Post by richardstevenhack on Dec 25, 2008 16:37:47 GMT -5
I also just watched season one all over again yesterday, and was struck by the different feel and "vibe" of season two.
While season two has not been "bad", it definitely was not as good as season one in SOME respects.
Season one was pretty straightforward. The show started as how to deal with their new situation - stalking Skynet - then segued into finding "The Turk" which led directly to Sarkissian's attack on Cameron. We had only one "stand alone" "Terminator of the week" episode with "Heavy Metal" - and even that occurred only because they thought they were pursuing Cromartie and instead wound up with Terminator Carter. As a way to introduce a stand alone episode, that was fairly clever. All the episodes with Terminator Vic were either part of their initial adjustment, or part of the introduction of Derek, or part of hunting Skynet in episode 8.
We had one additional "stand alone" - "Demon Hand" - which was useful in terms of characterization and bringing Ellison along as a "believer". And that episode didn't need any time travel stuff to set it up. And the subsequent two episodes went right back to hunting Skynet via "The Turk".
Season two started off with a decent bang with the results of Sarkissian's attack - then went completely off the rails. "The Turk" has been utterly forgotten - by the Connors, if not the viewers - for 13 episodes and shows no signs of getting back on track - unless that IS Walsh, the guy who sold it to Weaver, who appears in the promo for February.
Whiny emo John became more hardened in episode one, and has shown flashes of being better in "Goodbye to All That" - but since meeting Riley he's been a head case and gone straight back to being whiny emo John except being nastier to Cameron and his mother. Not an improvement of season one John.
Sarah, while showing flashes of intelligence and competence in season one, and in the Michelle Dixon kidnapping (figuring out Cromartie's fake bomb, if too late), has been screwing up so badly as to be the bigger threat to John than even Cromartie. Without her mistakes in taking a house next to a woman with an LAPD cop boyfriend, buying their food within a mile of their safe house, and leaving the boy alive in the bowling alley, Cromartie probably would never have found them, despite having their name revealed to him by Jody, which was Cameron's fault but excused by her glitch.
Derek has mostly been the same as in season one - allowing his hatred and fear of Terminators to color his judgment, but otherwise being pretty competent and focused - until he met Jesse. But he hasn't said word one about "The Turk" either since episode one.
Cameron had her glitches to keep her occupied and irresponsible for most of season two. Hopefully that will be retired or "fixed" soon, along with the whiny "am I going to go bad" worrying she's been doing lately which is not helpful to the character - it makes her sound like whiny emo John and whiny paranoid Sarah about her cancer. Otherwise she's been reasonably competent, although she, too, has said nothing about "The Turk", stopping Skynet, or much of anything so far this season. When offered the opportunity, however, she has shown competence, killing the burglars and tracking down Terminator Stark.
By the way, watching the Blood Wall closely yesterday, I noticed that Terminator Stark IS on the wall on the left, along with some numbers, something like "3 2007" or whatever - hard to read but the name is well written. So apparently Cameron took care of one element of the Blood Wall on her own. There are still three or four elements at least that haven't been addressed - I hope they aren't going to run those over into a season three.
I think it's fairly clear the writers had four problems this season:
1) They wanted to bring in more "stand alone" episodes allegedly to attract new viewers who might be put off by the episodic nature of the show. This has been a clear mistake. Either you know the Terminator franchise or you don't. Sacrificing momentum and tension in the overall story arc in a vain attempt to attract viewers who don't know the franchise has been a mistake. Having a stand alone episode every five or six episodes might not be bad - having one every two or three is not good. Interrupting the build up over several episodes is even worse.
2) They didn't have enough overall story arc development ideas to carry them through 22 episodes, so they resorted to 1) above as well. This, despite the fact that they didn't even know whether they'd get the back nine episodes at all. They should have concentrated on making the first 13 episodes carry the story forward and build momentum so that they would be more assured of getting the back nine, and then have more audience to play to in the back nine.
And they could have easily done that if they'd done what I've suggested elsewhere - center the Connors in the real world instead of :
3) Abusing the time travel MacGuffin. This has been the worst mistake of the season. First they used the Blood Wall as a gimmick to introduce plots rather than allowing the Connors to do the leg work to develop them themselves - which would have stretched the season out nicely without the need for stand alone episodes and kept the overall story arc moving.
That would also have lessened the need for "Terminators of the Week" and thus the need to abuse the time travel gimmick further. None of the plots with Terminator Stark, Greenway (wouldn't have been too bad if they'd allowed the Connors to follow up and discover Zeira Corp), Ferguson's female, the Bedell Terminator, the Ellison Terminator would have been necessary.
This season would have worked just fine with only Jesse coming back from the future to pursue her plot.
4) The "three dots". This has gone on far too long. And if it appears that it has led the Connors to something definite, it's been like deliberately taking the long way around to get somewhere, with nothing but burnt up gas to show for it. None of the "three dots" episodes so far have moved the overall story arc forward. While the shows have been acceptable, they've done nothing but damage Sarah's characterization and emphasize the fact that the Connors have ignored their primary mission for 13 episodes.
Hopefully, since getting the back nine, they've reverted to moving the story forward in the hopes of building to a powerful season finale - and thus hopefully getting renewed for a season three. If they continue as they have done, frankly I don't see much hope of a season three.
While season two has not been "bad", it definitely was not as good as season one in SOME respects.
Season one was pretty straightforward. The show started as how to deal with their new situation - stalking Skynet - then segued into finding "The Turk" which led directly to Sarkissian's attack on Cameron. We had only one "stand alone" "Terminator of the week" episode with "Heavy Metal" - and even that occurred only because they thought they were pursuing Cromartie and instead wound up with Terminator Carter. As a way to introduce a stand alone episode, that was fairly clever. All the episodes with Terminator Vic were either part of their initial adjustment, or part of the introduction of Derek, or part of hunting Skynet in episode 8.
We had one additional "stand alone" - "Demon Hand" - which was useful in terms of characterization and bringing Ellison along as a "believer". And that episode didn't need any time travel stuff to set it up. And the subsequent two episodes went right back to hunting Skynet via "The Turk".
Season two started off with a decent bang with the results of Sarkissian's attack - then went completely off the rails. "The Turk" has been utterly forgotten - by the Connors, if not the viewers - for 13 episodes and shows no signs of getting back on track - unless that IS Walsh, the guy who sold it to Weaver, who appears in the promo for February.
Whiny emo John became more hardened in episode one, and has shown flashes of being better in "Goodbye to All That" - but since meeting Riley he's been a head case and gone straight back to being whiny emo John except being nastier to Cameron and his mother. Not an improvement of season one John.
Sarah, while showing flashes of intelligence and competence in season one, and in the Michelle Dixon kidnapping (figuring out Cromartie's fake bomb, if too late), has been screwing up so badly as to be the bigger threat to John than even Cromartie. Without her mistakes in taking a house next to a woman with an LAPD cop boyfriend, buying their food within a mile of their safe house, and leaving the boy alive in the bowling alley, Cromartie probably would never have found them, despite having their name revealed to him by Jody, which was Cameron's fault but excused by her glitch.
Derek has mostly been the same as in season one - allowing his hatred and fear of Terminators to color his judgment, but otherwise being pretty competent and focused - until he met Jesse. But he hasn't said word one about "The Turk" either since episode one.
Cameron had her glitches to keep her occupied and irresponsible for most of season two. Hopefully that will be retired or "fixed" soon, along with the whiny "am I going to go bad" worrying she's been doing lately which is not helpful to the character - it makes her sound like whiny emo John and whiny paranoid Sarah about her cancer. Otherwise she's been reasonably competent, although she, too, has said nothing about "The Turk", stopping Skynet, or much of anything so far this season. When offered the opportunity, however, she has shown competence, killing the burglars and tracking down Terminator Stark.
By the way, watching the Blood Wall closely yesterday, I noticed that Terminator Stark IS on the wall on the left, along with some numbers, something like "3 2007" or whatever - hard to read but the name is well written. So apparently Cameron took care of one element of the Blood Wall on her own. There are still three or four elements at least that haven't been addressed - I hope they aren't going to run those over into a season three.
I think it's fairly clear the writers had four problems this season:
1) They wanted to bring in more "stand alone" episodes allegedly to attract new viewers who might be put off by the episodic nature of the show. This has been a clear mistake. Either you know the Terminator franchise or you don't. Sacrificing momentum and tension in the overall story arc in a vain attempt to attract viewers who don't know the franchise has been a mistake. Having a stand alone episode every five or six episodes might not be bad - having one every two or three is not good. Interrupting the build up over several episodes is even worse.
2) They didn't have enough overall story arc development ideas to carry them through 22 episodes, so they resorted to 1) above as well. This, despite the fact that they didn't even know whether they'd get the back nine episodes at all. They should have concentrated on making the first 13 episodes carry the story forward and build momentum so that they would be more assured of getting the back nine, and then have more audience to play to in the back nine.
And they could have easily done that if they'd done what I've suggested elsewhere - center the Connors in the real world instead of :
3) Abusing the time travel MacGuffin. This has been the worst mistake of the season. First they used the Blood Wall as a gimmick to introduce plots rather than allowing the Connors to do the leg work to develop them themselves - which would have stretched the season out nicely without the need for stand alone episodes and kept the overall story arc moving.
That would also have lessened the need for "Terminators of the Week" and thus the need to abuse the time travel gimmick further. None of the plots with Terminator Stark, Greenway (wouldn't have been too bad if they'd allowed the Connors to follow up and discover Zeira Corp), Ferguson's female, the Bedell Terminator, the Ellison Terminator would have been necessary.
This season would have worked just fine with only Jesse coming back from the future to pursue her plot.
4) The "three dots". This has gone on far too long. And if it appears that it has led the Connors to something definite, it's been like deliberately taking the long way around to get somewhere, with nothing but burnt up gas to show for it. None of the "three dots" episodes so far have moved the overall story arc forward. While the shows have been acceptable, they've done nothing but damage Sarah's characterization and emphasize the fact that the Connors have ignored their primary mission for 13 episodes.
Hopefully, since getting the back nine, they've reverted to moving the story forward in the hopes of building to a powerful season finale - and thus hopefully getting renewed for a season three. If they continue as they have done, frankly I don't see much hope of a season three.