Musings on the Sarah Connor Chronicles
Oct. 12th, 2008 02:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWas feeling quilty for not frolicking outside since it is so beautiful out today. But I'm was at home working on my novel with the windows open and the sunlight basking the apartment in warmth and the soft crisp smell of sunlight mixed with leaves, while waiting for my pal Wales to get back from MoMA to hang out. We wandered, sat in the park a while, chatted, then got hot fudge sundae's at Sweet Melissa's - my neighborhood is taunting me with all the new bakeries and sweet shops that have sprung up since I discovered I could not partake of them any more.
This morning, I watched the most recent T: the Sarah Connor Chronicles (T:SCC), after buying apples, pears, cheese, chocolat milk and potatoes at the farmer's market. The cheese is a dorchester, soft with a slightly bitter tast remniscent of brie, but an edible rind, and a mild soft cheddar - both freshly made from a farm upstate, somewhere in Fishkill. The cheeses are so rich and textured that you don't need much of them unlike the tasteless stuff we get in the grocery stores.
But enough about cheese. Have come to the conclusion that the reason T:SCC isn't doing that well in the ratings against shows such as Gossip Girl and Chuck, is that it's so bleak and serialized. You can't just jump into it. And you sort of need to have seen the movies to know what's going on or understand the universe. I'm enjoying it, but I can't see it hitting the mainstream audience. It's target audience - male viewers between 18-49, want ass-kicking action sequences, not bleak and somewhat pithy character moments, which is the other drawback. In short - while I enjoy it, I'm aware that the reasons I enjoy it may be the very ones that will cause it to fail. Let's face it the majority's taste when it comes to "cultural bits" is hardly exemplary. [I don't know anyone watching this series outside of about five-ten people on my flist.]
That said, I really enjoyed the past two epsiodes. The one entitled Allison (I think) and the one about Brad (the military kid). The first two episodes of the Season were in my opinion a bit on the bleak/slow side. More action focused, less character focused. The last three have been more focused on the emotional arcs of the central characters. For these two episodes, we got interesting backstories on Reese and Cameron, juxtaposed with Sarah and John's brittle and increasingly difficult relationship. The backstories demonstrated why Cameron and Reese have mixed feelings about protecting John Connor. While they both at one time made the choice to die for John, now, they aren't so sure. Will it make a difference? Does anything we do make a difference? Does it even matter?
Cameron seems to be three people - a cyborg sent to infilterate John's organization, Allison Young - the young woman she copied in order to do it, and the cyborg that John re-programmed and sent back in time to save him. Which is in control, I've no idea. Kudos to Summer Glau for being able to deftly play each one, blurring the lines between them. How T:SCC differs from BSG, is the cyborgs are not human, they do not think like humans, they think like a machine - with no emotion and pure pragmaticism. This provides the writers with the means to discuss the pros and cons of pragmaticism or "the means justify the ends".
The head honcho of the corporation that will inevitably become Skynet, creepily played by Garbage front woman, Shirley Manson, discusses this dichotomy with former FBI agent, Ellison. She states that machines are neither good nor evil, they are machines.
They are in a way more effective than people at certain jobs because they do not panic.
They do not allow emotion to get in the way. The end-goal is what matters. Machines that require a human to fly or control them are less effective and more likely to fail. Just because the machine kills a human does not make it evil. If the human is in the way of the machine's goals or ends, then it must be dealt with. Interesting perspective.
Ellison sees things a bit differently. But he does appear to understand the grayness of the topic.
Meanwhile, Sarah is questioning her own behavior towards her son. Has her pragmaticism hardened her, made her a less effective mother? And when she isn't cold and pragmatic like Cameron is she putting her son and everything she loves including the world at risk?
Sarah is the other side of the Shirley character. Gilda if you will to Shirly's Elphaba.
Although as Sarah points out to the little boy, Brad Martlett, she has saved, the book the Wizard of OZ is not like the movie - the shoes are not ruby red - they are silver, and there are two good witchs, not one. Also Dorothy is a child not a teenager. Demonstrating how our interpretation of events changes based on perception.
Sarah struggles with her decisions - is befriending, Casey, the pregnant woman next door - putting that woman at risk? Is allowing John to go with Reese to save the Brad Martlett at the miltary school - putting John at risk? (In the episode there are three Brad Martletts - the machine has killed one and is attempting to kill the other two, to ensure Brad never grows up and helps John build the resistance in the distant future.) She's not sure. She's not even that sure about Cameron.
The little boy at the end of the episode asks if she is a spy. When she says no, she's a mom. He responds that she isn't very good at it. Sarah says, I know, but I'm working on it. She's torn aside the maternal and focused on the paternal - the protector. In the episode before - the pregnant woman states that she wishes she could protect her child from all the evils she knows will befall him. But she can't. And it scares her. In Sarah's eyes we see that fear echoed but on a much grander scale. She's not even sure she trusts the people she assigns to protect him.
Cameron and Reese. Both damaged, but in different ways. Both held prisoner by the machines, but at different times. Both loyal to John Connor but for different reasons.
We still do not know what happened to Reese when he was held captive. We do know what happened to Cameron's doppleganger - Allison, whose memories she is oddly plagued with.
Reese remembers his brother, Kyle, who to our knowledge is the only person he loved or cared for unconditionally. Kyle loved John Connor. But did Reese? From the flashbacks, you get the feeling that Reese may have reluctantly cared for him. Maybe even resented him. Yet, in the boy, Reese sees his brother and now knows that John Connor is his brother's legacy as well his own. His feelings towards John have changed as a result.
Yet, like Cameron - the violence constant and unyeilding has changed and embittered Reese. He looks at the boys at the military school who want to play war games and informs them this is not a game. It's not play. It's not fun. It's hard, it is cruel, and it is filled with death. He describes a man carrying another to a shelter, how they worked all night to get the injured man's guts back inside him and sew him up. How they risked their lives to do so, because he was part of their team. Having fun yet?
I find the story interesting - because so many people romanticize war. They romanticize violence. 24 does in a way. I see it online - with people who have studied military strategies and play "war games". And I wonder how these people would fare in the midst of it, with real bullets flying, and real blood? War is not pretty. It is not fun. And it costs us more than it gives. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no knowledge of war. War is about killing people - that is the end. There is no other. To kill your enemy. And to prevent him from killing you. It is bleak and it depressing, and if we can find alternative that must be our first priority. WAR must always be the last possibility, never anything else. T:SCC shows that. A WAR, constant and unrelenting, possibly resulting in the extinction of the human race is what these characters are desperately fighting to prevent - as they are also fighting to retain their own humanity, their compassion, their ability to live a life without just violence defining it.
The ending of the two episodes, the one about Allison Young and the one about Reese, leaves all four characters changed. John realizing that he cannot run from his life or ignore his destiny, too many others lives ride on his decision. Sarah realizing that her pragmaticism and coldness towards John may be counter-productive and hardening them both. Cameron uncertain of her role or duty here - is it to the cyborgs or to John, its not clear to us or to Cameron at this point. And Reese - sees first hand in John's selfless defense of the military boy Brad, why Brad and so many others in the distant future would give their lives for the man John would become - a man he oddly has a role in creating. The man he resents, yet honorably saves and protects, he like his brother, ironically creates. Time turns in on itself. If they prevent Skynet from striking, they prevent John from coming into being. All they can do is prevent Skynet from taking out John and the resistence before the future comes to pass. Skynet and John Connor appear to be at a stalemate - keeping time from folding in on itself by their chess game of point/counterpoint, so that neither is able to change the future with their constant tinkerings in the past.
This feels a bit jumbled. Hope it made some sense. No time to proof unfortunately, nust fix dinner.
This morning, I watched the most recent T: the Sarah Connor Chronicles (T:SCC), after buying apples, pears, cheese, chocolat milk and potatoes at the farmer's market. The cheese is a dorchester, soft with a slightly bitter tast remniscent of brie, but an edible rind, and a mild soft cheddar - both freshly made from a farm upstate, somewhere in Fishkill. The cheeses are so rich and textured that you don't need much of them unlike the tasteless stuff we get in the grocery stores.
But enough about cheese. Have come to the conclusion that the reason T:SCC isn't doing that well in the ratings against shows such as Gossip Girl and Chuck, is that it's so bleak and serialized. You can't just jump into it. And you sort of need to have seen the movies to know what's going on or understand the universe. I'm enjoying it, but I can't see it hitting the mainstream audience. It's target audience - male viewers between 18-49, want ass-kicking action sequences, not bleak and somewhat pithy character moments, which is the other drawback. In short - while I enjoy it, I'm aware that the reasons I enjoy it may be the very ones that will cause it to fail. Let's face it the majority's taste when it comes to "cultural bits" is hardly exemplary. [I don't know anyone watching this series outside of about five-ten people on my flist.]
That said, I really enjoyed the past two epsiodes. The one entitled Allison (I think) and the one about Brad (the military kid). The first two episodes of the Season were in my opinion a bit on the bleak/slow side. More action focused, less character focused. The last three have been more focused on the emotional arcs of the central characters. For these two episodes, we got interesting backstories on Reese and Cameron, juxtaposed with Sarah and John's brittle and increasingly difficult relationship. The backstories demonstrated why Cameron and Reese have mixed feelings about protecting John Connor. While they both at one time made the choice to die for John, now, they aren't so sure. Will it make a difference? Does anything we do make a difference? Does it even matter?
Cameron seems to be three people - a cyborg sent to infilterate John's organization, Allison Young - the young woman she copied in order to do it, and the cyborg that John re-programmed and sent back in time to save him. Which is in control, I've no idea. Kudos to Summer Glau for being able to deftly play each one, blurring the lines between them. How T:SCC differs from BSG, is the cyborgs are not human, they do not think like humans, they think like a machine - with no emotion and pure pragmaticism. This provides the writers with the means to discuss the pros and cons of pragmaticism or "the means justify the ends".
The head honcho of the corporation that will inevitably become Skynet, creepily played by Garbage front woman, Shirley Manson, discusses this dichotomy with former FBI agent, Ellison. She states that machines are neither good nor evil, they are machines.
They are in a way more effective than people at certain jobs because they do not panic.
They do not allow emotion to get in the way. The end-goal is what matters. Machines that require a human to fly or control them are less effective and more likely to fail. Just because the machine kills a human does not make it evil. If the human is in the way of the machine's goals or ends, then it must be dealt with. Interesting perspective.
Ellison sees things a bit differently. But he does appear to understand the grayness of the topic.
Meanwhile, Sarah is questioning her own behavior towards her son. Has her pragmaticism hardened her, made her a less effective mother? And when she isn't cold and pragmatic like Cameron is she putting her son and everything she loves including the world at risk?
Sarah is the other side of the Shirley character. Gilda if you will to Shirly's Elphaba.
Although as Sarah points out to the little boy, Brad Martlett, she has saved, the book the Wizard of OZ is not like the movie - the shoes are not ruby red - they are silver, and there are two good witchs, not one. Also Dorothy is a child not a teenager. Demonstrating how our interpretation of events changes based on perception.
Sarah struggles with her decisions - is befriending, Casey, the pregnant woman next door - putting that woman at risk? Is allowing John to go with Reese to save the Brad Martlett at the miltary school - putting John at risk? (In the episode there are three Brad Martletts - the machine has killed one and is attempting to kill the other two, to ensure Brad never grows up and helps John build the resistance in the distant future.) She's not sure. She's not even that sure about Cameron.
The little boy at the end of the episode asks if she is a spy. When she says no, she's a mom. He responds that she isn't very good at it. Sarah says, I know, but I'm working on it. She's torn aside the maternal and focused on the paternal - the protector. In the episode before - the pregnant woman states that she wishes she could protect her child from all the evils she knows will befall him. But she can't. And it scares her. In Sarah's eyes we see that fear echoed but on a much grander scale. She's not even sure she trusts the people she assigns to protect him.
Cameron and Reese. Both damaged, but in different ways. Both held prisoner by the machines, but at different times. Both loyal to John Connor but for different reasons.
We still do not know what happened to Reese when he was held captive. We do know what happened to Cameron's doppleganger - Allison, whose memories she is oddly plagued with.
Reese remembers his brother, Kyle, who to our knowledge is the only person he loved or cared for unconditionally. Kyle loved John Connor. But did Reese? From the flashbacks, you get the feeling that Reese may have reluctantly cared for him. Maybe even resented him. Yet, in the boy, Reese sees his brother and now knows that John Connor is his brother's legacy as well his own. His feelings towards John have changed as a result.
Yet, like Cameron - the violence constant and unyeilding has changed and embittered Reese. He looks at the boys at the military school who want to play war games and informs them this is not a game. It's not play. It's not fun. It's hard, it is cruel, and it is filled with death. He describes a man carrying another to a shelter, how they worked all night to get the injured man's guts back inside him and sew him up. How they risked their lives to do so, because he was part of their team. Having fun yet?
I find the story interesting - because so many people romanticize war. They romanticize violence. 24 does in a way. I see it online - with people who have studied military strategies and play "war games". And I wonder how these people would fare in the midst of it, with real bullets flying, and real blood? War is not pretty. It is not fun. And it costs us more than it gives. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no knowledge of war. War is about killing people - that is the end. There is no other. To kill your enemy. And to prevent him from killing you. It is bleak and it depressing, and if we can find alternative that must be our first priority. WAR must always be the last possibility, never anything else. T:SCC shows that. A WAR, constant and unrelenting, possibly resulting in the extinction of the human race is what these characters are desperately fighting to prevent - as they are also fighting to retain their own humanity, their compassion, their ability to live a life without just violence defining it.
The ending of the two episodes, the one about Allison Young and the one about Reese, leaves all four characters changed. John realizing that he cannot run from his life or ignore his destiny, too many others lives ride on his decision. Sarah realizing that her pragmaticism and coldness towards John may be counter-productive and hardening them both. Cameron uncertain of her role or duty here - is it to the cyborgs or to John, its not clear to us or to Cameron at this point. And Reese - sees first hand in John's selfless defense of the military boy Brad, why Brad and so many others in the distant future would give their lives for the man John would become - a man he oddly has a role in creating. The man he resents, yet honorably saves and protects, he like his brother, ironically creates. Time turns in on itself. If they prevent Skynet from striking, they prevent John from coming into being. All they can do is prevent Skynet from taking out John and the resistence before the future comes to pass. Skynet and John Connor appear to be at a stalemate - keeping time from folding in on itself by their chess game of point/counterpoint, so that neither is able to change the future with their constant tinkerings in the past.
This feels a bit jumbled. Hope it made some sense. No time to proof unfortunately, nust fix dinner.