Sarah Connor Chronicles - Week 5 of 8

For the past couple weeks this show has felt a lot like Smallville to me, in that it’s just mediocre enough to be enjoyable. That’s not necessarily a good thing, but then again it’s not really bad, either, because I’ve made a point to see every Smallville episode since day one. But while Smallville lasted this long because it’s on the CW, Fox has a much worse history of keeping weak shows around. They usually get canceled within weeks of the premiere, which is why I’m still saying there won’t be any more episodes after number 8.

It’s just that they don’t take any risks. Two of my favorite shows, Lost and Battlestar Galactica, take risks every week with their storytelling. You can tell when a show does this because when someone asks you “what is it about?” the answer is so easy, but so complicated. For example, what’s your initial reaction when someone asks you: “What is Lost about?”

Well, it’s about a group of plane crash survivors. But is that it? No, not at all. You can go on for hours with that answer. Same with Battlestar Galactica, and I’m sure a lot of other shows that I don’t know about.

Smallville and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, however, suffer from that answer being a bit too easy. “What is Smallville about?” Superman before he was Superman. But is that it? Well, uhm, for the most part… yes.

What is the Sarah Connor Chronicles about? A robot from the future sent back in time to protect John and Sarah Connor so they can stop the robots from taking over in the first place. But is that it? Well, uhm…. yes.

So far, at least. I’m aware that it might take an episode or two, or three or six, to really develop the overall mythology of the show. Lost had it from the start, with the roars, the pilot, and the polar bear. BSG had a bit of it in the beginning because we knew Sharon was a Cylon, and it really picked up later when Baltar realized he has no idea how he knew where a Cylon installation was and accepts the fact that he may be getting played by the hand of God.

The good news is that the Sarah Connor Chronicles might have shown a bit of it in last night’s episode, specifically during the last fifteen minutes, when the mysterious girl at school gets in a car with an unknown person (she’s hiding something), John shows up with Sarah’s ex (just what did he say to him?), and Cameron collecting the Terminator chip then writing a grief note at the end (who was she writing to? suicide girl? and what did she say?)

It’s also interesting that we still don’t know why the girl jumped from the school’s roof and killed herself a few episodes back. Originally I just thought it was lazy writing but I’m smacking myself in the forehead now because it obviously is connected to something. It was both creepy and cool when Cameron replayed the event for the school’s grief counselor. I’m still frustrated, though, that she’s so different from episode 1 to episode 2.

So, what do I hope the Sarah Connor Chronicles is about? A robot from the future who is sent back in time to protect John and Sarah so they can stop the robots from taking over in the first place? Sure. But maybe it will also be about Skynet’s realization that they need John and Sarah, because without John and Sarah, the first Terminator (Arnold) has no reason to go back in time and therefore serve as the inspiration for Skynet itself. Therefore, Skynet should be sending Terminators back to protect John and Sarah, and the twist should be that future John is sending back agents to kill himself so the resistance that sparks this whole mess in the first place never happens… thereby ensuring Skynet never exists.

One of those “ultimate sacrifice” stories. If that really is what this show is about, I hope Fox keeps it around after week 8.