lifeonqueen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lifeonqueen) wrote2009-04-11 02:58 am
lifeonqueen) wrote2009-04-11 02:58 am
Entry tags:
Sarah Connor Chronicles, "Born To Run"
That ending was pants...
What the fuck?
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cissaac suggests that this is the ultimate Farscapey mindfuck - John gets his freedom, his father and a real live girl version of Cameron - everything he's ever wanted - in hell.
I'm... more of the opinion that if you wanted to create a finale where I wouldn't care if the show got renewed because the story has gone off the rails, Josh Friedman achieved it. The last line is very telling, "I love you, too" - the sentiment that John literally does not hear in his mother's every action - but, while I see Sarah sending John through time again without her, I don't buy Sarah sending John into the post-Judgement Day future with a terminator she a) just met and b) without checking where the fuck they were going.
I thought it was... weak. And, ultimately, meaningless, which is not what I want from this show. Josh Friedman wrote in WIRED that, to him, The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a show about how you live in the face of death and, from a certain point of view, I see how "Born to Run" plays into this theme: Sarah, convinced that her death from cancer is inevitable (although she knows nothing more about her health now than she knew in "To the Lighthouse" - unless LA County's healthcare is better than I assume - which is she doesn't have breast cancer), lets the invulnerable mother take over caring for John. In essence, by stepping out of the bubble, Sarah makes the ultimate sacrifice for her son by sacrificing her presence in his life for his safety, in a moment that echoes both Sarah renouncing her parental rights in "The Demon Hand" and her bald statement to Derek "John means more" - except she doesn't know where the fuck he's going. Surely that should factor into the decision, right?
At the same time, and as much, and as surprisingly welcome as it was to see Derek again (it's only been a week) and KYLE, oh hell, yeah, Kyle, sending John to the future is pants. If only because there's no way to get him back. Unless he shows up about 20 seconds after leaving Sarah, having sent himself back to before he left, in which case, narratively, WTF is the point of sending him there in the first place?!!! Okay, having him interact with a Derek and Kyle who have no idea how they're related is the point...
But... and it's a big but, I'm not feeling it. I thought it was pants and that, to a certain extent, the more you jump through time on this show, the less this golden idea, "how do you live in the face of death", has meaning. Because if you can constantly jump across the threat, it's no longer a threat, you're no longer facing death just bad odds.
What I did like? The episode up until John and Sarah get into the elevator. Will Bailey trying to game Sarah Connor into confession (President Bartlett expects better results, I'm sure), the return of Chola, which was a really, really wonderful moment of self-reference - even before she spoke. "She's coming." Cameron sacrifices herself for the greater good (and possibly sticks herself in John Henry, which is disturbing on many level simultaneously). Derek and Kyle. John's face falling as Allison pets the dog. The final line.
Frankly, I don't think it was an episode that lives up to the best of the series. It lacks the visceral punch of "What He Beheld" (but it does explain why there are no TSCC sets left on the WB lot). It opens many possible threads for future stories: Sarah and Ellison (and Savannah in the present), John and Weaver in the future, Cameron's fate, the prospect of reuniting John and Sarah (with or without Funny Derek and Pretty Kyle) and the question of whether or not they can continue to fight Skynet without Cameron (and will/would Sarah plug Cameron into the Turk to try and save her?) but sacrifices a necessary modicum of believability.
Too much? Just enough?
And will we ever find out...
What the fuck?
cissaac suggests that this is the ultimate Farscapey mindfuck - John gets his freedom, his father and a real live girl version of Cameron - everything he's ever wanted - in hell. I'm... more of the opinion that if you wanted to create a finale where I wouldn't care if the show got renewed because the story has gone off the rails, Josh Friedman achieved it. The last line is very telling, "I love you, too" - the sentiment that John literally does not hear in his mother's every action - but, while I see Sarah sending John through time again without her, I don't buy Sarah sending John into the post-Judgement Day future with a terminator she a) just met and b) without checking where the fuck they were going.
I thought it was... weak. And, ultimately, meaningless, which is not what I want from this show. Josh Friedman wrote in WIRED that, to him, The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a show about how you live in the face of death and, from a certain point of view, I see how "Born to Run" plays into this theme: Sarah, convinced that her death from cancer is inevitable (although she knows nothing more about her health now than she knew in "To the Lighthouse" - unless LA County's healthcare is better than I assume - which is she doesn't have breast cancer), lets the invulnerable mother take over caring for John. In essence, by stepping out of the bubble, Sarah makes the ultimate sacrifice for her son by sacrificing her presence in his life for his safety, in a moment that echoes both Sarah renouncing her parental rights in "The Demon Hand" and her bald statement to Derek "John means more" - except she doesn't know where the fuck he's going. Surely that should factor into the decision, right?
At the same time, and as much, and as surprisingly welcome as it was to see Derek again (it's only been a week) and KYLE, oh hell, yeah, Kyle, sending John to the future is pants. If only because there's no way to get him back. Unless he shows up about 20 seconds after leaving Sarah, having sent himself back to before he left, in which case, narratively, WTF is the point of sending him there in the first place?!!! Okay, having him interact with a Derek and Kyle who have no idea how they're related is the point...
But... and it's a big but, I'm not feeling it. I thought it was pants and that, to a certain extent, the more you jump through time on this show, the less this golden idea, "how do you live in the face of death", has meaning. Because if you can constantly jump across the threat, it's no longer a threat, you're no longer facing death just bad odds.
What I did like? The episode up until John and Sarah get into the elevator. Will Bailey trying to game Sarah Connor into confession (President Bartlett expects better results, I'm sure), the return of Chola, which was a really, really wonderful moment of self-reference - even before she spoke. "She's coming." Cameron sacrifices herself for the greater good (and possibly sticks herself in John Henry, which is disturbing on many level simultaneously). Derek and Kyle. John's face falling as Allison pets the dog. The final line.
Frankly, I don't think it was an episode that lives up to the best of the series. It lacks the visceral punch of "What He Beheld" (but it does explain why there are no TSCC sets left on the WB lot). It opens many possible threads for future stories: Sarah and Ellison (and Savannah in the present), John and Weaver in the future, Cameron's fate, the prospect of reuniting John and Sarah (with or without Funny Derek and Pretty Kyle) and the question of whether or not they can continue to fight Skynet without Cameron (and will/would Sarah plug Cameron into the Turk to try and save her?) but sacrifices a necessary modicum of believability.
Too much? Just enough?
And will we ever find out...