seraphcelene (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seraphcelene) wrote2008-09-23 11:34 pm
seraphcelene) wrote2008-09-23 11:34 pm
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Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.3
We've got all of these models of womanhood wandering around this season:
Sarah, Riley, the hippie Earth mother next door, Michelle, even Cameron and Weaver are approximations of gender.
For all that the episode was engineered to get rid of Michelle and bring Charlie more firmly into the freedom-fighting fold, what a way to go! Michelle's been living in Sarah's shadow without even knowing it and walks out into the desert in defense of the woman that she is.
Michelle is Sarah a la the original Terminator. With her soft blond hair and terrified eyes, we're reminded of Linda Hamilton in the original movie. Sarah, now, is whip chord lean, all planes and angles. She dresses for battle, in black and combat boots. She's functional. Michelle was soft, rounded and dressed in bright neutrals, but in the end she was as tough as Sarah. She rises to the challenge like Hamilton did. Although, in this timeline, Michelle doesn't survive the transition. Michelle kept up until the end when Charlie, our nurturing mother, begs Sarah to stop. Sarah, ever riding the edge between man and machine, compassion and cold necessity, and desperate to hold on to her humanity, stops. I have to say that I was surprised, I thought she'd just keep driving or put them out.
"I thought this would be easy. I thought you'd be dead."
But nothing is easy this season. Everything has been complicated. By Sarah killing Sarkesian, by damaged Cameron, by Ellison's survival, by John's decision to keep Cameron. A decision that he seems about as conflicted about as anyone.
John's hostility towards Cameron is a curious and reflective thing. For all that he pretends that she's real, she isn't. There was some sort of betrayal in the way that she begged him not to remove her processor, the language she used -- that she loved him and that he loved her. Cameron bears John's anger with himself, but she can't experience it, can't respond to it and that makes John feel all the worse. Replacing Cameron with Riley only helps in the most superficial sense. It's like a band aid to cover a bullet hole, a temporary fix, another trap. John's life (past, present and future) is volatile and it's pre-destined. He wants to be like everyone else, but he's not and that's the snap of the wire across his neck. He's already and always will be John Connor. It's not something that he can step out of or ignore, though he stupidly tries. His destiny is determined and that is what Cameron continually reminds him of even if he tries to pretend otherwise.
There's been discussion about this season being about John. I like the idea that it's John being forced to confront the reality of the situation as Sarah has lived it. She's protected him, coddled him. As much as Headey's Sarah is very different from Hamilton's, Dekker's John is very different from Furlong's. He's lost the edge, the independence and the agency. I loved that in this episode, John is cut off from Sarah. I loved how Cameron stalks him like any good Terminator does, unrelenting. We know that John's been trained but I like to see him act without benefit of Sarah at his back. Thomas Dekker runs like a punk, btw.
Other things:
-- I'm curious about Cromartie jumping off the pier after John. I assumed he'd sink. Cameron confirmed that Terminators don't swim. What, exactly, was the point? He could have waited on the beach for John to either come to shore or drown. Cleatus posited that the mission imperative was so strong that he jumped because his job is to kill John Connor.
-- Hello, Beast Master rip-off. Awesome!!
-- I am enchanted by how broken Cameron is. The house is moving, we'll have to paint; there's a bird in the chimney, should I kill it?
-- I'm intrigued by the T-1000's attempts at appearing human. Weaver and that glass of water with the level that never changed no matter how many times she lifted her arm. I am human, too. I drink water. Nothing to see here. If we noticed it, I wonder if Ellison did or is he blinded by the fool's gold in the photographs?
-- I'm also curious about her actual mission. John and Sarah are not her mission. SkyNet's creation is. So, I'm wondering what other Terminator could she be searching for and the only answer I can come up with is Cameron. Is there something about the way that Cameron's processor has been damaged that will be intrinsic to SkyNet's development?
I cannot WAIT for the next episode. We've all been curious about Cameron's origins.
Sarah, Riley, the hippie Earth mother next door, Michelle, even Cameron and Weaver are approximations of gender.
For all that the episode was engineered to get rid of Michelle and bring Charlie more firmly into the freedom-fighting fold, what a way to go! Michelle's been living in Sarah's shadow without even knowing it and walks out into the desert in defense of the woman that she is.
Michelle is Sarah a la the original Terminator. With her soft blond hair and terrified eyes, we're reminded of Linda Hamilton in the original movie. Sarah, now, is whip chord lean, all planes and angles. She dresses for battle, in black and combat boots. She's functional. Michelle was soft, rounded and dressed in bright neutrals, but in the end she was as tough as Sarah. She rises to the challenge like Hamilton did. Although, in this timeline, Michelle doesn't survive the transition. Michelle kept up until the end when Charlie, our nurturing mother, begs Sarah to stop. Sarah, ever riding the edge between man and machine, compassion and cold necessity, and desperate to hold on to her humanity, stops. I have to say that I was surprised, I thought she'd just keep driving or put them out.
"I thought this would be easy. I thought you'd be dead."
But nothing is easy this season. Everything has been complicated. By Sarah killing Sarkesian, by damaged Cameron, by Ellison's survival, by John's decision to keep Cameron. A decision that he seems about as conflicted about as anyone.
John's hostility towards Cameron is a curious and reflective thing. For all that he pretends that she's real, she isn't. There was some sort of betrayal in the way that she begged him not to remove her processor, the language she used -- that she loved him and that he loved her. Cameron bears John's anger with himself, but she can't experience it, can't respond to it and that makes John feel all the worse. Replacing Cameron with Riley only helps in the most superficial sense. It's like a band aid to cover a bullet hole, a temporary fix, another trap. John's life (past, present and future) is volatile and it's pre-destined. He wants to be like everyone else, but he's not and that's the snap of the wire across his neck. He's already and always will be John Connor. It's not something that he can step out of or ignore, though he stupidly tries. His destiny is determined and that is what Cameron continually reminds him of even if he tries to pretend otherwise.
There's been discussion about this season being about John. I like the idea that it's John being forced to confront the reality of the situation as Sarah has lived it. She's protected him, coddled him. As much as Headey's Sarah is very different from Hamilton's, Dekker's John is very different from Furlong's. He's lost the edge, the independence and the agency. I loved that in this episode, John is cut off from Sarah. I loved how Cameron stalks him like any good Terminator does, unrelenting. We know that John's been trained but I like to see him act without benefit of Sarah at his back. Thomas Dekker runs like a punk, btw.
Other things:
-- I'm curious about Cromartie jumping off the pier after John. I assumed he'd sink. Cameron confirmed that Terminators don't swim. What, exactly, was the point? He could have waited on the beach for John to either come to shore or drown. Cleatus posited that the mission imperative was so strong that he jumped because his job is to kill John Connor.
-- Hello, Beast Master rip-off. Awesome!!
-- I am enchanted by how broken Cameron is. The house is moving, we'll have to paint; there's a bird in the chimney, should I kill it?
-- I'm intrigued by the T-1000's attempts at appearing human. Weaver and that glass of water with the level that never changed no matter how many times she lifted her arm. I am human, too. I drink water. Nothing to see here. If we noticed it, I wonder if Ellison did or is he blinded by the fool's gold in the photographs?
-- I'm also curious about her actual mission. John and Sarah are not her mission. SkyNet's creation is. So, I'm wondering what other Terminator could she be searching for and the only answer I can come up with is Cameron. Is there something about the way that Cameron's processor has been damaged that will be intrinsic to SkyNet's development?
I cannot WAIT for the next episode. We've all been curious about Cameron's origins.