(no subject)

[senrei_yume]

Hi. I'm going to rant right now because I'm annoyed.

Okay, so every Friday night I watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse. It's just my Friday night thing. So, naturally, I watched Sarah Connor last night.

GOD CAN THE WRITERS BE SO SUCK?

This is about them killing off Derek Reese. And yes, I adore Derek, but let me tell you a few things about how they killed him off. Right after the title card, he was walking around. Enemy turned the corner. Shot him. Entire show moved on. There was really no emotion to it. It was "OH HI DEREK WE DON'T LIKE YOU ANYMORE KTHNX BAI." They tried to be lyrical about it in the end (in more ways than one), but they sort of failed.

Now, I'm not saying they could never kill him off. With a guy like that, you know he'd eventually get into something he couldn't get out of. But, see, when you kill of a major character, especially one that brings so much to the story, you at least wanna do it emotionally. I mean damn, Jesse and Riley got better death scenes and they were pretty minor in comparison. His death also did nothing for the plot or the development of a character. In my opinion, those are the only times you kill off a character. Doing otherwise is just really, really stupid and bad writing. If you're tired of the character and wants to kill them off, you do it in a way that makes it count. Actually, let's look at three recent deaths in this very show:

1. Riley. Cameron was constantly suspicious of her and in "Ourselves Alone", Cameron even seemed as if she wanted to kill her. Why hello there, Mr. Foreshadowing. Apparently the writers were once acquainted with you. Jesse's behavior toward her and about her mission was also suspicious. Then at the end of the aforementioned episode, we learn that Jesse had planed all along for Cameron to kill Riley. They fight. Jesse shoots Riley. She dies. This was a great death scene because it was A) adequately foreshadowed; B) poignant; C) affected the plot; and D) affected several characters. As a bonus point, it was also well-recieved by fans, making Riley an instantly sympathetic character, even for those that hadn't liked her before.
2. Jesse. Our first indication that Jesse might not have a future of sunshine and chocolate is when Derek finds out that she's been following the Connors around. He flat-out tells her that if he ever thinks that she's going to hurt John, he'll kill her, even if he does love her. After killing Riley, Jesse begins to have a mental breakdown. All sorts of dramatic stuff. When John tells her to leave, she does so and runs into none other than Derek. Now, see, Derek doesn't just turn around and shoot her. He opens with telling her about Andy Goode/Billy Wisher. About how he killed Andy even though he loved him like a brother. And then he tells her that John said to let Jesse go, but he isn't John. And then, as Jesse was fleeing, he shot her. What made it even more poetic was that we the viewers knew that Jesse had miscarried before she when back in time and that Derek was the father. This was good because it was A) adequately foreshadowed; B) poignant; C) affected several characters by resulting in Sarah's loss of trust in Derek.
3. Charley. This wasn't done quite so well as the others, but was still done fairly well. Charley, we have always known, was very attached to John and John to him. He lost his wife to a terminator and then left the city for a safehouse. Sarah brought John there in hopes of keeping him safe. While there, Charley shows John all the safety measures he's put in place in case of an attack. Later, they are attacked and the last scene we see is Charley fending off the attackers as John gets away. Then it's revealed that Charley was shot several times and died. Now this loses points for pulling the cheap trick of bringing back a character we haven't seen in a while simply to kill him. However, it was still poignant and it affect John and Sarah. Good enough.

Now, Derek's death was not foreshadowed, not poignant, did not affect the plot at all, and has barely had any noticeable affects on the other characters (although they made feeble attempts for it to seem so). The most noticeable affect it has had so far was that some fed was suspicious of Ellison because Derek was his prisoner, escaped, and a few months later was killed at the home of Ellison's new employer. The suspicions still could have happened. He could have been arrested along with Sarah. Having kidnapped Weaver's daughter no less! Huh.
And now I'm going to tell you all the obvious things they could have done with Derek:

• Continued the story developed in "Dungeons and Dragons". We all want to know what happened in the music room, right? And why Derek and the other prisoners were let go? Furthermore, the revelation in "Complications" that an (apparently) alternate Derek was tortured and traumatized could have been used in this same storyline: maybe Jesse was right and the reason Derek doesn't remember it was because he repressed it. I honestly thought that's the direction they were going due to Derek's dialogue at the end of "Today is the Day pt. 2". Derek: Complications. That watch. It has complications. Something I learned. Something I've been thinking about. Uh, hint much? That's something that Derek and Charles Fischer were talking about! If he's been thinking about Charles Fischer, he was probably thinking about the torture. And then the next episode, Cameron all but flat out says that Derek has been captured and tortured before, possibly to the point of revealing important information. Gee, I dunno but this all seems like there's a plotline here. A very interesting one too. Too bad.
• As of "Today is the Day pt. 2", Derek lost Sarah's trust. A redemption arc could have been interesting or, alternately, for him to continue doing things that made him untrustworthy in Sarah's eyes, possibly leading to the two separating and Derek going on his own for a while.
• Derek killed Jesse, the woman he loved. He then found out that he fathered the child she had miscarried. Him just trying to keep himself together would have been a great subplot. Derek has been suicidal twice before for a lot less. The impact of this would just shatter him.
• It's been hinted that Derek and Cameron have some sort of history. Details are pretty limited, but it seems reasonable to assume that he, perhaps, knew Allison before her visage was used for one or more terminators. This would explain why he has particular hostilities toward her, especially in the beginning of the series.
• The emotions that Derek brought to the series alone was worth keeping him around. He's Kyle Reese's brother. Early in the series, both John and Sarah became very attached to him because of that. He's a constant reminder of Kyle and his sacrifice and also of the war and its affect on humans.
• His attitude. He's extreme enough to kill Billy/Andy, someone he thought of as a brother, and Jesse, who he loved. He also likes to blow things up. The way he handles things could cause friction between him and Sarah.

You know, I might have to make my in-progress one shot, "Nocturne", a chaptered fic, AU as of "Today is the Day pt. 2", including some info from "To the Lighthouse". It'll end up being Derek-centric, but I'll try to keep the other storylines alive as well. It's just a thought I'm turning over, though. If I do write it, it'll probably be in the summer. I'm also working on an idea for a Supernatural fic. Jo-centric. Because she is just so damn cute.