In the second episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, Sarah attempts to get herself and Cameron settled in Los Angeles, but discovers that this is easier said than done. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of cancer and racial stereotypes<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Seriously, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much to like here. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S CATERED SPECIFICALLY TO MY TASTE.<\/p>\n
Narration<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I have anything against voiceover narration in television or in movies. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother me as much as it does other people, and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great way to give a first-person voice to a film in a way that a novel usually does. Given the title of this show, Sarah Connor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voiceovers fit\u00c2\u00a0extremely<\/i> well within the episode. Her monologues act as a chronicle of her experience, giving us context for her state of mind throughout this journey. In this specific episode, Sarah ruminates on her own identity. Through all the aliases and jobs and setbacks, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned that literally everything can change. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one constant for her: her son and her dedication to him. Their names and stories might change, and time itself might change, but this is how she finds some comfort in the chaos.<\/p>\n
Teenage John Connor<\/b><\/p>\n
T2<\/i> worked so well for me because of the intentional decision to put a young John Connor into this apocalyptic nightmare and explore how someone so young would react to all of this. There was a lot more humor in\u00c2\u00a0T2<\/i> than I expected, and most of that came from the fact that John treated the Terminator programmed to help him as\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, a giant toy. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to ignore how serious the stakes were in that film, and IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S REALLY FUCKED UP. So now that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re years into the future and John is now a teenager, I find that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wanting the show to explore\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>. How does someone who is high-school-age interact with the world when all he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s known is impermanence and change?<\/p>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I want: an annoying, rebellious John Connor. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at the age where many of us begin to sort out what our identity is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a volatile time in our lives! So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kind of story I want. I want to see him make tons of mistakes and do things, certain that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, only to later realize that maybe he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know everything about the world. I can see how that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already manifesting here, since he leaves the house when told not to. He goes to a computer store to briefly browse the Internet, and then seeks out Charley Dixon. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO FOOLISH, AND HE KNOWS IT. But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 fifteen? (I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how old he is.) He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the leader of the Resistance, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the fuck he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing with his life, HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S A TEENAGER. I am all here for John Connor fucking up\u00c2\u00a0constantly<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But also:\u00c2\u00a0What are you doing John Connor?<\/i> Lord, Charley is going to be a mess, and this is going to get so much more complex, and HI SONYA WALGER, YOU MAKE ME MISS\u00c2\u00a0LOST<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The Future<\/b><\/p>\n
Because Cameron is from twenty years into the future, this gives the writers a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i> of leeway to begin dropping details about what the world will be like. On top of that, I love that the Resistance realized that sending a lone Terminator to protect John is nice, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impractical. They figured out that they should liberally blanket the past with supplies and technology and freedom fighters. THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO BRILLIANT. Why rely on only one variable? So we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Sarah and Cameron seeking out pieces of a puzzle in multiple respects, since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not only got to find as much of the resistance tech and support as possible, but at some point, they need to discover the true origins of Skynet.<\/p>\n
But Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lead proves disastrous when they encounter a Terminator at the safe house. Obviously, the timing of it is upsetting, since Sarah points out that this is LITERALLY THE FIRST THING THEY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE DONE IN 2007. The war has already started, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in 2007 for\u00c2\u00a0three days<\/i>. But it suggests that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this unending, vicious battle being waged throughout time, with each side desperate to gain intelligence on the other. So I loved that Sarah decided to seek out someone\u00c2\u00a0she<\/i> knew, who in this case was Enrique!<\/p>\n
More on that in a bit, because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another part of the future (the past???) that we need to talk and IT HURTS SO BADLY. So much of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gnothi Seauton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d covers the chaotic journey surrounding identity, and there is perhaps nothing more violent that Sarah hears than the fact that in 2005, she died. Of cancer<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s particularly difficult for her to learn this because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, let me quote her:<\/p>\n My version is this: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Know thyself because what else is there to know?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d People hide secrets, time is a lie, the material world can disappear in an instant. It has and it will again. Our identities change. Our names, the way we look, how we act and speak. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shape-shifters. There is no control, no constant, no shelter but the love of family and the body God gave us. And we can only hope that will always be enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But is it enough for Sarah if her body turns against? She died in 2005, not defending her son, but waging a war with her own cells. Will knowing her eventual fate change it? Did time travel alter the time line, or was that the original cause? WHY ARE YOU SHATTERING MY HEART ALREADY,\u00c2\u00a0SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES<\/i>?<\/p>\n Carlos<\/b><\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m torn here, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m more optimistic than usual. Most of what we see in Enrique\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family is a stereotype in one sense, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that. Latino gangster (or cholo\/chola) culture is often represented on film in a very homogenous sense, and I can see a lot of it here. I grew up being surrounded by this culture, and it was inescapable for me, particularly since I was a young Latino man in a city that was mostly Latin@ and South American. So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impressed that\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i> of this made it to the screen! I made a comment during the video that took a shot at\u00c2\u00a0Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/i>, and I have no qualms about that comparison. Nearly every depiction of Southern California in the last 30-40 years has erased the massive Mexican, Central American, and South American presence in this part of the country. (The same goes for neighborhoods that are depicted as being mostly white, despite that historically, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mostly black or Vietnamese or Korean and you get the point.) So, in one episode, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got more Latin@ people than that show had in seven years.<\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever see these characters again, so that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where my concern lies. Stereotypes are used to communicate certain elements of the story without having to outright explain them, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if that is what is going on here. Are we just supposed to assume that these men and women are involved in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illicit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trades? Are they here just to give this all an edgy, underground feel? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything more to come with these characters. I\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i> kind of fascinated that Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interaction with the police officer was a pretty clear demonstration of racial profiling. I DID NOT EXPECT THAT. Also, whoever that silent woman is, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my favorite. MY FAVORITE.<\/p>\n Cameron<\/b><\/p>\n Seriously, WHAT IS HER PROGRAMMING? Over the course of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gnothi Seauton,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we see her\u00c2\u00a0adapting her behavior<\/i>. While the Terminator in\u00c2\u00a0T2<\/i> certainly did this, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nearly as subtle as what Cameron does here. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to say that Cameron is necessarily subtle, since she does feel \u00e2\u20ac\u0153off\u00e2\u20ac\u009d here. Like that scene where she laughs at Enrique! Or when she imitates the way the silent woman stands. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still figuring this shit out and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not smooth at\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly different from the models we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in the past, namely in that she seems to\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i> to be more human. However, a desire to be human doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t negate the fact that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a calculating machine. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear in her execution of Enrique, since she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t navigate the uncertainties that come with being human. Everything in her programming is a calculation, and so she calculated that it was more likely Enrique was an informant. SO SHE KILLS HIM. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programmed to protect, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no nuance to it. At least not yet, that is.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gnothi Seauton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the second episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sarah attempts to get herself and Cameron settled in Los Angeles, but discovers that this is easier said than done. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch … Continue reading
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!<\/a>
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\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next two Double Features are now in the schedule! I will be watching <\/b>The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i><\/b> and then <\/b>Leverage<\/i><\/b>. <\/b>Commission away!
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