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Terminator 1.8: "Vick's Chip" |
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Monday, 03 March 2008 |
(Note: This review covers the first half of the two-episode season finale. The second half will be covered under a subsequent review.)
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| One thing to be praised about “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is the pacing. Pacing is one of the most difficult aspects to manage on a semi-serialized show, especially a show fighting for its life. Move too quickly, and the plot seems to run out prematurely (see any season of “24”). Move too slowly, and you risk alienating viewers, even if the series is excellent (“Lost”). This show has parsed out the plot just enough to maintain the momentum.
I wasn’t expecting the chip hidden by Cameron to come into play so quickly, nor was I expecting the direction taken with its implementation. Cameron’s reason for keeping the chip is relatively sound; her decision to hide it from Sarah and the others is as yet unexplained. Derek continues to see Cameron as a wolf in very attractive sheep’s clothing, and this episode makes an interesting case that it may be so.
As mentioned in previous reviews, the main issue is Cameron’s “need to know” attitude. She continues to fall back on mission objectives as her reason for seemingly obtuse behavior, but she never elaborates. That does little to engender trust. Even John sees a bit of her independence throughout the episode, when she admits to lying to him and when she purposefully fails to mention Cromartie’s presence.
Other indications are more subtle. Parsing through Vick’s memories, John and Sarah both see how easily the infiltration unit was able to fool and even seduce his “wife” while using her to SkyNet’s advantage. In the end, Vick killed her without hesitation. Throughout the episode, Cameron seems to play a similar game with John, and he’s obviously tormented by his own flagging objectivity. Even the camera seemed to frame Summer Glau to maximize her unusual beauty.
This works on the audience as well. It becomes difficult to remember that Cameron is not the hot young woman looking over John’s shoulder and watching his back. Even if one remembers Cameron is a machine, it’s all too easy to think of her in gender normative terms. At the core, Cameron is not female. It’s a programmed personality. But it begs the question: if the audience is fooled into thinking of Cameron as her appears, wouldn’t it make sense to use the same human instinct and attraction against the young John Connor?
If Cameron is fated to turn on John, then I think it would be more interesting to set that aside for a while. If the series manages to survive, then the writers could use another season or so to deepen the relationship between John, Sarah, and Cameron. One would expect Cameron to become more comfortable in her human pose over time, and that would make any eventual betrayal that much more potent. (I know, I’ve said this before, but this episode reminded me of how well that would work!)
This shortened first season also makes me wonder if that would be the perfect solution for show’s survival. While FOX can look forward to having “24” back next season, why not put together a mini-season of “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” for the fall? If expense is the issue, it would resolve that problem while allowing the series to move forward. It may be only a fleeting wish at this point, but it is something more networks should consider. |
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