Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2

There appears to be some sort of curse that follows popular films that try to make the precarious transitions to a weekly television series. Sure the studio executives managed to pull it off with ‘M*A*S*H*’ but other than that exception the rule seems to hold true enough to be considered axiomatic. When it comes to attempting the move with a science fiction movie the fans can be extremely demanding expecting a seamless adherence to the already established timeline and continuity. Even the slightest departure will result in condemnation in cyber space and the myriad on fan conventions. One of the most recent shows to attempt this risky endeavor was ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’. The film franchise already had a strong first film and a blockbuster sequel followed by a lackluster third installment. This series was in part an attempt to rollback from the third film by providing an alternate timeline but it just never seemed to gather sufficient momentum or fan acceptance. The franchise does seemed to have survived with a forth, big budget film just hitting DVD and Blu-ray now. There were signs in the first season that indicated it was preparing for an early jump over that infamous shark tank. Although the series only managed to last two seasons it never really had the special spark to classify it as ‘brilliant but cancelled’ but it did have potential that was not given ample opportunity to fully develop. Part of this can be attributed to a disruption of its momentum as a result of the writer’s stroke but ultimately the series was pushed into a thematic direction not conducive to something that began in the movies as an action oriented science fiction. The studio just couldn’t get the newly included plot elements to pull together into a coherent story resulting in a breakdown of the production.

After erasing much of what happened in the lamentable ‘T3’ the series follows an alternative time line where fugitive Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) is on the run with her teenage son John (Thomas Dekker), the future lead of the human resistance against the artificial intelligence system ‘Sky-Net’, bent on the complete destruction of the human race. They are being chased by a relentless FBI agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) and a terminator from the future, Cromartie (Garret Dillahunt). Mother and son do have some help in their quest for survival. The first is another Terminator in the form of a teenage girl, Cameron (Summer Glau) and the brother of John’s biological father from the future, Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green). In the first season Sarah, John and Cameron skip over almost a decade to avoid capture and, of course, provide a somewhat plausible shift in the previously established timeline.

The first season basically was a high tech revamp of a classic sixties series, ‘The Fugitive’ with John trying to help some innocent putting their disguise and freedom in jeopardy. At the end of season one there was a climactic battle with Cromartie killing most of a police special response team. Agent Ellison was beginning to believe Sarah’s story about killer robots from the future and after witnessing firsthand the carnage created by one realizes the continuation of mankind is at stake. He winds up working with an ultra high tech company, ZeiraCorp, who’s CEO Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson) has been replaced by the liquid metal shape shifting T-1001 model. A prototype AI called John Henry is being reprogrammed by ZeiraCorp with the help of Ellison. Reese gets to have a little romantic relationship with former comrade in arms, Riley Dawson (Leven Rambin) sent back as part of a resistance force trying to prevent Sky net from going online.

The focus began to become too broad in an attempt to juggle too many sub plots. The whole conspiracy theory thread with allegiances in a constant state of flux would have been better served if it didn’t have to share so much time with ancillary plot points. One that had potential left unfulfilled was the emotional toll all of this had on an otherwise normal teenage boy like John. He gets a love interest, Riley Dawson (Leven Rambin) who is a bit of a free spirit. She is disliked by Cameron who sees the girl as a security threat. This thread would have played out nicely as a contrast of a normal life with the fugitive existence John has to live. Unfortunately, the writers decided to include Riley in the already flat cloak and dagger thread destroying the effectiveness of the character. This thread is also expanded to Sarah becoming obsessed with a three dot symbol further derailing the narrative by being too ambitious with the story arc. It seems that the writers reached a point where the just didn’t know how to proceed so they would contrive a shot of Cameron walking through the frame in her underwear; no lines or purpose just a barely dressed stroll. While Ms Glau is extremely attractive she happens to be very good actresses and deserved better.

In all this is an example of fundamentally sound premise that just became derailed and was unable to get back on track.

Posted 12/02/09