{"id":4297,"date":"2014-12-15T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4297"},"modified":"2014-12-09T09:15:41","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T17:15:41","slug":"mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s01e08-vicks-chip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2014\/12\/mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s01e08-vicks-chip\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’: S01E08 – Vick’s Chip"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, tensions flare when Derek reveals that Cameron saved the T-888\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chip. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For consent and body horror.<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that I expected this show to be so uncomfortable so\u00c2\u00a0regularly<\/i>. It would be easy to cast Cameron as a willing hero, a machine eager to become as human as possible, but that story is a lot easy to tell. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more challenging (and much more viciously awkward) to constantly call her loyalty and nature into question. For the most part, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chip\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a slow burn of an episode, one that moves through scenes with a quiet sense of doubt. Who is actually lying? Are their plans ever going to work? Can you truly understand someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motivations? All these questions are asked of these characters and of the audience, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unsettling experience.<\/p>\n

Right from the get go, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re show how uncomfortable this is going to be. While it might make sense that Cameron saved the chip for its potential uses against Skynet, the primary conflict is Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s word against Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. On the one hand, Cameron has undoubtedly proven herself to Sarah and John over and over again. But Derek has a history with Cameron, one that I think has more pieces that we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen. Whose perception of Cameron is correct? Does that even matter? The issue is complicated, of course, by the reveal that Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s model can lie if necessary. (Well, reveals it to the characters; we already knew she could.) \u00c2\u00a0So how much\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i> they trust her if her mission diagnosis is telling her to lie?<\/p>\n

If this was the sole thing these people had to deal with, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that this would have been such a huge issue, but through dissecting the information on Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chip, John discovers a hellish new feature of the T-888\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s: infiltration. AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE\u00c2\u00a0WHAT IF CAMERON IS INFILTRATING RIGHT THEN AND THERE?\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>How could they ever know? The video record obtained from Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chip is a perfect demonstration in the ways in which this model could believably hide within the past. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the timeline of Vick Chamberlain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, and I honestly think that makes this a billion times creepier. Had Barbara always known this specific Vick, or had the Terminator simply swapped himself in for the real husband? How long had this long con gone on? (Holy rhyming!) Was Barbara ever the originator of the ARTIE system, or did Vick come up with it and manipulate her into it? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO AWFUL. While I am glad that the show portrays this negatively, I do wish that perhaps they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been more explicit on the consent issue, since this is REALLY NOT OKAY OR APPROPRIATE AT ALL. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not consenting because she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know who this man really is. Are there other T-888\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infiltrating elsewhere??? OH GOD, IS THIS GONNA BE LIKE\u00c2\u00a0DOLLHOUSE<\/i> WHERE I HAVE TO SUSPECT EVERYONE?<\/p>\n

Again, the lack of these answers actually creates this damning air of doubt throughout the episode. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious from the recordings that these new models can adapt quickly and ruthlessly in order to not raise suspicion. So it makes sense to Derek that Cameron most likely was responsible for his safe house being exposed and all his friends dying. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the simplest explanation for it, and given that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already harboring a severe distrust of Cameron, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy for him to make this sort of conclusion.<\/p>\n

Is his mistrust well placed? We watch Cameron brilliantly deflect Cromartie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s snoping at school by using Morris as a stand-in, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good, right? So how could she be part of a long-con at this point? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had plenty of opportunities to kill John Connor and she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good, right? Gods, I hate typing this out because WHAT IF I AM ULTIMATELY WRONG? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M GOING TO BE DEVASTATED. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the subtle brilliance of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chip.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The episode eats away at our certainty and causes us to look upon everything with justified suspicion. Is Derek hiding anything beyond what we know about him and Andy Goode?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite know yet. I still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figured out where this season is heading, and with only one episode left in season one, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m frightened for the next episode. In their efforts to track down the Turk, the group discovers ARTIE, a traffic control system that could easily have become part of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nervous system\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for Skynet, as Cameron puts it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of the same frustration for them since they have no way of knowing if each of their actions is going to end Skynet or get them closer to that goal or LITERALLY ANYTHING. They simply have to chip away, piece by piece, at the larger structure by following whatever lead they can. In this case, ARTIE leads them to someone who was trying to shut the project down, which leads them to Sayles, the connection that explains how the safehouse was originally found. Even this original team of infiltrators was largely doing the same thing.<\/p>\n

So where do they go from here? Even if they find the Turk and destroy it as well, is that the final step? Is that really the key to dismantling Skynet? With every small victory, are they actually condemning themselves to yet another battle once Skynet sends more machines into the past?<\/p>\n

I find it compelling that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t addressed because it gives this show a sense of unending dread. We can see it in the character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faces at times, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also something we feel as audience members. How long can this go on? Will these characters learn to fully trust one another, or is that a luxury for other people? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Sarah setting a clear boundary with Derek at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chip\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (HOLY SHIT WHAT A GREAT SCENE), but is he committed to this fight in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposed to Sarah and John Connor?<\/p>\n

Lord, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of questions I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m asking. Which is good! This show interests me, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s raising questions I never even considered when watching the films. THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO TERRIBLY EXCITING TO ME. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m eager to watch this finale, since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing the show is about to destroy me. OH LORD.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Vick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chip\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.
\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"