Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season 2 [Blu-ray]

December 13, 2015Review (c) Copyright 2015 Vincent Frank De BenedettoIntroductionThis is, for me, a quick-and-dirty review of the series, as time constraints preclude anything else. Warning: spoilers throughout. Summer Glau, special offer for you, below, in ‘Conclusion’ section.I'm a die-hard fan of the Terminator franchise, but upon just watching the Season 2 T:SCC premiere, even I am starting to see why the series was canceled. Here are my thoughts:- Essentially the entire first season was excellent. I watched every episode. Groundbreaking television and great entertainment for Terminator fans (though I think that car-bombing Cameron so early in the series, potentially causing such grievous injury or even her death, was premature).- Of Season 2, I have so far watched only its Premiere. But I'm penning this review because that premiere struck me rather negatively. It seem that things are starting to get explicitly stupid.- For example: there is little question but that John should have killed Cameron, as her mother and uncle aggressively urged him to do, when it became clear that Cameron was fatally malfunctioning. This whole, “John I love you and you love me,” from Cameron, and “I need her!” from John were patently ridiculous. Yes, of course one would have, and should have, presumed that the Terminator was likely fabricating, and yes, of course, we know that John on some level knew or suspected it—but the bottom line is he didn’t kill her.He took a huge chance in permitting it to live. A chance that maybe he didn’t have the right to take.- And what’s arguably worse is, since Cameron apparently *was* repaired, and did *not* kill John, we have to assume that all or some of what she said whilst pleading for her life was true. So what does this mean? We find that our female Terminator has now exceeded the sum of her programming and is actually in love with a human (ala, “The Doctor” in Star Trek: Voyager)? Perhaps even more than this. Insofar as Cameron is highly perceptive and intelligent, is she perceiving, perhaps correctly, that John, a human--not to mention the leader of the resistance *against* these beings--is in love with *her*?Hey, never say never, but this surely does stray quite far afield from what we know, love, and generally expect from this franchise.- The Cameron almost-death scene in which much of this misguided cybernetic passion play takes place, where she’s lodged between two trucks and begs for her life presents yet another problem with the Terminator franchise—which this series exploits, instead of relegates: Terminators with simply too much humanity. Too much emotion. Too much human facial expression, etc. I don’t care how advanced these things are, they are fundamentally glorified *robots.* And by the way how does *software,* which is what SkyNet is ultimately found to be, design and build these cyborgs? Or, OK, how did it originally build the factories that built them?- Anyway, too much emotion, pleading, bulging eyes and human existential angst at the prospect of death, Cameron does it, and the T-X so-called Terminatrix did it upon the moment of her death, as well, in that Terminator travesty called Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. During the pleading, Cameron’s eyes just look too human, they should have thrown something into the eyes, or eye sockets, or something, to remind us that this is a machine being, not a human. How about the blue eyeballs, even, that we see during the opening of each episode? Even that would have worked.This flaw, at that moment, combined with the instant-erection producing looks of actress Summer Glau, playing the role, make it very clear in one fell swoop that this is a killer-hot, young, human actress, no way a cyborg.- Additionally, in pleading for her life Cameron tells John that she is fixed now, no longer fatally damaged. Yet, what was it, about 60 seconds earlier that she flung a large wrench through the front windshield of the truck, right at John, in an obvious attempt to injure or kill him? She did her self-test, *and* was somehow repaired in that single minute? Generally implausible.(Yes, yes, OK, sure, maybe she was in a constant state of self-diagnosis and repair and in fact did come fully back to her proper programming in the space of mere seconds. But while viewers are watching they're not necessarily analyzing…they're *watching.* Watching and thinking, especially deep thinking, are two decidedly different activities.)- One more point, to this end: again, in the scene where Cameron is lodged between two huge, heavy-duty trucks and is about to be terminated, herself, by John, she pleads for her “life.” OK, her existence. But her pleading—Summer, great acting—is so lifelike, so painful, that it’s actually painful, and for me anyway, too painful, to watch. I don’t think we’re necessarily looking for this apparently just-about real-life portrayal of human pain—especially the pain of someone who is about to be murdered, genuinely begging for their lives. Anyone who has seen actual war footage, say, knows precisely what I'm talking about. So the series, you might say, wasn’t real enough in certain respects (a believable Terminator), but was too-real in others, e.g. the imminent death of that character.- C’mon, *another* female Terminator? And another *hot* female Terminator? In fact, if you count Catherine Weaver, the “chick” in white introduced in Season 2, we now have three female Terminators. Hell, one more and we can film their robotic chats and call it “The View.”This is just too much. And by the way, one of my chief criticisms of T3 was, OK, if you're gonna have a female Terminator do NOT make her look like a fashion model, right down to her stiletto-heeled boots. In watching T3 I can never figure out if I should be afraid of the TX—or turned on by her.Which categorically means, of course, that the filmmakers failed.Especially in a Terminator film where the stock-in-trade must be *fear.* Fear. Not comedy or something too akin to it, Mr. Elton John Glasses, not sex, Miss incredibly hot Kristanna Loken, but *fear.* I’m not blaming Miss Loken; she was offered a killer, classic, essentially plum role and she took it. Regarding the glasses, if Arnie was on board with it, the producer/director/executive producer, somebody along the chain of command should have had the good sense and acquaintance with the Terminator franchise to deep-six the idea.So even with Ms. Glau’s certainly reasonable acting attempts to somehow represent herself not as a wide-eyed, pouty-lipped, daisy-duked, little-girl talking and emoting, skinny-sexy young-figured vulnerable teen, killer-hot d*** stiffener, but as a cold, mechanical, robotic, programming-driven cyborg, oh, right, cybernetic organism--it just really didn’t, and probably couldn’t, happen, at least not completely. Because no matter how good Ms. Glau’s acting skill, nature will always get the last word, and for Ms. Glau nature was, as Andy Griffith said to a young, comely Barbara Eden-based character on TV many years ago, “Nature was *real* good to you!”Moreover, how could this Terminator have even had anything remotely resembling the standard Terminator-sized endoskeletal chassis underneath or inside her? She’s so skinny (sorry, Summer: “thin”) Those endoskeletons are usually rather hulking, man!Follow the MoneyOf course, we have to consider the possibility that the powers-that-be making this series *wanted* Miss Glau to look like that, after all, she was supposed to be a high-school student, right? Nonsense. They could have still made her a buttoned-up, more or less asexual Terminator. They deliberately wanted her to look hot to attract viewers—plain and simple. Same with Kristanna Loken, same with Jeri Ryan on Star Trek: Voyager. Young’uns, learn now that in the end it’s not about cinema, or artistic integrity, or even pleasing the true/hardcore fans. It’s all about *capitalism,* which means it’s about earning *profit* for owners, *maximum* profit (in this case the owners of the TV production studios and/or TV networks), which means it’s about attracting as much advertiser revenue as possible, which means it’s about attracting not merely a *lot* of eyeballs to the screen to watch those great TV commercials and buy the products, but a real, real, real, REAL lot of eyeballs—and if you don’t, doesn’t matter how good the product is, in this case the “product” is this television series—it will be gone, in search of an even more popular product. For more eyeballs, more watching of TV commercials, which persuades advertisers making those commercials to pay even higher advertising rates, which brings in even more profit to the owners.This is how the world works, boys and girls. Is this information relevant to a review of a TV show? Of course. It’s not only directly relevant but it’s likely the most relevant thing you can discuss. Why? Because it’s the element of show creation and production that has the biggest bearing on everything that happens—with casting, story lines, budgeting, air times and dates, just…everything. Including, BTW, whether the show even stays on the air. Or maybe, even in the case of a generally excellent, top-notch show like T:SCC, gets canceled after just two seasons. Production for profit skews every part of our human existence—every part.Hey, Buds and Babes: want to meet the *real* Terminators? We just did—they cancelled our show.(Yes, you are permitted a moment to shed a tear. Because running the world this way *is* sad, not to mention illogical morally and economically. Now wipe your tear, pick up your copy of “The Sane Society” by Erich Fromm, and let’s change things.)Obviously they wanted Summer for her sex appeal; which is fine by me, hey, as the Woody Allen character of CW Briggs in “Curse of the Jade Scorpion” asserts, “I eat Wheaties!” But I’d have preferred bringing Summer on as maybe John’s temporary love interest, and leave the “terminating” to an innately more intimidating actor, preferably a male. I’ve always thought that if you’re gonna have a female Terminator, she pretty much has to look like either of the female murderer characters in Monster, played by Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci—or forget it. Basically a chubby, ill-dressed, murderous dyke who hasn’t showered in about two weeks.(Note to censors: “dyke” is not a politically incorrect word. Lesbian women use it all the time.)In any case, my little politico-economic explanation aside, I think there’s maybe a bit better chance that we’ll catch Pope Francis at a strip club, than fully accept Summer Glau as a Terminator. Even as I write this review, I think of Summer Glau not as I might think of any of the male terminators, like “Hey, get me away from *that* guy,” but more like, “Hey, get me more of this chick—preferably naked.” She’s just too hot.- Another problem the show causes, seen in the character of Weaver, is again, just too human. This chick is walking, talking, conversing, looking, moving, like 1000% human being—which again, means the producers failed. Too prettied-up, how long does this TX spend on her hair and makeup in the morning? Yes, of course I know that the hair and makeup appear instantly and automatically given her TX status, but while you’re watching the show you're not really deconstructing or analyzing things out like that. She’s just not credible.More realistic human = more effective infiltration? Yes, I buy it in concept but somehow onscreen it just doesn’t work. Maybe because of the other flaws I see.- Now let’s get to the real meat of the matter. Even if none of the aforementioned flaws did not exist. Even if the series was perfect—and maybe being perfect would make the following point even more true:Welcome to the Desert of the RealI think that too much Terminator just gets depressing. Same thought process, I guess, regarding why I don’t really watch mob movies (Goodfellas, Casino, etc) much anymore. Too depressing. The realities they portray are simply, for me, too ugly. Call me sensitive. Or, just call me somebody with my eyes open: in this day and age of ISIS, an uber-terrorist group that is moving rapidly around the globe spreading all manner of real-life termination activity, i.e. murder and mayhem, heavy on the murder, the most grisly and unspeakable kinds of murders, my state of mind is already taking a pretty big hit psychologically—yours too, if you’ve been closely following the activities of ISIS.The products of artistic creation, including film, are always a product of, and influenced by, real world events. So even for me, a huge Terminator fan, two hours of big-screen robot apocalypse works. Season after season of it…maybe not so much. The production flaws cited above probably just make it worse, as they diminish the entertainment value.ConclusionAll of this kind of came together in my head last night as I watched the Season 2 opener. Hope everyone found these remarks interesting, thought-provoking, and helpful. For more of my writing and thinking, read my other reviews or better yet, see my Amazon.com user name.Terminator franchise powers-that-be: bring me on next time as a consultant, would you? Let’s interject a sizeable further shot of intelligence into the franchise at this point.Summer: email me. Sincerely: I want to take you to a museum, dinner, and a movie or concert. Your choice of all.UPDATEUpon watching a bit more of Season 2 I offer the following thoughts:- The plotline is becoming far too complicated, introducing far too many new characters. In my opinion, the show should have done more with Agent Ellison and the existing roster of Connor-clan enemies and friends, rather than retaining these characters while dumping another small boatload of new characters in our laps, starting with Catherine “Yes, I’m a Terminator, too, but you’d never know it” Weaver.I also find this particular character somewhat annoying: her Scottish accent is a bit hard to negotiate, her rather stark overall look is a bit harsh on the eyes, and in terms of her personality, she obviously doesn’t do “warm and fuzzy.”To the point, however, how do we keep track of all these new characters and sub-plots? In many spheres of life, an increase in quantity often means a decrease in quality. As a suggestion for an alternative, for example, the show could have kept Agent Ellison from finding out the truth so soon, because once he did he was no longer a foe of Sarah and no longer pursuing her. Instead of this, the show could have tracked a lot of mileage from an intensive, hair-raising Ellison/FBI cat-and-mouse pursuit of Sarah and her crew. I think that we could have easily gotten a fruitful season out of that, avoiding the need to import another rowboat full of new characters and subplots.In my opinion, there’s just too much going on to keep track of, and to comprise the basis for the development of any particular really compelling substantive subplot thread.This was a key flaw in the Terminator movies, as well, T3 and T4, specifically. Instead of the slow-and-steady wins the race of the first two movies, which tossed us about like a dinghy on a stormy ocean between slow nail-munching and outright cardiac arrest, these two movies de-emphasized character development and slow, building action and drama in favor of big, fast special effects and bombastic action. Why, for example, was there a no-holds-barred car and truck chase in Terminator 3 not ten minutes into the movie and the plot? Very cool chase, yes, but positioned far too early in the movie.Star Trek: NG made a similar mistake in its movie “First Contact.” Not two minutes into the movie and we’re already thrust into a major human-borg battle, as if we were thirty minutes into the film. Very impatient, unprofessional, and somewhat profligate filmmaking. There’s still something to be said for the three-act structure of drama commonly attributed to Aristotle, whereby the plot thickens in act two and major climaxes occur in the third and final act.- Alright, back explicitly to T:SCC: Season 1 ended with Cameron the victim of a planted bomb. At the start of Season 2 Cameron we find her damaged, and it becomes clear that though she survived, there will be residual damage.In now witnessing a partially damaged, and consequently somewhat less cybernetically cocksure Cameron, I'm beginning to feel sorry for this being. One can choose sympathy toward—alright, I'll elect for the personal pronoun and call this being “her”—one can choose sympathy toward *her* even before her damage, as one might feel pity for a bright puppy. Bright, and thus better able to understand and survive in the human world relative to a pup of lesser intellect, with and among humans, but a puppy nonetheless, and so a being of a kind that will always be apart from most of the other beings around it, which is usually to say, humans.Cameron is such a being. Why? Because her behavior suggests it; apparently naïve, innocent, and vulnerable, her physical skill and capacity and advanced cognition notwithstanding. Whether her reprogramming by the Resistance, or original programming by the Terminata that likely inserted into her blank template of simulacrum the personality profile of a naïve teen or even young child, even in her original fully operational condition she seems a bit lost. Her power permits successful assistance to humans in peril, but ironically she may be powerless to escape her own existential peril, that is, to become something other than the bright puppy.Her ability to maim or kill is precisely what the bright puppy can do. Would you tease a puppy pit bull? Then neither would you wish the wrath of Cameron, for her innocence and unwieldy existential distance from her new human world don’t detract from her inherent power to destroy it. Yet her power is powerless to render her anything better or greater than something less in the human world—unless, maybe, just maybe all or some of these Terminator beings are indeed cognitively sophisticated enough to alchemize into the essentially *human,* just as it was clear enough that the replicants of the Blade Runner universe, though a product of some variant of in vitro creation, in other words not borne of a womb, were actually human, or the functional equivalent.If they, and she, do have the cerebral equipment, silicon, or its equivalent, technological where ours is biological, to wish to, and to learn to become the functional equivalent of human, then perhaps, too, can they, and she…love.Is the notion really that far-fetched? Our bright canine puppy, or for this matter even our dimmest one, can behave toward us in a manner that most humans perceive or understand as love. Why, then, can’t our brightest *cybernetic* puppy?Didn’t David, the A.I. “child” from the film “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” love? Alas, you will assert that it was merely David’s *programming* that allowed this. But isn’t it *our* programming, biological in our case, that allows *us* to love? Is there a difference? Or, did David’s programming merely permit him a *simulation* of love?Love is the most powerful social force available to humankind. Without it, anything can and does happen. At such time that we begin to engineer human-like or humanoid beings--or they engineer themselves--we’d better ensure that they value love, brotherly love, as much as we do, or should, or we’re *all* in big trouble.Ultimately, however, for me this entire issue and the questions that surround it should be irrelevant: we should be working to better develop the capacity of the human race to love. However, there is no such focus at present, in large measure because such an endeavor does not serve the profit interests of the global ruling class, so it is not encouraged, and in part because people themselves, us, have not yet realized the critical importance of the principal of brotherly love to our present and--Terminator fans--our very Future.Thus, we distract ourselves with subsidiary questions and pursuits of every kind, from the explicitly hedonistic to the intellectual, such in this age of technology as the question of the ability of nonbiological beings to approach humanity, and to love. A subsidiary question, of course, is not necessarily an unimportant one, merely one relative to which a more important question exists.Cameron--do us proud.(c) Copyright 2015 Vincent Frank De BenedettoAmazon.com user name: OneHumanFamily-dot-net----------------------------------------------------------------------------TO READ- Death of the Soul: From Descartes to the Computer, Barrett, William, 1986.- The Sane Society, Fromm, Erich, 1955.

I can see this being a course of events that transpired between T2 & 3, just don't watch the last episode of season 2 otherwise you may have problems reconciling things.

If you're a fan of the franchise you should enjoy it.

This show was a pleasant surprise from start to finish. I have re-watched the entire series as it's a lot to remember, lots going on in all the 31 episodes. I personally found all 31 episodes to be brilliant, I would say Season 2 is a tincy better than Season 1. It's just for me, Season 2 is better because there is more, more action, more story. I was concerned going into this series that it would be a repeat of the quite tedious third installment of the franchise [Terminator 3] which was just action, no substance at all. I'm pleased to say this show isn't bang, bang, crash, bang, wallop like Terminator 3 is. I think people who aren't sure about checking out this series should give it a chance because I didn't think i'd like it but I've loved it from start to finish. I will say though in some episodes of Season 2 they were a tad slow but they were still really good episodes.The finale didn't go well with me the first viewing as it all happenned all so quickly. Having re-watched the finale quite a few times now I do understand the finale a lot more and do like it a lot opposed to my original reaction [which was "That's it, come on"]. I do think it would be nice to see a third season but in my honest opinion I think it all wraps up nicely so.... if a third season doesn't happen i'm not completly angry about it. I do think it's a shame that the show has been cancelled because I don't watch TV really, there's nothing really any good on now and sarah connor was the only thing I watched every week that was very consistent.I think what's amazing is that the show's quality is very consistent throughout. I love all the actors in it. British actress Lena Headey is amazing as Sarah connor in my opinion. All the others, Thomas Dekker, Summer glau, Richard T. Jones, Shirley Manson, Leven Rambin [Riley, yes, i do like her character un-like some people]. The only character I didn't like was Jeese, Derek's girlfriend. If no-one has watched the series, I suggest you walk away as I'm about to spoil something. Ok..... Jeese in my opinion shows her true colours in the last few episodes we see her. I found her to be a bitch to be honest and I'm glad Derek broke up with her as I think she deserved it after killing Riley. Cold cow [Jesse].I liked the Riley character to be honest, I found her quirky [but in a good way] quote "I thought 'cos you were weird you would get me" [to John]. I love her humour, she's so funny in my opinion "They're too nice, they're aliens". I agree with that people can be honest and express what they feel but I personally don't see what lots of people say about her character, I think she's a great character. I do think the actress who played Jeese did a good job with the character at the end of the day, so.... I don't think i was supposed to like her given the actions she did later on. I didn't mind her originally, I think her character is brilliant in Episode 9[Complications] of Season 2 when she interrogates a person she thinks is Charles Fisher from the future. She really showcases the bad-ass side that Sarah connor has. Having said that, this trait lasts with Sarah throughout the entire season and not the same for Jesse. I think Sarah connor is a likable person in the series, you can see she's very emotional at times, she can kick ass too [which is great to see]. The special effects are surprisingly very good for a TV show, the plotlines are fantastic, the pace is brilliant and overall it's a real treat from start to finish [wish it didn't have to end but doesn't everything have to, lol].All in all, It's a great show. Great blu-ray, it works on a PS3 [Europe/UK PS3] fine [I'm from the U.K., not from the U.S.]. I don't want to spoil anymore because some much goes on in the show and yup..... 5 stars all the way [well deserved imho].

special effects wise this is great, acting wise this is great, storyline wise it is just not as strong as the great first season but worth a watch.the problem with this series and the reason i feel the network cancelled the show is that you lose interest, the series is way too long, its 2 series worth and halfway through the entire storyline of the series changes from one individual being the villian to another, compared to season one the episodes are less interesting too, first season made you want more, this season doesnt, i lost interest half way through.

Two words sum it up: absolutely amazing.As a big fan of the Terminator franchise in general, TTSCC feels like a fantastic addition to the timeline (which, by the way, has been made to be separate from the Terminator 3 movie timeline, so anything you disliked in that film is completely ignored). The direction in general, and the storyline, seem very true to the first two films, other than the small story arc to do with "three dots" (you'll understand when you get to it), which dragged on for too long but served to portray Sarah's increasing stress levels admirably.I was very sad to hear, before I even watched this season, that a third season was not being made (I hate FOX so god damn much), but there's still some hope - apparently a film is being made to finish the story up and tie off loose ends, and will carry on the way they expected the third season to carry on (in the same vain as 'Serenity' for the 'Firefly' series).So yeah, I suggest buying this, because it's pretty amazing, but if they don't bring out the film as they're planning to then expect to be fairly angry at the intense cliffhanger in the last episode.Oh, and the special features included are:- Commentaries on 4 key episodes by Josh Friedman and the Cast/Crew- 'The Continuing Chronicles: Terminator' - 8-Part Featurette Gallery- 'Terminated Scenes' - Just deleted scenes for certain episodes- 'The Storyboard Process' - Talks through the process of storyboarding, and uses the opening episode for an example- 'Cameron VS Rosie Fight Rehearsal'- 'Gag Reel'

The first series was too short!

I've seen season one a few years ago on TV and was quite impressed with it although I have to admit that before that the whole Terminator saga had completely passed me, I never cared about it. But the premise of this show was very promising and captivating and I got into it from the get-go.Few years later then I finally managed to get season two and was not let down. Everything about this show is just brilliant. Great acting, awesome action, really cool and interesting characters and a cool and captivating storyline that picks up where if left of in season one.The storyline is simple enough yet very entertaining and interesting, you really want to know what's going to happen in the next episode, you suffer and feel with the protagonists and you hope that the good ones will prevail. The characters and the chemistry between them (even the mostly emotionless Terminators) work very well and you want things to work out for them.What definitely helps a lot with that chemistry is obviously that in my opinion all the characters are very well cast, so good in fact that I have to admit that Lena Headey is more Sarah Connor to me than Linda Hamilton. Thomas Dekker as John Connor and Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese are very well in their roles too and there's a very interesting connection and chemistry between them. But the biggest pleasure for me was obviously watching Summer Glau as Cameron! She is just brilliant, sexy and very dangerous at the same time. I especially loved the scene where she literally folds up another female Terminator in a lift without any facial expression or anything whatsoever, it's just hilarious. And speaking of Terminators, Garret Dillahunt as Cromartie, the main-villain, is brilliant, no matter how many times he pops up again after seemingly finally being destroyed, that's what makes him so threatening. And finally, Shirley Manson as Catherine Weaver, the mysterious red-head terminator where you don't really know whose side she's on. It's just altogether a brilliant cast and great fun watching these characters.Obviously, the biggest let-down was that the show was cancelled but there's no point in crying over spilt beans. I absolutely enjoyed the two seasons we were given and I thought for the probably rather improvised ending, it was well enough done without letting too many open questions. If you like a good story, great characters, good action and your sci-fi dose, you can't go wrong with this show. And it really doesn't matter what you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger or the Terminator franchise, The Sarah Connor Chronicles work perfectly without any background or even liking of this franchise.

Well, Im not much of a writer but I just want to say that the series is excelent and I wish that it would go on. You can't just leave it at where its been left - in the unfamilular future. They surly need to come back to the present, but maybe with Derek again - and Kyle too prehaps, after all, it seems to be a different future to the one where kyle goes back to the 80's... I do have to say Im not one for string theroy and I dislike paradoxes, however Terminator IS a paradox, it never would have existed if it hadntr gone back to be found by cyberdyne, John would never have led if Kyle hadnt been sent back to get sara pregnant.Anyway, I degress, Season 2 is spectacular and I think Ill look for a campain and sign my name to bring it back.