{"id":4320,"date":"2014-12-26T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4320"},"modified":"2014-12-16T13:39:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T21:39:35","slug":"mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e07-brothers-of-nablus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2014\/12\/mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e07-brothers-of-nablus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’: S02E07 – Brothers of Nablus"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, everything is frightening and uncomfortable, and this show is a\u00c2\u00a0gem<\/i>. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Let me start off by echoing what I said near the end of the video for this episode: I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how this show is real. I enjoyed both of the films; they were a lot of fun and could be pretty creepy at times. But this show\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I was unsure how you could pull 31 episodes out of the premise. How? How was that possible? And yet,\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> has consistently impressed me with its storytelling, acting, and incredible mythologizing. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still amazed at how scary this can be. How sad it can be. How detailed and layered and subtle this show can be. SUBTLETY. IN A SHOW ABOUT MURDEROUS ROBOTS FROM THE FUTURE. How???\u00c2\u00a0How???<\/i><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss.<\/p>\n

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

Instead of helping us understand what the\u00c2\u00a0hell<\/i> is going on with his storyline, this show confuses us EVEN FURTHER. The opening scene of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brothers of Nablus\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is horrifying: Ellison comes face-to-face with a T-888\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s imitating him<\/i>. As if this sight isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t terrible enough, Ellison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s machine doppelganger is immediately killed. BY CROMARTIE. Who then tells him that Skynet has no faith in him, but he does. Cromartie.\u00c2\u00a0Has faith in Ellison<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me, though, because it supports the idea that Cromartie doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eliminate a possible source of information for the Connors. He still thinks Ellison can lead him to them, so he spares him.\u00c2\u00a0Again<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eerily reminiscent of the events in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What He Beheld,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d since Cromartie could have easily murdered Ellison then.<\/p>\n

So how does Catherine Weaver fit into this? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an eerie parallel between Cromartie and Weaver, since both of them express faith in Ellison. But\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>? Why does Weaver go out of her way to exonerate Ellison of the murder he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charged with? I STILL DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T UNDERSTAND. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she part of Skynet? But Cromartie just proved that Skynet wants to exterminate Ellison, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 ?????? NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.<\/p>\n

I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me that in the same episode where John lashes out at his mother because of what his life has become, we get a scene where Ellison longs to return to his own sense of normalcy. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s realizing just how surreal and uncomfortable everything is now, and how it will\u00c2\u00a0never<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be like that ever again. Ever. This is Ellison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life now. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so sad, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

Jesse<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking of NOT MAKING SENSE, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get what Jesse\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role is. We know she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lying, but\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>? Why get close to Derek? Is she trying to get John Connor? But WHY? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard of humans siding with Skynet! Is that even possible? WHY IS SHE DECEIVING DEREK? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her connection to the jewel seller? WHY AM I SO SCARED.<\/p>\n

Cromartie<\/b><\/p>\n

Garret Dillahunt is too good as Cromartie.\u00c2\u00a0He<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too good<\/i>. One of the things that unnerves me about his character is that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rarely like Cameron or Catherine. He does not aim to assimilate into this world beyond what is absolutely necessary, and despite that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s constantly criticized (to his face!) for being super wooden and creepy and gross, he just keeps on truckin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, determined to terminate John Connor. While Sarah and Cameron try to track down their stolen possessions, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s busy getting closer and closer to John. This time, though, he enlists Jody to help him, who is eager to betray Cameron. AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S JUST SO AWFUL TO WATCH. There are a number of near misses in this episode that all made my heart hurt, which is a feat in and of itself. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still so creepy!<\/p>\n

I feel like Cromartie will remain a threat on this show for a while, at least because he works so well as an immediate antagonist. And what I mean by that is that he shows up on screen and my whole body turns into a ball of nervous energy. HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S IN THE GROCERY STORE\u00c2\u00a0OH GOD<\/i>. And then: HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S AT THE HOUSE\u00c2\u00a0DON<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T TALK TO HIM RILEY\u00c2\u00a0OH MY<\/b><\/i> GOD<\/b>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b>And at the end of the episode, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re faced with the very real possibility that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to torture one of the thieves in order to get the Connor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s address.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too real. I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T LIKE IT.<\/p>\n

Protection<\/b><\/p>\n

I think another aspect of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> that I find compelling is how willing the writers have been to take us to these deeply uncomfortable places. When the Connor residence is robbed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and not by any machine \u00e2\u20ac\u201c their safety is threatened once again. We know exactly what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen it unfold so many times before. Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main concern is to keep her son safe, so she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put aside nearly every\u00c2\u00a0other<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0concern in order to guarantee that John stays alive. She and Cameron therefore go after their IDs and credit cards so that no one can ever trace them back to their home.<\/p>\n

But exactly how far will Sarah go to protect her son? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a single line she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t crossed so far, though I totally fell for the misdirect and believed that she had killed Sarkissian in this season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premiere. We see her same struggle near the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brothers of Nablus\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take revenge on the thieves. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cameron who executes them all, reasoning that they knew the house\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s address and could potentially give it up. So when Sarah faces down the one surviving thief, she spares his life because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never taken one before. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her own moral line in the sand, but how long can she hold on to that?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the one thing that has set John against her. We find out in this episode that John resents Sarah for not being the one to kill Sarkissian. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 christ, this fight in any other context would seem outright absurd. John is furious that his mother didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop someone she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know was coming so that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to kill him. But in John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, a world where Sarah has repeatedly enforced some rather brutal rules to protect him, this is an undeniable contradiction. Given his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to Riley, John can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom how his mother can order him around out of a need to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d him when she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i> protect him when he needed it.<\/p>\n

Is it messy? Of course, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supposed to be. This poor family has been living in hell for nearly two decades, and these are the sort of standards they judge one another by. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredibly awkward to watch, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also IMMENSELY HEARTBREAKING. We know John wants to have\u00c2\u00a0some<\/i> normalcy; we know these two people love each other; we know Sarah is doing the best she can. But is that enough for both of them? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cosmically unfair that this is the sort of life they have to live, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s messy as hell, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never going to get better.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brothers of Nablus\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":"