TSCC: Adam Raised a Cain (take 2; now with actual sentences)
I'm feeling slightly more coherent about this week's Sarah Connor, so have ep discussion, take 2: this time with actual sentences. I feel like I have to divide my reaction to this episode in two. Thread 1 is "OMGTHEYKILLEDDEREK!!!!" and Thread 2 is the sense that with the exception of Derek's death, this episode felt like my very own fannish birthday and Christmas gifts wrapped into one. But every time I start to think about how much I LOVED the episode, I then feel guilty because OMGTHEYKILLEDDEREK. So perhaps I'll do best to separate them as much as possible.
Thread 1: I'm not sure I have yelled at the screen quite like that since...Peacekeeper Wars, probably. Something along the lines of "eek!" when I saw him go down, followed by a loud wail and "Derek!!!" and "They did not just KILL DEREK IN THE COLD OPEN!!!" with escalating volume. Fortunately, I was the only one home at the time.
I never loved Derek, but I liked him very well indeed, and I loved his dynamic with John and Sarah and Cameron. I'm certainly saddened by his death. What's more, I did NOT expect it. And that, as much as I hate that he died, is why this was kind of a brilliant move. Sure, there were some foreshadowings here and there that Derek might die, but he's also a pretty significant character. Pretty significant characters don't get offed with no fanfare. They just don't. Not even in the gutpunchiest of shows--seriously, can you think of any deaths in, say, Farscape or BSG that were quite so "main character shot between the eyes in the cold open"? Especially in an episode that wasn't (written to be, and I hope to God is not actually) part of a series finale? Killing Derek like that broke a lot of television rules, and in consequence was pretty awesome--and awesome because it was horrible and hard and irrevocable.
I kind of hope it is irrevocable. Not that I wouldn't love to get Derek back again through some time travel stunt or other, but if it happens it needs to be faithful to the narrative and not turn into some kind of have your cake and eat it character death situation. There are ways to pull this kind of thing off really successfully (see also Farscape), but I am expecting Derek to stay dead, at least in present action.
I remember commenting early in this season that I didn't trust the writers of this show. I did trust them to be consistently awesome--and they've never disappointed there. But I didn't trust them not to kill off any and all characters, or to break them unrecognizably, etc. This kind of mistrust was a response to the general awesome: I was on the edge of my seat week after week, afraid of what they'd do next. And to be honest, I'd lost a bit of that in the episodes since, oh, maybe "Complications" or so. The show has still been awesome, they've still done things that surprised me, but I'd become a little complacent in my expectations that at least the main characters would remain relatively intact. In many ways, the deaths of Riley, Charley, and (maybe?) Jessie even confirmed my complacency: yes, people die, but not the main people. That's how television works.
And then they went and put a bullet between Derek's eyes with no fanfare, in the opening ten minutes, and once more I feel like no one is safe. Perhaps not even Sarah, name in the title or not, perhaps not even John himself.
Thread 2: Everything else in this episode was like a PERSONAL PRESENT TO ME!!!!!!! The convergence of these two threads!!! Sarah + Ellison!!!!!!!!! Catherine Weaver getting progressively more awesome!!! John Henry and Savannah!!! It's startling to me to realize how much I've come to care about what we might call Team Weaver in quite meaningful ways. I don't love them as much as Team Connor, but I could perhaps come to do so. And then my beloved James Ellison the bridge between them.
The relationship (though I use that term loosely) between Sarah and Ellison is probably my very favorite dynamic on the show. I suspect I'm in a small minority in that opinion, but there is NOTHING about the way they keep circling around each other that I do not adore, and the further complexities that this episode added to their interactions are SO AWESOME!!!! The cautious trust gone so wrong. I really do believe that Ellison didn't know the police were going to arrest Sarah at the end, but of course she (and John and Cameron) are unlikely ever to believe him about that. (I also, incidentally, don't think it was Catherine who was behind the arrest--she wants things kept on the dl, as well. My money is on that detective just being good at his job, and in that sense he makes an interesting foil for Ellison himself.)
And I can't wait to see what happens next!!! Can John and Cameron break Sarah out of jail? Do they enlist Ellison's help to do so? (Seems unlikely, but...) Do they enlist Catherine's help to do so? (I would LOVE to see this, actually.) They're all so exposed now (and I thought that closing scene did such a good job illustrating that). Does Ellison finally figure out about Catherine, and if so, how does he react? DOES THIS SHOW GET TO KEEP TELLING ITS STORY??? *sends positive vibes in the direction of FOX execs*
Among the many aspects that this show shares with BSG (while doing it differently and perhaps better) is a strong reliance on dramatic irony: ie, the device where the audience knows things about a character that the other characters don't know. BSG played with dramatic irony chiefly with Baltar: we all knew about his role in the Cylon attacks, but none of the other characters did (for a long time, anyway). And lots of interesting tension and sometimes comedy ensued. BSG also played with dramatic irony in more subtle ways, and at one point I thought they were trying to do something quite interesting with it, but in fact it turns out that anything interesting they ever did was probably an ACCIDENT or something they just thought "would be cool," so I'm glad I never developed my ideas about BSG and dramatic irony.
But TSCC is using it, too, and using it with more consistent intention, I think. For all that this show uses theological and ontological imagery and touchstones and pokes at ideas like the nature of humanity and whether or not robots have souls, etc., I think TSCC is as much about epistemology as it is any other branch of philosophy. What do we know? How do we know it? Is our knowledge justified? What are the limits of knowledge? This show uses dramatic irony to great effect as a narrative mode in order to highlight how much these characters do not know. The entire premise of the story involves a future that is known (unlike the actual future), yet there are so many variables that the knowledge is always incomplete. And there are different "sides" (the Connors, Weaver, the third party that appears to be Skynet itself) working toward so many different ends, and even the audience doesn't see the full picture. The characters certainly do not.
And in this episode where the question of who has access to what knowledge comes to a head in some significant ways, we also see characters actively withholding information from one another. John Henry learns to lie. I think, too, of the story of Cain and Abel: after Cain kills Abel, God asks him where Abel is. And Cain lies to God: "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" What do we know? Is that knowledge justified? What do other people know, and what are they hiding? And is there a God in this story: someone who sees the full picture and knows when someone is lying?
**
A fic rec in what I think we must call the "reclaiming BSG" genre: The Quality of Mercy by selenak. Gen, spoilers through the finale. Particularly recommended to people upset about Laura and/or Caprica and/or Tory.
**
And I've just finished rewatching the Farscape "Premiere" because farscaperewatch begins today, and OH MY SHOW!!!!! I know it takes most people some time to get into this show--much of the first season is pretty clunky. When I encourage people to watch, it's always with the usual "it doesn't really find its feet until the end of season 1" caveats.
But truly, I fell for this show during the opening credits of the very first episode, and every time I rewatch it I remember that so sharply. I thought the theme music was weird and wasn't sure if I liked it, yet I was simultaneously SO intrigued by it. They're like wailing chipmunks! What kind of a show dares to have wailing chipmunks in their theme music?!? And muppets?!? And bald, blue people?!? The opening credits promised something quite unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and the show proceeded to deliver. Yes, with fits and starts, and once it really got good I was surprised that I'd liked the early stuff as well as I did. But they still had me from the word go.
If you're a Farscape newbie thinking of checking out the show, watch the premiere and check out the farscaperewatch newbie (ie, no spoilers past the "Premiere") here. For rewatchers, there is a corresponding post focusing on the "Premiere" but allowing spoilers for the full series here. I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS, Y'ALL!!!
Thread 1: I'm not sure I have yelled at the screen quite like that since...Peacekeeper Wars, probably. Something along the lines of "eek!" when I saw him go down, followed by a loud wail and "Derek!!!" and "They did not just KILL DEREK IN THE COLD OPEN!!!" with escalating volume. Fortunately, I was the only one home at the time.
I never loved Derek, but I liked him very well indeed, and I loved his dynamic with John and Sarah and Cameron. I'm certainly saddened by his death. What's more, I did NOT expect it. And that, as much as I hate that he died, is why this was kind of a brilliant move. Sure, there were some foreshadowings here and there that Derek might die, but he's also a pretty significant character. Pretty significant characters don't get offed with no fanfare. They just don't. Not even in the gutpunchiest of shows--seriously, can you think of any deaths in, say, Farscape or BSG that were quite so "main character shot between the eyes in the cold open"? Especially in an episode that wasn't (written to be, and I hope to God is not actually) part of a series finale? Killing Derek like that broke a lot of television rules, and in consequence was pretty awesome--and awesome because it was horrible and hard and irrevocable.
I kind of hope it is irrevocable. Not that I wouldn't love to get Derek back again through some time travel stunt or other, but if it happens it needs to be faithful to the narrative and not turn into some kind of have your cake and eat it character death situation. There are ways to pull this kind of thing off really successfully (see also Farscape), but I am expecting Derek to stay dead, at least in present action.
I remember commenting early in this season that I didn't trust the writers of this show. I did trust them to be consistently awesome--and they've never disappointed there. But I didn't trust them not to kill off any and all characters, or to break them unrecognizably, etc. This kind of mistrust was a response to the general awesome: I was on the edge of my seat week after week, afraid of what they'd do next. And to be honest, I'd lost a bit of that in the episodes since, oh, maybe "Complications" or so. The show has still been awesome, they've still done things that surprised me, but I'd become a little complacent in my expectations that at least the main characters would remain relatively intact. In many ways, the deaths of Riley, Charley, and (maybe?) Jessie even confirmed my complacency: yes, people die, but not the main people. That's how television works.
And then they went and put a bullet between Derek's eyes with no fanfare, in the opening ten minutes, and once more I feel like no one is safe. Perhaps not even Sarah, name in the title or not, perhaps not even John himself.
Thread 2: Everything else in this episode was like a PERSONAL PRESENT TO ME!!!!!!! The convergence of these two threads!!! Sarah + Ellison!!!!!!!!! Catherine Weaver getting progressively more awesome!!! John Henry and Savannah!!! It's startling to me to realize how much I've come to care about what we might call Team Weaver in quite meaningful ways. I don't love them as much as Team Connor, but I could perhaps come to do so. And then my beloved James Ellison the bridge between them.
The relationship (though I use that term loosely) between Sarah and Ellison is probably my very favorite dynamic on the show. I suspect I'm in a small minority in that opinion, but there is NOTHING about the way they keep circling around each other that I do not adore, and the further complexities that this episode added to their interactions are SO AWESOME!!!! The cautious trust gone so wrong. I really do believe that Ellison didn't know the police were going to arrest Sarah at the end, but of course she (and John and Cameron) are unlikely ever to believe him about that. (I also, incidentally, don't think it was Catherine who was behind the arrest--she wants things kept on the dl, as well. My money is on that detective just being good at his job, and in that sense he makes an interesting foil for Ellison himself.)
And I can't wait to see what happens next!!! Can John and Cameron break Sarah out of jail? Do they enlist Ellison's help to do so? (Seems unlikely, but...) Do they enlist Catherine's help to do so? (I would LOVE to see this, actually.) They're all so exposed now (and I thought that closing scene did such a good job illustrating that). Does Ellison finally figure out about Catherine, and if so, how does he react? DOES THIS SHOW GET TO KEEP TELLING ITS STORY??? *sends positive vibes in the direction of FOX execs*
Among the many aspects that this show shares with BSG (while doing it differently and perhaps better) is a strong reliance on dramatic irony: ie, the device where the audience knows things about a character that the other characters don't know. BSG played with dramatic irony chiefly with Baltar: we all knew about his role in the Cylon attacks, but none of the other characters did (for a long time, anyway). And lots of interesting tension and sometimes comedy ensued. BSG also played with dramatic irony in more subtle ways, and at one point I thought they were trying to do something quite interesting with it, but in fact it turns out that anything interesting they ever did was probably an ACCIDENT or something they just thought "would be cool," so I'm glad I never developed my ideas about BSG and dramatic irony.
But TSCC is using it, too, and using it with more consistent intention, I think. For all that this show uses theological and ontological imagery and touchstones and pokes at ideas like the nature of humanity and whether or not robots have souls, etc., I think TSCC is as much about epistemology as it is any other branch of philosophy. What do we know? How do we know it? Is our knowledge justified? What are the limits of knowledge? This show uses dramatic irony to great effect as a narrative mode in order to highlight how much these characters do not know. The entire premise of the story involves a future that is known (unlike the actual future), yet there are so many variables that the knowledge is always incomplete. And there are different "sides" (the Connors, Weaver, the third party that appears to be Skynet itself) working toward so many different ends, and even the audience doesn't see the full picture. The characters certainly do not.
And in this episode where the question of who has access to what knowledge comes to a head in some significant ways, we also see characters actively withholding information from one another. John Henry learns to lie. I think, too, of the story of Cain and Abel: after Cain kills Abel, God asks him where Abel is. And Cain lies to God: "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" What do we know? Is that knowledge justified? What do other people know, and what are they hiding? And is there a God in this story: someone who sees the full picture and knows when someone is lying?
**
A fic rec in what I think we must call the "reclaiming BSG" genre: The Quality of Mercy by selenak. Gen, spoilers through the finale. Particularly recommended to people upset about Laura and/or Caprica and/or Tory.
**
And I've just finished rewatching the Farscape "Premiere" because farscaperewatch begins today, and OH MY SHOW!!!!! I know it takes most people some time to get into this show--much of the first season is pretty clunky. When I encourage people to watch, it's always with the usual "it doesn't really find its feet until the end of season 1" caveats.
But truly, I fell for this show during the opening credits of the very first episode, and every time I rewatch it I remember that so sharply. I thought the theme music was weird and wasn't sure if I liked it, yet I was simultaneously SO intrigued by it. They're like wailing chipmunks! What kind of a show dares to have wailing chipmunks in their theme music?!? And muppets?!? And bald, blue people?!? The opening credits promised something quite unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and the show proceeded to deliver. Yes, with fits and starts, and once it really got good I was surprised that I'd liked the early stuff as well as I did. But they still had me from the word go.
If you're a Farscape newbie thinking of checking out the show, watch the premiere and check out the farscaperewatch newbie (ie, no spoilers past the "Premiere") here. For rewatchers, there is a corresponding post focusing on the "Premiere" but allowing spoilers for the full series here. I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS, Y'ALL!!!