Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips and Thomas Dekker as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Fox
In the world of Terminator, a couple different Judgment Days have come and gone. First, it was August 29th, 1997. Then, thanks to the efforts of the hardest woman of all time and mother of the Resistance, Sarah Connor, it was bumped up to July 25th, 2004. In theory, the events of that date were never prevented, and Skynet went live—launching all the nukes and nearly destroying humanity. However, that was all in the cinematic universe, and TV gets to make its own rules—a fortunate turn of events that has given us Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Terminator: TSCC is a nice bite-size binge-watching experience if you need a palate cleanser before immersing in something like, say, all of Doctor Who. It gives us the classic Connor pairing of Sarah (Lena Headey) and John (Thomas Dekker), and this time they’re alive and mostly well, but living in the year 2007, which means the second projected J-Day event didn’t go down. (Phew—gotta love a good stay of mass execution!) And who’s stepping in to fill the role of supreme guardian left vacant by a molten metal T-800? A bloodless death dealer masked as a slight-of-build brunette named Cameron (Summer Glau). It’s an unconventional family unit, but hell, this is the 21st century and the new normal can be anything we want it to be.
In this universe Judgment Day is pegged for April 21st, 2011, which means this trio has four years to stop Skynet from going online and getting super pissed off at everything with a human DNA signature. You want action? TSCC has it. You want situational comedy? Cameron’s uncomfortable attempts to be “more human” will bring the LoLs. You want to see 90210′s David Silver (aka Brian Austin Green) as metal-hunting future soldier Derek Reese? Look no further, because these Chronicles are waiting to make all those dreams come true. All it takes is a moderately paced two-week investment of your time. And we think that’s a pretty small price to pay to watch someone save the world.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Number of Seasons: 2 (31 episodes)
Time Requirements: Two weeks if you watch two episodes per weeknight and four on each weekend day.
Where to Get Your Fix: iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Xbox
Best Character to Follow: Cameron, definitely. It might seem like you should follow the show’s namesake character, but Cameron Phillips is unique among Terminators. Her model number is indeterminate, but evidence suggests she was likely a custom job created for maximum effectiveness as an infiltration cyborg (nailed it). Cameron exists for two reasons. The first: Kill John Connor. The second: Protect John Connor. Now, considering Cameron is a robot—sorry, cybernetic organism—with no conscience or emotions, the civil war being fought in her chip over these opposing directives should come down to 1s and 0s, but that makes for super boring television. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original T-800 was such an effective hero in Terminator 2: Judgment Day because he had enough of the “what if?” factor to get you hooked and make you care. You knew he had no empathy, but that little sentimental part of our human brains wanted to believe his internal super-computer could learn loyalty, and return the love John clearly felt for his best friend by the end of their run.
Glau’s Cameron creates that same engaging ambiguity for viewers, but does it even better. A one-note murder machine just hanging around Team Connor for 31 episodes could have been nothing but dead weight, but instead, Cameron is the one to watch in every scene. Her complex dynamic with Sarah makes for excellently tense confrontations between a human and machine destined never to understand one another. They become a micro representation for the entire conflict of the Terminator canon: intuition versus hyper-rationality, emotion versus intellect, faith versus software. We see the fallout when compromises can’t be reached, and the mutual benefit when they can. And her even-more-complex relationship with John provides some of the most charming and heartfelt moments of the series, which is fascinating considering Cameron neither has a heart nor the capacity to charm.
This is all thanks to Glau, who imbues Cameron with just the right balance of imitation, humanity, and singular commitment to her mission that makes you wonder if John Connor is more than a line or two of code for her. This is the most advanced computer on the planet, after all, can’t she learn to love or something?? OK, fine. We know she’s just a fancy hunk of columbite-tantalite with a shielded nuclear power source, but with each little flirtation and attempt at “connection” Cameron keeps the hope fires burning that her awkward interactions weren’t just born of a primary directive, but of a desire to bond with her charge and creator—and to totally make Jameron a thing. And we can hardly be faulted for losing ourselves in the illusion.
Cameron’s entire existence is dedicated to protecting, counseling, and being next to John Connor. She exits entirely for him, and in return he cares for, teaches, and confides in her. Those in more romantic circles might say that sure looks a lot like love. It takes a lot to put a beating heart inside the breast plate of a Very Scary Robot, but watching Cameron grow (evolve?) one is easily the most rewarding journey to follow on the show.
Seasons/Episodes You Can Skip:
None of them, really. TSCC got buried in Fox’s Sci-Friday lineup alongside Joss Whedon’s misguided (or perhaps just miscast) Eliza Dushku vehicle, Dollhouse. And this was in 2007, before networks knew what the hell to do with DVR and streaming numbers as viewing metrics. Point being: Terminator did what any healthy, able specimen would do when deprived of nutrients and left for dead on Friday at primetime: It expired after just two seasons. And did we mention that the first season only had nine episodes? All of this is to say, if you can’t handle ingesting a scant 23.25 hours of TV in its entirety, your commitment level needs to be reexamined.
But our guiding hand will not forsake you entirely. For about five episodes in the middle of Season 2, mostly between episodes 10 and 15, Sarah develops an obsession with a series of three dots, a configuration she sees written in blood on her basement wall that consumes her and makes her reckless. She starts seeing the dots everywhere and making patterns out of nothing at all—or is it nothing at all?? The fixation will get a little tedious. You’ll start to wonder, “Where the hell is this even going?” But stick with it, because the payoff is big. Besides, if you get antsy just look forward to the scenes where Cameron tries “relating” to people. Silly cybernetic organism!
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