The Pilot:This is some good TV. I don't have anything bad to say about the pilot. It was action packed. Summer Glau is a terminator! That's the best thing since... I don't know what but I'm pretty damned stoked about it. I suppose I should feel ashamed for liking all of the explosions and fight scenes but dammit let me have this.
We start out with a dream sequence where Sarah goes to John's school in a tinee, tiny waitress uniform. That skirt was so short that I could tell she had ham and cheese for lunch. John is shot and killed, the terminator nukes the place and then she woke up.
Tim Guinee is back as Burke. He's the guy that looks like Nathan Fillion but isn't and works when you can't afford Nathon Fillion. He is in love with Sarah. First Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) and now Sarah Connor. This guy sure does pick 'em crazy. Sarah woke up that morning from her dream and decided to leave this guy. He goes to the police and this is how the terminator finds John Connor.
I love how the FBI agent questioning Burke and following Sarah calls her a whackamole for believing that robots are after her and her boy. After nineteen students confirmed seeing a man with a robot leg, that FBI agent had his government panties in a bunch.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Summer Glau as Cameron Phillips befriends John. John is complaining about the town and how uncool it is. This boy wants to be in a town that serves WHINE and cheese. He reminds me of Luke Skywalker. Anyhoo, John gets a substitute teacher that is a terminator, Cameron saves his life and they are a merry band of three on the run.
I'm fond of the terminators on this show. I think they have the right amount of cheesy robotness. The main one looks like a cross between Robert Patrick and one of the DeLuise Brothers.
If there is a Terminator encyclopedia, it seems like the writers read it. It is my goal in life to wake up naked on a highway. I also love how John wasn't creeped out by seeing his mother naked... and he might have had his little boy parts too close to her in that scene. I'm sure I'm the only twisted person that noticed that. *shudders*
Initial Verdict: I am amused. The cast is allowed to live.
Episode 2:
In this episode, we get the new official opening theme with narration.
Sarah is moping around and John has emo hair.
Cameron tells Sarah that future John sent back resistance fighters to fight in 2007. For whatever reason Sarah flips out at this news. When they seek them out, they are all dead. A terminator is lying there with the dead fighters playing possum and of course starts some trouble. I think Summer Glau is going to have a massive fight scene in every episode. She is like a new Buffy and that's a good thing. (Technically, she'd be a new Angel because she is a good robot killing bad robots but I digress.) In the middle of this street fight, Cameron gets hit by a car and her head goes through the windshield. The family inside is horrified. She does a robotic stare and says "Please remain calm." Hilarious!
In this time line, the terminators don't know what John looks like. This means that he can walk the streets freely. Later on, Cameron reveals that Sarah Connor died in 2005 of cancer.
John disobeys his mom and goes to the mall of all places. It's a Dell store. Nice product placement. This morron Google's himself and his search is broadcasted on the huge store demo screen. I'm sure this sent a red flag somewhere in the world. Some people.
Master Bra'tac is Sarah's old fake ID guy. He says he's out of "the game" and sends Sarah to his nephew. Out in the hood, nephew wants 20K for the ID's because Sarah has been dead for 8 years. He says the price went up because of 9/11. Sarah didn't know what that meant. (This is a nice touch because I wish we can all go back to not knowing what 9/11 is.) Five-oh shows up and ruins the party. The cop started giving Cameron a hard time and was about to run the plates on the stolen Jeep. As he was going back to his copmobile, Cameron was about to kill him but he was saved by Sarah. I thought for sure that the cop was going to get it. It was his lucky day and I really liked the build up to that. Plus the cop was cute. Hand cuff me baby, rawr!
John breaks into some guys house and he's married to Penny from Lost. It was weird and John ran off. Is this his father or what? I didn't really get it.
Cameron, John and Sarah go to the strong hold where the resistance fighters where. They are looking for a safe and money. The safe was rigged and knocked Cameron offline. John uses the doomsday date to open the safe and get the money before the terminator spots them. They take the money to the nephew and the nephew says something in Spanish about his uncle being a rat. Sarah went back to confront Master Bra'tac and asked him if he was an informant. He denies it but turns out he was going to sell her out to panties-in-a-bunch FBI guy.
This episode wasn't as ohh-ahh as the pilot but it held it's own and there were lots of reveals. The terminator can scan people for temperature and other vitals. She follows orders from future John only. Dogs bark at terminators. I still don't understand who EMS guy is so someone will have to explain that.
