TSCC 2x01 "Samson & Delilah"

[lifeonqueen]

1) Who's the boring guy who's taken over the VO job from Sarah? Bring back my voice overs, dammit.

2) Opening sequence FTW - Shirley Manson's cover of "Samson & Delilah" was both objectively and contextually wonderful - WANT. Moreover, Sarah, John, Cameron, Derek - they could all be the subject and narrator of that song. Thematic complexity, hurrah!

3) The editing and effects of the opening sequence managed to be visceral and stylized. Nice physical direction & post-production from David Nutter.

3a) Bad Cameron is bad. Sarah jumps in front of John. Awesome.

4) On the bad, the cut to the film from "What He Beheld" of the end of Cromartie's shooting party was jarring.

5) Ellison is going to be in so much trouble once they autopsy poor George Laslo.

6) Charley! Dean Winters FTW!

7) Brian Austin Green/Derek Reese. Firefighter's gear. Sweat. Grime. Messy hair. Ridiculously hot.

8) Dear Sarah and John - SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES. BUCKLE UP.

9) Sarah - eyes on the road when driving. Paper over the latest wound in your son, the future saviour of the world's psyche later before you... Never mind.

10) FrakenCameron creeps me the fuck out. Nice work from Rob Hall on makeup and Summer Glau for her performance - she manages to flatten Cameron's affect just a little further to distinguish explosion-damaged Cameron from our baseline model.

11) Derek is really rocking the asshole this week ("She left you at the altar for a reason"). I also think he likes Sarah like that and it pisses him off. I can't quite tell if Derek is trying to blow Charley off or Charley really has a better handle on Sarah Connor's MO than Derek "I'm a badass Future!War vet" Reese. Interesting.

12) "Jesus El Saviour del Mundo" LOL - yes, we get it.

13) Sarah Connor speaks Spanish - the Queen has a Geek thrill. Also, points for good use of LA.

14) Ellison is so screwed. And also divorced, which is interesting - more to Agent Sexy than I previously suspected. I wonder if his personal life will turn out to have had an effect on his faith. Lose your wife, turn to God sort of thing. Also, welcome to Sarah Connor's life, Ellison, where you will pervert your honour and your ideals for the greater good and hate yourself for it because the alternative is so much worse.

15) John Connor's not in right now - so, the raid on Camp Connor? Did John kill Sarkissian? He doesn't want to talk about it. Sarah does. I don't know what to make of that.

16) "She's stronger, faster" - welcome to Sarah Connor's life, John. John's never faced a terminator before without another machine to protect him and he's freaked. Not the least because he cares for Cameron, even though he knows it's stupid. And, "Oh, hi, Josh Friedman, I see what U did thar" - the references to contigency plans, gun stashes, new IDs, bank accounts - retroactively explaining a) how Sarah set up Camp Connor 1 and seeding the ground for Camp Connor 2 in the next episode. No more "so, you got the money to rent a place in North Hollywood where?" for you, Mr. Friedman. I approve.

17) John and Sarah booby trap the baptismal font - there's... so much symbolism: both rebirth and later, that "faith" howsoever you choose to define it or whomsoever you chose to place it in is a choice. Also, points for counting down 120 seconds with a watch - internally consistent logic and using your backstory effectively, all in the same scene. So. MUCH. Love.

18) Dear John and Sarah, PUT ON YOUR SEATBELTS. SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES... oh, nevermind.

19) Sarah, driving sucks much today or what?

20) The way Sarah instinctively caresses John as she's coming to before sending him away chokes me up.

21) Cameron, don't torture Sarah, you're only going to piss her off... oh, nevermind.

22) Still no word on whether or not John can drive stick but he hotwires a mean deuce and a half.

23) Cameron + wrench = OTP of necessity.

24) SARAH SMASH. Luckily for John, there was a screwdriver that fit Cam's head in the truck.

25) FRANKENCAM creeps me the fuck out. "I love you, John." *shudder* So, I'm guessing Cameron was *that* kind of infiltrator since there's no way in hell that was a genuine emotion. Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau both acted the hell out of that scene.

26) I'm assuming that Sarah somehow called Charley and Derek.

27) Derek assumes Sarah killed Sarkissian and she doesn't correct him. Is she covering for John, figuring John doesn't need any one else knowing? Or is she telling the truth. The upstairs room represents a truly ambiguous moment, IMO, I can see it going either way without breaking with the story set up. Is John's rage from killing someone, anger at himself and at his mother for failing to protect him or does it come from being helpless, from being forced, not once but multiple times in the space of an afternoon, to leave behind the people, person he cares most for in the world, to die so he can live?

28) Derek does not have a career as a therapist.

29) Sarah tells John she's proud of him - to make him feel better for running or to make him feel better for killing someone to protect her?

30) Is cleaning Cameron's chip really all it takes to fix her?

31) Apparently. Then again, I have to reboot my computer about three times a day on average and all I do is word-processing. According to my viewing buddy, Mike, the "override" is a nod to T3 where it's revealled that the terminators can't be "reprogrammed" but the terminate commands can be over-riden. If so, cool. But, see 17 above, could this be a choice Cameron is making? And could she go bad again.

32) Not much subtlety in how the scene in the junkyard is staged - Sarah and Derek (and Charley) on one side, John and Cameron on the other. Sarah looks like he just slapped her. Again.

33) Ellison and Cromartie - Ellison's familiar with scripture: the Devil one laid the whole world at Christ's feet. What will Cromartie lay before Ellison?

34) A cyborg contemplates faith and begs a promise from Sarah - in a way, Cameron makes herself Sarah's child in this moment, explicitly making her responsible for seeing that John doesn't endanger himself for Cameron again. Like Sarah needed the burden but still, interesting. One child pulls away and another, in a sense, is created.

35) There are no actual voice overs in this ep (and they better come back) but main action of the episode still closes with Sarah's monologue, the closest we've ever heard Sarah come to apologizing for the life John has to lead. On the other side of the door, John Connor is galactically enraged, every bit as enraged as Sarah was when she broke out of Pescadero. Thomas Dekker says this season is about how you can't trust anyone - I'm wondering if this season is about the man John Connor will become - one who is consumed by his demons or one who rises above them?

36) Speaking of demons - Oh, Hi Thar, T-1000. You're looking much better than you used to - less melty and, uh, melty. Boy, Sarah's gonna be pissed when she sees you.

Also, theres a neat bit from Josh Friedman at the official blog on the song that opens the episode.

Next week: the return of the voice-overs or I want to know why not!