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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of Quantum Leap, The Simpsons, and The Great North, and the novel The Talisman.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Samson And Delilah"
Evil Cameron overplayed her hand. If she wanted to convince John she was fixed, she shouldn't have said she was in love with him. Because the fixed version of her wasn't. God, that means the Terminators are conniving, doesn't it? The only reason I can even forgive her at the end is her angrily telling Sarah to make sure John doesn't attempt to bring her back again if she goes bad again.
Charley's all right. Derek is surprised to learn it, but it's true.
The early episodes of the first season had a similar vibe to The Fugitive movie and they returned to that here. Big time.
Big episode back. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Automatic For The People"
Lot of TV stars from the era can be seen here. Debra Wilson, Dean Norris, Busy Phillips, Sonya Walger, the dude who played Chappelle on 24.
I like that Cameron distrusts John now, but I especially like him telling her at the end that he doesn't care, and the only standards he needs to live up to are his own. That is resistance leader-quality talk right there.
Sarah asks Cameron if she's all right more than once. I don't think she is.
This new girl Riley has said some very odd things. If she either isn't from the future or a Terminator I'll be surprised.
Pretty cool. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Mousetrap"
Poor Charley.
It was pretty cold that when Michelle tells Sarah she's surprised she came to help Charley rescue her, Sarah says she expected it to be easier and for her to be dead. OUCH. This is why no-one likes you, Sarah.
Brutal episode. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Allison From Palmdale"
That was disturbing as hell. Apparently Cameron has this whole violent horrible backstory nobody knows about. I get why Derek refuses to trust her. She strikes me especially as a lying sociopath, even for a Terminator. Her telling John they were in love in the season premiere should have been the giveaway.
Her lying about the necklace coming from a thrift store at the end was a totally unsettling place to leave the episode.
Sarah's stuff with her pregnant neighbor was more enjoyable, but despite this episode having a lack of real stakes or action, there was some dark stuff revealed about the backstory of the woman Cameron killed and replaced. Chilling. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Goodbye To All That"
It was sort of stupid in the first movie that the Terminator looks up all of the Sarah Connors in the phone book and starts killing them off one by one, but as dumb an idea as it is, it's plausible for a movie made before the computer information age. This show using the same idea for Martin Bedell is simply not credible.
I liked Sarah's relationship to the boy however, mostly because she was so bad at it, and Marty was the one who had to put in the effort.
You'd think Derek went overboard in humiliating the goony kid excited about kills, but the truth is he was right.
Where wasn't he right? Telling John how the real Martin died. What purpose did that serve other than making John feel like crap?
Solid though. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Tower Is Tall, But The Fall Is Short"
Regardless of how it will end, it's a DAMN shame this show was canceled. That was some interesting television.
Derek's girlfriend being a deserter is a really interesting notion. But can you blame her? It's interesting the suicide Derek had been talking about with Sarah had been his own near-miss. I partly think the bit where his girlfriend insists they come up with a new name for what they did is badly written. But it's actually realistic. It's how a real person speaks when they are trying and failing to be deep. It doesn't matter that neither she nor Derek understand that's all that is. They don't need to be insightful for it to be credible.
Catherine seems the worst mother ever, but really how is Sarah any different? At least Catherine has the excuse that she ISN'T Savannah's mother, and isn't even human. Sarah immediately declaring there is nothing wrong with John is not just stupid. It's a crazy thing to believe and something only a bad mother would try to kid herself about. Derek and Cameron talking about suicides are much closer to the mark.
Regardless of whether this is a great show or not, I respect and love the fact that when the elevator door opens, Cameron and the new lady Terminator awkwardly pause their fight to not arouse suspicions with the people who get on. And that's the way this show is superior to the earlier films. None of the Terminators there would be smart enough to do that. It's also funny that only the little boy gets that that's what happened, and while part of you wants to see him stick around to keep the fight stopped, you realize him knowing the truth puts him in mortal danger, and it's a good thing his mother calls him away.
I haven't seen the fifth or sixth Terminator films. But I like this one because its idea of exploring the character's psyches is a lot different than James Cameron's, who put Sarah in a mental hospital because of what she knew. I appreciate this show knowing what it does about PTSD and veterans.
Excellent episode. I'm impressed. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Brothers Of Nablus"
Most of this episode was foolish people, innocent and criminal alike, messing with people they had no business messing with.
As horrible as Cameron's killing spree at the bowling alley was, it was the right tactical move. Which is why Sarah has to go behind her back to spare the last survivor. Which, shocker, winds up a tactical mistake itself.
I am having a hard time keeping straight when Catherine is impersonating someone or not. Her flashing back to the cop who arrested Ellison sort of makes sense why he let him go. But it raises questions about why he arrested him. If Catherine killed the real detective and replaced him for this moment, won't questions be raised by him disappearing after this? I don't feel that held together well at all.
I feel John's rage at Sarah at the end, simply because I suspect he's right about why she doesn't want him hanging out with Riley. There are a lot of Oedipal relationships in fiction. It's surprising that on this show Sarah seems to have turned her and John into one.
Man, I don't like or trust this Sarah. And not just because she's Cersei. She's Cersei because Lena Headey can easily play manipulative, conniving, and cold, and her Sarah Connor is all of those things. Cersei was not Headey stretching as an actress being a villain after playing a hero. Sarah and Cersei have similar vibes going on, and did the entire time, including sadly, the incest vibe seen here. Sigh.
This episode landed more on the disturbing side, than the enjoyable side for me. **1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today"
Pretty brutal. The Terminator shooting spree plays a lot different in 2023 than it did when this first aired. There is no way they could get away with that on broadcast television today. It was upsetting.
Speaking of which, I continue to think Sarah sucks, and that as far as lead hero roles go, she's a dud. When Ellison says he lost a lot, his marriage, his career, Sarah coldly throws at him, "You consider that a lot?" Actually, you know what, Sarah? It is. Screw you for trying to make your loss and grief a contest. Just because you believe Ellison's life is small compared to yours, doesn't mean that Ellison thinks so. And honestly, it also doesn't mean it is. Maybe, MAYBE Ellison's marriage and career ARE that important. That ever occur to you, you raging narcissist?
I'm struggling to sympathize with Sarah on any level. It's not just the way she's written. I'm thinking having someone as unlikable as Headey in the role means she was miscast from the start. I've always had these misgivings in the back of my head, but kept my mouth shut because people love her in the role. I do not.
Sigh. It was a tense episode though. I'll give it that. **1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Complications"
Intriguing episode. The ending raised a lot of questions for me.
Derek and Jesse puzzling out the idea that he perhaps didn't remember the dude because he came from a different future is an incredibly interesting idea. It says that the future can be changed, and not everyone who comes back will be from the same timeline.
You knew he was guilty just because they got Richard Schiff to play him. They wouldn't have bothered with a Serious Actor if this was all some sort of mistake.
For the record, Cameron appears to be from the timeline that's never heard of him either.
Sarah says she's had bad experiences with psychiatrists in the past. I dislike that woman, but damn it, that's true!
Ellison really let me down at the end. I thought he was smarter than this. I had half hoped he was secretly playing Weaver. Nope, turns out he's sincerely this dumb.
I still liked it. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Strange Things Happen At The One-Two Point"
I knew Riley was dirty from the get-go. A non-sinister person in this scenario would simply never want to see John again. The fact that she is so understanding means she's a liar and traitor.
I am VERY unhappy with Sherman's fate. VERY. It happening that way makes me realize that the arcs and mythology of this show are a lot shoddier and not as well-planned out as I thought. Dorian Harewood was robbed if you ask me.
Man, that ending. Look what you did, Ellison.
Sarah seems especially unhinged this episode. I really don't like her.
The episode was all right, and the ending was killer, but I'm not giving it a passing grade because of what they did to Sherman. **.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Self Made Man"
That was a REALLY depressing ending. The thing that kills me is it was a great episode otherwise. The mystery Cameron and her friend were solving was great and the pay-off was unexpectedly rewarding too. But the show can't ever let us have anything ever, can it? I find that annoying.
Speaking of which if Riley's job is to shadow John, she sucks at it because she's making herself as off-putting to the dude as possible. Yes, as she noted, she's a teenage girl, but you'd think Mexico would have told her this assignment was real and not something to screw around with.
A solid episode with an unnecessarily crappy ending. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Alpine Fields"
That was a really good episode.
The one false note to me was Derek claiming younger people adapt to life and death scenarios easier. I don't believe that. The youth believe they are untouchable and will live forever. I'm not saying it wouldn't be easier for a smart kid like Lauren compared to her lazy suburban parents. But I genuinely think their dynamic is probably an outlier there.
I thought it was interesting Lauren covered for her mother calling Roger. After meeting Roger I think her mother is doubly stupid for calling him. He's useless, and a total dud.
Seeing the meeting between Derek and Jesse where she startles him out of committing suicide is somehow exactly as dynamic and powerful and funny as described. Usually crap like that doesn't live up to its description. It's weird and cool this did.
I also like that Lauren was the nurse in the future and she and Derek were meeting again in the wrong order (for him).
I liked it a lot. ****1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Earthlings Welcome Here"
What an ending. Wow.
Ilene's story was absolutely tragic, made worse because she is clearly one of TV's earliest transgender characters. The show doesn't get everything right, but it's still unusual and admirable for that. You look at the difference between Ilene and the woman on Ally McBeal and it's freaking night and day. It would have been nice if they had hired an actual transgender person for the role, but again, it's an early effort. But it still feels empowering rather than negative.
I suspect a woman was cast because the episode WANTED the surprise Crying Game twist, and it would be easier casting that way. But maybe the twist isn't really a great idea, and maybe easy casting isn't something people should be looking for about this subject.
What a mess at the end. How is Sarah gonna explain all that? Her bloody fingerprints are literally everywhere.
If the show isn't careful it will make me feel sorry for Riley. What I can say is that I believe Jesse is an actual Black Hat. She may not be working for the machines but I believe her agenda of separating John and Cameron would ultimately help them. And the machines probably know it and that's why they haven't really come after her or Riley.
I found that pretty devastating, actually. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Good Wound"
It was kind of obvious that the canny and likable sheriff WAS in fact Felicia's abusive ex. And it played beautifully for that reason. It played like it couldn't have ended any other way. People talk down predictable television. Sometimes... SOMETIMES it occurring just the way it should is the best possible feeling while watching it.
John Henry alarms me. Weaver alarms me. I'm wondering how stupid Ellison is to introduce the AI to a fear-based religious mindset. He's not an actual expert. Has he thought about the potential harm this line of thought could cause? Frankly, I think he should have gone to Team Connor about two weeks ago with the truth, and to tried and get them help him clean up his mess.
Learning that Riley did the suicide attempt to manipulate John makes me think even less of her than I already do. And I already thought nothing but bad things.
I like when John asks Cameron what Future John would do about Riley she correctly says Future John has more important things to worry about. It's both entirely unhelpful as far as advice goes, and considering Riley's actual shady motives, 100% the right advice at the same time.
I was interested to see the shoulder stab wound the T-1000 gave Sarah in the second film was brought up. I was like, "Oh, yeah, the show loosely follows the first two movies' continuity." Totally forgot about that.
I like Derek telling John he has to stay at the hospital because he made his call. Absolutely 100% right.
I liked more than I didn't. And the predictable things were predictable for the right reasons. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Desert Cantos"
That ending says things may already be too late to actually stop.
That is NOT the widow you want to pal around with, Sarah. It didn't end terribly, thank God, but it COULD have. She should stay away from situations like that.
Speaking of which, I will not thank the show for reminding me Weaver is taking care of a small girl as her "daughter" and currently terrorizing her. About the best thing I can say for the scene where she has her sit on her lap is that she doesn't morph into the kid's dead father to "comfort" her. I'm betting the producers actually considered that bit before realizing it would be too horrific.
I like that out of Team Connor, Cameron was the one to notice the family wasn't looking at the supposed dead guy's photo. Because he's not dead. She'd make an excellent cop,
Speaking of which, I like that the cop played by Max Perlich says his precinct was down in Baltimore.
Twisty, unpredictable episode. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep"
I did not understand that episode at all. As far as Fear / Nightmare Trope sci-fi mysteries go, this one didn't hold together, and there was no logic to it. Not being able to understand its reality also lowered the stakes as the episode was going on. And the stuff with John and Cameron at the vending machine (as well as during the phone call) confused the perspectives a LOT.
Dreamlike episodes actually don't have to be airtight to work. Which should tell you how messy I considered this, since I won't tolerate it instead. *.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Ourselves Alone"
Wow, Jesse is FAR more evil and detestable than I predicted.
The thing that kills me is that her plan is really obvious in hindsight. I can't believe I was actually surprised.
For the record Derek, your judgment sucks.
That was huge. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Today Is The Day, Part 1"
Kind of an underwhelming cliffhanger but the rest of the episode was pretty great.
Jesse is only getting away with what she is because nobody else knows who she is. Once she and the Connors meet legit every lie she's told is gonna come out.
It seems pretty clear to me that Cameron didn't kill Riley just because I don't think she'd deny it. Why doesn't Sarah get that? And why isn't John scraping the DNA he saw under Riley's fingernails to get tested?
The episode was good and frustrating in equal measure. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Today Is The Day, Part 2"
Honestly? This is the kind of thing I love, and something genre needs to do more of. The meat and drama of this episode are conversations and revelations between the characters rather than action set pieces.
And let me just say, Jesse strikes me as a wholly inadequate villain if her plan was to frame Cameron for Riley's murder just on her say-so to Derek. That's beyond stupid. It's so stupid and a waste of a life that it angers me as much as it does John. And when John revealed even if he HAD learned Cameron had killed her, he wouldn't have either sent her away or killed her, the audience is not remotely surprised. Why is Jesse?
Derek's last scene with her was powerful too. Did he kill her? Considering the series is dead and buried, I suppose it doesn't really matter.
We also learned something interesting about Jesse's mission she never told Derek. She's hinted she was acting on behalf of a group of people who believe John Connor trusted the machines too much. In reality, the only ally she had for this sick plan was Riley and she was tricking and using her (and wound up killing her). This entire dumb idea was unilaterally decided by her. It's kind of vulgar if you think about it.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season because I believe Weaver will make a better Big Bad against John than Jesse did. That being said, I adored the fact that this episode was so talky and it's conflicts were down to characters revealing things to each other. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "To The Lighthouse"
Damn it. Poor Charley. I could have done without this happening in the third to last damn episode.
Sarah says she no longer trusts Derek and Cameron. I'm calling b.s. on half of that statement. I don't believe for one second she EVER trusted Cameron.
John Henry's stuff keeps getting more and more disturbing and my respect for Ellison keeps getting less and less.
Derek says Cameron was right to tell him what she did, but I think it actually partly may have been a way for her to kind of twist the knife. Derek was a very big part of trying to generate a rift between her and the Connors. Yeah, he never would have signed off on Jesse's plan had he known the extent of it. But he supported her goals regardless, and I'm thinking Cameron was sort of trying to get back at him for that. Because regardless of whether or not Jesse managed to separate them, the fact is their alliance is weaker than before Riley came into their lives.
I'm not giving that a super high grade because Charley's death feels so freaking unnecessary to me. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Adam Raised A Cain"
I have come to my decision about the series. Second to last episode. I don't like the series. It's had its share of good episodes, but I will not be sad to say goodbye to it, or miss it. There will be no demands for a revival from me, no matter how it ends.
I was like "The series is losing me for the death of Charley." And the pointless death of Derek made me like "There's no reason for this show to have lasted any more seasons past." I will not agree with any fan of it who claims Fox treated it poorly. I'm going to say it drove off its audience entirely on its own. I'm not remotely surprised Fox bailed after this.
I'm glad this is out of my To-Watch list, and even gladder it's about to be over. This just sucks. *.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Born To Run"
It's a clever way to bring Derek back and I like the idea that Weaver is actually against Skynet (as is John Henry). But really, it's better off the series ended. That ending seemed a lot more complex than I think the franchise could comfortably handle.
Brian Austin Greene still being in the main titles was an excellent troll and clue from the writers. Still, the truth is the version of the character we had grown to know is now dead, and it wouldn't have been the same when the show returned, even if they somehow undid the death in the present due to time travel hijinks. It was a clever twist that might have been too clever for its own good.
I will say something interesting. Learning Weaver is both on their side and willing to go to these lengths to prevent Skynet from ever starting says in this continuity it might have been possible for the heroes to have won had the series continued. Still, it was kind of a slog to get to this point.
I will not be rewatching this anytime soon, but if and when I do I will be paying attention to whether or not all of the crazy murderous stuff Weaver does throughout the season CAN actually perhaps be explained as her working for the greater good against Skynet, or if that idea doesn't hold up at all. It certainly gives added context to her claim that John Henry's survival is the thing that will ensure Savannah's survival.
I also think her role potentially becoming that of an antihero in season 3 WOULD have been interesting. Her saving the Connors' lives WAS the biggest surprise of the episode.
Was she working with John Connor in the future? I have my doubts. She appears to be a T-1000. I can't possibly figure out how Future John could reprogram her. It's likelier to me she reached her conclusions entirely on her own and future John had no idea what she was up to until their timelines changed at the end.
I'm wondering if attempting to teach John Henry empathy and morality were a big part of her plans to take down Skynet. Because if they were, it's not a terrible plan at all.
Question: Why is Weaver naked when she gets to the future? She isn't actually EVER wearing clothes, after all.
That scene with Cameron and John of him fixing her while lying on top of her in bed is the sexiest scene I've ever seen that didn't end in actual sex.
It could have been a worse series finale, but honestly, I'm glad it's over. It was becoming an ordeal. ****.
Quantum Leap "Fellow Travelers"
Weak episode. But the old show's episodes featuring singers and bodyguards tended to suck too.
Absolutely no forward momentum with Janice Calavicci. I also feel like both Magic and Addison's anger seem forced as long as The Why Ben told no-one remains an open question. The show wants to both wring major pathos out of this and at the same time find excuses not to tell the story or give us any answers. It can't fairly do both.
Another weakness that I mentioned during the Western episode is that nobody in the episode talked like that did in the 1970's. They all used modern phrases and cadences in their manner of speaking. For the old show, the culture clash over the language is part of the fun. This show isn't putting in the groovy, out-of-sight work for 70's-speak.
I didn't like it. **.
The Simpsons "My Life As A Vlog"
The series has been swinging for the fences this season, and I love the chances it's been taking. I think this episode was a moderate success, rather than phenomenal. But not every out-there premise needs to be worth a five star grade. Just stretching the premise itself is valuable. And if the episode is actually pretty good, more the better. It doesn't need to be perfect.
With the exception of the traditional end credits, the thing I appreciated most about the episode is how it stuck to the format. If didn't cheat, and only broke it upon the reveal that it was George R.R. Martin farting around at the end instead of writing the entire time. Most shows can't either figure out a way to do that, or commit to it when they can. Frankly, The Simpsons hasn't been able to do it that great either in the past when attempting something similar. But I like how authentic it felt.
Wegman's cameo was hilarious. I don't like the character but I like that the writers sometimes randomly bring him back. For the record, he is probably the only person who in the world who hates Bart Simpson more than I do. It's that specific thing which is why although I don't find him likable, I at least find him sympathetic, and agree with him about that.
Really, even the Spuckler children think Bart is tired and lame, and are right to think so. It's NOT just Wegman who thinks the kid is a zero. The Spucklers are 100% right that the 'Gurt stuff doesn't remotely qualify as an actual prank.
I felt like the revelation of Lisa staging the stuff on the beach was an actual violation of her character and her ethics. And stuff like that is why the episode doesn't get five stars.
Let me offer a George R.R. Martin opinion. That jackass doesn't get crapped on enough. I think the best thing House Of The Dragon ever did was allow those of us sick of his crap to finally be allowed to call him on it without fear of backlash. I have always hated Game Of Thrones, but my critiques were always measured due to the rabid fanbase. MeToo-era pushback on House Of The Dragon makes it so I don't fear those fans anymore and feel perfectly comfortable calling that franchise as toxic as it is. And the fact that Martin is such a lazy writer who refuses to do his damn job which is why I loved the shots the episode took at him. I'm not actually looking forward to the sixth book, and probably won't even bother reading it. But the fact that so many people are desperate for it and he simply doesn't care is enraging. Neil Gaiman is an awesome dude. But he was 100% wrong in defending Martin's laziness. I'll concede maybe when Gaiman snidely told fans Martin wasn't their b-word, that was fair at the time. That was also over a decade ago. Really. This is not acceptable still. I feel bad for people who actually care about that crap franchise. They care more about it and its characters than Martin ever did.
Grey Griffin sounded WRONG when she started voicing Martin a couple of seasons ago, but she's a pro and now she sounds right. Alex Desert is still not quite there as Carl, but he's improved too.
The episode was sort of wild, and pretty decent too. ****.
The Great North "Arranger-ous Minds Adventure"
I really like Mr. Golovkin. He says a lot of funny things. Best bit was him bemoaning taking advice from a kid wearing bear pajamas.
The crab costume stuff reminds me that while I like the Tobins individually, as a family they suck. It's weird, I feel the opposite way for the Belchers on Bob's Burgers. Outside of Bob, I don't like any of that family individually, but think they are amazing as a group. The Tobins however are bad for each other, and make everything worse when they get a dumb idea into their heads. There isn't a sensible person like Bob there to keep them straight. Like, I enjoyed Moon this episode. But when he's a part of that dumb stuff I don't like him. I also love Honeybee, Beef, and Judy on their own. It's nonsense like this where they try my patience.
Has anybody pointed out that the woman who does Quinn's voice always delivers a terrible performance? I understand the character is supposed to be deadpan and emotionless, but so is Spock. That's doesn't mean the performance needs to be LIFELESS. Just saying.
I didn't like the musical number but the thing I did like is they found a canon explanation for it. Makes it automatically more tolerable than the numbers from Bob's Burgers. Also the actors on this show singing aren't as terrible at it as the cast of Bob's Burgers.
Pretty good. Only two Fox Toons tonight, but The Simpsons was better. ***1/2.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
The Talisman got a bit of a bad rap in the 1980's. It was hyped as being the long awaited team-up of the two horror greats of the era, and it's more of a quest fantasy than a horror book. More importantly, it's not a great, mind-blowing book. It most certainly did not live up to the hype.
In hindsight, reviews have been more favorable, especially knowing, seeing, and understanding its important connections to The Dark Tower. Best of all, its sequel Black House was an outright fantastic book, and for my money the best book with Stephen King's name on it, so it feels richer for a set-up for that.
I think the actual value of the book is somewhere in the middle. But Full Disclosure: The book actually influenced a couple of important things about Gilda And Meek And The Un-Iverse. I took a LOT of Reverend Vic Puff's speech patterns from Sunlight Gardener, and while my Werewolves are nothing like The Talisman's version, the thing I did mirror is the idea that they were a real-live group and society with their own traditions and beliefs, and not simply humans who go nuts on the full moon.
I don't think Morgan Sloat is that great of a villain, but the interesting thing is I find the other villains quite amazing. Osmond, I remembered everything about the guy from when I first met him as a teenager. And while King already took shots at religious fundamentalism in Carrie, and rightwing populism in The Dead Zone, Gardener is like the worst nightmare version of both of those things, and King and Straub very deliberately portray both things as negative things, and the preachers of them as hateful and hypocritical. King takes stands against the right in his fiction plenty of times, but there is absolutely no nuance in it in Gardener for the first time ever. King doesn't bother making anything about either his character or his philosophy ambiguous.
Wolf is an amazing character, and his death is one of the few moments in a prose book that has ever made my cry. I still get misty-eyed over it, even if I no longer sob. It's effecting in a way no other death in a Stephen King book ever is. Good old Wolf. He's both hilarious and lovable. He's arguably the most lovable character King ever wrote.
Aside from The Sunlight Home, and great villains like Osmond/Sunlight, as well as the goat man Elroy, the interesting thing about The Talisman is that is has really memorable set pieces and places. That's perhaps to be expected in a Quest-style book, but I remember Jack's adventures in the Oatley Tunnel, The Oatley Tap, The Sunlight Home, Thayer Academy, The Blasted Lands, and the Black Hotel in a way I do few other set pieces in the rest of King's fiction. I'll go so far to say that all that stuff is actually more memorable than most of the stuff from the seven book Dark Tower series. I won't say it's BETTER than it. But it's definitely more memorable. The Talisman is like the only King book I can think of that would make a decent videogame where each place Jack travels to would constitute a level.
The allegory of the Pitcher Plant for Smokey Updike and the Oatley Tap is fabulous and that scenario is the second most hellish in the book after the Sunlight Home.
I love Lily Cavanaugh as much as Jack does. Most quests don't bother to make the damsel in distress have such a great personality, but Jack's Mom's a tough cookie.
Jack's journey through the Oatley Tunnel has been compared t\o the pitch black trek through the Lincoln Tunnel Larry Underwood goes though in The Stand. I have to say The Oatley Tunnel scenario is better because you understand the bumps in the dark and terror of not actually being alone are actually REAL, while the most of Larry's terror involved his imagination going nuts.
I don't know if this is a problem for Straub, but one of the weaknesses of the book is the sense of repetition of key phrases, which is a weird crutch King used at this stage of his career. It's a narrative flourish I've never seen another author use, so I think everybody else must actually find "Six, six, when Jacky was six," as off-putting as I do.
Bad things. I mentioned Sloat isn't a good villain. I do believe that. I also think Richard Sloat is a lousy sidekick.
Wolf was indeed as big of a hindrance to Jack's journeys as Richard wound up being. The difference is Wolf's hang-ups were understandable and sympathetic. For most of the time Rational Richard is denying the reality in front of him you want to smack him over the head and say "Ignoring actual reality because it threatens your belief system is antithetical to the scientific method! You are giving all rational people a bad name!" In the book's defense his and Jack's eventual brotherhood by the end is kinda great, but it's a slog to get there.
King has mentioned that when he can't terrify or horrify, he goes for the gross-out. The white bugs crawling out of the walls, then Reuel Gardener's head, then Richard's freaking FACE are some of the grossest visuals he's ever come up with. Again, I don't know much about Peter Straub, but something tells me that stuff is pure King.
The stuff in the Sunlight Home is amazing although I suppose I would have liked a more detailed resolution about the fall-out from that, particularly the reaction from Ferd Janklow's horrible parents who got their brilliant and independent son killed. Wolf crushing Heck Bast's hand is beyond cathartic, as is his final rampage as he sacrifices himself to rescue and free Jack. Andy Warwick being the major villain survivor from the home felt interesting because he was the only one smart enough to say "Sonny, we should untie him, people won't understand, we'll get in trouble," when he heard the police sirens. Sonny Singer being dumb enough to scream to Wolf that he's a big man as his arm is ripped off tells me the right villains are surviving.
I mentioned how great Gardener is, but Osmond is memorable because of his mincing and prancing and his whip, and most of all for the horrible odor King and Straub beautifully describe to the reader. It's both heavily perfumed and as if he never took a bath. What a great horrible description. I actually can smell him. I also love the way he shrieks out words on the longest, most drawn out way possible DOOOOONNN'T YOOOOUUUU???!!!
Elroy, or the dude who looks like Randolph Scott, is less well-defined, but the goat horror visuals he puts into my head are still freaky.
Buddy Parkins was a neat character it was cool to see called back in News From Everywhere.
Speaking of that, one thing I've always loved about the book is that it has great chapter titles. News From Everywhere is great, as are Jack In The Box, Wolf In The Box, and In Which Many Things Are Resolved On The Beach, and the Part titles The Road Of Trials and A Collison Of Worlds are boss too. I always admire a project with good titles, be they episode titles or chapter headings, and The Talisman has 'em. My only real disappointment with Black House was that none of the chapters are titled. Bummer.
Do I have any complaints? Quite a few. For one thing, I feel the book is too free with the n word. For King, that was one of the ways he showed bad guys were bad guys at that stage of his career. But he's doing more than that. I think the thing that makes me upset is that Jack believes he can hear the bigoted desk clerk repeatedly thinking "n-word lover" running off of him in waves for seeing him hug Speedy Parker. The thing is, that use of the n-word is entirely in Jack head, and frankly based on what we've seen of that bigoted Clerk, Jack could be wrong for the specific reason he's emanating hatred. He might simply be a homophobe. The racist nature of the clerk is not evident in anything he says. His one harsh statement is homophobic. And if Jack is projecting that specific word to him on his own, that's freaking problematic.
Also I can't think of a single positive thing to say about Snowball. The fact that Jack believes the only other black character in the story looks like and thus must BE secretly Speedy isn't just ridiculous and unbelievable. It's offensive too.
I found Speedy himself problematic as well. Forget his race, and the desk clerk's homophobia. I don't believe strange men should be hugging boys they barely know for any reason. I also think even if Speedy sets Jack on his quest because he knows he's the only one who can do it, he still sucks for putting all that responsibility on the kid in the first place, and he even goes so far as to make Jack feel ashamed for not wanting to go through all this. He's manipulative in that regard. I also am skeeved at the fact that he allows Jack into his shack while their are nude pictures of women on the walls. He also carefully watches Jack as he examines them too which is appalling. King and Straub want us to feel disgust over the homophobic Clerk, but that right there is actual grooming behavior for abusers. I don't like making an adult outside observer thinking this kid is way too physically close with the groundskeeper the bad guy for being upset at a true thing. And I also don't like that King and Straub decide to have the Clerk turn his judgment about that against Jack instead of Speedy (where it belongs).
The Sloat In This World Interludes were the weakest part of the book, and I always wanted to get back to Jack during them. The one exception was the third one where we actually see Orris In The Territories. Learning about Orris taking over Sloat and experiencing things like McDonalds for the first time was kind of cool and funny.
For some reason, when the first thing Jack tells Richard upon popping up at Thayer is that he just came from the Sunlight Home, two of his friends died there, and one of them was a Werewolf, I found that vulgar. It's totally consistent with what a little kid would do, but Jack ISN'T exactly a little kid anymore, and his impersonal description to Richard of Wolf as "get this, a Werewolf" feels disrespectful for Wolf's heroism and sacrifice. It sort of like Jack is bragging about the unusual experience of meeting a member of Wolf's species, instead of how meaningful knowing Wolf himself was. That being the first thing he said to Richard doesn't just bug me now. It always bugged me, even as a teenager for that exact reason.
I feel like the reason people demanded a sequel was probably because the ending was so sudden and ambiguous and there was little to no actual wrap-up. It makes for a good literary experience, but it's frustrating, especially because the book is so damn long otherwise. If Twin Peaks were a 2 hour movie nobody would complain about the frustrating, mysterious cliffhanger endings. Because it's a series that lasted over 30 episodes, it's annoying instead. There should be different expectations over how to end a long book than there are a short book. This is also a problem King had with Under The Dome.
This is better than people said it was at the time. But I don't really agree with legacy reviews arguing the book is actually great either. It's good, but it has quite a few problems. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Samson And Delilah"
Evil Cameron overplayed her hand. If she wanted to convince John she was fixed, she shouldn't have said she was in love with him. Because the fixed version of her wasn't. God, that means the Terminators are conniving, doesn't it? The only reason I can even forgive her at the end is her angrily telling Sarah to make sure John doesn't attempt to bring her back again if she goes bad again.
Charley's all right. Derek is surprised to learn it, but it's true.
The early episodes of the first season had a similar vibe to The Fugitive movie and they returned to that here. Big time.
Big episode back. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Automatic For The People"
Lot of TV stars from the era can be seen here. Debra Wilson, Dean Norris, Busy Phillips, Sonya Walger, the dude who played Chappelle on 24.
I like that Cameron distrusts John now, but I especially like him telling her at the end that he doesn't care, and the only standards he needs to live up to are his own. That is resistance leader-quality talk right there.
Sarah asks Cameron if she's all right more than once. I don't think she is.
This new girl Riley has said some very odd things. If she either isn't from the future or a Terminator I'll be surprised.
Pretty cool. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Mousetrap"
Poor Charley.
It was pretty cold that when Michelle tells Sarah she's surprised she came to help Charley rescue her, Sarah says she expected it to be easier and for her to be dead. OUCH. This is why no-one likes you, Sarah.
Brutal episode. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Allison From Palmdale"
That was disturbing as hell. Apparently Cameron has this whole violent horrible backstory nobody knows about. I get why Derek refuses to trust her. She strikes me especially as a lying sociopath, even for a Terminator. Her telling John they were in love in the season premiere should have been the giveaway.
Her lying about the necklace coming from a thrift store at the end was a totally unsettling place to leave the episode.
Sarah's stuff with her pregnant neighbor was more enjoyable, but despite this episode having a lack of real stakes or action, there was some dark stuff revealed about the backstory of the woman Cameron killed and replaced. Chilling. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Goodbye To All That"
It was sort of stupid in the first movie that the Terminator looks up all of the Sarah Connors in the phone book and starts killing them off one by one, but as dumb an idea as it is, it's plausible for a movie made before the computer information age. This show using the same idea for Martin Bedell is simply not credible.
I liked Sarah's relationship to the boy however, mostly because she was so bad at it, and Marty was the one who had to put in the effort.
You'd think Derek went overboard in humiliating the goony kid excited about kills, but the truth is he was right.
Where wasn't he right? Telling John how the real Martin died. What purpose did that serve other than making John feel like crap?
Solid though. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Tower Is Tall, But The Fall Is Short"
Regardless of how it will end, it's a DAMN shame this show was canceled. That was some interesting television.
Derek's girlfriend being a deserter is a really interesting notion. But can you blame her? It's interesting the suicide Derek had been talking about with Sarah had been his own near-miss. I partly think the bit where his girlfriend insists they come up with a new name for what they did is badly written. But it's actually realistic. It's how a real person speaks when they are trying and failing to be deep. It doesn't matter that neither she nor Derek understand that's all that is. They don't need to be insightful for it to be credible.
Catherine seems the worst mother ever, but really how is Sarah any different? At least Catherine has the excuse that she ISN'T Savannah's mother, and isn't even human. Sarah immediately declaring there is nothing wrong with John is not just stupid. It's a crazy thing to believe and something only a bad mother would try to kid herself about. Derek and Cameron talking about suicides are much closer to the mark.
Regardless of whether this is a great show or not, I respect and love the fact that when the elevator door opens, Cameron and the new lady Terminator awkwardly pause their fight to not arouse suspicions with the people who get on. And that's the way this show is superior to the earlier films. None of the Terminators there would be smart enough to do that. It's also funny that only the little boy gets that that's what happened, and while part of you wants to see him stick around to keep the fight stopped, you realize him knowing the truth puts him in mortal danger, and it's a good thing his mother calls him away.
I haven't seen the fifth or sixth Terminator films. But I like this one because its idea of exploring the character's psyches is a lot different than James Cameron's, who put Sarah in a mental hospital because of what she knew. I appreciate this show knowing what it does about PTSD and veterans.
Excellent episode. I'm impressed. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Brothers Of Nablus"
Most of this episode was foolish people, innocent and criminal alike, messing with people they had no business messing with.
As horrible as Cameron's killing spree at the bowling alley was, it was the right tactical move. Which is why Sarah has to go behind her back to spare the last survivor. Which, shocker, winds up a tactical mistake itself.
I am having a hard time keeping straight when Catherine is impersonating someone or not. Her flashing back to the cop who arrested Ellison sort of makes sense why he let him go. But it raises questions about why he arrested him. If Catherine killed the real detective and replaced him for this moment, won't questions be raised by him disappearing after this? I don't feel that held together well at all.
I feel John's rage at Sarah at the end, simply because I suspect he's right about why she doesn't want him hanging out with Riley. There are a lot of Oedipal relationships in fiction. It's surprising that on this show Sarah seems to have turned her and John into one.
Man, I don't like or trust this Sarah. And not just because she's Cersei. She's Cersei because Lena Headey can easily play manipulative, conniving, and cold, and her Sarah Connor is all of those things. Cersei was not Headey stretching as an actress being a villain after playing a hero. Sarah and Cersei have similar vibes going on, and did the entire time, including sadly, the incest vibe seen here. Sigh.
This episode landed more on the disturbing side, than the enjoyable side for me. **1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today"
Pretty brutal. The Terminator shooting spree plays a lot different in 2023 than it did when this first aired. There is no way they could get away with that on broadcast television today. It was upsetting.
Speaking of which, I continue to think Sarah sucks, and that as far as lead hero roles go, she's a dud. When Ellison says he lost a lot, his marriage, his career, Sarah coldly throws at him, "You consider that a lot?" Actually, you know what, Sarah? It is. Screw you for trying to make your loss and grief a contest. Just because you believe Ellison's life is small compared to yours, doesn't mean that Ellison thinks so. And honestly, it also doesn't mean it is. Maybe, MAYBE Ellison's marriage and career ARE that important. That ever occur to you, you raging narcissist?
I'm struggling to sympathize with Sarah on any level. It's not just the way she's written. I'm thinking having someone as unlikable as Headey in the role means she was miscast from the start. I've always had these misgivings in the back of my head, but kept my mouth shut because people love her in the role. I do not.
Sigh. It was a tense episode though. I'll give it that. **1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Complications"
Intriguing episode. The ending raised a lot of questions for me.
Derek and Jesse puzzling out the idea that he perhaps didn't remember the dude because he came from a different future is an incredibly interesting idea. It says that the future can be changed, and not everyone who comes back will be from the same timeline.
You knew he was guilty just because they got Richard Schiff to play him. They wouldn't have bothered with a Serious Actor if this was all some sort of mistake.
For the record, Cameron appears to be from the timeline that's never heard of him either.
Sarah says she's had bad experiences with psychiatrists in the past. I dislike that woman, but damn it, that's true!
Ellison really let me down at the end. I thought he was smarter than this. I had half hoped he was secretly playing Weaver. Nope, turns out he's sincerely this dumb.
I still liked it. ***1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Strange Things Happen At The One-Two Point"
I knew Riley was dirty from the get-go. A non-sinister person in this scenario would simply never want to see John again. The fact that she is so understanding means she's a liar and traitor.
I am VERY unhappy with Sherman's fate. VERY. It happening that way makes me realize that the arcs and mythology of this show are a lot shoddier and not as well-planned out as I thought. Dorian Harewood was robbed if you ask me.
Man, that ending. Look what you did, Ellison.
Sarah seems especially unhinged this episode. I really don't like her.
The episode was all right, and the ending was killer, but I'm not giving it a passing grade because of what they did to Sherman. **.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Self Made Man"
That was a REALLY depressing ending. The thing that kills me is it was a great episode otherwise. The mystery Cameron and her friend were solving was great and the pay-off was unexpectedly rewarding too. But the show can't ever let us have anything ever, can it? I find that annoying.
Speaking of which if Riley's job is to shadow John, she sucks at it because she's making herself as off-putting to the dude as possible. Yes, as she noted, she's a teenage girl, but you'd think Mexico would have told her this assignment was real and not something to screw around with.
A solid episode with an unnecessarily crappy ending. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Alpine Fields"
That was a really good episode.
The one false note to me was Derek claiming younger people adapt to life and death scenarios easier. I don't believe that. The youth believe they are untouchable and will live forever. I'm not saying it wouldn't be easier for a smart kid like Lauren compared to her lazy suburban parents. But I genuinely think their dynamic is probably an outlier there.
I thought it was interesting Lauren covered for her mother calling Roger. After meeting Roger I think her mother is doubly stupid for calling him. He's useless, and a total dud.
Seeing the meeting between Derek and Jesse where she startles him out of committing suicide is somehow exactly as dynamic and powerful and funny as described. Usually crap like that doesn't live up to its description. It's weird and cool this did.
I also like that Lauren was the nurse in the future and she and Derek were meeting again in the wrong order (for him).
I liked it a lot. ****1/2.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Earthlings Welcome Here"
What an ending. Wow.
Ilene's story was absolutely tragic, made worse because she is clearly one of TV's earliest transgender characters. The show doesn't get everything right, but it's still unusual and admirable for that. You look at the difference between Ilene and the woman on Ally McBeal and it's freaking night and day. It would have been nice if they had hired an actual transgender person for the role, but again, it's an early effort. But it still feels empowering rather than negative.
I suspect a woman was cast because the episode WANTED the surprise Crying Game twist, and it would be easier casting that way. But maybe the twist isn't really a great idea, and maybe easy casting isn't something people should be looking for about this subject.
What a mess at the end. How is Sarah gonna explain all that? Her bloody fingerprints are literally everywhere.
If the show isn't careful it will make me feel sorry for Riley. What I can say is that I believe Jesse is an actual Black Hat. She may not be working for the machines but I believe her agenda of separating John and Cameron would ultimately help them. And the machines probably know it and that's why they haven't really come after her or Riley.
I found that pretty devastating, actually. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "The Good Wound"
It was kind of obvious that the canny and likable sheriff WAS in fact Felicia's abusive ex. And it played beautifully for that reason. It played like it couldn't have ended any other way. People talk down predictable television. Sometimes... SOMETIMES it occurring just the way it should is the best possible feeling while watching it.
John Henry alarms me. Weaver alarms me. I'm wondering how stupid Ellison is to introduce the AI to a fear-based religious mindset. He's not an actual expert. Has he thought about the potential harm this line of thought could cause? Frankly, I think he should have gone to Team Connor about two weeks ago with the truth, and to tried and get them help him clean up his mess.
Learning that Riley did the suicide attempt to manipulate John makes me think even less of her than I already do. And I already thought nothing but bad things.
I like when John asks Cameron what Future John would do about Riley she correctly says Future John has more important things to worry about. It's both entirely unhelpful as far as advice goes, and considering Riley's actual shady motives, 100% the right advice at the same time.
I was interested to see the shoulder stab wound the T-1000 gave Sarah in the second film was brought up. I was like, "Oh, yeah, the show loosely follows the first two movies' continuity." Totally forgot about that.
I like Derek telling John he has to stay at the hospital because he made his call. Absolutely 100% right.
I liked more than I didn't. And the predictable things were predictable for the right reasons. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Desert Cantos"
That ending says things may already be too late to actually stop.
That is NOT the widow you want to pal around with, Sarah. It didn't end terribly, thank God, but it COULD have. She should stay away from situations like that.
Speaking of which, I will not thank the show for reminding me Weaver is taking care of a small girl as her "daughter" and currently terrorizing her. About the best thing I can say for the scene where she has her sit on her lap is that she doesn't morph into the kid's dead father to "comfort" her. I'm betting the producers actually considered that bit before realizing it would be too horrific.
I like that out of Team Connor, Cameron was the one to notice the family wasn't looking at the supposed dead guy's photo. Because he's not dead. She'd make an excellent cop,
Speaking of which, I like that the cop played by Max Perlich says his precinct was down in Baltimore.
Twisty, unpredictable episode. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep"
I did not understand that episode at all. As far as Fear / Nightmare Trope sci-fi mysteries go, this one didn't hold together, and there was no logic to it. Not being able to understand its reality also lowered the stakes as the episode was going on. And the stuff with John and Cameron at the vending machine (as well as during the phone call) confused the perspectives a LOT.
Dreamlike episodes actually don't have to be airtight to work. Which should tell you how messy I considered this, since I won't tolerate it instead. *.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Ourselves Alone"
Wow, Jesse is FAR more evil and detestable than I predicted.
The thing that kills me is that her plan is really obvious in hindsight. I can't believe I was actually surprised.
For the record Derek, your judgment sucks.
That was huge. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Today Is The Day, Part 1"
Kind of an underwhelming cliffhanger but the rest of the episode was pretty great.
Jesse is only getting away with what she is because nobody else knows who she is. Once she and the Connors meet legit every lie she's told is gonna come out.
It seems pretty clear to me that Cameron didn't kill Riley just because I don't think she'd deny it. Why doesn't Sarah get that? And why isn't John scraping the DNA he saw under Riley's fingernails to get tested?
The episode was good and frustrating in equal measure. ****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Today Is The Day, Part 2"
Honestly? This is the kind of thing I love, and something genre needs to do more of. The meat and drama of this episode are conversations and revelations between the characters rather than action set pieces.
And let me just say, Jesse strikes me as a wholly inadequate villain if her plan was to frame Cameron for Riley's murder just on her say-so to Derek. That's beyond stupid. It's so stupid and a waste of a life that it angers me as much as it does John. And when John revealed even if he HAD learned Cameron had killed her, he wouldn't have either sent her away or killed her, the audience is not remotely surprised. Why is Jesse?
Derek's last scene with her was powerful too. Did he kill her? Considering the series is dead and buried, I suppose it doesn't really matter.
We also learned something interesting about Jesse's mission she never told Derek. She's hinted she was acting on behalf of a group of people who believe John Connor trusted the machines too much. In reality, the only ally she had for this sick plan was Riley and she was tricking and using her (and wound up killing her). This entire dumb idea was unilaterally decided by her. It's kind of vulgar if you think about it.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season because I believe Weaver will make a better Big Bad against John than Jesse did. That being said, I adored the fact that this episode was so talky and it's conflicts were down to characters revealing things to each other. *****.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "To The Lighthouse"
Damn it. Poor Charley. I could have done without this happening in the third to last damn episode.
Sarah says she no longer trusts Derek and Cameron. I'm calling b.s. on half of that statement. I don't believe for one second she EVER trusted Cameron.
John Henry's stuff keeps getting more and more disturbing and my respect for Ellison keeps getting less and less.
Derek says Cameron was right to tell him what she did, but I think it actually partly may have been a way for her to kind of twist the knife. Derek was a very big part of trying to generate a rift between her and the Connors. Yeah, he never would have signed off on Jesse's plan had he known the extent of it. But he supported her goals regardless, and I'm thinking Cameron was sort of trying to get back at him for that. Because regardless of whether or not Jesse managed to separate them, the fact is their alliance is weaker than before Riley came into their lives.
I'm not giving that a super high grade because Charley's death feels so freaking unnecessary to me. ***.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Adam Raised A Cain"
I have come to my decision about the series. Second to last episode. I don't like the series. It's had its share of good episodes, but I will not be sad to say goodbye to it, or miss it. There will be no demands for a revival from me, no matter how it ends.
I was like "The series is losing me for the death of Charley." And the pointless death of Derek made me like "There's no reason for this show to have lasted any more seasons past." I will not agree with any fan of it who claims Fox treated it poorly. I'm going to say it drove off its audience entirely on its own. I'm not remotely surprised Fox bailed after this.
I'm glad this is out of my To-Watch list, and even gladder it's about to be over. This just sucks. *.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Born To Run"
It's a clever way to bring Derek back and I like the idea that Weaver is actually against Skynet (as is John Henry). But really, it's better off the series ended. That ending seemed a lot more complex than I think the franchise could comfortably handle.
Brian Austin Greene still being in the main titles was an excellent troll and clue from the writers. Still, the truth is the version of the character we had grown to know is now dead, and it wouldn't have been the same when the show returned, even if they somehow undid the death in the present due to time travel hijinks. It was a clever twist that might have been too clever for its own good.
I will say something interesting. Learning Weaver is both on their side and willing to go to these lengths to prevent Skynet from ever starting says in this continuity it might have been possible for the heroes to have won had the series continued. Still, it was kind of a slog to get to this point.
I will not be rewatching this anytime soon, but if and when I do I will be paying attention to whether or not all of the crazy murderous stuff Weaver does throughout the season CAN actually perhaps be explained as her working for the greater good against Skynet, or if that idea doesn't hold up at all. It certainly gives added context to her claim that John Henry's survival is the thing that will ensure Savannah's survival.
I also think her role potentially becoming that of an antihero in season 3 WOULD have been interesting. Her saving the Connors' lives WAS the biggest surprise of the episode.
Was she working with John Connor in the future? I have my doubts. She appears to be a T-1000. I can't possibly figure out how Future John could reprogram her. It's likelier to me she reached her conclusions entirely on her own and future John had no idea what she was up to until their timelines changed at the end.
I'm wondering if attempting to teach John Henry empathy and morality were a big part of her plans to take down Skynet. Because if they were, it's not a terrible plan at all.
Question: Why is Weaver naked when she gets to the future? She isn't actually EVER wearing clothes, after all.
That scene with Cameron and John of him fixing her while lying on top of her in bed is the sexiest scene I've ever seen that didn't end in actual sex.
It could have been a worse series finale, but honestly, I'm glad it's over. It was becoming an ordeal. ****.
Quantum Leap "Fellow Travelers"
Weak episode. But the old show's episodes featuring singers and bodyguards tended to suck too.
Absolutely no forward momentum with Janice Calavicci. I also feel like both Magic and Addison's anger seem forced as long as The Why Ben told no-one remains an open question. The show wants to both wring major pathos out of this and at the same time find excuses not to tell the story or give us any answers. It can't fairly do both.
Another weakness that I mentioned during the Western episode is that nobody in the episode talked like that did in the 1970's. They all used modern phrases and cadences in their manner of speaking. For the old show, the culture clash over the language is part of the fun. This show isn't putting in the groovy, out-of-sight work for 70's-speak.
I didn't like it. **.
The Simpsons "My Life As A Vlog"
The series has been swinging for the fences this season, and I love the chances it's been taking. I think this episode was a moderate success, rather than phenomenal. But not every out-there premise needs to be worth a five star grade. Just stretching the premise itself is valuable. And if the episode is actually pretty good, more the better. It doesn't need to be perfect.
With the exception of the traditional end credits, the thing I appreciated most about the episode is how it stuck to the format. If didn't cheat, and only broke it upon the reveal that it was George R.R. Martin farting around at the end instead of writing the entire time. Most shows can't either figure out a way to do that, or commit to it when they can. Frankly, The Simpsons hasn't been able to do it that great either in the past when attempting something similar. But I like how authentic it felt.
Wegman's cameo was hilarious. I don't like the character but I like that the writers sometimes randomly bring him back. For the record, he is probably the only person who in the world who hates Bart Simpson more than I do. It's that specific thing which is why although I don't find him likable, I at least find him sympathetic, and agree with him about that.
Really, even the Spuckler children think Bart is tired and lame, and are right to think so. It's NOT just Wegman who thinks the kid is a zero. The Spucklers are 100% right that the 'Gurt stuff doesn't remotely qualify as an actual prank.
I felt like the revelation of Lisa staging the stuff on the beach was an actual violation of her character and her ethics. And stuff like that is why the episode doesn't get five stars.
Let me offer a George R.R. Martin opinion. That jackass doesn't get crapped on enough. I think the best thing House Of The Dragon ever did was allow those of us sick of his crap to finally be allowed to call him on it without fear of backlash. I have always hated Game Of Thrones, but my critiques were always measured due to the rabid fanbase. MeToo-era pushback on House Of The Dragon makes it so I don't fear those fans anymore and feel perfectly comfortable calling that franchise as toxic as it is. And the fact that Martin is such a lazy writer who refuses to do his damn job which is why I loved the shots the episode took at him. I'm not actually looking forward to the sixth book, and probably won't even bother reading it. But the fact that so many people are desperate for it and he simply doesn't care is enraging. Neil Gaiman is an awesome dude. But he was 100% wrong in defending Martin's laziness. I'll concede maybe when Gaiman snidely told fans Martin wasn't their b-word, that was fair at the time. That was also over a decade ago. Really. This is not acceptable still. I feel bad for people who actually care about that crap franchise. They care more about it and its characters than Martin ever did.
Grey Griffin sounded WRONG when she started voicing Martin a couple of seasons ago, but she's a pro and now she sounds right. Alex Desert is still not quite there as Carl, but he's improved too.
The episode was sort of wild, and pretty decent too. ****.
The Great North "Arranger-ous Minds Adventure"
I really like Mr. Golovkin. He says a lot of funny things. Best bit was him bemoaning taking advice from a kid wearing bear pajamas.
The crab costume stuff reminds me that while I like the Tobins individually, as a family they suck. It's weird, I feel the opposite way for the Belchers on Bob's Burgers. Outside of Bob, I don't like any of that family individually, but think they are amazing as a group. The Tobins however are bad for each other, and make everything worse when they get a dumb idea into their heads. There isn't a sensible person like Bob there to keep them straight. Like, I enjoyed Moon this episode. But when he's a part of that dumb stuff I don't like him. I also love Honeybee, Beef, and Judy on their own. It's nonsense like this where they try my patience.
Has anybody pointed out that the woman who does Quinn's voice always delivers a terrible performance? I understand the character is supposed to be deadpan and emotionless, but so is Spock. That's doesn't mean the performance needs to be LIFELESS. Just saying.
I didn't like the musical number but the thing I did like is they found a canon explanation for it. Makes it automatically more tolerable than the numbers from Bob's Burgers. Also the actors on this show singing aren't as terrible at it as the cast of Bob's Burgers.
Pretty good. Only two Fox Toons tonight, but The Simpsons was better. ***1/2.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
The Talisman got a bit of a bad rap in the 1980's. It was hyped as being the long awaited team-up of the two horror greats of the era, and it's more of a quest fantasy than a horror book. More importantly, it's not a great, mind-blowing book. It most certainly did not live up to the hype.
In hindsight, reviews have been more favorable, especially knowing, seeing, and understanding its important connections to The Dark Tower. Best of all, its sequel Black House was an outright fantastic book, and for my money the best book with Stephen King's name on it, so it feels richer for a set-up for that.
I think the actual value of the book is somewhere in the middle. But Full Disclosure: The book actually influenced a couple of important things about Gilda And Meek And The Un-Iverse. I took a LOT of Reverend Vic Puff's speech patterns from Sunlight Gardener, and while my Werewolves are nothing like The Talisman's version, the thing I did mirror is the idea that they were a real-live group and society with their own traditions and beliefs, and not simply humans who go nuts on the full moon.
I don't think Morgan Sloat is that great of a villain, but the interesting thing is I find the other villains quite amazing. Osmond, I remembered everything about the guy from when I first met him as a teenager. And while King already took shots at religious fundamentalism in Carrie, and rightwing populism in The Dead Zone, Gardener is like the worst nightmare version of both of those things, and King and Straub very deliberately portray both things as negative things, and the preachers of them as hateful and hypocritical. King takes stands against the right in his fiction plenty of times, but there is absolutely no nuance in it in Gardener for the first time ever. King doesn't bother making anything about either his character or his philosophy ambiguous.
Wolf is an amazing character, and his death is one of the few moments in a prose book that has ever made my cry. I still get misty-eyed over it, even if I no longer sob. It's effecting in a way no other death in a Stephen King book ever is. Good old Wolf. He's both hilarious and lovable. He's arguably the most lovable character King ever wrote.
Aside from The Sunlight Home, and great villains like Osmond/Sunlight, as well as the goat man Elroy, the interesting thing about The Talisman is that is has really memorable set pieces and places. That's perhaps to be expected in a Quest-style book, but I remember Jack's adventures in the Oatley Tunnel, The Oatley Tap, The Sunlight Home, Thayer Academy, The Blasted Lands, and the Black Hotel in a way I do few other set pieces in the rest of King's fiction. I'll go so far to say that all that stuff is actually more memorable than most of the stuff from the seven book Dark Tower series. I won't say it's BETTER than it. But it's definitely more memorable. The Talisman is like the only King book I can think of that would make a decent videogame where each place Jack travels to would constitute a level.
The allegory of the Pitcher Plant for Smokey Updike and the Oatley Tap is fabulous and that scenario is the second most hellish in the book after the Sunlight Home.
I love Lily Cavanaugh as much as Jack does. Most quests don't bother to make the damsel in distress have such a great personality, but Jack's Mom's a tough cookie.
Jack's journey through the Oatley Tunnel has been compared t\o the pitch black trek through the Lincoln Tunnel Larry Underwood goes though in The Stand. I have to say The Oatley Tunnel scenario is better because you understand the bumps in the dark and terror of not actually being alone are actually REAL, while the most of Larry's terror involved his imagination going nuts.
I don't know if this is a problem for Straub, but one of the weaknesses of the book is the sense of repetition of key phrases, which is a weird crutch King used at this stage of his career. It's a narrative flourish I've never seen another author use, so I think everybody else must actually find "Six, six, when Jacky was six," as off-putting as I do.
Bad things. I mentioned Sloat isn't a good villain. I do believe that. I also think Richard Sloat is a lousy sidekick.
Wolf was indeed as big of a hindrance to Jack's journeys as Richard wound up being. The difference is Wolf's hang-ups were understandable and sympathetic. For most of the time Rational Richard is denying the reality in front of him you want to smack him over the head and say "Ignoring actual reality because it threatens your belief system is antithetical to the scientific method! You are giving all rational people a bad name!" In the book's defense his and Jack's eventual brotherhood by the end is kinda great, but it's a slog to get there.
King has mentioned that when he can't terrify or horrify, he goes for the gross-out. The white bugs crawling out of the walls, then Reuel Gardener's head, then Richard's freaking FACE are some of the grossest visuals he's ever come up with. Again, I don't know much about Peter Straub, but something tells me that stuff is pure King.
The stuff in the Sunlight Home is amazing although I suppose I would have liked a more detailed resolution about the fall-out from that, particularly the reaction from Ferd Janklow's horrible parents who got their brilliant and independent son killed. Wolf crushing Heck Bast's hand is beyond cathartic, as is his final rampage as he sacrifices himself to rescue and free Jack. Andy Warwick being the major villain survivor from the home felt interesting because he was the only one smart enough to say "Sonny, we should untie him, people won't understand, we'll get in trouble," when he heard the police sirens. Sonny Singer being dumb enough to scream to Wolf that he's a big man as his arm is ripped off tells me the right villains are surviving.
I mentioned how great Gardener is, but Osmond is memorable because of his mincing and prancing and his whip, and most of all for the horrible odor King and Straub beautifully describe to the reader. It's both heavily perfumed and as if he never took a bath. What a great horrible description. I actually can smell him. I also love the way he shrieks out words on the longest, most drawn out way possible DOOOOONNN'T YOOOOUUUU???!!!
Elroy, or the dude who looks like Randolph Scott, is less well-defined, but the goat horror visuals he puts into my head are still freaky.
Buddy Parkins was a neat character it was cool to see called back in News From Everywhere.
Speaking of that, one thing I've always loved about the book is that it has great chapter titles. News From Everywhere is great, as are Jack In The Box, Wolf In The Box, and In Which Many Things Are Resolved On The Beach, and the Part titles The Road Of Trials and A Collison Of Worlds are boss too. I always admire a project with good titles, be they episode titles or chapter headings, and The Talisman has 'em. My only real disappointment with Black House was that none of the chapters are titled. Bummer.
Do I have any complaints? Quite a few. For one thing, I feel the book is too free with the n word. For King, that was one of the ways he showed bad guys were bad guys at that stage of his career. But he's doing more than that. I think the thing that makes me upset is that Jack believes he can hear the bigoted desk clerk repeatedly thinking "n-word lover" running off of him in waves for seeing him hug Speedy Parker. The thing is, that use of the n-word is entirely in Jack head, and frankly based on what we've seen of that bigoted Clerk, Jack could be wrong for the specific reason he's emanating hatred. He might simply be a homophobe. The racist nature of the clerk is not evident in anything he says. His one harsh statement is homophobic. And if Jack is projecting that specific word to him on his own, that's freaking problematic.
Also I can't think of a single positive thing to say about Snowball. The fact that Jack believes the only other black character in the story looks like and thus must BE secretly Speedy isn't just ridiculous and unbelievable. It's offensive too.
I found Speedy himself problematic as well. Forget his race, and the desk clerk's homophobia. I don't believe strange men should be hugging boys they barely know for any reason. I also think even if Speedy sets Jack on his quest because he knows he's the only one who can do it, he still sucks for putting all that responsibility on the kid in the first place, and he even goes so far as to make Jack feel ashamed for not wanting to go through all this. He's manipulative in that regard. I also am skeeved at the fact that he allows Jack into his shack while their are nude pictures of women on the walls. He also carefully watches Jack as he examines them too which is appalling. King and Straub want us to feel disgust over the homophobic Clerk, but that right there is actual grooming behavior for abusers. I don't like making an adult outside observer thinking this kid is way too physically close with the groundskeeper the bad guy for being upset at a true thing. And I also don't like that King and Straub decide to have the Clerk turn his judgment about that against Jack instead of Speedy (where it belongs).
The Sloat In This World Interludes were the weakest part of the book, and I always wanted to get back to Jack during them. The one exception was the third one where we actually see Orris In The Territories. Learning about Orris taking over Sloat and experiencing things like McDonalds for the first time was kind of cool and funny.
For some reason, when the first thing Jack tells Richard upon popping up at Thayer is that he just came from the Sunlight Home, two of his friends died there, and one of them was a Werewolf, I found that vulgar. It's totally consistent with what a little kid would do, but Jack ISN'T exactly a little kid anymore, and his impersonal description to Richard of Wolf as "get this, a Werewolf" feels disrespectful for Wolf's heroism and sacrifice. It sort of like Jack is bragging about the unusual experience of meeting a member of Wolf's species, instead of how meaningful knowing Wolf himself was. That being the first thing he said to Richard doesn't just bug me now. It always bugged me, even as a teenager for that exact reason.
I feel like the reason people demanded a sequel was probably because the ending was so sudden and ambiguous and there was little to no actual wrap-up. It makes for a good literary experience, but it's frustrating, especially because the book is so damn long otherwise. If Twin Peaks were a 2 hour movie nobody would complain about the frustrating, mysterious cliffhanger endings. Because it's a series that lasted over 30 episodes, it's annoying instead. There should be different expectations over how to end a long book than there are a short book. This is also a problem King had with Under The Dome.
This is better than people said it was at the time. But I don't really agree with legacy reviews arguing the book is actually great either. It's good, but it has quite a few problems. ****.
