Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Mousetrap,” originally broadcast September 22, 2008.

I’m pretty late with this review so I think I’m going to be more brief than I have been so far.  I have far less notes because there wasn’t really a lot going on.  There was a pretty smart plan by Cromartie, and there was a lot of dumb things done by the human characters.  Not a terribly exciting episode, but there was some good stuff hidden in there.

Like I said last week, I was wondering if we’d see Charley again, and I suppose the answer is now “yes.”  I couldn’t imagine that the actress, Sonya Walger, was going to be a major component of the show because she’s a little tied up in a show called LOST…so I thought Charley might just be a recurring role…popping up every few episodes.  Guess not.

Although I wonder if killing her is the right way to go.  Like Cromartie realized, I wonder if Michelle Dixon has more importance alive than dead.  How would Charley’s reaction differ if she’d simply left him; realizing that she’d never be safe around him.  It would undoubtedly send Charley to the same place…on the run and overwhelmed with emotion.  Not sure either way; just something to think about.

I do think her death will play a big role in the season and perhaps the series.  Sarah makes it very clear that John’s life is infinitely more important than his wife’s life.  I know that Charley is now on board with the whole Terminator thing, but I don’t think that’s something that can be easily understood.  In fact, I think that if Charley didn’t know John, he’d be understandably POed at what Sarah did.

And I wonder where it leaves Charley.  Can he possibly stay around the Connors knowing what happened?  Is he safe now that Cromartie’s used the “Charley” card, or does Charley realize that he might only be safe around the only people who understand what’s going on?  I think it will be interesting to see, but I’m almost certain he’ll be sticking around.

Anyway, to the bulk of the episode.  It opens with Cromartie tracking down Charley and Michelle on some abandoned road.  I think we have to assume that Cromartie was tracking them for this particular plan the whole time…otherwise John and Sarah are infinitely better at hiding than we’ve ever thought.  I think Cromartie’s plan is really smart, and it is simply bad luck that he doesn’t kill John with it.  Because the Connors don’t really help themselves at all with their behavior.

Because I understand why Sarah went to help Charley.  What I don’t really understand, however, is the incredibly rushed attempt to save the wife.  Like Sarah said, she should’ve known that something was up when she found out the wife was alive.

And, really, was their plan to take on the Terminator two on one?  Sarah even admits that Charley will be of little help in the firefight, and they’d be walking onto the Terminator’s turf by the Terminator’s rules with a shotgun and a pistol?  Really?  As nice as it would be to see Reese in action (and as much as he might know about taking one of them down), I thought that was incredibly dumb.  And I expect Reese to be the sensible one when it comes to taking on the machines head-to-head; after his initial disapproval, he seems to be on board with the ridiculous plot.

Meanwhile, John’s not winning any intelligence contests either.  While I think they used Riley well (trying to bring John back into a normal life…allowing that to distract him from his own safety), I’m not sure ditching Cameron was really the way to go.  Why not just tell her to stay out of sight?  Particularly since he really can’t be sure that Riley isn’t a Terminator herself.

And it was just two episodes ago that Cameron was this dangerous machine that tracked the Connors down in a matter of minutes.  Now John can completely lose her with the help of some teenage girl?

Looks like all the good guys made some bonehead moves in this one.  Although I think not going to the funeral was definitely smart.  In the end, Cromartie ends up a little SOL.

This week brought back the Catherine Weaver storyline, and we get a little peak into what she might be bringing to the table.  She’s going to “hire” Ellison to find her another Terminator.  Although when I was watching the scene when Weaver was explaining her past, I started to wonder if I liked her cover story better than her real one.

Because, like I said in my first review, I like the “human trying to build Skynet” angle more than the “T1000 leading to its own creation” thing.  I realize that, according to the show’s own rules, Skynet would be doing something like this.  I just like the idea of a human realizing the danger that Terminators present…and trying to build one anyway.

Although I gotta admit; I’m not really sure where they’re going with her plan.  Ellison is obviously very important to Skynet, and I wonder why.

I thought the whole “direct to video movie” stuff with Lazlo (the actor Cromartie is impersonating) was pretty funny.  Although you’d have to think that it would force Cromartie to look for a different disguise…it isn’t easy for a cult hero to blend into a crowd.  I almost thought that would be how John would escape at the pier…Cromartie gets overrun by Lazlo’s fans.

But that’s about it.  Next week’s episode looks very intriguing, but this one didn’t seem to try hard enough.  Oh well.