Strong Female Cyborg

**SPOILERS**

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox, Monday nights)

Wow! Fun! The Terminator series has always set the bar high for strong female leads (think Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor doing pull ups and then taking her psychiatrist hostage to kick off T2) She's back, in the title, in a new iteration, with an excellent addition!

Teenage John meets a girl at school, Cameron, and she is unfortunately shot by a terminator sent to kill him. When John is saved a few minutes later by a truck smashing into the terminator, we presume it's his kick-ass mom. But no, it's his kick-ass cyborg protector, Cameron the teenage terminator!

And when she said "Come with me if you want to live," I was all in!

We've seen other female action heroes in the last 2 seasons, but Cameron has one thing they don't: worthy enemies and the ability to fight them. When Cameron beats up some (admittedly obnoxious) teenage boys to get their clothes, it doesn't really seem like a fair fight. And perhaps that's my problem with the Bionic Woman. We know she can beat these guys - she's got a freakin' bionic arm. But when Cameron has to take on the bigger, older male terminators, that's a battle worth rooting for!

Like Claire on Heroes, we know that Cameron can survive being hit or stabbed or shot. But what makes her much more fun to watch is that she fights back. Claire seems relegated to getting beat up or killed, and then healing -- pretty passive for a hero.

Lena Heady as Sarah Connor and Summer Glau as Cameron

Cameron is anything but passive. In fact, Sarah has to reign her in from killing. Yes, Cameron has robot issues. Sarah calls her "the tin man." When Cameron shoots an old friend of Sarah because "He was possibly lying," Sarah asks "Why did you do that?" Cameron replies "Because you wouldn't." So an interesting dynamic is born of Cameron being able to push the envelope in terms of taking actions that even Sarah, with her unique moral universe, will not.

Sarah's ability to draw the line at not killing other humans is part of how she defines herself, and the theme of identity plays large in the show. Sarah and John have to change their identities all the time to stay safe. The second hour starts with Sarah ruminating, "Through it all I knew who I was and why I'm here." But now she feels she's gone too far, taken on one alias too many: "Maybe if you spend your life hiding who you are, you might finally end up fooling yourself."

After going through a lot of trouble, Sarah obtains new identities for the three of them. Again, this is a profound action for her: "A new identity, a chance - you can't put a price on that."

But by the end of hour two, she despairs, "I don't even know what my name is." Cameron doesn't hesitate: "Sarah Connor."

Cameron has no self-doubts wracking her. She says that John taught her the phrase "Know thyself and thou shalt know all the gods of the universe." But her version is this: "Know thyself because what else is there to know?"

But Cameron also knows the future. She knows how strong and brave Sarah and John can be and will be, even when they doubt. And for Cameron, it's clear who Sarah is. Future John has told her: "You're the best fighter he knows." Bring it on!

Reinventing the Women of Sci-Fi TV

I've got an article up at Den of Geek on the failure of US Network television to follow Battlestar Galactica's lead in creating Sci Fi women characters of enough depth.

Clearly I'm psyched for this weekend's premiere of the 2 hour BSG special Razor on Space and SciFi (simulcast Sat 9 pm EST). I was reassured to read that although the episode will revolve around the actions of ice-cold Helena Cain, Admiral of the Battlestar Pegasus, the story will be told in flashback, so we'll get to see all our fave characters... <> Starbuck < /sigh > (That's my Geek move of the day!)

Bionic Woman - a man in the picture

After the pilot, this show felt very slow-paced, especially compared to an adrenaline-fueled show like Alias. Some episodes even had flashback - ugh.

The action scenes were always rocking (though I'm a little specious of her ability to leap from the ground to the top of a building), but I found myself fast-forwarding through talking scenes. (which is the opposite of several other shows, where I'm much more interested in the human drama and banter than the blood-spillage.)

I think the writers have caught on though, and are taking themselves less seriously, allowing some fun in to over-ride the ultra-serious lab crowd. In the last couple of episodes, I've become almost as interested in Jaime's conversations as I am in her kick-boxing moves.

It helps that they've pulled back from the politics at the lab and brought in a relaxed cute CIA Agent, Tom. This was definitely a mid-season decision as he's not listed in the original materials. The introduction of CIA Agent Tom as a partner/love interest could have gone very wrong. But I think it's succeeding - it gives her someone to verbally spar with, however heavy-handed that may come across at times.

He's a far better foil than her sister or any of the guys back at the lab. And I'm enjoying the comedic effect of his self-titled "chivalrous" attempts to protect her. As Antonio says to him "You're in so far over your head and don't even know it."

In their first operation together, he's all "I'll go down - you stay here and cover me." Jaime warns him "Don't underestimate me..."

Next ep, she chastises him, saying she's not a "trophy spy." When he's unable to kick down a door, she "helps" him. His response is a classic "I loosened it."

The conflict heats up when he says "I'm going in alone... It's too dangerous."

Jaime snaps back "You may think you're being a gentleman but it's condescending. Get over yourself."

Actions speak louder than words and he finally gets it, even though she tries to take it back, saying she didn't mean it:
Him: "Clearly you can kick some ass"
Her: "I can"
Him: "You can."

Compelling, eh? But then he has to make sure we know what's really important: "God you're beautiful." Gag.

At the beginning of this episode (107 - Trust Issues), Jaime's partner Antonio warns her, "Relationships and counterespionage don't mix."

And he has a point - she's so busy chatting up Tom on her cell phone that she forgets to watch the briefcase she's supposed to be following. Thank god her bionic eye helped her find it again.

The humour continues when she kicks the butts of the CIA agents sent to "check up" on her.

Tom's overprotectiveness rears its head again in the form of chasing down Jaime to an assignment and yelling at Antonio for sending her out without a gun. But even Jaime has her biases - when Antonio says the assasin is a woman, she repeats, surprised, "Her?"

By the end of the episode, Jaime is in Tom's arms crying, "I can't do this. I'm not cut out for this." She's gonna have to toughen up, and everyone at the lab knows it.

Her tears are because they've now killed off the second moderately important character (at the hand of a female assassin, no less!). I admire that, because it means that no one (with the exception of Jaime herself of course) is safe. That's a good thing to keep us on our toes instead of presuming all the good guys will make it out OK.

Bionic Woman Series Premiere

By far my most anticipated new show...

And I'm far from disappointed!

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW, LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS

Great shocking beginning, to start with a bang, then several minutes of relationship goo until the Crash that Changes Everything.

The Stakes are set early. They can "terminate her later, if need be." Lots of mysteries to unwrap, which is a good thing. Her relationship with her younger sister is a great area to explore, especially as we're not sure what kind of delinquent her sister is. I don't think Jaime will be able to keep her in the dark for long.

The science is of course ridiculous, though I like the possibilities inherent in the quick-healing capabilities. Will tries to explain it to Jaime: "Technology is at the point where science fiction isn't fiction anymore." Me: "Are you kidding, they had all this technology back in 1976!"

I like that she's got an equally strong female to combat (Sarah, the updated fembot!). I was going to call her a villain, but she's just a messed-up version of Jamie. I think their relationship could be interesting, but I'm guessing they'll kill off Sarah.


Some questions:
1. The original Jaime Sommers was a tennis pro. Why does this one have to be a bartender? I know smart people (they establish that she has a high IQ) are found in all professions, but this seems to demean her, putting her in a position where she has to ask Will, who is a professor/scientist, why he's with her. In the original, she would go undercover a lot - maybe we'll get to see her stretch her wings a bit...

2. Why did she need to be pregnant? They didn't think losing two legs, an arm, an ear and an eye were enough for us to feel sympathy for her? In fact, doesn't mentioning her pregnancy actually decrease our view of her as someone smart... enough to use reliable birth control?

3. Why doesn't Sarah shoot Jae when she has the chance? This is the man who has already shot her to kill her. They apparently were lovers, so maybe that's supposed to explain it all...

Things I thought could have been done in a more unique way:
- The mandatory cry in the shower/tub scene
- The mandatory stop-the-mugger/rapist in the alley scene
- Some cliched dialogue, but it could have been worse, given that it's an action show.

Best Line:
Sarah - "I'm cutting away all the parts of me that are weak."
THIS is a great metaphor for our plastic surgery culture, as well as cutting off our emotions, connections with others, or other perceived weaknesses. And this is of course the subjective part of this blog: what I view as weak and strong.

How do we know Jaime's all SFL?
Her parting shot to Jonas, the man running the secret lab: "I know what I'm capable of now. So you send whoever you send. And I'll bury one guy after the next."

I for one will be here next week to see who they send, how Jaime adjusts to her new strength, and what Sarah gets up to.