Director: Tawnia McKiernan
This one will split opinion. "The Tower Is Short But The Fall Is Short" is a fairly intensive character-building episode that asks its audience to suspend their disbelief in a few areas: most notably in believing that a liquid-metal machine from the future would want to become a good parent to sustain their cover…Dr. Sherman (Dorian Harewood) is the lynchpin of this episode; a respected L.A shrink who has some untold future connection to Skynet. Sarah (Lena Headey), John (Thomas Dekker) and Cameron (Summer Glau) pose as a dysfunctional family and attend a group session with Sherman, to assess his threat-level and bug his office. Coincidentally, T-1001 Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson) has also booked sessions with Dr. Sherman, because her daughter Savannah (Mackenzie Brooke Smith) has started to sense that her "mother" is not who she seems…
For a third of this episode, I struggled to accept the coincidence that the Connors and Catherine were seeing the same psychiatrist (they even avoid bumping into each other in a few clichéd near-misses). It also remains difficult to remember that the Terminators of the TV spin-off have such different priorities and modus operandi compared to the seek-and-destroy simplicity of the movies. Would T2's T-1000 have faked a relationship with the daughter of someone he'd replaced, and send her to counselling if she started to suspect? Of course not; he'd have stuck a needle-like finger through her eye. But I suppose Catherine's mission is a touch more nuanced than "terminate John Connor at all costs".
After a shaky start that didn't inspire much confidence, the quality of writing from newcomer Denise Thé manages to work its magic. It's actually quite interesting to see John slowly embrace his sessions with Dr. Sherman and open up about his past experiences (while still unable to give firm details -- lest he be sent to the nearest asylum, of course) It was also pleasingly ironic that Catherine (an inhuman parental cuckoo) is more open and grateful for outside child support, compared to flesh-and-blood Sarah -- who struggles to accept John's problems can't be healed with a simple mother/son chat.
Less successful is the appearance of Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen), an old flame of Derek's (Brian Austin Green) who has travelled back in time to escape the dystopian future. It's actually a good idea to give Derek his own life outside of guarding the Connors, and I'm hopeful this story will flourish. It still amuses me how many soldiers and cyborgs have been sent back through time this series, though -- and none of that makes sense if you think about it -- but giving Derek a soul mate should be interesting and allow Green to tackle some fresh material. So, can Jesse be trusted? I'm not so sure; she strikes me as a bit two-faced and could have ulterior motives.
In terms of mythology, we finally discover what Catherine's company are working on: artificial intelligence, as expected. She's already created a computer program that seems sentient, albeit with the IQ of a small child. This must be the infant Skynet, no? Agent Ellison (Richard T. Jones) also makes a few brief appearances, noticing how employees of Catherine's company often take the elevator to a secret, subterranean level he doesn't have access to.
For Cameron, she's once again pushed into the background, although I suppose it's a good sign the series isn't relying on Summer Glau's quirkiness to maintain viewer interest. Still, after lurking on the sidelines for most of the episode, she then gets one of the best fight sequences in the show's history -- a clanking punch-up with a red-haired T-888 assigned to protect Dr. Sherman. It was well choreographed, inventive and surprisingly funny -- particularly when their elevator brawl is put on hold when doors open to allow people on, and Cameron eventually manages to twist the T-888 into a robot pretzel!
Overall, this episode is pure love-it-or-hate-it stuff, although I found myself coming to respect its intentions and found a way to ignore a few absurd notions. As with last week, if you're watching Chronicles for exciting action and special FX, the drought continues until a brief shower in the last act… but, if you value a series doing something unexpected and different, you should warm to this. I also liked a sequence were Catherine is the subject of a photoshoot and, while she can accurately contort her body to precise angles the photographer asks for, she can't do a convincingly warm smile. And I'll admit that Shirley Manson's performance has improved: from amusingly bad to fascinatingly poor.
20 October 2008
Fox, 9/8c
Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent Ellison), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Shirley Manson (Catherine Weaver), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Mackenzie Brooke Smith (Savannah Weaver), Michael David Cheng (Engineer), Aixa I. Maldonado (Hot Dog Vendor), Jake Soldera (Elevator Boy), Dorian Harewood (Dr. Sherman), Shane Edelman (Matt Murch), Christopher Demaci (Photographer), Jennifer Chang (Receptionist), Kit Pongetti (Victoria), Derek Riddell (Lachlan Weaver) & Preston James Hillier (Security Guard)
