{"id":4370,"date":"2015-01-14T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2015-01-13T00:21:01","modified_gmt":"2015-01-13T08:21:01","slug":"mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e20-to-the-lighthouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/01\/mark-watches-the-sarah-connor-chronicles-s02e20-to-the-lighthouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’: S02E20 – To the Lighthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twentieth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>, I am more done than I was before. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of cancer and nonconsensual medical procedures<\/b>.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly a tragedy that this show got cut short. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the viewership was like, but it was on FOX, so LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BE REAL. It was probably decent but not GROUNDBREAKING, so therefore, FOX ruined it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 everything here is so good! The acting! The writing! The storytelling! The way this show continually ruins me! WHY ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T THERE MORE?<\/p>\n

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

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m utterly fascinated by the pacing in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Lighthouse\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because of the way that John Henry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story unfolds differently from the one involving the Connors. While the events at the lighthouse and the storage unit are part of a slow burn that leads to three separate confrontations, we know right off the bat that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something deeply, deeply wrong with John Henry. The imagery is scary enough because how do we know that John won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hurt Savannah? I initially believed that we were witnessing a glitch, akin to Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glitch from the beginning of the season. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more awful to find out that this was an outside attack. By whom? Who knows about John Henry? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Ellison or the Connors are trying to take him down. I\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i> had to worry about what would happen when John was restarted. Would he blurt out Catherine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secret? Would he be reset, losing all of Ellison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teachings?<\/p>\n

What I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anticipating was the toll it would take on John Henry. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deliberately framed as something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remarkably close to an emotion. John experienced \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when he was powered off, and it lasted an eternity to him. When he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brought back to life, he feels\u00c2\u00a0betrayed<\/i>. He knows what loneliness feels like. THIS IS A HUGE DEVELOPMENT and also very unnerving? Did his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153brother\u00e2\u20ac\u009d inadvertently help him grow?<\/p>\n

Oh, right, HE HAS A BROTHER. Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a loose definition of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here, but John Henry confirms that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another version of him out there with code from Cyberdyne and Miles Dyson within him. How?\u00c2\u00a0How<\/i>???\u00c2\u00a0What role does the Kaliba company play in all of this? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a progenitor to Skynet, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit, that would mean that John Henry and Catherine Weaver aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Skynet either. WHY IS JOHN HENRY SO IMPORTANT???<\/p>\n

h e l p<\/p>\n

To the Lighthouse<\/b><\/p>\n

I believed that Sarah Connor had reunited John and Charley as a concession of sorts. They were about to disappear in the desert again, to make a new life and use new identities as they always did. Before they did so, Sarah was giving John some familiarity before their lives became\u00c2\u00a0new<\/i> again. At least, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this all meant to me. It was eerie seeing Charley again because there were so many signs of how his life had changed. He physically<\/i> looked exhausted in all of his scenes here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also revealed to us that his lighthouse home \u00e2\u20ac\u201c set up by Sarah herself \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is rigged with an escape plan.\u00c2\u00a0That<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the life Charley was living<\/i>. After the death of his wife, he had to accept that one day, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be a target.<\/p>\n

However, I was so wrong.\u00c2\u00a0So wrong<\/i>. When Sarah finally confronts Charley in private in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Lighthouse,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I thought she was hitting on him. I thought she was asking him to come with her. After the events in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Today Is the Day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Charley really\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i> the only person in Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life who she trusted. (Which is actually satisfying to watch, for the record. As I mentioned in the video for this episode, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not considered how Sarah would react to Derek\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relationship with Jesse. It makes total sense for her character to view Derek as a risk after this. THE WRITING ON THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD.) She could use someone else on her side, right?<\/p>\n

I was wrong.<\/p>\n

I appreciate, as the son of someone who survived cancer twice, that this episode openly portrays Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey with cancer, despite that it ends up not being cancer at all. (I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DEAL WITH THIS.)\u00c2\u00a0She sought out Charley out of fear that her time was up. Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message about Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fate has haunted Sarah this entire time, but she never could know if time travel negated her death from cancer or if it accelerated it or if something else happened that stuck her\u00c2\u00a0back<\/i> in 2005. So when she discovers a lump in her breast, she assumes that her time has come. Sarah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s singular focus throughout this series has been on protecting John at expense to everyone and everything else, including herself. Even when her own life might be threatened, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thinking of John. (Those flashbacks to South America demonstrate that; even though John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still playing a game, Sarah\u00c2\u00a0never<\/i> is.) Who else would protect John truthfully and loyally aside from Charley? Cameron and Derek might, but she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever trust them as she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trusted Charley.<\/p>\n

Kaliba<\/b><\/p>\n

TOO BAD, THOUGH, BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS A FUCKING\u00c2\u00a0DISASTER<\/i>. I remember vaguely catching on to the Kaliba stuff in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some Must Watch\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepare me for the onslaught of terror here. I FORGOT ABOUT IT. Ed Winston implanted a tracker into Sarah back in that episode, JESUS CHRIST THAT IS SO AWFUL. So why did they all strike\u00c2\u00a0now<\/i>? Because they knew it would be easier if they were all separate? Probably. I mentioned the pacing of this episode in the beginning of this review, and I want to bring it up again: I\u00c2\u00a0love<\/i> the slow burn here. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of introspection in the middle of this episode as Sarah, Charley, John, Cameron, and Derek all consider what their role is going to be. Can Sarah ever trust again? Will John ever get a normal life? Can Derek now trust that Cameron is working in John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best interest after she rescued him?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know because WHERE IS JOHN??? Who is this Kaliba group, and are they really Skynet? Is their goal to disable Cameron and kill John Connor? How are Catherine Weaver, Ellison, and John Henry going to play into this?\u00c2\u00a0Will forgive this show for killing off Charley?<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s particularly cruel since this is the same episode where Sarah puts her faith in Charley, and he validates that faith by DYING FOR JOHN CONNOR.<\/p>\n

Everything is a mess, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m scared.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Lighthouse\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 Double Feature is now on the schedule! I will be watching <\/b>Leverage<\/i><\/b>.<\/b>
\n– The 2015 Mark Does Stuff tour is being announced!!! Check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"