Lower Decks

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
“Today Is the Day Part One”
Originally Broadcast Friday, March 13th, 2009

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has never really been the kind of show we all expected it to be.  So no one really should’ve been surprised when a two-part episode of the show didn’t end with a frightening and suspenseful cliffhanger.  No, this was simply an episode that happened to exist in two parts with an intermission focusing on one of the show’s more enigmatic characters.

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
“Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep”
Originally Broadcast Friday, February 27th, 2009

Television episodes about dreams are always tricky because you never know what is real and what is false.  They can be effective because dreams can tell explain things that we cannot understand or articulate.  But “Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep” adds another question.  It not only asks whether anything in the story was real, the current arc makes you wonder whether anything in the story matters.

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Desert Cantos,” originally broadcast February 20, 2009.

One of the reasons that Terminator might be in trouble is because it isn’t what people think it is.  I’m sure a lot of people, myself included, thought that the show would emulate the movies.  Every week, the Connors would be running from some kind of metal monster, and the hour would be full of bullets and explosions.  Instead, the show is full of a lot more heart than you’d think, and there’s a heck of a lot of continuity.  “Desert Cantos” is exactly what I’m talking about.

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “The Good Wound,” originally broadcast February 13, 2009.

Terminator is back after a long hiatus, and they’ve decided to give us a bit of a risky return.  While it seems to be much more of a setup of the rest of the season than anything else, it can also be considered one of the most daring episodes of the series so far.

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Earthlings Welcome Here,” originally broadcast December 15, 2008.

We’re through half a season of the second year of Terminator, and we’ve come to a hiatus.  After a collection of very strong episodes, we come to the fall finale.  And instead of an episode tying together pieces of the season, bringing us to cliffhanger that will carry us to February, we get an episode full of misplaced flashbacks, crossdressing scientists, and UFO fanatics.  Maybe we want to try this “fall finale” thing again?

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Alpine Fields,” originally broadcast December 8, 2008.

I’m sure most of the visitors to Lower Decks are familiar with the episode of Star Trek: Voyager, “Equinox”.  In this episode, Voyager comes across another Starfleet vessel (the Equinox) stranded in the Delta Quadrant.  But unlike Voyager, the Equinox wasn’t prepared for the dangers of the Delta Quadrant, and it also didn’t have the same kind of luck.  The Equinox was a shattered mirror in a lot of ways, showing what would’ve happened if things didn’t happen the way they did.

Well, Sarah Connor, it’s time to meet your Equinox.

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Self Made Man,” originally broadcast December 1, 2008.

Let’s not beat around the bush: this episode of Terminator was a filler episode.  It’s an episode that stands completely alone, not acknowledging main storylines or issues.  Half the characters are not present, and there isn’t much effort to tie itself to the main storyline.  Filler episodes are normal fare these days because television shows can’t be full throttle for an entire season.  If John was narrowly escaping death every day, he’d be even crazier than he is now.

So the test of a filler episode cannot be its relevance to the show as a whole, and this episode would fail that test.  Other than some minor characterization of Cameron, it doesn’t seem to figure into the main plot.  The test of a filler episode is simple entertainment value.  And, so, did “Self Made Man” pass the test?

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The following review contains spoilers for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles through the current episode, “Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point,” originally broadcast November 24, 2008.

One of the things that the Sarah Connor Chronicles is examining, along with the Terminator series as a whole, is how everything is connected.  Andy Goode is connected to the Turk which is connected to Weaver who is connected to Ellison who investigated the Connors is connected to Derek Reese who is connected to Andy Goode.  Full circle.  And in a sort of “4400: Season One” way, it always made sense on the show.  And then this episode happened, and I had to ask the question: why does everything have to be connected?

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