"First, this is going to hurt. Second, this is really going to hurt."-- Dr. Felicia Burnett (Laura Regan)
No kidding...
Spoilers. After a fun, confident start, season 2 of T:tSCC has unfortunately hit a mid-season slump in recent weeks. "The Good Wound" effectively spins a whole episode on the thin idea of Sarah (Lena Headey) trying to get a bullet wound tended to, without the authorities discovering she's a fugitive...
No explanation is given for how Sarah (who received her injury outside a remote, secret factory in episode 13) finds herself an inner-city hospital without her knowledge, but it's not long before she's left her bed and kidnapped a doctor in the parking lot. Dr. Felicia Burnett (Laura Regan) is held at gunpoint and taken to a motel, where Sarah instructs her to remove the bullet from her leg -- despite Felicia's concerns that Sarah needs proper treatment in hospital.
This episode is most notable for including Kyle Reese (Jonathan Jackson) in the storyline; appearing throughout as a sympathetic hallucination for Sarah through the pain. Unfortunately, Jackson is a very poor interpretation of this character -- lacking any of the charisma exhibited by movie predecessor Michael Biehn, and mainly chosen because he half-resembles screen son John Connor (Thomas Dekker).
An attempt is made to toughen Kyle by giving him a mottled beard, but that only adds to the feeling of an inadequate playing dress up. It's also frankly ridiculous to believe Lena Headey would look twice at this trenchcoated twerp, and disappointing that the show's casting agents (who did such a great job signing Brian Austin Greene as Kyle's brother Derek) got the more iconic role so wrong.Mild relief is provided by a few scenes between John Henry (Garrett Dillahunt) and Catherine (Shirley Manson), as we learn that fledgling A.I John Henry has detected the fact Catherine isn't human, and is beginning to form inquisitive questions for God (like, why the human body's ball-and-socket joints were designed so poorly, compared to the fully-rotatable robot action figures' he's started playing with.)
There's also a strange decision to follow two cops, led by Sheriff Alvan McKinley (Star Trek Enterprise's Connor Trinneer), who essentially hovers around the sidelines, two-steps behind on his search for Sarah Connor, and channeling Tommy Lee Jones' character in No Country For Old Men. It's the role season 1 handed to FBI Agent Ellison, resurrected for a one-episode encore, with a silly and over-convenient surprise at the end -- involving Sheriff McKinley's association with Felicia, and the latter's identification with Sarah, whom she wrongly believes is beaten by her boyfriend.
The third weak subplot (we're so blessed) comes from John and Derek, who take Riley (Leven Rambin) to hospital following a suicide attempt to escape her covert mission -- both still unaware Riley's from the future and working with Jesse (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) to ensure John doesn't fall in love with cyborg inamorata Cameron (Summer Glau). All very slack, tedious and forgettable because nothing really progresses this mired storyline. I think we're all waiting for John to realize his perfect girl's a liar, and that Derek's secret lover is a manipulator, but until those big reveals come... it's difficult to summon much enthusiasm for just seeing John and Derek kept in the dark.
Overall, a very uneven episode that squanders a modicum of potential, and ultimately feels like a terrible waste of time. If Sarah hadn't been shot last week, we could have foregone all this nonsense. Perhaps its biggest crime is the wholly unsatisfying TV version of Kyle Reece, and the rather laughable way the subplot with the good ol' boy Sheriff came to an abrupt end. The best moment was superficial, but still good fun, with Catherine slaughtering a factory full of workers single-handed, by lancing indiscriminately with her liquid metal forearms, before destroying the whole building and exiting through the ensuing wall of flame.
5 March 2009
Virgin1, 10pm
Writers: Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Director: Jeff Woolnough
Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah), Thomas Dekker (John), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent Ellison), Brian Austin Green (Derek), Shirley Manson (Catherine), Leven Rambin (Riley), Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Jesse), Nicole Pettis (Secretary), Clark Koelsch (Security Guard), Patrick Faucette (Administrator), Julie Remala (Nurse), Jonathan Jackson (Kyle Reese), Laura Regan (Dr. Felicia Burnett), Connor Trinneer (Sheriff Alvan McKinley), Jamison Jones (Deputy Harrison), Chad Lindberg (Deputy Simmons) & Sanjay Madhav (Dr. Manny D'Costa)
