Thoughts on TSCC Episode 2x10 "Strange Things..."
We have a new week and a new episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This week is ‘Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point’. There’s an extra special, extra long ‘thoughts’ section today.
1. Start with Ellison digging up Cromartie. I’m really not impressed with that rubber head.
2. “Go back to bed!” Heh. Cameron is at her best when creepy.
3. Sarah, you don’t sneak into an office in white. Really a bad choice in clothing. Though Derek has lovely fingerprint hiding gloves (and Sarah has a matching set).
4. ‘The Tech Guy’ - played by John Connor! It’s like he’s doing a cameo in a procedural.
5. Derek is obviously not a fan of the three dots.
6. Just once I want to see John playing World of Warcraft or Call of Duty when they zoom in on his monitor.
7. … and he sounds smart and together this episode when it comes to getting Sarah’s fake ID going. Nice. I like this side of John.
8. Derek finds the photos and gives a ’30 seconds’ ultimatum. I’m glad he’s acting as paranoid as he’s supposed to be.
9. Jesse monologues about John only ever talking to Cameron. About how she has to save John from Cameron. ‘Imagine if he spends the next twenty years with her…’ Well, ya see, there’s a lot of Jameron shippers that do and you get some weird results.
10. Dr. Sherman ends up dead in the basement of Zeira Corp. I’m gonna miss him. He was fun and I loved his interactions with the Connors.
11. I know what ‘his’ intentions were, Miss T1000! Self preservation, just like in the first movie. Duh. Skynet doesn’t want to die.
12. 80s references! And Sarah gets reminded that she’s old and a fish out of time (water).
13. “It’s the hardest thing to get right. The hair.” Ok, Cameron, that’s just creepy to the viewers but damn… if you were paying attention to both episode 4 and this one, that was just… wrong.
14. Wait. I just realized. Sarah’s fake last name is Gail. Where’s Dorothy? The Wizard of Oz imagery never ends.
15. Foster parents! They actually seem nice (if a touch clueless) and Riley just disses the crap out of them.
16. The bear eating a fish poster thing with Riley. Did something just seem off about this entire scene to anyone? I understand Riley’s distraught but… someone took her perkiness out back and shot it. Probably Cromartie.
17. … and John apparently senses it too and walks away from Riley.
18. Encyclopedia Cameronica. She makes a great exposition lass. Though I have to say as I watch her and Sarah, it’s strange seeing them both all gussied up. Both of them are such beautiful women (the actresses, that is) but they dress so plainly most of the time in the show.
19. Waitaminute. Riley and Jesse? Well fuck me sideways with a spoon. I had dismissed the concept that she was from the future weeks ago as ‘yeah, not likely’. Instead, she’s a co-conspirator with Jesse. Boy, did I miss that mark. It explains that ‘peaches and apples’ comment from episode 2.
20. Why the hell would Riley’s job be to, apparently, seduce John Connor? To be the girl in his life? Unless they wanted to replace someone else… Well, Jameron shippers, have fun with that bit of speculation.
21. John just stared Derek right the hell down. Derek was all wide eyed while John was all ‘grrr! Do not question my mom!’ mode.
22. Cameron: “The rules do not apply.” I think that’s foreshadowing right there. Both for this episode and beyond.
23. Cameron appears almost completely fascinated with the talk about computer chips. Followed by the ‘are you going to eat that?’ from the guy next to her. Still the comic relief, I see.
24. Riley goes off about John being crazy and goes into a ‘it’s all gonna end!’ rant akin to the old Kyle Reese tirades. I think this is the real Riley we’re seeing here for a bit.
25. And Sarah and Co. get suckered on the chip. I refer to the earlier foreshadowing.
26. Just as Mr. Akagi promises to make it up to Sarah that he lost her money to a yakuza she gets a text message from Cameron saying ‘found him’! Terminator vs Yakuza? Hmm. I’ll take the robot.
27. Babylon is named John Henry? And why the HELL isn’t Ellison freaked that they’re making an AI? He knows the story.
28. The interrogation of John Henry. Honestly, that was the most boring scene ever in T:SCC.
29. Minamoto’s an actor and gave the money to Akagi. Classic scam. Ugh.
30. Wow, Derek was harsh. But right.
31. I must say I really enjoyed watching Sarah kick Akagi’s ass. He deserved that beat down. ‘I spent a couple years in a nuthouse? Know why? Men like you. Time was I would’ve blown this building sky high!’ I loved that. Great dialog between them both. There’s the great crazy obsessive grade-A whack-a-mole we all came to love.
32. And Sarah forces Akagi to tell his son that he’s lying, cheating scum. Ouch.
33. Derek tells Jesse he’s John’s uncle. Ugh. I don’t know if he’s trying to tell her he’d never betray John, but at the same time just… ugh.
34. Now I want to know what Derek did use that toothbrush for, because we know he likes brushing teeth.
35. John just hugs Sarah as soon as she walks in because she needs it and she looks like she needs it. That’s awesome. Very much ‘yay!’ for me on the repair of their relationship.
36. Riley’s all chipper. She’s apparently back on the ‘seduce John’ bandwagon.
37. Three dots of blood on Sarah’s cheek? And she destroys her mirror. Yay for crazy, boo for not explaining. I kept waiting for a sinister reveal. We got one, but it wasn’t the three dots…
38. ‘No man can stop progress’. As subtle as an anvil to the forehead.
39. And now John Henry is the machine. We meet again, Mr. Dillahunt.
Overall, I liked this episode. The John/Sarah scenes were great and the actors as much as the characters almost seem just plain relieved to just be able to be around each other and not screaming and yelling anymore.
Biggest surprise for me is Riley. Dismissed that and now I am blown away by the reveal. Well done writers. That was something they sat on hard to keep from coming out. Even the actress lied repeatedly about it. I’m actually more interested in her now than I was before.
1. Start with Ellison digging up Cromartie. I’m really not impressed with that rubber head.
2. “Go back to bed!” Heh. Cameron is at her best when creepy.
3. Sarah, you don’t sneak into an office in white. Really a bad choice in clothing. Though Derek has lovely fingerprint hiding gloves (and Sarah has a matching set).
4. ‘The Tech Guy’ - played by John Connor! It’s like he’s doing a cameo in a procedural.
5. Derek is obviously not a fan of the three dots.
6. Just once I want to see John playing World of Warcraft or Call of Duty when they zoom in on his monitor.
7. … and he sounds smart and together this episode when it comes to getting Sarah’s fake ID going. Nice. I like this side of John.
8. Derek finds the photos and gives a ’30 seconds’ ultimatum. I’m glad he’s acting as paranoid as he’s supposed to be.
9. Jesse monologues about John only ever talking to Cameron. About how she has to save John from Cameron. ‘Imagine if he spends the next twenty years with her…’ Well, ya see, there’s a lot of Jameron shippers that do and you get some weird results.
10. Dr. Sherman ends up dead in the basement of Zeira Corp. I’m gonna miss him. He was fun and I loved his interactions with the Connors.
11. I know what ‘his’ intentions were, Miss T1000! Self preservation, just like in the first movie. Duh. Skynet doesn’t want to die.
12. 80s references! And Sarah gets reminded that she’s old and a fish out of time (water).
13. “It’s the hardest thing to get right. The hair.” Ok, Cameron, that’s just creepy to the viewers but damn… if you were paying attention to both episode 4 and this one, that was just… wrong.
14. Wait. I just realized. Sarah’s fake last name is Gail. Where’s Dorothy? The Wizard of Oz imagery never ends.
15. Foster parents! They actually seem nice (if a touch clueless) and Riley just disses the crap out of them.
16. The bear eating a fish poster thing with Riley. Did something just seem off about this entire scene to anyone? I understand Riley’s distraught but… someone took her perkiness out back and shot it. Probably Cromartie.
17. … and John apparently senses it too and walks away from Riley.
18. Encyclopedia Cameronica. She makes a great exposition lass. Though I have to say as I watch her and Sarah, it’s strange seeing them both all gussied up. Both of them are such beautiful women (the actresses, that is) but they dress so plainly most of the time in the show.
19. Waitaminute. Riley and Jesse? Well fuck me sideways with a spoon. I had dismissed the concept that she was from the future weeks ago as ‘yeah, not likely’. Instead, she’s a co-conspirator with Jesse. Boy, did I miss that mark. It explains that ‘peaches and apples’ comment from episode 2.
20. Why the hell would Riley’s job be to, apparently, seduce John Connor? To be the girl in his life? Unless they wanted to replace someone else… Well, Jameron shippers, have fun with that bit of speculation.
21. John just stared Derek right the hell down. Derek was all wide eyed while John was all ‘grrr! Do not question my mom!’ mode.
22. Cameron: “The rules do not apply.” I think that’s foreshadowing right there. Both for this episode and beyond.
23. Cameron appears almost completely fascinated with the talk about computer chips. Followed by the ‘are you going to eat that?’ from the guy next to her. Still the comic relief, I see.
24. Riley goes off about John being crazy and goes into a ‘it’s all gonna end!’ rant akin to the old Kyle Reese tirades. I think this is the real Riley we’re seeing here for a bit.
25. And Sarah and Co. get suckered on the chip. I refer to the earlier foreshadowing.
26. Just as Mr. Akagi promises to make it up to Sarah that he lost her money to a yakuza she gets a text message from Cameron saying ‘found him’! Terminator vs Yakuza? Hmm. I’ll take the robot.
27. Babylon is named John Henry? And why the HELL isn’t Ellison freaked that they’re making an AI? He knows the story.
28. The interrogation of John Henry. Honestly, that was the most boring scene ever in T:SCC.
29. Minamoto’s an actor and gave the money to Akagi. Classic scam. Ugh.
30. Wow, Derek was harsh. But right.
31. I must say I really enjoyed watching Sarah kick Akagi’s ass. He deserved that beat down. ‘I spent a couple years in a nuthouse? Know why? Men like you. Time was I would’ve blown this building sky high!’ I loved that. Great dialog between them both. There’s the great crazy obsessive grade-A whack-a-mole we all came to love.
32. And Sarah forces Akagi to tell his son that he’s lying, cheating scum. Ouch.
33. Derek tells Jesse he’s John’s uncle. Ugh. I don’t know if he’s trying to tell her he’d never betray John, but at the same time just… ugh.
34. Now I want to know what Derek did use that toothbrush for, because we know he likes brushing teeth.
35. John just hugs Sarah as soon as she walks in because she needs it and she looks like she needs it. That’s awesome. Very much ‘yay!’ for me on the repair of their relationship.
36. Riley’s all chipper. She’s apparently back on the ‘seduce John’ bandwagon.
37. Three dots of blood on Sarah’s cheek? And she destroys her mirror. Yay for crazy, boo for not explaining. I kept waiting for a sinister reveal. We got one, but it wasn’t the three dots…
38. ‘No man can stop progress’. As subtle as an anvil to the forehead.
39. And now John Henry is the machine. We meet again, Mr. Dillahunt.
Overall, I liked this episode. The John/Sarah scenes were great and the actors as much as the characters almost seem just plain relieved to just be able to be around each other and not screaming and yelling anymore.
Biggest surprise for me is Riley. Dismissed that and now I am blown away by the reveal. Well done writers. That was something they sat on hard to keep from coming out. Even the actress lied repeatedly about it. I’m actually more interested in her now than I was before.