Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green) holds a little girl hostage to gain John Connor (Thomas Dekker)’s freedom then shots her father in the head in front of her. It turns out that the man he shot (who acted and was indicated to be her father) was not actually her father.
The writers took a hardcore, unapologetic act and softened it out and made it more palatable and easily digestible for the masses. If Josh Friedman, the writer and creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; wrote for himself and the story and didn’t worry about the negative reaction one scene might get because of its unapologetic harshness, The Sarah Connor Chronicles would be even better Sci-Fi television series. My second gripe about the last episode of Season One was when the FBI finally found Terminator Cromartie (Garret Dillahunt), the resulting battle was:
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Off-screen 99% of the SWAT Agents were thrown into a pool.
WTF! If this show was on HBO or Showtime, we would have had a violent gun battle. On F/X, violent gun battle. SpikeTV, violent gun battle. On Fox, off screen and pool action. Then there was the icing on the cake. Cromartie has a gun pointed at the head of FBI Special Agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones), who tracked him down, and Cromartie lets him go and walks away. Does that make any sense? It’s a Terminator. By default Cromartie is a human killer. That’s the first line of code written into its brain. In Terminator 2, the T-101 had to be stopped from AUTOMATICALLY killing the two bodybuilders John Connor has it assault. Ellison tracked Cromartie down and brought an assault team to his door. Ellison can now see the metal underneath Cromartie’s skin. Cromartie knows all of these things AND HE LETS HIM GO? Friedman obviously couldn’t bring himself to get rid of Dickson or he’s never seen Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day or Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I read a screenplay book that said something to the effect of: “Never fall in love with your characters because you won’t want any harm to befall them.” This must be what happened during the last episode of Season One. Friedman is in love. Anyway, now that I have vented about the final episode of Season One, the positives for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles outweigh the negatives. I’m looking forward to the first episode of Season Two, which airs tonight at 8 p.m. In addition to last year’s cast, Shirley Manson, the lead singer from the metal band Garbage, has joined the show along with a few others. I hope this season doesn’t have the logic booboos the first one had. Sarah Connor is definitely one of the best Sci-Fi series on television. It’s also one of the most action packed series on television. One of the major things The Sarah Connor Chronicles does right is introduce new terminology and lore into Terminator universe and lexicon. Scream “metal” when a Terminator is discovered amongst you, Terminator model T-888 is nicknamed Triple 8, etc. And that prison house in the future where Derek and the other captured soldiers were taken to. What the hell went on in that basement? Anyway, this mystery and the other aspects of the show are why I can’t wait to watch Season Two. If you haven’t seen the show and are interested in it, I suggest you that you either rent it at your local video store, through NetFlix or pick yourself up a copy. It’s worth it. Update: I watched the first episode of Season Two last night and it was great. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our RSS feed or by e-mail to get informed when we post new ones of her.
