TV Review: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.6 – The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short

Posted by Kevin Carr (kevin@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 21, 2008

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The Sarah Connor Chronicles, FOX, Airs Monday 8/7c

Episode: “The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short” (Season 2, Episode 6)

Synopsis: Sarah and the gang set their sights on protecting a therapist that Skynet has targeted, and they all go undercover as a family seeking counseling, which also reveals some shocking insights into John’s personal problems. Meanwhile, the Garbage Terminator (Shirley Manson) is trying to keep her relationship with her daughter (or rather the daughter of the woman she killed before assuming her identity) as normal as possible. Surprise, surprise… she consults the same therapist. And, the early proto-Skynet computer learns to tell a joke while Derek (Brian Austin Green) gets laid by his back-from-the-future girlfriend.

Review: I see where the writers are going with the character of John Connor (Thomas Dekker). They’re trying to give him some depth and texture, giving him a booster shot of angst. And I understand that he’s just a teenage kid in a sticky situation, but does he really have to become suicidal? It kinda makes me wish that Michael Biehn hadn’t made the jump to the past in 1984, fathering what might be the biggest panty-waste in future resistance history.

To add insult to injury for this episode, we have the relatively interesting Garbage Terminator try to find her sensitive side so she can warm up to her pseudo-daughter. For a half-dozen episodes, we’ve seen this cold-hearted, liquid-metal machine organize the capture of critical A.I. technology, seal a deal with the aimless Agent Ellison (Richard T. Jones) and stab a guy through the forehead after getting pissed on while disguised as a urinal. Now we learn she has a daughter, and she suddenly needs to a parental connection? WTF?

Where the original films were filled with whip-ass action and awesome effects, the Terminator television series has become a low-rent, talky snooze fest.

Man, this show has gone downhill fast. It’s only saving grace is the occasional Terminator smackdown with Cameron (Summer Glau), and there’s a nice beating in an elevator at the end of this episode. Still, as I have said before, there are so many Terminators traveling back in time to assassinate everyone from John Connor to utility workers, it’s a wonder that they rarely hit their target. Don’t get me wrong… Terminator fights are cool. But is this what the show is turning into?

I hope to see some purpose with the characters soon, and some semblance of an overall story rather than Dead-Terminator-of-the-Week premise. And what’s with Sarah Connor (Lena Headey), the title character of the show? In the last episode, she was reading “The Wizard of Oz.” Now she’s listening to family therapy sessions on her iPod. Maybe next week, she’ll make a nice peach cobbler.

Sigh… gone are the days of Sarah Connor kicking anyone’s ass.

Up Next Week: Another week of rest before the show returns on November 3 when Sarah & Co. get burglarized and must track down the culprits.

For more coverage of your favorite shows, check out the Control Freaks Archive.

Did you watch The Sarah Connor Chroniclesthis week? If so, feel free to discuss below.

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Jad

Has anybody tried to count how many people have time traveled to the past in this show? It's getting more ridiculous than Voyager losing shuttles. Every week a few people travel back in time. Let me try to count real quick ...

Season 1:
Cromartie, Cameron, 4 resistance fighters, 888 (ep 2), 888 (ep 4), 888 (ep 5), Reese

Season 2:
Weaver, 888 at the power plant, 888 at the Mil Academy, Girl Terminator, Jesse
---
15 total so far?
+ Sarah, John & Cameron traveling to the future in ep 1
+ the 3 terminators & Kyle sent to the past in the first 2 movies
---
21 time travels

... its getting boring.

Robert Fure

Its suffering from Power Rangers syndrome. Why do they insist on sending one Terminator back at a time? Why send crappy Terminators? You pick the best model you have, dress it up, and send a dozen of them. Game over man.

Ryan

You already knew she had a daughter. She was playing in the room a few
weeks back while Ellison talked to Shirley Manson.

Perry

I think that this show is truly a show that makes you want to keep watching it. During the first season I missed the first four-five episodes, then I went on a binge and watched them all...Then I was hooked. I didn't think that the end of the first season really left you 'hanging' like most thrilling shows do. I blame that to the big writers-strike. They were just following a story line and don't leave you wanting more. Sure there are some loose ends that I would like to see come together. I get a little worked up when I see Shirley Manson in the same room as John Connor, but they don't make anything of it. It is one HUGE chase the entire movie. It has to have more action or else it is going to get cancelled. I would love to see this show lead into the movie next year...I think that would be bad ass. If they created leads and then tied into them when the movie comes around.

The whole mysteriousness of the Terminator is there because of what they are capable of and how precise they are with all of their actions. There is an adbundance of future intelligence and they are just beginning to tap into that with small antics of "computer chips that self destruct so that john can't reprogram them"...What is this going to do to the future resistance? They aren't going to have anymore pro-terminator terminators.

I hope the writers really pull something from their rear sometime soon because I really want to keep watching this show every Monday. John needs to become more of a rebel badass like Edward Furlong was and keep us guessing. I could go on and on with how they can improve the storyline, but I don't get paid to consult for Fox. hehe

790

Lmao
Thanks Kevin, what a hilarious article.
I'm glad you put this up as I missed the show last night.
I totally agree, the only thing is, in this reality-tv land we live in, this qualifies as decent entertainment.....
Sucks in a way.

T-300

I agree with the points about too much time travel, too many terminators, too many resistance fighters and coming in one at a time and getting "terminated". Why dont they just send 100 of them all at once? And how is the resistance has easy access to time travel? In the movies, it was clear that after the resistance won, only 5 terminators (2 good reprogrammed, 3 evil Skynet terminators) and 1 human had been sent back before they blew up the time machine. Now its like theres a time machine on every street corner in the future. Its become a Terminator of the Week series. And theres no suspense, obviously Sarah and John arent going to be killed - theres no sense of imminent danger like there was in the movies.

The only thing saving this show from cancellation is plans to use the show to help promote Terminator 4 due out in Spring of 2009. I think it would have been better to have a series based on the resistance fight against Skynet after the events of Terminator 4. I really wanted to love TSCC, but I just dont. I watch it because its the only decent show on at 8pm Mondays but I wont care when it ends.

TL

I think the budget of the show has a lot to do with the storyline.
Explosions, firefights, morphing T-1001s and Cameron wrecking stuff are expensive, so unfortunatly, there will be some episodes where everyone is sitting around talking. (Star Trek TNG did lots of "ship shows" where nothing much was going on action and effects wise.)
I think there are way too many subplots going on. Ellsion, The Garbage Terminator, pregnant Busy Phillips, John's potential GF (what happened to her anyway?) and now some hottie Derek is banging, not to mention that John, Sarah, and Cameron are doing every episode. It's getting hard to keep track.

TV Review: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.6 – The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short

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