fairdraconica Review of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009)

I have mixed up feelings about this show

[6/10 · 28 September 2022]

As a life-long fan of pre-Genesys Terminator films, I finally decided to watch this show, not expecting much from it. I totally enjoyed season 1. I, normally, don't warm up to new characters easily, but I did like Cameron, Charley and, to a lesser degree, Derek. Cromartie is a very interesting antagonist, too. But season 2 wasn't so enjoyable to me. Some parts looked ridiculous, like the episode where Cameron forgets she's a cyborg, which, in my opinion, interferes with her, otherwise pretty interesting, character development. Another thing... I have nothing against religion, but there's time and place for everything, and forcing it on AI is definitely not it. Completely unnecessary. What also made me feel bored and, at times, annoyed were the characters of Riley and Jesse. I understand it's a human drama, apart from being sci-fi, but there are just too much of these two, and I'd rather see more scenes with Skynet, cyborgs, etc. We were supposed to start feeling for these new characters, understand them better, and how it all ended for the two was, for once, not boring, but by the time it happened I was already tired of them. And, finally, John Connor seems to forget at times that he's already had a cyborg protector and companion before. I wish it was mentioned more, because how on Earth can you not think about it? Why not remember him now and then in a conversation, and maybe compare him and Cameron in some situations? For example, in T3 (as flawed as it is) John remembers his T-800 (aka 101) from T2 very warmly; he's such a big part of John's life that it leads to a tragedy in the future, because the great John Connor loses his cautiousness. But in the long hours of The Chronicles he's barely mentioned at all. Why couldn't they give more of that iconic character to nostalgic fans? I give this show a 6, because I can tell they did try. And, of course, I appreciate that they didn't destroy and re-write everything that came before it (unlike the abominations called Genesys and The Dark Fate).