In the sixth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EXPECTING THIS AT ALL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For mention of nonconsensual drugging<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Seriously, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know why I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consider that\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> would ever flash to the future to show us apocalyptic Los Angeles. I guess my assumption was based on the fact that I expected this to focus solely on the present time in relation to the Connors, but NO. NOPE. And seriously, the people making this show did such a fantastic job portraying 2027. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a seamless version of what we saw in the films! And I appreciate that, even though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m largely glad that\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> is trying to do it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own thing. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to know that they care about creating a universe that feels familiar to fans of the franchise.<\/p>\n
Anyway, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about THINGS.<\/p>\n
The Present<\/b><\/p>\n
Hey, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of my favorite tropes! I love watching a character discover the existence of a hidden world, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very satisfied that the writers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to duck away from the premise set up at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gambit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Instead, Sarah and John realize that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no point in lying to him anymore, and so they tell him\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>. Well, they also show him the T-888. THAT HELPED. (Did it? I feel like it crushed his entire understanding of the world, HA.) All of this happens in the span of an hour, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Charley is fully re-united with his ex-fiance\u00c3\u00a9, he does his best to save a total stranger who looks like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had the shit kicked out of him frequently, and then he finds out that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153story\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that the FBI told him about Sarah IS ACTUALLY TRUE. The future is full of machines hellbent on eradicating the human race, and Sarah is trying to stop that by keeping her son alive. ALSO: TIME TRAVEL. ALSO: EVIL ROBOTS. ALSO: CAMERON IS ETERNALLY MY FAVORITE.<\/p>\n
He copes with this all pretty damn well, considering how absurd it is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious he still cares for these two, enough that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d risk his career and safety to help them. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complicated as hell! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to deal with all at once, and watching Cameron melt down a goddamn Terminator was certainly not something that was easy to stomach. Add that to the parade of weirdness, and anyone would probably freak out. But Charley doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. He wants to help further, but Sarah isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really sure that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good idea. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned enough as it is. Which creates a REALLY uncomfortable dynamic with Cameron, by the way. I have to remind myself sometimes that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a programmed machine. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153human\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than any of the Terminators we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen before. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still just as calculating as ever, and it makes sense that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d start viewing Charley as a threat. Even if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever intend to sell out John or Sarah, he still possesses important information. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a risk. So Sarah has to set boundaries with Cameron because, again, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand nuance or context like humans do.<\/p>\n
Oh god, but she kept that chip. WHY.\u00c2\u00a0WHY<\/i>?<\/p>\n
I found John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story to be pretty damn sad. The guy is desperate to find\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i> connection to his father, and then his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brother is right before his eyes, and GUESS WHAT? He can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even talk to him about Kyle Reese because the identity of John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father is a SECRET in the future. Oh lord, this poor kid has the entire deck stacked against him ALL THE TIME. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but feel bad for him! And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one thing that\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> does really well: display the emotional toil of knowing your fate is planned out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an integral part of Dekker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s portrayal of John, you know? He keeps John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anxiety close to the surface at all times.<\/p>\n
The Future<\/b><\/p>\n
I almost called Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flashes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flash forwards,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re actually flashbacks relative to him. AND THEY ARE RIDICULOUS AND UNFAIR AND I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT WHAT THIS SHOW HAS CHOSEN TO DO WITH DEREK. First of all, Brian Austin Green??? Goddamn, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I remember him from back in his\u00c2\u00a0Beverly Hills<\/i> days and I kind of forgot he was still acting? HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GREAT AS DEREK. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a desperation and an urgency to him in a lot of those scenes at the weird Terminator house that are hard to describe, but Green sells it. He sells his frustration with being unable to find his brother, which comprises a lot of Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drive.<\/p>\n
But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i> revealed in the future segments that helps explain Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> that fleshes out the\u00c2\u00a0Terminator\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>universe. Sort of? I typed that, and then the first thing that popped in my head was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153WHAT THE FUCK DID THE TERMINATORS DO TO THE HUMANS IN THAT ROOM?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They drugged them, right? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever get an answer to that, nor do I know if it matters.\u00c2\u00a0Yet<\/i>. But I liked that the details we got in Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past were both super detailed and totally ambiguous. For example: I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably significant that we saw a Terminator who was made of rubber. Right??? Have we ever seen anything like that before? But the show doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily call a lot of attention to that. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just there, a visual hint at\u00c2\u00a0maybe<\/i> something more. The same goes for the hatchet. Who left that there? Who freed them? Why did the Terminators abandon their torture of these people?<\/p>\n
However, most of what I learned from these scenes was LIFE-SHATTERING. I think the decision to have Derek discover where his brother went was brilliant because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fantastic tie-in with the first film, but it also furthers the parallel between their lives. God, the reveal that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153secret weapon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is actually the time displacement WAS SO GREAT, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. This shows us how Derek ended up with those other resistance fighters in the safe house, and it also shows us why he came back:<\/p>\n
TO KILL ANDY GOODE. FUCK, I BELIEVED HIM. I COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY BELIEVED HIM. That was his main mission, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even recognize Brendan Hines. HE WAS RIGHT THERE OH MY GOD. That means that Andy signed his own death warrant by telling Derek what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d invented. Was I supposed to assume that his little nod to Derek was him giving Derek permission to kill him???<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0TIME TRAVEL HURTS MY BRAIN. But did it\u00c2\u00a0work<\/i>? Surely, this entire timeline was just wiped out, but did it actually help? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW. Is there more of a history between Cameron and Derek that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about??? What about that terminator who went \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Is that common? I ALREADY HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT I NEED ANSWERED.<\/p>\n
Good god, this was a great episode.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dungeons & Dragons\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 sixth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EXPECTING THIS AT ALL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[623],"tags":[624],"class_list":["post-4282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sarah-connor-chronicles","tag-mark-watches-terminator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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>
\n– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!
\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!
\n– I will be at quite a few conventions and will be hosting events throughout 2015, so check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n