Director: Steven DePaul
The year's most improved series continues to surprise and delight, with a tense and intelligent storyline for Derek (Brian Austin Green), who discovers his furtive, hotheaded girlfriend Jessie (Stephanie Jacobsen) has captured Charles Fischer (Richard Schiff), a man she claims is a war criminal from the future…The dilemma facing Derek is that Jesse claims he should remember Fischer, and her insistence that they torture him for information doesn't sit well with Derek, especially when Fischer convincingly claims he's just a simple watchmaker. Is Jesse mistaken, or is Fischer lying to protect himself? And why doesn't Derek recognize a man who was allegedly in league with notorious Skynet collaborators the Grey family?
Elsewhere, John (Thomas Dekker) and Cameron (Summer Glau) are sent back to Mexico by Sarah (Lena Headey) to destroy Cromartie's body they buried in the desert. Unfortunately, Cromartie has gone missing and there's only one man who knew the disabled cyborg was buried there: Agent Ellison (Richard T. Jones). Concurrently, Sarah returns to psychiatrist Dr. Sherman's (Dorian Harewood) office, troubled by recent nightmares involving John and three ominous dots arranged in a triangular shape. Sadly, Dr. Sherman is at a loss to help unless Sarah opens up about her past and family, which she's unwilling to do.
"Complications" is gripping whenever it's dealing with Fischer's capture by Jesse, because we're still unsure about Jessie's allegiance or mental state. The resulting tension over whether to torture Fischer is handled very well, helped enormously by guest-star Richard Schiff (The West Wing), who brings a believable intensity to the interrogation scenes. In some ways this was Chronicles' version of the Lost storyline where alleged villain Henry Gale was captured and had to try and convince his captors of his innocence. In fact, this storyline should have likewise been allowed to breathe over a few episodes, but Chronicles is traditionally more episodic in structure.
Sarah's story was mildly interesting, but only in respect of trying to decipher her surreal dreams (the liquid metal cacti were particularly bizarre, and a bit silly!) Otherwise, it was another example of the TV incarnation of Sarah Connor being less involved in the juicy storylines; confined once again to looking emotionally-stunted, and unable to talk freely to anyone outside of her family circle. While I can empathize with Sarah's plight as a woman under immense pressure to keep her son safe and prevent worldwide armageddon, it's a terrible shame she's often shoved into touchy-feely subplots while everyone else has all the fun.
Empathy becomes a theme this week, too. Cameron wants to understand why Sarah took the time to set an upturned turtle on its feet (a Blade Runner-inspired nod that robots don't understand compassion), while Derek and Jesse later use Fischer's empathy to get him talking -- by capturing his younger self (Adam Busch) and torturing him instead.
The final moments of this episode are a sequence of nice reveals and twists. Of particular note; Chronicles finally offers a fairly unique perspective on its time-travel -- by suggesting that Jesse comes from a future that had been altered by Derek's actions in the past. That's why Derek doesn't remember traitorous Fischer, because in his timeline events were different. That's an intriguing angle to play, as it means any travellers from the future are coming from a time that may be marginally improved or worsened by present day successes and failures. Therefore, there may come a time when Judgment Day is averted, and it's not a paradox that cyborg Cameron still exists in the present-day. Nice to get some clarity on how the series' time-travel works.
Overall, I enjoyed "Complications" a great deal, although the Fischer situation could probably have spanned three episodes. The untangling of the situation was a bit too easy, which made the climax feel a bit too abrupt. Still, answers were given to a few questions, the mythology was expanded (turncoat humans in the future, fluctuating timelines) and the episode sets up some future plots (the triangular dots, the reverse-engineering of Cromartie?) Good, solid work all round.
17 November 2008
Fox, 9/8c
Cast: Brian Austin Green (Derek), Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Ellison), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Adam Busch (Young Fischer), Shirley Manson (Catherine Weaver), John Kelly (Baldwin), Richard Schiff (Fischer) Dorian Harewood (Dr. Sherman)
