TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES 1.2 – "Gnothi Seauton"

Writer: Josh Friedman

Director: David Nutter

Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah Connor), Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Summer Glau (Cameron Philips), Richard T. Jones (Agent James Ellison), Omid Abtahi (Sumner), Kellan Rhude (Curtis), Jonathan Sadowski (Sayles), David Kilde (Cromartie), Floriana Lima (Franny), Catherine Dent (Agent Greta Simpson), Tiya Sircar (Zoey), Alessandra Toreson (Jordan), Brendan Hines (Andy Goode), Edoardo Ballerini (Timms), Kristina Apgar (Cheri Westin), Dean Winters (Charley Dixon), Tony Amendola (Enrique Salceda) & Sonya Walger (Dixon's Wife)

Having arrived in 2007 with son John and Terminator protector Cameron, Sarah tracks down an old friend to provide them with aliases...

After the promising Pilot, which I previewed last year, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles takes a breather in its second episode, which works as a better example of how this series will work. But that's not to say there isn't action along the way.

It's been three days since Sarah Connor (Lena Headey), her teenage son John (Thomas Dekker) and Terminator protector Cameron (Summer Glau) arrived in 2007 from 1999. Sarah is bust trying to get some fake IDs from old friend Enrique (Tony Amendola), frequently leaving John home alone to climb the walls.

In a surprising, but quite unlikely twist, Cromartie (the Terminator supposedly blown apart in the bank vault last time) has manages to follow Sarah, John and Cameron through time. His decapitated metal skull is found by a refuse collector and taken back to a junkyard, where it sends a signal to its headless body. While it's an unpredictable move and entertaining way to continue Cromartie's story, it strains plausibility to breaking point. Still, there is something unsettling about a fleshless Terminator trying to pass as human by wearing dirty clothes, a bobble hat and a ski-mask...

Gnothi Seauton confirms this series is going to be more playful with the Terminator mythology, as Cameron reveals to Sarah there are human resistance fighters from the future nearby, sent back in time by "Future John" to aide them. While the movies gave you the impression time-travel was a last-ditch attempt by the machines to win the war, and sending back various protectors must have taken great sacrifice for the humans, Chronicles already has people flitting about in time willy-nilly. I'm not surprised by this move, as it will help sustain future episodes, but I hope it's not used as too much of a crutch.

Josh Friedman's script is more restrained than the action-packed Pilot, but the balance works surprisingly well. There is a well-choreographed fight between Cameron and another Terminator that's suitably gruelling – particularly because it's a welcome change to see bone-crunching punches, kicks and pushes in a medium still trying to mimic Matrix-style martial arts.

I have to admit that the thrust of the plot isn't very exciting here, as it basically amounts to Sarah getting $20,000 to pay for fake IDs from Enrique's nephew Carlos, while John ventures out into the world and looks amazed by laptops and flat-screen televisions. Hey, they had those in 1999, guys!

John also uses the internet to confirm everyone thinks he died with his mother during a bank raid, and visits his stepfather-to-be Charlie (Dean Winters), who doesn't seem to notice that John hasn't aged in 8 years, and has since remarried. It's clear this will become another subplot for the series to run with, in-between battling cyborgs.

Lena Headey isn't impressing me so far, despite being given a few scenes designed to make her look superior to a Terminator -- in some respects. To wit, Sarah's the one who takes down a troublesome Terminator for Cameron (with a sliding motorbike to the legs), and proves herself more adept at pretending when she talks her way out of a tight spot with a cop, before "infiltrator" Cameron just opts to kill him.

But at the moment, Headey isn't the bad-ass heroine Linda Hamilton was in the films. The script is playing up her maternal side and pragmatism, and so far refusing to have her become a female Jack Bauer -- which is a shame. I suppose they don't want to have the show consumed by machismo;, but Sarah's the star attraction and needs to show a stronger side -- befitting of a woman who inspires the future leader of a resistance against rampaging robots. So far, I like her broodiness, but she needs to show more edge.

Thomas Dekker could become a capable John Connor, but at the moment he's just being dragged around by his shirt collar. I'm glad this episode gave him the chance to wander off on his own, but he needs to start showing signs of leadership – because it's hard to believe he'll one day become a messiah for millions of people.

John's relationship with his mother isn't helped by the small age gap between Dekker and Headey. Dekker is 20 and Headey's 35, so their mother/son dynamic is obviously straining credibility a teensy bit, and begs the question: has Sarah been ret-conned as underage when Kyle Reese arrived in her life?

Predictably, it's Summer Glau who is making the best impression -- playing Cameron, the Terminator guardian. Cute and vulnerable-looking, Glau can effortless shift from angelic naivety to neck-snapping ferocity. She even gets the TV series' first one-liner that rivals deadpan Schwarzenegger's quips: after being run-over by a car and thrown headfirst through the windscreen, she pulls free of the shattered glass and tells the vehicles occupants to "please remain calm".

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable episode, despite its mundane fake ID "mission", a duff nod to the events of 9/11 for time-lagged Sarah, and a continuation for Cromartie that stretches credibility. I mean, how did his body survive 8 years without being found and studied, as we know happened inbetween Terminator and T2?

But it's in the smaller moments that Gnothi Seauton shines: nods to Terminator 2 (Enrique's character supplied the Connors with weapons once), a Terminator in a biker's helmet, an electrified safe, recurring nods to Wizard Of Oz (Sarah calls Cameron "Tin Man"), and the first mention of Sarah's cancer -- despite the fact is now conflicts with Terminator 3's chronology, after the Pilot's excellent work invalidating that film!

There are also some intriguing developments: from a Terminator failing to recognize Cameron's "type" (how can that be?) to FBI Agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) arriving as a late twist. It's very early days, but I'm psyched to see where all this is heading, and if they can keep momentum. It's already 10x more enjoyable than Bionic Woman.


14 January 2008
FOX, 9/8c pm