T:SCC 2.07 "The Brothers of Nablus"

[hazelk]

Back at the end of the first season I compared James Elllison to Dorothy – he was the stranger to FutureOz. In this episode he’s more of a Tin Man. It starts with his witnessing the heart being ripped out of a metal doppelganger but at the beginning of the Oz story the Tin man isn’t just heartless, he’s also paralysed. Ever since he beheld what he beheld Ellison has been a changed man physically. His ex-wife deduced that he’d stopped wearing a cross from his changed posture (this series is so good at depicting ex-relationships). He’s also been slower, more hesitant both in speech and movement since then. Like a man struggling through air become suddenly viscous, trapped by a war that has yet to begin but in the circular timeline of this world’s mythology is already over and lost.

Weaver doesn’t seem to have read the Oz books. Her references are always biblical, in this case ‘The Book of Job.’ She puts herself in the role of Job’s tester, which implies that the whole doppelganger plot may have been a set up between her Skynet and Cromartie (after all, if terminators could usually be killed by poking them in the back with a sharp stick this would be a very different franchise). If the unholy trinity are independent agents, Weaver’s role is more that of Job’s comforters urging him to confess his sins, which is oddly reassuring with respect to Ellison betraying the Connors. Job in the original defied the expectations of both his friends and the adversary who suggested the test in the first place – he railed against God but never quite renounced him.

I was glad to see the return of Jody in the actions having consequences sense and her interactions with Cromartie were hilarious. The (serial) killer smile! Cromartie has turned out quite interesting for a character who started out as an EvilArnie clone complete with parting quip. If a car bomb were enough to damage Cameron’s chip then having your head blown off and sent through time could certainly have similar effects. Not that Cromartie is any more human, but as a self-made robot he does seem capable of crossing against at least some of Skynet’s lights.

Riley, the other blonde, did well, arguably saving John’s life and thereby passing his definition of love-is-something-you-do. I didn’t love the confrontation with Sarah, which makes it realistic, but it was harder than usual to see the Sarah of this episode. The resigned reaction to Cameron terminating the alley boys in contrast to the scene with Uncle Enrique in season 1 was new but didn’t feel surprising. She’s given up believing she can protect them, which I suppose was John’s point but it still didn’t feel as if he had the right to make it.