There’s not a soul on earth who dislikes Summer Glau. She is a goddess to nerds and geeks and sci-fi lovers everywhere, thanks to her roles in Firefly, The 4400 and now Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The attraction is obvious – Glau is a petite, peculiarly good-looking lady who kicks major league ass on a consistent basis. For a guy, there’s really nothing to even think about hating. She’s it. And, to top it all off, Glau is a pretty damn good actress. Witness last night’s episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Summer Glau starred, ranging from human to humanoid cyborg to cold, unfeeling cyborg. The episode was the first major look into Cameron’s past, and it was a doozy. The whole of the Sarah Connor story got a lot more interesting last night and a lot more complex.
Cameron has a multi-faceted purpose. She is based on a real girl, whose role in the resistance remains unclear. John Connor clearly trusts Allison from Palmdale in the future, or whatever Allison from Palmdale became. The bombshell in the episode dealt with Cameron’s statement soon before killing Allison that there are certain terminators who don’t want to simply eliminate the human race, but want peace, a co-existence. Given the time time-travel element on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it’s unclear how much time will be spent on this “dueling terminators” story line, but it has to be significant. Is SkyNet at war with itself? How does Catherine Weaver fit in?
Summer Glau, if it wasn’t already readily apparent, was the perfect casting choice for the role of Cameron. Glau brings a delicacy and nimbleness to the role that is unexpected. You buy into her emotional fragility, even though she remains a terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly could not have pulled this off.
For all the things that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles does right, they still haven’t figured out a way to create good B-stories. Two weeks ago it was John and Riley’s relationship that stole time away from the real action inside the power plant. Last night, it was Sarah and her pregnant neighbor that bored the audience. The writers clearly needed a plausible way for John to begin his training, if you will, and the baby daddy being a gun enthusiast was a convenient way to do it. Still – I had very little interest in seeing Sarah sit in a hospital room all episode.
I’m getting a little wary of Terminator using Cameron’s glitches as a crutch moving forward. It’s an easy way to get Cameron out of full-on terminator mode. Before long, it’s going to simply not be believable that the Connors wouldn’t try and shut her down. She can’t be trusted at this point after two major malfunctions in such close proximity. If I were Sarah or John, I know I’d want her out of the picture as soon as possible
And, finally – was anyone else disappointed that Brian Austin Green didn’t get any screen time? (A couple years ago, I would have never, ever thought that I would be capable of writing that last sentence.)
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
