Following last week’s episode, our very loyal supporter Charlie Jane Anders at Io9.com wrote an interesting piece on the series entitled “All The Terminator Chicks Are Psycho And/Or Robots”.
Without specifically noting it, Anders opened up a complex discussion about female empowerment in his opinion piece. Obviously, Terminator has always been a franchise that embraced the strong female hero, but here Anders points out that in the Strange Things… episode “Sarah Connor continued to come unhinged, after her breakdown in the Mexican episode and her weird dreams… She decided three random smudges were the crucial clues to the end of the world…” He goes on to write that “Sarah’s been a little bit loony throughout this show, but it seems to be a building theme. And this was the first time she was crazy AND wrong. Until now, she’s been crazy but right about everything.”
Clearly we’re not going to reveal where Sarah’s pursuit of the three-dots leads her (stay tuned!), but there is something to be discussed about this “unhinged” Sarah. Take for example, Sarah’s hardcore beatdown of Alex Akagi, the Dakari Systems con-man. Here we see a side of the character that fans have always known existed (T2), but hasn’t actively been drawn out in our series up until now.
The real question is does the return of this aggressive, wild Sarah Connor necessarily counteract the idea of her as a female hero? Or does it actually enhance the empowerment she represents, a woman that is still emotional but is willing to take action with her own hands. It’s a grand feminist discussion that is really unique to this franchise, and in particular, this show — a character study of a mother who must protect her adolescent son, the future savior of mankind, while preparing him for his destiny.
So what say you, loyal Sarah Connor followers? Has she gone off the deep end or is Sarah merely embracing the dichotomy of her fate that’s engrained so deep within her? Discuss away…
Oh, look, the Brazilians are posting!
First of all, thank you all so much for this wonderful TV Show. It has been a joy to follow you, even from all the way down here.
As for the subject of this entry, I don’t think the return of a wild Sarah Connor counteracts her being a hero. I think the writers have done a great job keeping Sarah on that very fine line between sanity and insanity (and sometimes brilliance). I also think Lena has done an outstanding job expressing Sarah’s emotions, her pain, her frustration. Obviously, she is just a human being, one who shoulders a responsibility no one should have to, and it is only logical that she would lose it sometimes. It also makes sense that Sarah would have developed very finely tuned instincts, and why she has been right about so many things. Her life, her son’s and the fate of the world depend on it.
I don’t think Sarah has gone off the deep end. I think that she may be a bit emotionally distraught with everything that has gone on in her life and this season. But I think she is still a strong person, and willing to do anything to protect her kid. She does have a fate, but as we know fates can be changed. Remember Derek said thats why he is with John right now to change the future and to protect him. I like how Sarah is strong (and how Cameron is just as strong as a charecter) Just like BSG I like how the female’s in the show aren’t portrayed as weak. And this is coming from a guy!
Thank you guys for posting this, it’s really interesting…
We all noticed a different Sarah in last episode. And I’m convinced her behavior gives even more depth to her character, and perhaps more humanity. Indeed, seeing that she can be wrong does not make her less strong, or less a hero: it just makes her more human, more captivating and engaging. Being a hero does not imply perfection, but rather courage and perseverance. Moreover, I think Sarah is the kind of person who can learn from her mistakes, if any…
Moreover, her reactions, for example at the end when she broke the mirror, are not that exagerated: how would we react if we were in her position ? or in any position of the characters: we would freak out and probably not control ourselves. I think they all seem to master their emotions, considering the situation in which they are…
Besides, as you pointed, we’re still not sure she was wrong for the three dots…so anything is possible…
Given all that Sarah’s been through she can’t help but be unhinged. Her rage at Alex was understandable. His lies took time, energy, and resources away from her goal - to stop JD, to protect her son, to make him the leader of mankind. Who wouldn’t be exceedingly furious? And yet, she didn’t kill him, always knowing where the line is drawn.
As a mom, I shall always, no matter how nutty Sarah gets, see her as a hero. Her fierce dedication to her son, her primal love of him, the lengths she’s had to go to and sink to for her/their mission. The psychological pressures upon her are unbelievable and yet she continues.
So Sarah’s a bit nutty this season. Who wouldn’t be? Who wouldn’t be nuttier? Who would just give up, find a hole to crawl into and wait for the world to end?
Not our Sarah - the ultimate feminine hero, the ultimate mom who never gives up, never stops fighting, and who would unhesitatingly give her life in order to protect her son.
Sarah has been making crucial mistakes lately and that gets to her. She has to learn how to kill a human being. It’s cruel but in her situation it’s necessary because in her hands she holds the faith of billions of people.
Like chess you have to sacrifice something and she refuses to do so with her innocence. Unlike John who already took a life. Don’t get me wrong, murdering people is BAD, I can’t stress that. But if the fate of the world hangs in the balance and it’s up to you to save billions by killing a few, it’s justified. Although I don’t think the audience will think that way. Hollywood has dumbed them down.
Sarah Connor is such a complex, beautiful, and hardcore character all at the same time - what’s so wonderful about SCC is that it has the time to expand on this character from the basis of the first two films. She’s forced to go from being a nobody, an anonomous waitress, to an everywoman who has to learn combat, weapons training and countless other skills in the years raising her son in hiding - and still mostly keep to herself the terrible burden of raising the future savior of mankind to prevent the machine apocalypse. An incredible thing to do, but Sarah continues to do it with determination, grit and an iron willed drive that most people couldn’t fathom.
What I love about Sarah Connor in SCC is her continued sense of humanity throughout, whether it’s searching for Jessica Peck’s body since it was the right thing to do, or turning over a tortise in the Mexican desert. The mother of destiny cares for all creatures, big and small. Most of all, she cares for John, even if they have had difficult times communicating and showing it to each other in this second season. I love the moments in the when Sarah communicates her love through John by touch, whether she’s stroking his face or desperately hugging him after destroying the chip.
The core to all of this of course, is Lena Headey’s magnificent performances. All of this complexity, emotion and humanity would be nothing without Lena and I don’t think would have worked in the hands of a lesser actress.
I’m a firm believer that Sarah hasn’t gone off the deep end, and the moments where she does seem to is a result of the stress she keeps bottled up inside - it’s like a volcano when it explodes! Never piss Sarah Connor off! And as you official blogers say, the meaning of the three dots has not been revealed and I do think it’s all connected. Looking forward to the rest of a season to see how it goes!
sarah is not nuts on back of t2 on vhs tape it says sarah connor the quint-essentail survivor,a woman warrior whose warnings go unheeded by a world careening towards a nuclear holocaust she is knows is inevitable.and that whats shes doing on the show she is warning people its bad no one whants to hear it till its too late even john feels bad her in t2 for thinking she was nuts when it turned out she was right.why do think he is the only one on her side about the three dots.Alex Akagi son makes the terminator chip they will get there money somewhere and it will be too late to stop it. i think that maybe he gets a job working for weaver she needs help with the ai and she needs a chip for john henry too get him on his own two feet .sarah is not nuts then or now and was olny in the loony bin for telling it the way its is about judgment day and the terminators and blowing some computer store but we all know why she did that.i love the show and dont have anything to bad to say i get what your doing with sarah and think you people have done a great job on the show cant wait for tonight
I was a little shocked by the beatdown, simply because we haven’t seen that side of her. She is starting to act more desperate. It’s been building for awhile.
But now that she’s let out a little frustration, perhaps she’ll regain some self-control.
Yeah, what Annie said.
I don’t think Sarah has gone off the deep end, it’s just showing a little more of the Sarah Connor character. And I love the way Lena plays her. She’s fantastic.
Sarah’s opponent always gets the first move while she has to react. Perhaps Cameron could use game theory to suggest the percentage of first move advantage. Even Sarah’s goal of preventing Judgment Day has ominous implications for her other goal of protecting and preparing and perserving her son. She’s like a mad woman trying to stop a tsumani one thimble at a time, a sad Luddite trying to thwart technological evolution. She feels the futility. Lena Headey plays this razor’s edge of determination and madness with exceptional skill.
I think we see several facets of Sarah. With Sarah’s beat-down of Akagi, as well as her wailing on Derek in “Queen’s Gambit”, we see the Sarah that Cameron described to John as “The best fighter he knows.” Not the best killer, perhaps, but certainly a fighter not to be trifled with.
On the other hand, we also see the Sarah that was stuck in Pescadero and pumped full of psychotropics for an extended period. No matter how grounded you might be when you enter, that sort of abuse has got to leave some damage.
And on the third hand we see Sarah as a human who is sometimes overwhelmed by the task ahead of her. Whether that task is dealing with an unreliable teenaged boy or trying to avert an Apocalypse (as she promised to do to said teenaged boy), is a small matter of degree. She sees herself as being caught in tempest she doesn’t know how to handle.
Her failing is in wanting to control an uncontrollable situation. If she could somehow allow others to shoulder some of the burden, she might end up stronger. Mostly, as all good mothers must eventually do, she needs to loosen the apron strings around her son a bit.
Hm… Sarah since few episodes is not Sarah who I know from this show. I know, T2, Sarah Connor hiting and screaming on everything, but I don’t like this Sarah Connor, I want my TV-Show Sarah Connor back :). She’s smart, beauty and with that something… ;D. Greetings from Poland! Keep making this series!
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“So what say you, loyal Sarah Connor followers? Has she gone off the deep end or is Sarah merely embracing the dichotomy of her fate that’s engrained so deep within her?”
…both?
all i know is after i saw sarah manhandle the dakari systems con-man,for the rest of the episode i was calling her “the hulk”.
Linda Hamilton requested Sarah be crazy in the 2nd movie but she still didn’t kill anyone. Now she has led Cromartie straight to John because she wouldn’t kill. I was disappointed the first season when she didn’t kill the guy she thought was Sarkissian. He was holding a gun to her kid’s head. If there is one situation that would make me kill someone that would be it.
(I still want to know where Cameron was for that scene.)
starkiller, I don’t think she hesitated in that scene because she didn’t want to kill. I think she hesitated because you gotta be damn well certain of your aim. If she breathed wrong, she could have hit John. She was out there for about 2 seconds before Derek came in and in those 2 seconds I think she was coming up with a gameplan and then he took over.
If the people of this world… those that I was trying to save… kept disappointing me… I would want to give up on them, at times. If I saw the man that I loved lose his wife the way that Sarah did… I would blame myself. If any innocent person died, like they have… because I had associations like Sarah has… I would feel despair – especially if I knew if it was only going to get worse. If I had led a killer to my son the way that Sarah did… I would hate myself. It’s about time that Sarah let her guard down… that she felt confident enough in her son that she could depend on him to become the man that he is. During her breakdown after destroying the chip… she leaned on John. He held her up while she let it all go. He didn’t run from her, either. I am so proud of them. It’s about time that he realizes the burden she’s born all his life. It’s about time he see the fate that is his in a less self-centered way… like it only affects him and the things he would have been able to do if he were normal. Her breakdown has allowed John to grow up and take responsibility. John is making her more proud, everyday. His strength is going to pick her up and get her back on track.
I love the complexity that Sarah Connor embodies. I agree with the comment above that you have posited a false dichotomy. Sarah is both losing her head AND embracing the role that fate has ordained for her. She is struggling to maintain her humanity, yet her attempts to do so endangers her son and mankind. So she walks a fine line and sometimes stumbles.
Having Sarah wilt under the pressure regardless of whether she is right or wrong about the 3 dots is appropriate. It is one of the reasons I love this show. It’s complex. Sarah doesn’t have all the answers, no character does. I love it when Derek tells Sarah, “you got played. It hapapens. Welcome to the human race”.
[...] Vote the other sarah connors. [...]
I personally really love crazy Sarah. I think it’s a natural place for her character to go. You can’t take all the things she’s seen and carried on her shoulders and not break a few times. I don’t think it takes away from her being a hero at all. Maybe it makes her more of an anti-hero, but that to me is what terminator has always been about. These characters, all of them: Sarah, Cameron, Derek, John…they’re not heroes. They’re humans (and one machine!) trying to stop the world from blowing up and I think they’re some of the most realistic characters on television.
Thank you. Thank you for not backing off their craziness and screwed-upness for fear of making it too dark.
The Show rocks, plain and simple, I just wish it was on a different night. My wifes favorite show is Monday, and I watch Chuck. Wednesday would be excellent.
Diffrent topic: I suggest that the actor that plays John Connor has the range, intensity and demeanor to play Dick Grayson (Robin) in the next Batman movie.
As Sarah chases the cryptic basement blood clues, her desperation and anger grow. Is it time to give her the first move and attack Skynet’s Achilles heel, time travel? Without the ability to reach into the past, the threat to her son is stopped. Sarah’s struggle to prevent the evolution of Skynet from the military-industrial complex is futile but she could cut off its reach. At least it would put her in control again.
How can Sarah stop the time-traveling when that was invented by Skynet in the 2020’s?
As far as empowerment is concerned, I don’t think Sarah going monomaniacal on those dots is the problem. Sarah is still the same decent, straightforward, no-nonsense character she was in the movies.
The problem is that most of the important female characters this season are unrelatable, sneaky, manipulative bitcas who use their sexuality at times to further some hidden agenda or another (Jesse, Riley, even Cameron in the Cromartie snuff episode), while most male characters, down to everyone’s favourite evil robot, are innocent, open books. (John is even approaching that shark in the naive department this season.)
And that, I’m sad to say, borders on misogynistic. In fact, I don’t think there’s much room for any kind of discussion of female empowerment until you’ve fixed that little problem. Get Chaidez on it.
Okay, guys, sorry to break up some of this disussion, but I thought the soundtrack for TSCC was going to be out in November….I can’t find it. Does anyone else know anything?
I have to disagree (respectfully) with the last comment by flogme. The fight for the future is a no-holds-barred contest, and to ask characters to withhold a powerful tool at their disposal is to ask them to fight fairly. I think it’s more realistic to have characters use every inch of the being to fight for the future.
Furthermore, the writers are simply being true to the terminator mythos. In T2, it was established that Sarah would shack up with men willing to teach her tactics that would help her prepare for Judgement Day. Headey’s Sarah has clearly evolved beyond that phase.
Jesse should not accused using her sexuality to deceive Derek. As misguided as her mission is, her feelings for Derek are real. Derek is quite capable of looking out for himself (thank you very much), and not an innocent open book. “I love you, don’t push it”.
So the only character who is truly in danger of sexual manipulation is John, an adolescent with surging hormones. Having John navigate that minefield is an important early lesson.
Incidentally, the use of sexuality is not the exclusive domain of female characters. In the last episode, Alex Akagi flirted heavily with Sarah to close the deal, and she wasn’t immune to his attention, so I don’t find the portrayals to be misogynistic.
TSCC has firmly established that the Connor’s knowledge of the future has isolated them in the present, and that isolation has made them emotionally vulnerable. They (especially John) are ripe for exploitation. That scenario is very realistic.
Brenda, although Dec. 2 was announced, the lastest revised is 12/16. I would buy it for Samson and Delilah alone but the Sarah theme is both haunting and effective mixing hope and fear, great music. On the time travel theme, if it is possible (and without it the idea behind the franchise is mute) Skynet is far more likely to have perfected research for the MIC (military-industrial-complex) performed for a top secret Manhatten project (your tax dollars at work) kept under deep cover. If Sarah could sabotage that project she achieves her first goal, protecting her son. Obviously, the implications typify why time travel paradox is so overwhelming.
Logan,
It’s not the degree of success the female characters have in manipulating the men (or other women for that matter, as may be the case between Jesse and Riley) that I have a problem with. It’s how they go about accomplishing things and how they are presented. We have nowhere nearly as much insight into the three new characters (Weaver, Jesse, Riley) as we do into any recurring male characters. The recurring men on the show don’t have hidden agendas and aren’t sneaky and underhanded in the way they approach problems. The women are. The contrast is hard to miss and it has just not been a very complimentary one this season.
She hasn’t quite gone of the deep end yet…
But she is defnitely crossing the line….
I think that the weight of the world is finally getting to her.
And I think her desperation to find some kind of huge clue to where skynet is is what she needs. I think her confidence is starting to fade a pinch and that she needs SOMETHING.
@FM
Thanks for clarifying your position, and I would like to understand your perspective further.
From my perspective, both Derek and Ellison are engaged in sneaky, underhanded tactics to achieve hidden agendas. Derek has not informed the Connors about Jesse, another connection to the future, and a potential ally/enemy/frenemy, nor has he revealed his own plans to change the future. As far as the Connors know, Derek plays on one team when in fact he’s moonlighting on another. He also appears to have a separate agenda for fighting the future than Sarah.
And Ellison? He unearthed Cromartie behind the Connors’ back to solidify his position at Veira Corp. Pretty nefarious, unethical, and underhanded if you ask me.
Perhaps you don’t feel that these are salient examples b/c we have backstories that elicit our sympathies for Derek and Ellison, while we don’t have the same for Jesse, Weaver, and Riley. That’s a legitimate gripe. These characters have less dimensionality, but I think it’s safe to say that’s going to change over time; after all (as you said), they’re relatively new characters. So I’m not necessarily buying that it’s a gender issue.
I have a lot of faith in the writers and producers of TSCC. I was especially skeptical of Riley’s character development this season, but now the character makes alot of sense. My patience has been rewarded. My fear after Monday night’s episode is that Riley might become too manipulative, which would undermine her character.
My hope at this point is that the cast and crew will be given the opportunity to tell the entire story they want to tell us. I’m definitely supporting Dollhouse and Terminator Salvation for this reason.
First, I don’t understand how everyone thinks Weaver is automatically a bad guy. Yes, she killed like 3 people, but she is a terminator. She could be trying to create an alternative to skynet with other motives. I’m not into the comics/other spinoffs but ive seen it said that the T-1000 models had their own agendas and she could have her own plan. With other “bad” terminators you see them killing without real purpose or necessity, while she killed to get into a position of power and for the most part has done her best to keep casualties down.
is cameron bad because she has killed more humans than weaver? (at least onscreen) not only that but she has withheld a chip from a terminator from the connors saying it was destroyed, stole a piece of the metal she is made out of when she was supposed to destroy that, lied to the connors repeatedly and turned on john and tried to kill him. yet i think of her as a good guy.
john constantly lies to his mother, sneaks out, endangers everyone, belittles cameron, runs away from cameron when there is danger. derek has hid so much from them there is no way to trust him, including not informing them that there is someone out there with a mission AGAINST them. ellison betrayed the connors by stealing cromartie. and pretty much every other main male human guest star character was doing something that would destroy the world, though they mostly had no/little knowledge it could lead there. thats not even including every male terminator they have killed so far which other than cromartie (a regular) has had zero positive qualities.
if you are seeing misogyny i think its more you see any action taken by a woman to be more wrong than when the same action is taken by men. this show reminds me of bsg in that ALL characters have huge flaws yet have some redeeming quality that makes them likable.
and to answer the original question. both. my going off the deep end thing isn’t necessarily the violence though. she is becoming unhinged as a mother (sorry moms on this board) and insanely overprotective over him which causes him to do stupid things. I dont care if he is “the future leader of mankind”. john will never make it if she treats him like he is a 3 year old that needs his mommy at all times. her hindrance of his growth is my big problem with where she has evolved to. she has tried to get in between every relationship he has had on the show from the first episode with her fiancee (she runs when john becomes attached to him, endangering his life when he reports them gone), to cameron who has been his only real friend (forcing him to hook up with riley and run around unprotected by cam just to get away from the suffocation), to riley the skankarella who she has pushed john to with her insane over protectiveness (which again endangers him by making him sneak around [see mexico] to have a life).
I have been a fan of the Terminator movies since the first–though I felt the 3rd was a betrayal of trust.
The series takes thing where T-3 didnt, but we now need a road map. are sarah and john and her crew stopping the future or are they preserving the future, just in case. I wish the wrtiters showed us where they are going here–they dont follow the novels and they add layer upon layer…..I love it all but thinking about it can make one a little batty–and is it me or does our favorite good terminator look more than a little like Catherine Deneuve? and see a Christmas tale–nothing to do with the T series but it shows us there is pop art and then the real thing in the realm of cinema.
MAR
remember…misogyny is in the eye of the beholder. and don’t forget what misogyny really is…it’s the fear, intimidation, feelings of weakness, and inability to trust women. instead of noticing how passive and secretive our male characters have become, it seems some viewers are simply uncomfortable with women exhibiting aggression and initiative. the men may have every reason to be intimidated– that’s how humans feel when they have the disadvantage.
by the way, all these characters are traumatized. did anyone call derek a psycho when some teenage boy made a remark about kills and he ended up screaming in his face? oh no. in fact that’s guy stuff, military stuff, war stuff…normal? did that episode seem a bit ragged at the edges to anyone else? i guess a bunch of adolescent cadets keep a secret pretty well…my point is actually more along the lines of anger, violence, manipulation , dreams, sexuality being human qualities. don’t demonize the women for exhibiting them– and don’t confuse the women with the machines!