In the seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, Ellison becomes the new target of Sarah Connor and someone else and I can barely believe this is all happening. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For nonconsensual drugging, torture.<\/b><\/p>\n
I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all so close, THEY ARE ALL SO CLOSE.<\/p>\n
John<\/b><\/p>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perfect example of the sort of story that I think makes perfect sense for John Connor. I said earlier that I really liked that the show was taking John in a direction that reflected how a teenager would probably react to a scenario like this. While I poked fun at Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fussiness in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Demon Hand,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I think you can see a similar kind of frustration in John. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still largely cooped up within the house or at school while all this SHIT is going down around him. Of course, this is exacerbated by what he sees on the tape from Pescadero. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that he witnesses his mother signing over custody of him\u00c2\u00a0without the full context of that moment<\/i>. He can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what led Sarah to do that, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what her reaction to it was. Still, it infuriates him because he has such a particular idea of what it means to be a hero and a fighter. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s based on an unfair standard, one that Sarah\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i> to destroy for him so that he understands that heroism doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean perfection. Yes, Sarah regretted signing that paper, and she also regretted yelling at John right after he and the Terminator rescued her. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re flaws of hers, and I love that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Demon Hand\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows John Connor that heroes are always going to be flawed. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean you have to lose hope and faith in people, you know? And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all nicely contrasted with the idea of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d machines, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 oh god, let me talk about that.<\/p>\n
Cameron<\/b><\/p>\n
JESUS CHRIST, THIS EPISODE WENT TO AN INCREDIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE PLACE AND THEN NEVER LEFT IT. Look, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious at this point that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something drastically different about Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programming that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allowing her to behave as she does. She expressed\u00c2\u00a0genuine interest<\/i> in something that had nothing to do with a mission. That scene where she dances to Chopin at the end is so fucking haunting because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in direct contrast to the brutality we witnessed earlier. After Cameron lets those men kill Dmitri and Maria, she later justifies it by claiming that it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t part of her mission. Her parameters didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about preserving human life. And yet I expected it! I totally thought that she would walk out of Dmitri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s room and kill those men for him, but nope. She got what she was ordered to get, and her mission was over.<\/p>\n
But there is no mission requiring her to counter Maria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s statement that her upper body is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mechanical\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while dancing. THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NO REASON FOR HER TO PRACTICE BALLET. And I imagine that this is super bizarre for something like Derek to witness because his entire perception of Terminators is skewed toward the negative. And justifiably so, given what time he comes from! He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never seen behavior like Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disturbing. Does that mean future models can respond to reason? Empathy? Will they be emotional? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?<\/p>\n
It means I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a goddamn mess.<\/p>\n
Sarah Connor<\/b><\/p>\n
Goddamn, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m endlessly satisfied with how well this show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mythology fits in with the first two\u00c2\u00a0Terminator\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>films. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great deal of respect in terms of the writing, and thus, an entire episode devoted to Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time in Pescadero feels necessary. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been referenced in past episodes, but I think Sarah needed closure, particularly from Dr. Silberman. But she\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i> got closure from her son in the process, since she was able to be honest with him\u00c2\u00a0part of her time there.<\/p>\n
So how is she going to deal with Ellison? Surely, she suspects that he knows far more about the future than he did before. HE HAD THE HAND. Is she still going to keep him at bay? I NEED MORE.<\/p>\n
Ellison<\/b><\/p>\n
For real, Ellison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story in this episode is MY FAVORITE THING. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just so glad that in the process of seeing him learn the truth about Sarah Connor, we learn more about him. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m entirely fascinated by the role that religion plays in a universe like this one. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard references to God before (from Sarah herself, actually!), but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not until we get a more Ellison-centric story that we get a character who integrates a belief in God into his life. Of course, it has necessary ties to the concept of faith, since John nearly loses his faith in Sarah after watching the Pescadero tape. But Ellison, a man of God, is suddenly confronted by an undeniable reality that seems to have no place within his own faith. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spent nearly a decade haunted by the details of the Sarah Connor case, and then he finds that goddamn hand, which suggests he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been wrong the whole time.<\/p>\n
For Ellison, though, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a hint to him. He needs more. Like John Connor, he has to have his faith tested for it to come out stronger in the end. So he seeks out Dr. Silberman solely to confirm the truth that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been picking at him. AND OH LORD, DOES HE EVER FIND IT. I love that the dynamic of that scene changes so many times. When Ellison arrives, it seems like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heading in a very specific direction: Ellison is up against a brick wall and Silberman won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t budge. It seemed so certain that Dr. Silberman was completely in denial of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen and experienced, that he was committed to his views on Sarah Connor.<\/p>\n
And then he drugs Ellison with tea, and I thought it was some awful plot to harm anyone who contradicted him, AND THEN HE HAS A KNIFE AND HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SAYING THAT HE BELIEVES ELLISON IS ONE OF THE MACHINES AND\u00c2\u00a0OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING ON MY SCREEN<\/b>. Seriously, this twist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that Dr. Silberman\u00c2\u00a0utterly believes everything Sarah Connor said<\/i> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was huge. I mean, I was actually prepared for him to remain an antagonistic force. (He technically does, at least for Ellison.) I was not ready for him to be a believer who hid up in the Big Bear mountains because he was afraid of the repercussions of what he believed. I WAS NOT READY FOR HIM TO BASICALLY\u00c2\u00a0BE<\/i> SARAH CONNOR.<\/p>\n
And here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the real comic tragedy, aside from Ellison getting stabbed in the leg and nearly SET ON FIRE: Ellison has to treat Dr. Silberman exactly like he treated Sarah Connor all those years ago. He was\u00c2\u00a0horrific<\/i> to Sarah, not just because he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe her. So my sympathy here isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all that high to begin with. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m more concerned with Ellison, who knows that locking Silberman up is locking the truth away. Who can he tell? How can he deal with this? He turns to his faith, in part to help him solidify his understanding of the world. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an uncertainty to him anymore. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the truth. The future holds the end of the world, and Ellison now knows how that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure he could put together all the pieces of the cases that confused him so much. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what next? Does he keep it to himself like Dr. Silberman? Does he reach out to Sarah? I mean, SHE REACHED OUT TO HIM. (Sorry, couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist.) Oh gods, I just adore this character and I WANT TO SEE MORE.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Demon Hand\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. In the seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Ellison becomes the new target of Sarah Connor and someone else and I can barely believe this is all happening. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The … Continue reading
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