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I'm not sure about the backstory. It smacks of retcon even though we don't really know what happened in the future, especially not this future since we know that it's been changed. Jonathan Jackson is way too young and way too babyfaced to play Kyle Reese, wtf.
* The title of the episode puts me in mind of role-playing and play acting. Things hidden behind closed doors, in dungeons, and we get two actual instances of that -- once with the Terminators and again with John Connor. Things that go bump in the night -- the bad guys, the dragons. Although, somehow, I get the feeling that Future!John may be a bit of a dragon, as well.
* Gearing up for something with Cameron, obviously. There's been a tension between what differentiates man from machine from the beginning. What we've been learning is that the gap between the two may not be as wide as one might suppose. In fact we've been watching man become machine from as early as T2 as Sarah Connor reinvented herself into something comparable to a human Terminator. Vice versa, the Terminator's are being programmed to become more human.
Cameron's comment: "Sometimes they go bad, no one knows why" -- seems indicative of her impending meltdown. Her programming may or may not hold. Man's desire to bridge the gap with machine leads us down the primrose path to SkyNet's paranoia which leads to the end of the world. Initially, I wanted to think of it as a flaw in the programming, but perhaps Andy Goode was just tragically successful in his endeavor. I wonder now about Cameron's programming and what the details of her mission are. I also wonder about Derek's mission especially in light of the big reveal that he did indeed kill Andy Goode. Was that his primary objective? Was it sanctioned by John Connor? What the hell is really going on? Who took the Turk II? Why did Derek lie to Sarah?
* Charlie and Sarah were bittersweet. I liked that we got to see them together post-timejump. Heroes are always more interesting when they are nuanced and Sarah gets more nuanced every episode. Headey played reluctant vulnerability well. I liked that Sarah has someone that she wants to be vulnerable with. I also loved that her method for re-centering herself is to clean guns. She reminds herself of the mission and the mission is war. This episode was such a kind of segue way, a pause in the progression of the story to allow us all to catch up and with Sarah and that gun we are re-arming ourselves for what is to come, but not without taking a moment to mourn for what has been lost (Charlie and normalcy).
* We are reminded, constantly, that as much as this series is Sarah's story, it is ultimately about John -- his life, his destiny, his fate. It reads a little oddly, especially as he's been set-up as this master puppeteer, pulling strings and arranging events.
* There are secrets and things going on behind closed doors. Levels of remove that I'm curious about. Why did the Terminators let them go? What was the overhead plane every night about? What was going on in the basement? Why the music? What exactly was that ball of energy? I thought that maybe it was a replica of whatever time travel machine that SkyNet had built.
So, I'm enjoying the show and continuing to enjoy it. YAY!
There's plenty more to be said, about John's self-engineering; Brian Austin Green's hotness and how AWFUL I found the opening of this episode with Kyle and Derek in the bunker with that photo of Sarah, but we'll leave that alone. I can't wait to read what all the brighter minds have to offer up.
* The title of the episode puts me in mind of role-playing and play acting. Things hidden behind closed doors, in dungeons, and we get two actual instances of that -- once with the Terminators and again with John Connor. Things that go bump in the night -- the bad guys, the dragons. Although, somehow, I get the feeling that Future!John may be a bit of a dragon, as well.
* Gearing up for something with Cameron, obviously. There's been a tension between what differentiates man from machine from the beginning. What we've been learning is that the gap between the two may not be as wide as one might suppose. In fact we've been watching man become machine from as early as T2 as Sarah Connor reinvented herself into something comparable to a human Terminator. Vice versa, the Terminator's are being programmed to become more human.
Cameron's comment: "Sometimes they go bad, no one knows why" -- seems indicative of her impending meltdown. Her programming may or may not hold. Man's desire to bridge the gap with machine leads us down the primrose path to SkyNet's paranoia which leads to the end of the world. Initially, I wanted to think of it as a flaw in the programming, but perhaps Andy Goode was just tragically successful in his endeavor. I wonder now about Cameron's programming and what the details of her mission are. I also wonder about Derek's mission especially in light of the big reveal that he did indeed kill Andy Goode. Was that his primary objective? Was it sanctioned by John Connor? What the hell is really going on? Who took the Turk II? Why did Derek lie to Sarah?
* Charlie and Sarah were bittersweet. I liked that we got to see them together post-timejump. Heroes are always more interesting when they are nuanced and Sarah gets more nuanced every episode. Headey played reluctant vulnerability well. I liked that Sarah has someone that she wants to be vulnerable with. I also loved that her method for re-centering herself is to clean guns. She reminds herself of the mission and the mission is war. This episode was such a kind of segue way, a pause in the progression of the story to allow us all to catch up and with Sarah and that gun we are re-arming ourselves for what is to come, but not without taking a moment to mourn for what has been lost (Charlie and normalcy).
* We are reminded, constantly, that as much as this series is Sarah's story, it is ultimately about John -- his life, his destiny, his fate. It reads a little oddly, especially as he's been set-up as this master puppeteer, pulling strings and arranging events.
* There are secrets and things going on behind closed doors. Levels of remove that I'm curious about. Why did the Terminators let them go? What was the overhead plane every night about? What was going on in the basement? Why the music? What exactly was that ball of energy? I thought that maybe it was a replica of whatever time travel machine that SkyNet had built.
So, I'm enjoying the show and continuing to enjoy it. YAY!
There's plenty more to be said, about John's self-engineering; Brian Austin Green's hotness and how AWFUL I found the opening of this episode with Kyle and Derek in the bunker with that photo of Sarah, but we'll leave that alone. I can't wait to read what all the brighter minds have to offer up.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 09:30 pm (UTC)From:We are reminded, constantly, that as much as this series is Sarah's story, it is ultimately about John -- his life, his destiny, his fate. It reads a little oddly, especially as he's been set-up as this master puppeteer, pulling strings and arranging events.
Yeah, I love that! I've been sort of thinking it but you just put it into words really well. At one point someone mentions the "no fate but what we make" line, and Sarah's voice over says something like, "But my fate was made a long time ago. It's my son's I'm fighting for." And maybe Sarah believes that, but Future!John is the one who made HER fate.
I wish they'd emphasize that more. For all that she thinks her life is set in stone, it's John, in some ways, who IS fate. Sarah's a periphery character to the drama of Judgment Day and John, and she's just battering against it, trying to beat her way into the story, change it's ending, write a new one, when the story's already been told.
I thought that maybe it was a replica of whatever time travel machine that SkyNet had built.
I thought so too.
how AWFUL I found the opening of this episode with Kyle and Derek in the bunker with that photo of Sarah,
I'm interested in your thoughts on that. I liked that they included the scene, because I love the part that photo of Sarah plays in T1, and I've always been interested in Kyle.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-16 06:55 am (UTC)From:I wish they'd emphasize that more. For all that she thinks her life is set in stone, it's John, in some ways, who IS fate. Sarah's a periphery character to the drama of Judgment Day and John, and she's just battering against it, trying to beat her way into the story, change it's ending, write a new one, when the story's already been told.
Absolutely!!! I love that thought. Future!John's facelessness is so sinister to me. We don't really know who or what he is, what his agenda really is, nothing! We know what we've been told and we extrapolate from the first two movies, but so much has changed that I find myself questioning everything. That puppetmaster/fate idea really resonates with me because that kind of control over someone/manipulation is really kinda dark. Bump that up against Sarah who is trying so hard to affect some kind of change when that's inevitable because Judgement Day has already happened and it's mind bendingly tragic.
As the Borg say, resistance is futile.
At least so far ... the future really is set. If there is no fate but what we make, who is the we making the fate and does that sentiment extend to everyone involved. John seems to have a lot of influence on making fate. Are we talking the fate that *he* decides upon?
I really love that you're watching this show and having thinky thoughts and sharing them and all!