Sarah Connor Chronicles Revisited
Jul. 25th, 2009 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThe dvds of the first season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles have arrived at my home, which means I started a rewatch and am falling in love all over again. Or rather, never having fallen out of it, am struck anew what a smart, rich and all round wonderful show SCC was. I hadn't recorded the first season (as opposed to the second), so I haven't watched these early episodes for quite a while. Rewatching them with the knowledge of both seasons in mind is fascinating.
The pilot: really well done, and that's not so common for pilots who have go through a lot of exposition by their nature, plus in this case you have to accomodate both new watchers and fans of the movies. This one in addition to reintroducing Sarah and John in their tv incarnation also introduces Cameron, Ellison and Cromartie. (So odd to see Cromartie not played by Gareth Dillahunt.) And while using the formula the movies established (Terminators sent back to kill, one Terminator acting as protector instead) uses enough twists to make it clear the tv show won't just endlessly repeat this particular story. While the s2 finale hadn't been meant as a show finale, it works amazingly well as a wrap up in compare and contrast terms to the pilot.
Both Sarah and John state their worst fears/ wishes to avoid fate in the pilot. The nightmare that kicks off the show has Sarah dreaming of being unable to protect John, having him die in front of her and then NOT dying herself but continuing to live alone and seeing Judgement Day arrive. Later on, she states in her narrative voice she lives to protect her son and fight against the impending apocalypse. It does not occur to her these might be goals not necessarily achieved together. Similarly, John at age 15 has been trained to run (though he doesn't always listen) and to fight if he can't run, but he explicitly says he's not the mythic saviour everyone keeps insisting he is, he's not hero material, his mother is. He doesn't want this to be his entire life, and at this point, he still believes his mother can pull off miracles; she always could. That she can change fate. So in the pilot, he asks her to prevent the apocalypse. Now flash forward to how s2 ends, and what Sarah and John now face. Sarah has been able to let John go into that future she tried to prevent; John has been able to go. They're both facing what they feared most, but so much has happened in the meantime, and it happens in such a way, that this does not feel like a nightmare fulfilled but strangely hopeful, because the conclusion to something positioned from the third s1 episode The Turk onwards - you can't unthink a thought, prevent a creation, AIs WILL happen - isn't despair; they will happen, but they will not have to be all genocidal, even without being reprogrammed.
(Tangentially related: early in the pilot, we see Sarah watching John sleep and John waking up, telling her to stop doing this; in the s2 finale, it's Cameron who does it and John tells her not to because his mother does it. I wonder whether Josh Friedman went back to the pilot before writing the s2 finale, I really do.)
As with every pilot, though, you can spot some changes to how the actual show handles things. Notably Cameron's behaviour. Now you can fanwank that Cameron can fake human behaviour way better than she does most times through the show, she just doesn't bother when she doesn't absolutely have to, but given the startling difference between Cameron posing as a high school girl in the pilot and Cameron posing as a high school girl in episode three, I'd say the Doylist explanation that when they shot the pilot, they hadn't yet figured out emphasizing Cameron's alien-ness would make her journey more effective to that the degree they did in the show proper.
Speaking of Cameron, and something that does work great both as a deliberate touch or a happy coincidence: rewatching the pilot, I noticed something I hadn't the first time around. She never answers John's question as to which model she is, and she actually does NOT state her mission. Sarah says "you've been sent back to protect my son", and Cameron doesn't deny it, but Cameron herself does not say this was why she came back.
James Ellison is more aggressive than in the actual show and a touch arrogant in his introduction scene, but in his case I think it's plausible because this is the only time we see him before he gets his first proof those tales of Sarah's about robots from the future might not be the delusions of a madwoman. And the pilot already shows Ellison is thoughtful enough to take this in and try to work with what new evidence he finds instead of just dismissing it.
Charley in the pilot and in ep 2, Gnothi Seauton, made me feel all agog in fannish love. See, I'm okay with the Reese boys, though not passionate about them as most fans are, and I would love to read some post-s2 Sarah/Ellison, but you know, there is just something about Charley... I think it comes down to human warmth, which both Connors are direly in need of in their lives and which Charley exudes effortlessly. To the Lighthouse is one of my favourite s2 episodes for that reason, and the pilot and second episode reminded me again. To Charley, John isn't THE FUTURE SAVIOUR OF MANKIND (tm), he's just this kid he loves like a son (Charley is the only one who occasionally calls him Johnny), and while yes, the Sarah he's originally in love with is only a part of her which she showed him (since he doesn't find out the truth until post-pilot), he does love her. But never in an obsessive way; you do believe that Charley has moved on in the intervening years and is genuinenly happy with his wife, which doesn't stop him caring for Sarah as a friend and, even when pissed off at her, giving her hugs when she needs them. Since she's Sarah and not SARAH CONNOR to him, either.)
Gnothi Seauton and The Turk in different ways both bring up questions the show pursues through the next two seasons. In ep. 2, Cameron kills Enrique because he's a possible (but not proven) leak. Sarah, angry and disturbed, forbids her doing this again and says Cameron doesn't know her or John - "not my John" (which brings up the whole problem of Future!John, but that's another question). In The Turk Cameron stops John by force from his attempt to help a fellow student about to commit suicide because it would draw attention to him. In this case, Sarah later agrees with her, while John argues that there is no point in heroism and fighting machines if you write off human life just as easily, that you might as well just let them take over if you're using the same methods. Of course, by the time s2 has ended, we've seen both (current) John and Sarah kill other humans in self defense (and the impact this has on them), BUT, and I think for the SCC narrative there is an important difference, we haven't seen them kill other humans who might or might not endanger them. Whereas both Derek and Jesse have crossed that line; Derek kills Andy Goode (introduced in The Turk as endearingly as possible), "whom I loved as a brother", as he later says, and Jesse sets up Riley to do and does kill her later, and whatever she felt for Riley, Riley loved her. They're gone that bit further than the Connors in their desperation and concurrent loss of humanity. And of course, on the other end of the scale you have machines who have just learned not to kill even if it's easier and more convenient, i.e. Cameron and John Henry, with Catherine Weaver somewhere in between.
(Trivia: when I saw the Turk for the first time in Andy Goode's basement, I felt suitably chilled. This time, I went inappropriately "awwww, baby John Henry!".)
Seeing Teresa Dyson again in the pilot and ep 3 reminded me how much I liked her scenes with Sarah in s1. Maybe, given a certain hint in the s2 finale, we'd have gotten her back, curse Fox all over again. But Teresa, too, is an early example of an ongoing thread; Sarah's encounters with mostly, but not exclusively women, who have to live with the consequences of the whole Skynet activities in the present. This is a show that tells you what happens AFTER the big shoot-outs and heroic self sacrifices, and I love it for this so much as for many, many other things.
Now excuse me. Must rewatch episode 4 of this fantastic, fantastic show.
The pilot: really well done, and that's not so common for pilots who have go through a lot of exposition by their nature, plus in this case you have to accomodate both new watchers and fans of the movies. This one in addition to reintroducing Sarah and John in their tv incarnation also introduces Cameron, Ellison and Cromartie. (So odd to see Cromartie not played by Gareth Dillahunt.) And while using the formula the movies established (Terminators sent back to kill, one Terminator acting as protector instead) uses enough twists to make it clear the tv show won't just endlessly repeat this particular story. While the s2 finale hadn't been meant as a show finale, it works amazingly well as a wrap up in compare and contrast terms to the pilot.
Both Sarah and John state their worst fears/ wishes to avoid fate in the pilot. The nightmare that kicks off the show has Sarah dreaming of being unable to protect John, having him die in front of her and then NOT dying herself but continuing to live alone and seeing Judgement Day arrive. Later on, she states in her narrative voice she lives to protect her son and fight against the impending apocalypse. It does not occur to her these might be goals not necessarily achieved together. Similarly, John at age 15 has been trained to run (though he doesn't always listen) and to fight if he can't run, but he explicitly says he's not the mythic saviour everyone keeps insisting he is, he's not hero material, his mother is. He doesn't want this to be his entire life, and at this point, he still believes his mother can pull off miracles; she always could. That she can change fate. So in the pilot, he asks her to prevent the apocalypse. Now flash forward to how s2 ends, and what Sarah and John now face. Sarah has been able to let John go into that future she tried to prevent; John has been able to go. They're both facing what they feared most, but so much has happened in the meantime, and it happens in such a way, that this does not feel like a nightmare fulfilled but strangely hopeful, because the conclusion to something positioned from the third s1 episode The Turk onwards - you can't unthink a thought, prevent a creation, AIs WILL happen - isn't despair; they will happen, but they will not have to be all genocidal, even without being reprogrammed.
(Tangentially related: early in the pilot, we see Sarah watching John sleep and John waking up, telling her to stop doing this; in the s2 finale, it's Cameron who does it and John tells her not to because his mother does it. I wonder whether Josh Friedman went back to the pilot before writing the s2 finale, I really do.)
As with every pilot, though, you can spot some changes to how the actual show handles things. Notably Cameron's behaviour. Now you can fanwank that Cameron can fake human behaviour way better than she does most times through the show, she just doesn't bother when she doesn't absolutely have to, but given the startling difference between Cameron posing as a high school girl in the pilot and Cameron posing as a high school girl in episode three, I'd say the Doylist explanation that when they shot the pilot, they hadn't yet figured out emphasizing Cameron's alien-ness would make her journey more effective to that the degree they did in the show proper.
Speaking of Cameron, and something that does work great both as a deliberate touch or a happy coincidence: rewatching the pilot, I noticed something I hadn't the first time around. She never answers John's question as to which model she is, and she actually does NOT state her mission. Sarah says "you've been sent back to protect my son", and Cameron doesn't deny it, but Cameron herself does not say this was why she came back.
James Ellison is more aggressive than in the actual show and a touch arrogant in his introduction scene, but in his case I think it's plausible because this is the only time we see him before he gets his first proof those tales of Sarah's about robots from the future might not be the delusions of a madwoman. And the pilot already shows Ellison is thoughtful enough to take this in and try to work with what new evidence he finds instead of just dismissing it.
Charley in the pilot and in ep 2, Gnothi Seauton, made me feel all agog in fannish love. See, I'm okay with the Reese boys, though not passionate about them as most fans are, and I would love to read some post-s2 Sarah/Ellison, but you know, there is just something about Charley... I think it comes down to human warmth, which both Connors are direly in need of in their lives and which Charley exudes effortlessly. To the Lighthouse is one of my favourite s2 episodes for that reason, and the pilot and second episode reminded me again. To Charley, John isn't THE FUTURE SAVIOUR OF MANKIND (tm), he's just this kid he loves like a son (Charley is the only one who occasionally calls him Johnny), and while yes, the Sarah he's originally in love with is only a part of her which she showed him (since he doesn't find out the truth until post-pilot), he does love her. But never in an obsessive way; you do believe that Charley has moved on in the intervening years and is genuinenly happy with his wife, which doesn't stop him caring for Sarah as a friend and, even when pissed off at her, giving her hugs when she needs them. Since she's Sarah and not SARAH CONNOR to him, either.)
Gnothi Seauton and The Turk in different ways both bring up questions the show pursues through the next two seasons. In ep. 2, Cameron kills Enrique because he's a possible (but not proven) leak. Sarah, angry and disturbed, forbids her doing this again and says Cameron doesn't know her or John - "not my John" (which brings up the whole problem of Future!John, but that's another question). In The Turk Cameron stops John by force from his attempt to help a fellow student about to commit suicide because it would draw attention to him. In this case, Sarah later agrees with her, while John argues that there is no point in heroism and fighting machines if you write off human life just as easily, that you might as well just let them take over if you're using the same methods. Of course, by the time s2 has ended, we've seen both (current) John and Sarah kill other humans in self defense (and the impact this has on them), BUT, and I think for the SCC narrative there is an important difference, we haven't seen them kill other humans who might or might not endanger them. Whereas both Derek and Jesse have crossed that line; Derek kills Andy Goode (introduced in The Turk as endearingly as possible), "whom I loved as a brother", as he later says, and Jesse sets up Riley to do and does kill her later, and whatever she felt for Riley, Riley loved her. They're gone that bit further than the Connors in their desperation and concurrent loss of humanity. And of course, on the other end of the scale you have machines who have just learned not to kill even if it's easier and more convenient, i.e. Cameron and John Henry, with Catherine Weaver somewhere in between.
(Trivia: when I saw the Turk for the first time in Andy Goode's basement, I felt suitably chilled. This time, I went inappropriately "awwww, baby John Henry!".)
Seeing Teresa Dyson again in the pilot and ep 3 reminded me how much I liked her scenes with Sarah in s1. Maybe, given a certain hint in the s2 finale, we'd have gotten her back, curse Fox all over again. But Teresa, too, is an early example of an ongoing thread; Sarah's encounters with mostly, but not exclusively women, who have to live with the consequences of the whole Skynet activities in the present. This is a show that tells you what happens AFTER the big shoot-outs and heroic self sacrifices, and I love it for this so much as for many, many other things.
Now excuse me. Must rewatch episode 4 of this fantastic, fantastic show.
