PSA for CKR; TV post for T:TSCC (and those are all the initials this title needs)

[rose_griffes]

Just spent an hour outlining a follow-up story to 'Settlement' and 'Generations Untold.' It would be the cylon POV this time, though.

Dear Muse, don't you think it would be a good idea to finish all those other unfinished stories first?

Speaking of TV roles played by Callum Keith Rennie (like my segue there? I do!), he'll be doing a guest spot on the next episode of Flash Forward. Guess I need to go back and watch the episodes that came after the first one... which I was meaning to do anyway, but real life things and The Sarah Connor Chronicles got in the way.

Aaaaaannd... speaking of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I wrote up a post about the first part of season two the other day. Just hadn't gotten around to posting it yet.

I should preface all of this by saying that I did buy season two (and season one) on DVD with the understanding that a twenty-two episode season has a less-focused structure than a nine-episode season. So I'm not epecting the utter adoration I had of season one, but I figure I'll like things well enough that I won't regret the money spent.

1 Samson & Delilah We start out with a bang. This show likes to begin a season with explosions and bullets, apparently. Sarkissian is determined to get his computer drive back and there's this awesome montage of Sarah and John trying to get out, Cameron coming in the house, then the realization that something has gone terribly wrong with Cameron's programming. (Or terribly right, depending on the point of view.)

So Sarah and John are on the run from the robot that has been living with them for the past several months. Uh oh.

Ellison deals with the aftermath of the Cromartie debacle. Smart move, agreeing that actor George Lazlo was responsible, because who's going to believe it was a killer robot from the future? No one.

We meet the Shirleynator, Catherine Weaver. I knew that she was a Terminator ahead of time--I even knew about the urinal scene (which was weird, but works in context). I'm curious to see what direction this will take. Shirleynator has an interesting energy onscreen. I think I like it, but I'm not positive yet. Anyway, Shirleynator has the Turk, and she has plans...

Summer Glau was fantastic. I'm concerned for the fall-out of John having trust in her--just as I'm supposed to be. *g* But yeah, it's a bit ominous.

Cromartie thinks that Ellison will lead him to Sarah Connor? Ooooh.

John cuts off his emo hair. Y'know, he actually pulled off the emo hair look pretty well, but I do like it this way as well. Maybe even better.

2 Automatic for the People Dying visitor from the future! Nuclear powerplant episode. New teen girl for John to find attractive, Riley. Eh. Not so thrilled with her just yet. Also, I'm not thinking that showing a woman you just met where you live is such a smart move, John. Neither is skipping classes, but at least you don't run the risk of your own death/someone else's death when you do that.

Sarah and Cameron infiltrating the powerplant was actually kinda funny. (Wow, some humor! I'm so impressed, show!) And I liked Sarah's 'moves' at the bar with Greenway. Good going on making him a former military man, show--it helped give more logic to his rapport with undercover Sarah, who has had lots of experience with military people.

Hated Sarah's experience with the false radiation alert, but I'm sure that happens to women in that field of work. *sigh* It was a well-done scene. (In other words, the show continued its good record of not making all nudity about sexuality, and not going for gratuitous nudity. Thanks!)

Ellison and Charley tell Charley's wife about the robopocalypse. She's understandably not thrilled, and even less so when Charley's concerns appear far too focused on Sarah Connor.

Greenway-robot and Shirleynator apparently worked together to get the plant under control of a new company/software.

OH! I wanted to say how much I loved it that the pregnant neighbor is played by an actual pregnant woman! Good job! Also, I like her.

3 The Mousetrap Well, my prediction that Charley would die didn't work, but close enough. Penny! Michelle! We hardly knew ye. Cromartie turns out to be a clever machine.

John manages to slip away from Cameron at an inopportune time. Still not sure I like Riley. Definitely don't like the dress she was trying on.

"I don't swim." Hah, Cromartie walking on the ocean floor to get out of the water amused me.

Shirleynator wants Ellison to come work for her! Shirleynator knows that he knows about robopocalypse! Obviously Ellison doesn't know what Shirleynator is, though.

A suspenseful episode, though not my favorite so far. Okay, but not great.

4 Allison from Palmdale Okay, this was awesome. First, kudos for the Sarah and Kacy (pregnant landlady) bit, which actually worked instead of feeling like "Sarah Connor learns an important lesson about life." It was a close call, but they brought it off well. I love how very unsentimental Sarah is during her final conversation offering support to Kacy.

But the best part was Summer Glau as Allison and as future!Terminator learning to be "Allison." Genuinely creepy, the future flashes. Poor Allison. So now we know that Cameron the Terminator was built to look like a future Resistance fighter who John Connor apparently trusted. Oh my.

Summer Glau differentiated the roles so well. She was amazing.

Jody, the girl from the police station, was arresting (hee!) in her own way. She brought the right level of jadedness and little-girl-lost to her role.

Back to Cameron: "I'm going to kill him and hang his head on a pike for all to see." Oh yeah.

Oh! Shirleynator has a daughter! I'm assuming Shirleynator took the place of a real woman named Catherine Weaver, because machines made of liquid metal don't typically have babies. Heh. So when did the switch happen? Is the real Catherine Weaver dead?

Non-episode stuff: two of the episodes on disk one had commentaries--episodes one and four. Shirley Manson participated in the first commentary and she is just adorable. Thomas Dekker is hilariously over the top as a child-actor turned semi-normal adult. I'd guess his parents let him go into acting just to burn up some of that manic energy. And Summer Glau... oh, Summer. In the middle of the scene with Derek Reese and Charley in the back of his emergency vehicle, Summer announces, "I love firefighters!"

So do we all, when they look like Charley Dixon and Derek Reese.

Which brings me to my last thought: Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese is sort of the anti-Jamie Bamber. When he's not in character, I get the appeal on an intellectual level, but eh. In character, though, Derek is incredibly compelling and sexy.

Jamie Bamber has the opposite effect--I understand the draw of Apollo/Lee Adama, but it just doesn't click most of the time for me. When he's not playing the role of Lee, wow. So very appealing.

See my awesome userpic? emmiere made it for me! She actually made three version of it, and I keep switching back and forth because I can't make up my mind.

Eeep, it's getting late and I still have to shower and get dressed for church. *runs around*

Comments

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Pregnant lady was one of my favorite characters, although Shirleynator comes close. Point of note, though, the Shirleynator storyline is rather similar in structure to the Cylons and their Plan. I'm not saying any more than that, but it's all very...interesting.

I saw "anti-Jamie Bamber" and went "Uh-oh", but you went in a totally different direction. Heh. I actually find JB hotter as Lee, or rather, Lee when he's not being indecisive and clueless.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I actually find JB hotter as Lee, or rather, Lee when he's not being indecisive and clueless.
I do like Leland "Justice!" Adama quite well. But having heard Bamber talking on a super-long podcast about the show, I have to say his natural accent (and natural vocabulary) is swoon-worthy. Also, pictorial evidence (http://community.livejournal.com/likeyouimagined/45041.html) of his pulchritude. :)

Ack, didn't mean to hit post comment yet. I've been guessing that Shirleynator is heading toward becoming more human. Especially since watching the episode with her and Savannah visiting the psychologist. (I haven't posted about it yet, but I did start on disk two of the show already.) What I'm curious about is the idea of touch as a way to lead to more humanity. I think it works on cylons, but they're built based on human DNA... but a Terminator? Anyway, it's all completely fascinating and I've now decided I'm definitely a fan of Shirley Manson's performance.

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

See, I like flirty!Lee when he's asking Kara to dance in "Colonial Day", or slipping on his suit jacket at the Death Wall in "Islanded...". Or Lee in all of his scenes with Dee before the Quad issues. And decisive!Lee when he's mutinying against Tigh or standing up to D'Anna. Actually, what it comes down to is, I always find JB attractive (especially his natural voice, yes), but I don't always find him sexy. Sexy's a very subjective thing, though, especially with me.

As relates to Shirley, though...actually, that aspect hadn't crossed my mind. I was thinking of something else entirely, though your parallel does make sense now that I think of it.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

In character, though, Derek is incredibly compelling and sexy.


Hee! Yeah, I'm not really compelled to seek out any of Brian Austin Green's other work, even though I absolutely adore Derek Reese and what he brings to the show.

As for Jamie Bamber, I wonder if my reaction to him (and Lee, for me!) was partly because I had already seen and really liked him in the "Hornblower" tv series (that's actually why I started watching the re-imagined BSG, because I found out he was in it.) So maybe I was primed to like the actor and the character because of prior exposure, whereas with Derek/BAG, perhaps it's best we all forgot about "Beverly Hills 90210" (which, I must shamefacedly confess, I actually did watch in its 'glory' days!)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

So maybe I was primed to like the actor and the character because of prior exposure, whereas with Derek/BAG, perhaps it's best we all forgot about "Beverly Hills 90210"

Yeah, I'd agree that liking an actor in a different role makes a difference. (I never watched BH 90210, though I did have a roommate who watched Melrose Place religiously, so I ended up watching too. It was gloriously awful.)