Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short,” originally broadcast October 20, 2008.

First of all, that’s a heck of a long title.  With the already-very-long title of the show and the title of the episode, you’re going to want to take a pretty deep breath before you take all of that in.  Which is pretty interesting because this is an episode that has a lot to take in.  It rushes itself in a few parts, and it starts tripping over itself a bit when you break it down.  But it’s another solid episode that finally gets the show moving forward again.

Before I get completely in, I wanted to say that Terminator got picked up for a full season.  Facing brutal competition (even in-genre), the show’s ratings have been average, at best.  But FOX seems to have faith in the show (or, maybe, they’ve invested too much and can’t cut their losses).  Either way, it’s a pretty surprising move with Monday’s jam-packed already.  Here’s hoping that Terminator gets a little less violent time slot in the future; I agree with an online opinion that it would fit nicely with Fringe.

And it’s a little interesting that we finally get some foreshadowing in this episode – from the first real look at the Catherine Weaver storyline to the new subplot of Derek’s female soldier friend (because ex-girlfriend seems like an odd explanation).

And we’ll start with the Weaver stuff because that seemed to be the A plot for the episode.  And it’s an interesting thought if not for one minor detail that repeats itself later in the episode; why are the evil Terminators worried about keeping appearances?

It’s a relatively big problem with the episode (which, before I tear into it, I enjoyed), and it’s something I’d like to see an explanation for.  The episode revolves around Weaver trying to become a better “mother” to the real Weaver’s daughter – an action that would lead one to assume that the T1000 is simply camouflaging herself.  The sight of the very-afraid daughter (a very well-done scene, by the way) was enough to get the attention of some of those photographers.  That gets her noticed and could blow her cover.

My question, I suppose, is why the daughter was allowed to live in the first place.  We have to assume that the T1000 was involved in the death of the Weavers, and we have to believe that the T1000 would rather be helping to build Skynet than visiting child therapists.  Like I’ve asked before, it simply feels strange for a killing machine to bother with all this “fitting in.”  If there was someone who could blow her cover, I would imagine the T1000’s first instinct would be to kill that person (something she did with the rogue executive in the season premiere) – not to adapt herself.

The same problem happens with the Cameron/Terminator fight in the elevator.  In a somewhat-funny scene, the two female terminators stop fighting because a family has entered the elevator.  I can understand why Cameron, who is supposed to defend civilians from unnecessary danger and needs to keep up a civilian existence, would want the fight to stop.  But why would the “evil” Terminator even care?  In every other instance of a Terminator duel, neither side seemed overly concerned with keeping up appearances.  Heck, in Judgment Day, Arnold and the T1000 fight in a crowded mall in front of plenty of people.

It just seemed very odd that the assassin terminator would choose to stop fighting.  Killing that family wouldn’t, really, slow her mission down.  The original terminator blasted his way through a police station to get to Sarah Connor, but this one is afraid to blow her cover in front of a suburban family?

But back to Weaver.  Aside from those questions (which probably will have no answer), I thought the whole angle worked.  Although it’s a storyline that probably should’ve been reserved for Cameron (someone who’s actually trying to understand humanity), it’s interesting to see the machine-like way the T1000 struggles with simple human concepts.  Weaver doesn’t seem to understand the behavior of either of her children, even the machine one.  And only by understanding human children, it seems, can she understand the behavior of her “favorite” child – the AI she’s building.

It’s nice to finally see what’s going on with her, by the way.  We’re already six episodes into the season, and it’d just been one big, slow tease with that storyline.  The fact that her computer is acting childlike is a lot like the Turk from season one – a good connection there.

And even though we don’t really know what her plans for Ellison are (another slow-moving storyline), it seems that we’re seeing the “maturation” of Skynet – or at least a predecessor of Skynet.  Very cool stuff.

The “other” A story also deals with the same child therapist, who happens to be on the “blood wall.”  The Connors are trying to figure out why, and they meet with him to get a closer look.  And it turns out that John is very interested in speaking with him.

Through the episode, we’re finally let in on what happened in the premiere.  I don’t think it’s a big surprise that John was the one who killed the intruder because I thought that was fairly obvious.  But it’s nice to see John finally deal with those demons – as far as I know, that’s the first person he’s killed.  Considering how much John respects humanity (all humanity), that’s something pretty huge.  I’m glad it wasn’t brushed completely under the rug, although I found it odd that it came back so quickly.

But it makes sense that John would be struggling so much with the emotions.  He’s trying to live a normal life (after all, if their mission succeeds, John won’t need to be a soldier), but he’s also preparing to be the savior of humanity.  I’ve discussed what kind of incredible burden that must be on John – I’m glad he finally gets to let a little bit of that out.

Which makes it odd that Riley (John’s girl friend…maybe girlfriend?  I don’t even know) wasn’t around in this one.  You’d think she’d be able to help him sort things out…since she seems to be the personification of his struggle to be normal.

I did think it was great, however, that the doctor thought John acted like a war veteran.  He’s certainly been through enough to qualify as one, and that’s an interesting analysis of him.  Pretty cool if you ask me.

Finally, there were the two B plots: the actual attempt on the therapist’s life and a subplot featuring a woman from Derek’s past.

I already mentioned the first one (which is basically wrapped up in the elevator fight scene), but there’s a couple interesting things to pull out of that story.  First of all, what’s with all the female terminators this year?  This is the third one we’ve seen (the other two being the more obvious Cameron and Weaver).  I guess Skynet’s more equal opportunity than we think.

Secondly, the female terminator comes with a self-destruct sequence (which tied in, a bit, with Cameron’s reading of the suicide pamphlet in the doctor’s office).  It’s a smart move by Skynet, especially considering the “one mission apiece” attitute the Terminators seem to have.  I’m interested to see what John’s countermove is going to be.

The subplot with Jessie (a female soldier from Derek’s past – the “ex-girlfriend” I mentioned earlier) is something pretty fascinating.  In the future, humanity seems too wrapped up in fighting Skynet to be worried or scared of anything else.  Even when they’re able to come back to a healthy world in the past, all the soldiers we’ve seen are focused on the mission at hand.  Look at Reese – it’s rare that he takes the time to consider that he’s living in a world (mostly) free of machines.

But Jessie shows us a different side of future humanity – a side that simply wants to escape the war.  She simply wanted to get away from the death and get away from the machines – and instead of using the time travel equipment for the good of humanity, she uses it to try and live out her life in peace.

Reese doesn’t seem to understand, but it’s something I think the audience completely understands.  If it were possible to get back to a “normal” life, I think it’d be a little crazy not to try.  It’s obviously the selfish way out, but it shows that future humanity is still human – we still sometimes get scared and want to run away.

Of course, that nice little thought is ruined a bit with the idea that she’s secretly spying on the Connors.  I’m not sure why every plot has to have so many twists and turns – why does everyone have to have a secret agenda?  I understand not everything is black and white….but some things can be, right?

Either way, it was a nice way to start the show’s new lease on life.  I just hope that the writers don’t get too carried away with foreshadowing and future plots since the show isn’t exactly off life support yet.  Just like John, the writers need to be aware of the escape routes just in case.

Because, especially at FOX, you never know when an assassin will be around the next corner…