‘Chronicles’ Stays Efficiently Entertaining

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

I said it last week, and I’ll say it again this week: the efficiency of the machines is just so irritatingly amazing.

And this week, they just really irritated me.

As in, why do they have to be so good.

Let’s just recap how efficient Cromartie (who I am now going to call Tin Man) was over on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, eh?

He kidnapped Charley’s wife knowing it would full well prompt Charley to call Sarah for help and/or have her come to the rescue, which Sarah did but without John. ‘kay two points for Sarah. Still, it was bad enough that she even went out to middle of the desert with Derek (who knew it was a ploy all along but went ahead anyways) to take on a machine.

Tin Man then sets up this whole decoy - kidnapped - wife - sitting - on - bomb - don’t - move - or - we - die thing to get everyone preoccupied about being blown to Smitherines all the while disabling their car and/or having a cell phone monitoring something-or-other in the back room of the shack so that he could get the real prize: John’s cell phone number and special announce the year/date code greeting thing, which he easily got thanks to Sarah’s call to John to warn him of the whole hullabaloo once she figured out it was all a trap.

Sooo, Tin Man calls John, impersonates Sarah, gets him to meet him at the pier and … tah-dah … John is screwed.

Oh, and did we mention Tin Man blew up the cell phone tower out in the ol’ desert after he got the John Cell Phone Number Prize so that our team couldn’t call for help? And since the car was dead, they’d have to walk their arses out to the highway, which would not bode well for a John Rescue.

So. Irritatingly. Efficient.

Want to give props to Charley’s wife: she was no pushover and/or helpless damsel in distress. She held her own, and I was kinda sorry (though not surprised) to see her not make it. This, of course, sets up Charley to either be a) the new member of the team with no attachments; or b) insanely pissed off at Sarah for essentially getting him involved in the first place. I’m guessing the former.

Speaking of pissed off, Sarah was pretty irritated at herself for still caring enough about Charley to even try this desert storm rescue. I really thought she was just going to keep four wheelin’ their van out of the desert (which conveniently appeared for them to … ahem … flag down and steal) as Charley’s wife was bleeding out in the back, but she stopped.

And this is what I love about Sarah.

She still – even though she has been through hell and back more times than we care to count, and has carried the burden of being the mother of the future leader of mankind – she still has her humanity, her compassion. She can still do something because it is the right thing to do on a human level, not a save-the-world level. I love that.

So what about Shirley this week? She seems to be trying to bribe Agent Ellison to come work for her. Oy vey. Look out. Remarkably, no T-1000 liquid transforms this week. Just Shirley as Shirley.

Classic Cam Moment of the Week: Figuring out the dead center of the house, and that at its current miniscule movement of the foundation, the team will have to repaint next summer; that the bird living in the chimney must be terminated (but won’t be, thanks to Sarah’s ultamatium); and,she doesn’t swim.

Concerning Cam Moment of the Week: NONE!

Speaking of machines not swimming … Cromartie came awfully close to getting John this week. Thankfully, he sank down to Davy Jones Locker after jumping off the pier. Have to admit that was funny.

So, it appears Captain Jack Sparrow and Terminators get free passes in and out of Davy Jones Locker.

Why is all but the rum gone?

The fight to save the world continues.

New episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles air Mondays at 8 p.m. on FOX. You can also watch full episodes online. Visit the Official Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Web site to catch up (or re-watch!)