"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 5

The fifth episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox has pretty much everything...

An exquisite moral dilemma about the continuing problem of what Sarah should do about Andy the programmer, whose chess code for the "Turk" could be the basis of Skynet. She previously burned down his house to knock him off track, but he's back at it. Will Sarah follow Cameron's advice to play it safe stop Andy for good?

Of course not - Sarah's not a machine, she's a human, with feelings and morality.

So Andy will live-

But not long, because someone kills him. Exquisite ethical quandaries are often futile ... Derrick Reese - Kyle's brother - also on assignment from the future, is seen running from the body...

Putting Derrick in the story is a good move. It enriches Sarah's connections to Kyle in our movie memories. Turns out, though, that he didn't kill Andy. Someone who wanted not to destroy but take the Turk program killed the programmer...

Meanwhile, evil Terminator Cromartie is on Derrick's case and trail. And this sets up one of the best action sequences in the series so far, with Sarah, John, Derrick, Cameron, Cromartie, and screeching trucks and lethal-to-robot screwdrivers in the mix.

Cameron prevails, but Derrick's badly wounded.

Cameron looks at him on the table and gives him up for dead. But John fetches Charley - who's in EMS, and looks like Kyle - and in a great last scene we have Charley, John, Derrick, Sarah (and Cameron) all in the same room...

Family, action, ethical quandary - the makings of good TV in this new golden age.

And, just for good measure, FBI guy James Ellison - well played by Richard T. Jones - finds Cromartie's hand, severed during the truck and screwdriver battle ...

The beat goes on...

See also: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 1 and 2 ... 3 ... 4. A Robot Primer ... 6 ... 7 ... 8-9: Terminate with Puzzles, Surprises, and Soul







The Plot to Save Socrates


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"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still a good show. I like the suspense it provides. They've done a good job with this. One little thing I found a bit funny. Sarah said to John he can't miss school or be late because that will put him on 'their' radar. However, hijacking an FBI transport vehicle, not really a problem. Hmmm. Other than that, still a good show.

Paul Levinson said...

Well, it may not have been clear to authorities who did hijacking ... and it was a matter of life and death, right? :)

Anonymous said...

John is right you think they would at least wear masks.
However thinking of your last review I am still trying to figure out who is more stupid: Skynet or Sarah Connor. Skynet’s big plan was to go back and kill John Connor before he was born without even thinking about how that would be possible. I mean if the T-800 succeeds and history is changed how will they know to send to back to kill a baby they never heard of. Sarah’s big plan is kill Skynet now without even thinking that if Skynet never exists how will she meet Kyle and have give birth to John.

Paul Levinson said...

The problem is really that everyone is stupid when it comes to making things happen or not happen via time travel - because whatever you do brings into play some sort of paradox that makes what you do impossible...

So everyone looks stupid ... except, of course, some of my characters in The Plot to Save Socrates ... :)

(Actually, the best you can do is keep the characters enough away from the paradox that the reader/viewer is not always aware of it...)

Anonymous said...

You're an idiot. The T-888 that Cameron took out in this episode was not Cromartie.

Cromartie is currently posing as an FBI agent after assuming the identity of actor George Lazlo by undergoing facial reconstructive surgery.

The T-888 that lost its hand had only one mission and that was to eliminate the 4 resistance fighters that John Conner sent to 2007.

Pay more attention when you watch a show or please do not write blogs with such a lack of attention to character detail.

I certainly hope you are not making a living as a writer. I was writing better reviews when I was in Elementary School.

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