Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Goodbye to All That,” originally broadcast October 6, 2008.

Every once in a while, a character will come out of nowhere and steal a show.  It happened on Smallville; Lionel Luthor was originally intended to be a minor character, and he ended up as a major part of the show’s mythos.  I think Terminator has one of those characters, and I think it’s Derek Reese.  It seems like the episodes he’s in are good, and the ones where he’s missing are bad.  Luckily for us, Derek Reese was in this episode.

Reese is a guy who can make or break this show because he’s someone who has been there before.  He knows the future that the Connors are trying to fight, and he knows how important John’s survival is.  Heck, think about it; he knows it better than Sarah does.

Some of the series most memorable moments, I think, have involved Derek in one way or another, and I think he’s bringing something to the show that it really needs.  And believe it or not, but Brian Austin Greene is fantastic in the role.  I think he really sells the part well, and I’ve been very impressed.

I think the future scenes are cool, and I think they’re important.  They’re obviously cheaper than the creators probably want…but they’ve found a way to make it seem real without having to deal with too much CGI (which, in my opinion, has looked bad so far…although maybe they’re going for that same feel we got from the original movie).  And, like in LOST, the scenes are relevant for the plot in the main story; and they do it without it feeling forced.

More importantly, it is just nice to see a couple humans take down a Terminator.  The Cameron vs. a Terminator fights are fun, but Cameron can handle herself….the humans can’t.  Heck, they had Reese’s expertise, the element of surprise, and a huge arsenal of weapons….and things still got dicey.  That’s much more interesting, in my opinion.

The main plot (saving Bedell) is something I think is really cool.  The idea of Terminators trying to kill other resistance fighters was created in Terminator 3, and I think it makes perfect sense.  After all….John Connor is important, but he can’t do it all by himself.  The machines know that, and they realize that if they can’t kill Connor, they can kill the people he relies on.

And the Bedell character is something very interesting.  He’s a very similar character to John, and he’s thrust into a similar position.  He learns that he’s going to be very important, but in order to become that person, he has to give in to fate and ignore his desires.  It’s something that Bedell seems to have done better than John, and I think he wears it with more pride.  I really hope we see him again.

And while I think we all suspected that Bedell was going to die in the future scenes, the fact that he was saving Connor makes things have more meaning.  John realizes that, in the big picture, the whole mission was never to save Bedell…it all went back to his own safety.  If Bedell isn’t there to sacrifice himself, Connor dies.

In the end, it always comes back to John.  And the weight on his shoulders gets even heavier.  I can’t imagine the kind of pressure that poor kid would be under.

But I did have a thought about this show: in the future, are they going to have to save Kyle and/or Derek (as kids)?  Even if Skynet doesn’t know that Kyle Reese is John’s father (thus creating a huge paradox if they can kill him as a kid), he’s still a top liutenant, it seems.  Derek too.  It would certainly be interesting to see Derek try to defend…himself.

A lot of good relationships going here.  You can see a sort of father/son relationship developing between John and Reese.  You see a brotherly relationship between Bedell and John.  Both are relationships that will thrive in the future, and it’s nice to see those bonds aren’t affected by time.

A lot of good continuity here…in the series itself and the franchise as a whole.  The whole strategy of the Terminator to eliminate Bedell (going through the phone book), of course, brings back memories of the first movie.  Sarah’s grim rememberance of the other Sarah Connors that died is another one.

Then there’s the C-story that revolves around Ellison’s work with Weaver.  He’s investigating the nuclear accident from episode two of this season, and a lot of props, sets, and characters make reappearances.  There’s not a lot, story-wise, to discuss, but it was nice to see those things come back.

And, surprise, we finally get to see those mysterious writings on the garage wall (and from the looks of things, it will come back later in the season).  Another positive coming out of here.

The B-story of the episode dealt with Sarah protecting the third and final Martin Bedell…a small child.  For the second straight week, we are given a glimpse into Sarah’s softer side, but I think this was the correct way to do it.  She’s awkward in a lot of ways, but you can see the warmth that we don’t usually get to see from her.  And now that they did it right, I hope to see badass Sarah return soon.

Although that kid really adapted very well to being kidnapped.  The Terminator attack didn’t seem to phase him, and he got Stockholm Syndrome ridiculously fast.  I’m not sure the episode works if he’s constantly scared or trying to escape, but it was almost creepy how quickly he adapted to a situation that had to be incredibly scary for a little kid.

All in all, this is the kind of episode we need to get out of the show.  Great relationships between the characters, an interesting and unique plot, and an expansion of the universe built on top of strong continuity.

Because it was the little things in this episode that worked.  The narration of Wizard of Oz over the final showdown.  The story about the deer.  Reese’s berating of the one cadet who wants to kill.  And I thought it was pretty cool that Cameron was there for the final showdown, keeping in the bushes.  Its something that is realistic, considering the circumstances.

And it’s a great way to go into a short break.  We’re off next week because of baseball, and I hope we get another solid one then.  Because the writers obviously know the winning formula…they just need to use it.