Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today

By Melissa Voelker

My rant this week is all about promos. Leading up to the episode last night, Fox kept airing a promo for it that promised “Someone will DIE!” I hate these types of promos. First off, I know because of the way this show has gone so far that the person who will most likely die is not one of the main characters. If it were that kind of show (you know, one that is realistic) then Cameron would have bit it much earlier on in the series, and Sarah would still have the cancer that she was supposed to die of. But the Connor clan manages to elude death’s grasp every time it comes along. I suppose Derek might only last until the end of this season and then meet his untimely end, but even though they don’t really do anything with him except make him skulk around looking perturbed, I doubt they will kill him off either. Which leaves Agent Ellison, one of the only really interesting characters left on the show. Maybe they would kill him, but then it seems they would have done that when Cromartie had a gun to his head at the end of the first season. The only character left to kill off is Cromartie himself, and who really cares if a terminator dies? Another one will just come along from the never-ending supply of people coming through the time machine. Or he will manage to rebuild himself once again, since he has already proven how good he is at that. Promising a big and surprising death (which isn’t very surprising when you alert viewers that it is going to happen) is not the way to get people to watch your show.

Maybe try writing a reasonably good episode once in a while instead.

Moving on, tonight’s episode, I must admit, wasn’t too bad. Sarah, John, Cameron, Ellison, and even Cromartie all got to have a bit of the limelight. After John and Sarah clash once again over his friendship with Riley, Cameron tries to talk some sense into him but just weirds him out (the visible bra through her shirt and the way she laid down on his bed beside him weirded me out a bit too.) So he decides to leave town with his new best buddy and off they go on a bus to Mexico. He is reliving a bit of his youth, and not surprisingly it doesn’t end well. Everyone has been telling him all along that he is putting Riley in danger by hanging out with her, but he didn’t want to listen. So when he gets her arrested in a Mexican bar, it is not surprising but a necessary lesson. He tries to call his mom for help, but she is currently in a bad situation of her own. Cromartie has found the house where the Connor crew is staying and captured Sarah.

Through several twists and turns and phone calls, the entire main cast of the show ends up in Mexico. It turns out to be a lucky coincidence for Sarah, as Agent Ellison rescues John and Riley in the very car that Cromartie was holding her hostage in. Mother and son reunite and then both send Riley packing to keep her out of (further) danger. Then a call comes in from Derek and Cameron who have appeared in Mexico as well and are looking to help out. Once the family has regrouped they metamorphose into one giant robot . . . oh wait, wrong show. Anyways, the Connors regroup and set a trap for Cromartie in a small Mexican church. Even Ellison gets in on the action, and within a short time and blaze of bullets, the terminator goes down.

There were several elements of this week’s episode that I enjoyed. Once again there was no lame voice over during the opening credits. In fact I don’t think there were any opening credits, which I didn’t miss. The way the story was told for most the episode was an interesting technique, with segments separated out by “Sarah’s Story,” “Cameron’s Story,” and even “Agent Ellison’s Story.” I’m not sure it was really necessary, but it was an interesting idea. And Cromartie’s death was a welcome moment, as I was getting pretty sick and tired of him. He has to have been one of the worst terminators EVER. It took the original terminators (Arnold and Robert Patrick) about two minutes to find both Sarah and John Connor when they were looking for them. But it took Cromartie forever to lock down their location. And considering how sloppy they were at hiding, that didn’t really make any sense. So it was about time he moved on to that great junk heap in the sky.

But while I was glad to see him finally bite the big one, the death scene was not terribly impressive. He walked into the church where the Connors had set their trap for him and then when they began shooting he just stood there and took it. He shot back at them, of course, but he didn’t make a move to chase anyone down or fight back. It was obvious that most of the bullets hitting him had little to no effect on him, so he could have very easily climbed up a wall at Sarah where she was perched in a high window, or run after Agent Ellison who was standing just a few feet away and crushed his head. He didn’t make a single move to fight back, so when Cameron came along with her Big Girl Gun and shot a real whole in his head, it was all over. For an Ultimate Killing Machine that is supposed to keep going and going and going no matter what happens (I still vividly remember Arnold/Terminator crawling along a factory floor with most of his metal skeleton ripped away but still determined to kill Sarah Connor) this death scene was a let down. And it further proved my theory that Cromartie was a total waste as a terminator.

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About Melissa: By day a mild-mannered tv station receptionist, by night a fighter of crime and corruption in the dirty streets of Spokane, WA . . . or maybe not so much. More like a hyperactive, anal-retentive daytime receptionist and a melodramatic, hyperactive nighttime fangirl who only wishes she could be a fighter of crime and champion of justice (except that would lead to getting my super costume all dirty and I hate doing laundry.) Though my intent has always been to write bestselling novels and live a life of wealth and luxury, putting my talents for snarkiness and word doodling together while letting my geek flag fly suits me just fine – for now.

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