of her, although I don't think they quite succeeded in making her as understandable and sympathizable as they wanted. Questions I still have: how did she get to the past with Jesse? The time machine's a fairly closely guarded secret, and I'm not convinced it would be easy to work by a person presumably taking it over at gunpoint. I also don't completely buy the shift from XO Jesse, who is suspicious of machines but ultimately trusts Connor's judgment and clearly values human life, to our Jesse, who is so convinced of Cameron's danger to all of them that she's willing to throw away the life of a girl. I can sort of see how that happens, but I need more steps, not just a miscarried child and Connor asking the machines to join them.
I can believe that the latter would completely turn her against Connor, but it's the step from that to sending someone back through time to have John love and have Cameron kill that's somewhat puzzling. And how does she know Cameron has been sent back, unless use of the time machine is common knowledge in her future? Derek didn't know what mission Kyle was sent off on until he met John and Sarah, right?
That said, I like XO Jesse a lot. I am somewhat annoyed with Jesse-in-swimsuit, although I am glad it was at least an athletic-looking one, not a skimpy bikini. And the rape threat was also off-putting; I wish we had more of Jesse fist-fighting, like we usually get of the other women on the show. Although I very much enjoyed the bar fight of Jesse vs. four army guys, heh. I also love that Derek's reaction is to bandage her hand; he's the most typically masculine of the men on the show (save perhaps Connor, but we don't see much of him), but there's still the caretaking instinct with Jesse and Kyle and John.
And oh, Sarah. It can't be easy knowing that Cameron possibly wants you dead. I also love that after the first accusation of Cameron, she mostly just wants to protect John from losing Riley.
I still have no idea what's going on with Weaver and John Henry and Ellison, save that if Ellison's role is as a father figure to a benevolent machine, I can go with that. The emphasis on him being the moral authority figure for John Henry is particularly interesting, given the traditional stereotype of the missing or criminal black father who does nothing to keep their kids away from street life. I just wish he hadn't been preceded by a few other dead black men. That said, something Ellison is saying must be working, because even though we have John Henry playing a frightening game with Savannah, he also argues with Weaver about the value of human life.
I am also weirded out by getting an actual Terminator black man.
Am still creeped out by Cameron's voice thing.
Oh Derek. Andy Goode was your best friend and your brother (Kyle substitute?) and you killed him in the past, just like your brother was killed in the past. But instead of fathering John Connor, Andy Goode fathers Skynet. The fathers in this show seem to be the maternal ones; Kyle shows up in Sarah's head as a gentle man, Ellison teaches John Henry not to kill, Charley loves John. Even the Andy we see loves his program and is excited about its developmental progress, albeit in a rather obsessive way. And the women, the mothers? They're the ones who teach the hard lessons in life: I took you out of Hell and gave you Paradise. I will make you into humanity's savior. Sometimes human life is not sacred, sometimes they are just not dependable enough.
For people who track plot better than me, do we ever figure out what that strange music from the basement Derek was in was? I am assuming it was him being tortured by Fischer, but I'm not entirely sure. I also remember that he doesn't know Andy in that episode; why else would Andy introduce himself to Derek? Possibly I am remembering wrong though.
And, oh, John. I like him more and more now, and just as Skynet must be taught about humans and human life to change the future, John must also change so he doesn't become John Connor. Sarah gets a glimpse of what it takes to be John Connor: to be alone, without family or friends, with only machines to trust, nearly a machine himself. She's trying her best to keep him from that even as she trains him to be a general, even as Derek I think pushes John to be more ruthless to match his own vision (the assumption of more traditional parental roles here?). I love John so for knowing about Riley and for wanting it to be real, for letting Jesse go, for knowing that living with something is sometimes the only thing you can do and the best tribute as well.
I loved the conversation between him and Jesse, the way she completely drops her guard because after everything, he's still Connor and she can't lie to him. I love that she did care for Riley in her own way (daughter-substitute, but maybe it hurt to much to care for someone who's dead anyway), that she thinks it was a damn waste. And I love that our John wouldn't have killed Cameron even if the plan had worked. I just really like how he's grown and how he is becoming humanity's future but not humanity's leader.
And the last scene made me cry. Sarah leaning back, John leaning back, but not Cameron, because machines don't tire and they don't need support, they don't turn to the person next to them for reassurance, and they don't break down crying in their mother's lap after they've spared their girlfriend's murderer.
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(no subject)
Sat, Mar. 21st, 2009 03:22 pm (UTC)I'm still not sure how XO Jesse became renegade Jesse, but hand-wave a subplot involving factions within the resistance, with their own intelligence networks and people acting to change John Connor to their preferences by having insiders in the time-travel program who send people back change what their faction sees as his biggest failings.
That seems rather complicated for what we saw this season so far, but not outside the magnitude of complications the writers have thrown at us before.
Anyway, nice write up. And your observations regarding Ellison, and father-figures in SCC, gives me lots to think about (and an excuse to re-watch where I can).
(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 04:41 am (UTC)I feel there totally needs to be Jesse fic fleshing out the transformation ;).
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Sat, Mar. 21st, 2009 11:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 04:42 am (UTC)But yeah, loved the John Henry scenes.
(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 07:40 pm (UTC)"I've painted his eyes blue."
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Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 11:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 26th, 2009 02:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 26th, 2009 02:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 12:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 04:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 03:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 03:09 am (UTC)And I loved John in this episode. I've felt sorry for him before, liked him on occasion, but the scene with Jesse was the first time I really saw the awe-inspiring John Connor-ness of him, and then there was the final scene where he looked to first to Cameron and found no comfort there and then crumpled into Sarah's lap. Ack! My heart just broke.
(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 04:45 am (UTC)I love John so much in this. And I don't think it's him not valuing Riley's life enough to kill Cameron for it, but it's his valuing all life to not take away another in revenge or something. And I do think he thinks of Cameron as a living being, which is why I like this John so much and think is the biggest different between him and future Connor. But yes. I love him so much for being able to not kill.
(no subject)
Sun, Mar. 22nd, 2009 08:29 pm (UTC)I can sort of see how that happens, but I need more steps, not just a miscarried child and Connor asking the machines to join them.
I agree that we didn't get a full backstory, but I think Queeg "going bad" and Jesse shooting him (and then the revelation that he was acting on Connor's orders, and Connor was the one who didn't care enough to tell the crew anything) and her crew turning on her are also steps. And possibly bigger steps than those two.
For people who track plot better than me, do we ever figure out what that strange music from the basement Derek was in was? I am assuming it was him being tortured by Fischer, but I'm not entirely sure.
I don't think it can be, because this Derek wasn't tortured by Fischer. But maybe it's something similar? I'm pretty sure we don't know, anyway. (And it's the same track that Cameron dances to in 1x07, but that was probably non-diegetic music.) And I don't remember the episode very well either, but I don't know if Andy introduced himself -- I think he said he wanted to confess something (because he was going to die?).
(I'm guessing that the shapeshifting Terminator on Jesse's ship was the Terminator Formerly/Later Known as Catherine Weaver.)
(no subject)
Tue, Mar. 24th, 2009 05:17 am (UTC)Ahhhh, gotcha. Had completely forgotten this Derek vs. Jesse's Derek. On the other hand, planning on siccing the series on Rachel, so hopefully will take better notes on a rewatch.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 26th, 2009 10:37 pm (UTC)Ooh, notes! I need to rewatch. Half the time I don't even know what happened right after I watch the episode (which I like -- yay, experimental and bizarre episode structures! -- but still), let alone months later.
(no subject)
Tue, Mar. 24th, 2009 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Mar. 24th, 2009 05:16 am (UTC)*wants next season desperately*
(no subject)
Tue, Mar. 24th, 2009 05:42 am (UTC)I wonder how in touch future John is with human psychology.
(no subject)
Thu, Mar. 26th, 2009 02:03 am (UTC)