{"id":4318,"date":"2014-12-24T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T16:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2014-12-16T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T17:22:17","slug":"mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e05-goodbye-to-all-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2014\/12\/mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e05-goodbye-to-all-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’: S02E05 – Goodbye to All That"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, a T-888 targets one of John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future friends and allies. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This is a slow burn of an episode, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largely about small bits of character development than anything else. AND THEN IT DESTROYED ME IN THE END BECAUSE THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S WHAT THIS SHOW DOES. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss!<\/p>\n

Ellison<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it.\u00c2\u00a0I don<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand it<\/i>. Clearly, Catherine Weaver needs something from Ellison; why else would should recruit him for this? Except IT DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE. Why would she send him back to the Serrano Point plant? She was lying about knowing about the Terminator who infiltrated that place, right? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my guess, but then any theory I\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i> have about her role here completely falls apart when I try to examine it. If her goal is to ensure Skynet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s existence in the future, then where does Ellison fall into this? If she can just imitate any human ever, why use Ellison? Is she using him to clean up any potential messes? Why does she refer to him as an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153avenging angel?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SO CONFUSED. And yet? 100% into this storyline. I do wish it got more screentime because I love seeing Richard Jones act across from Shirley Manson. PLUS, I NEED ANSWERS.<\/p>\n

Sarah<\/b><\/p>\n

OH, SARAH CONNOR. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been deliberately cold, closed off from the world because the world could kill her. So watching her interact with the young Martin Bedell is a treat, mostly because Lena Headey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting is\u00c2\u00a0out of this world<\/i>. Plus, this kid is a constant surprise; not only is the actor talented, but his character brings out elements of Sarah Connor that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really get to see.<\/p>\n

Granted, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very strange situation, one that Sarah wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite ready to deal with. She wanted to save the other Bedells from certain death, but she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to babysit the kid she technically kidnapped. Martin isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly an easy kid to handle, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also completely in over his head. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that heartbreaking outburst halfway through this episode where he vocalizes his frustration with his uncompleted book report, and Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a clear demonstration that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggling to understand the real weight of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going through. Some strange\u00c2\u00a0creature<\/i> is out to kill him and may kill his parents. So, despite that Sarah is a stranger, he ends up looking up to her for support.<\/p>\n

And Sarah responds, brilliantly so, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0almost<\/i> a sense of normalcy to her interactions with this kid. For the briefest of moments, we can imagine what it would have been like for her to live in a world without constant danger.<\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the world she lives in, and the same goes for John Connor.<\/p>\n

John<\/b><\/p>\n

I admit to feeling like a lot of the earlier scenes at Presidio Alto to be slower than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to from this show. But I do think that\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i> to be the case here, since this is mostly a waiting game. As Cameron and Sarah deal with the T-888 up in LA, Derek and John are patiently preparing for the inevitable appearance of the Terminator who will try to kill Martin Bedell. And unfortunately for them, the Martin at Presidio Alto is\u00c2\u00a0the<\/i> Martin from the future. On top of that, just being on the grounds of the academy triggers constant memories of Martin in the future.<\/p>\n

While I appreciate\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i> glimpse into the future, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that those scenes established Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unwavering courage. Like John Connor in the present time, the future gives us a character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s endpoint. When we meet Martin Bedell, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much like his future self. Even worse, he confides in John that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to\u00c2\u00a0skip school and run away with a girl he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fallen for. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of this that John becomes further crushed by the weight of destiny, AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO SAD TO WATCH. Seriously, Martin, no one understands wanting to run away from everything more than John. So why does John have to push Martin in a direction that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put him in danger? Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Martin choose a different path in life? Why do they have to accept certain aspects of the future?<\/p>\n

Right, because\u00c2\u00a0Martin sacrificed his life to save John Connor<\/i>. So if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t save Martin, Martin won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t save him later, and mankind dies. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a remarkably grim and distressing end to this episode. Yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that Martin Bedell did something heroic, but how does that feel if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re John Connor? How do you cope with the fact that you keep hearing stories about people dying for your benefit? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an empowering thing for John; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0mortifying<\/i>.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the life he has now.<\/p>\n

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/b><\/p>\n

Simply put: that whole sequence where Martin and Sarah read from that book while the T-888 hunts down the real Martin Bedell is stunning. Incredible. Brilliant. Goddamn, the writers on this show are SO FUCKING GOOD.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goodbye to All That\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":"