The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.01 Samson and Delilah

[selenak]

Firstly, given the way the series finale used Johnny Cash for the climax, opening the new season with another stunning musical sequence was inspired. As was making Cameron the Terminator our heroes are running from instead of Cromartie yet again or revealing the new one too early. S1 always kept the balance with Cameron, making her sympathetic without ever letting the viewer forget she's also scary as hell, not human, and her loyalty has question marks, not least because it is due to Future!John reprogramming her. (As far as we know.) Cameron making baby steps towards developments that had nothing to do with her programming - trying to understand human grief, showing what at least resembles grief for her fellow machines, dancing just because, not for a practical reason, and her increasing bond with (present day) John. So is she more than the sum of her programming? At first the s2 season opener seems to say no, showing her reverting to hunter of the Connors without any hesitation or doubt as soon as the explosion had her revert to her original mission. But what happens in the end? I don't think it was that John managed to repair her chip. He cleaned it, yes, but without any tools, and without anything to investigate just what was wrong, there was no way he could have repaired it. I think Cameron did what the Shirley Manson Terminator defined as the criterium of a computer truly worth attention earlier in the episode: she overwrote her own programming. For the first time, she exercised free will, doing something neither because of her SkyNet original programm nor because of the reprogramming by Future!John.

Of course, if this is what happened, it doesn't mean Cameron's loyalties are evermore guaranteed. Free will can change, and the one AI which certainly overwrote its original program and exercised free will was SkyNet. (There was some speculation in the last but one episode last season that Cameron might become the origin of SkyNet, after all.)

Re: Cameron's earlier "you love me, and I love you": this was a trick, and John took it as such; it recalled the Terminator in the series pilot imitating Sarah's voice and telling John "I love you", which immediately told him this wasn't his mother, and also was an echo of John and Cameron watching Vik the Terminator interacting with his human wife, and Cameron commenting on the way Vik manipulated Barbara by telling her he loved her and showing tenderness. This being said, I also think it's true at least as far as John is concerned. Not that he loves Cameron in a romantic sense, but he loves her as family and has for a good while. They've been careful in s1 to show him, as opposed to Sarah, noticing Cameron's curiosity about humanity and attempts at gestures, and in the last two or three eps of the season showcased their increasing closeness and a certain tenderness on his part when he removed her chip. Whether or not Cameron is able to feel at all is something the show wisely doesn't give a definite answer to yet, as it relates to all other Terminators as well. But it's interesting that Derek when giving Charlie (and any viewer who missed the relevant episodes) the briefing on "the Turk" describes this computer as "becoming angry". Anger is certainly an emotion.

("Sorry I pissed you off. The feeling is mutual", says the T-100 played by Shirley Manson at the end of this episode just before she kills. Do you think she's lying?)

To repeat an observation from last season, John who as opposed to Sarah and Derek imprinted on a Terminator saving him instead of killer machines, who is able to feel affection for Terminators: this is why I think the story needed John, not Sarah (or Derek, for that matter) to become the eventual leader of the resistance in the apocalyptic futre. Sarah could keep humanity fighting, but precisely because she has transformed herself into a warrior to save her son, she could never afford to make peace with the machines. Which I think will have to be the end of the story, if movies and tv ever end it, because as has been pointed out, you can't really stop things from being invented, and even if every last AI somehow gets blown up and irrevocably destroyed somehow, with not a single chip remaining, who's to say it won't start all over again a generation later?

I continue to love the Agent Ellison subplot. From his quiet scene with Charlie to his debriefing by his superiors to his encounter with Cromartie, Ellison's quiet dignity in this new world he finds himself in now that he hasn't just accepted Sarah told the truth all those years ago but has encountered the slaughter a Terminator could wreak was just touching and greatly played. We get a sort of answer as to why Cromartie left him alive - at least Ellison thinks it's because Cromartie assumes Ellison will lead him to Sarah, which Ellison refuses to do. On the one hand, go Ellison, on the other, this means we get no Ellison and Sarah scenes soon, which I do want to see. Maybe Ellison and Charlie scenes, though?

All in all, a superb start of the season.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

It was a fascinating episode, and your review is equally fascinating. Agent Ellison is a great character, and I'm really interested to see his role in the show - I can't imagine that someone as smart and investigative as he is can just let Sarah go, but he also understands what the Terminator is capable of doing to human bodies. John's growing leadership - he can take these risks where the adults can't - and Cameron's sentience are more fascinating plots.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Agent Ellison is a great character, and I'm really interested to see his role in the show - I can't imagine that someone as smart and investigative as he is can just let Sarah go, but he also understands what the Terminator is capable of doing to human bodies.

It's a dilemma, isn't it? And I can't imagine how they'll solve it. His instincts, curiosity and now knowledge will make him want to find her and help, but on the other hand, he already figured out what Cromartie wants and would never voluntarily endanger Sarah this way. Plus of course from a Doylist pov there needs to be a justification for the character staying on the show, which won't be there if he just lets it lie. My guess is he'll try his best to stay away but will come across Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson), whom Sarah doesn't know about, and will conclude that warning her of this new Terminator justifies the risk of contacting her.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good idea.

And yes, the Connor family will be occupied setting up new aliases, worrying about Cromartie, hiding guns in the walls of their new house, etc. Makes sense that Ellison (who doesn't have a whole lot to do in the main plot) would be the one to stumble across Weaver. Damn, now I'm irritated I didn't think of it before you.