TtSCC: Today is the Day (part one)

The Sarah Connor Chronicles always aims for a certain amount of somber gravity. It's a show about the end of the world, so it usually excels when it keeps its eye on the prize, even if the prize is doom and hopelessness. But there's been a recent development in doom-centered shows. Instead of contemplating the end, they switch the focus to what exists that's worth saving. At its best, TSCC has been capable of calling the worth of humanity into question. What world is John Connor really trying to save if there's so much pain and degradation as it is?

Last week, as much as I approved of it, I still felt that the death of Riley was a typical dramatic turn meant to set our protagonists against each other. While that certainly happened, there were several added layers to the implications of her sudden end. Jessie went on full self-destruct mode in this episode, picking fights in bars and generally sinking into her loneliness in her big, beautiful, empty hotel room.

That seems to be the theme of this second season. As of last week, none of our protagonists have managed to escape spilling human blood. Derek killed Andy Goode, John killed Sarkesian, Sarah killed the security guard at the desert facility (twice) and Jessie killed Riley. And Cameron? She's a frickin' terminator. Even when she's been with the good guys she still can't avoid gunning down petty criminals in bowling alleys. Just who are our heroes when they've arguably spent more time fighting humans than they have fighting Skynet?

While the Connors are busy covering up a murder they didn't commit and packing up to move yet again, John Henry decides to up the creepy factor several notches. A bored Savannah wants to play hide-and-seek but her robot mommy won't oblige. That's ok, because John Henry has no scruples about luring little girls into his basement and telling them to go play on the tops of skyscrapers. When Ellison and Weaver go in search of Savannah, they end up being forced to play a guessing game with John Henry. It was a bit of a flat plot, but it paid off in two ways. First was Ellison's reaction. Flabbergasted as a man will predictably be in a room with two emotion-deficient robots, he shouts "What the hell is wrong with you?" Amen, brother. It's like a nod to the audience who've been watching his character sleepwalk through two seasons of pending apocalypse.

The other nice thing about "Where in the World is Savannah Weaver?" was that it turned into an impromptu ethics lesson for John Henry. Ellison has to explain to him that Savannah could have been hurt or even died, and that it would be John Henry's fault if she did. JH shows genuine surprise and it opens up one half of this episode's dialogue about the issue of teaching morality from the ground up. John Henry wasn't being malicious, he just didn't know any better. So far, we don't have any evidence that Skynet even understands the implications of what it does, so it may just be the fault of its original programmers who didn't know how to teach it right from wrong.

In this way, TSCC gives a depth to the whole Terminator universe that it never had before. It's always been a story about parenting, but never before this show has Skynet been painted as the child of humanity. It seems we just didn't raise our kid very well and so the wrong line of thinking inherited the world.

In a revealing dialogue between Sarah and Cameron, the latter delivers the most revealing lines in the history of this show. She tells Sarah that "John is John's problem. Humanity is the problem" when yet another stern conversation about protecting John starts over a pit of thermite. It's John's fate to be alone. That's why he surrounds himself with robots and is never anything but cryptic with the people of the future. John doesn't like Skynet, but he also doesn't trust humans.

Speaking of John and robots, Jessie gives us some flashbacks of her time aboard the submarine in the future. It's being piloted by a reformatted terminator and it fails to tell the crew that future-John changed their supply mission. They're supposed to pick up a mysterious package from an underwater oil rig deep in Skynet territory. When the boarding team gets there, they're confronted by a group of machines led by a very disturbing doll-haired cyborg. But it's not all screaming and betrayal. In fact, they seem to be handing over the package just like John expected. Since this is a two-parter I'm assuming we're going to get a chilling reveal next week, but I'm already giddy over the idea of John striking some kind of deal with a Skynet splinter group.

Best Moment: Cameron's speech, just edging out another great robo-line: "Goodbye, bird. There's a 51% chance I wouldn't have killed you."

Biggest Shock: Robots not killing people on sight. Hello, plot-twist.

Episode Rating: 4.5/5- The hide-and-seek plot got a little tedious, but I loved the tone of this episode. More than just tension and foreboding, it had real existential angst. Also, plot progression. I'm looking forward to next week, which is a change considering that I hover between interest and indifference about this show.