TSCC 1x06: “Dungeons & Dragons"
Jan. 14th, 2020 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsTSCC 1x06: “Dungeons & Dragons”
In structure, this episode gave me some of the same feeling as 1x04, that it's very much part of a bigger whole before being its own thing. Not that it isn't good on its own, but it's compact and focused (the present is almost a bottle episode) and more about its role in the larger story. But then you have the...flashbacks...flash-forwards...something, which are very concerned with packing as much into a single episode as possible...except also not quite as it very clearly subscribes to the idea of never answering more questions than it raises.
I'm actually not sure I have a lot to say on this one, also kind of like 1x04, because it is pretty good about speaking for itself. I do have a few questions though; like how Cameron doesn't know Kyle Reese was John's father, not because I think he would have told her, as he clearly didn't let that one get out, but I think she can do a certain amount of genetic analyzing so with Derek there she could figure it out. Similarly, how do they not know John's blood type, that's the kind of thing Sarah would absolutely be aware of, and Cameron should be too for that matter.
All the stuff with the blood is a little messy actually, but that was the most glaring to me. Other than that, that's some pretty fluke genetics for John to have inherited Kyle's blood type from the opposite end of the blood type spectrum. Also, while I can accept that fully compatible blood would be optimal, Derek is a universal receiver right? And if Sarah is a universal donor, I'd think they could at least supplement John's blood with hers. Then, if we follow the logic we're given here, that you would need the match blood types that completely, wouldn't it be harder for rare blood types to survive in the future? On the other hand maybe they just don't do that many transfusions in the future, I might buy that.
One thought I had after reviewing the last episode, that makes as much sense to bring up here, is how I mentioned Kyle in T1 doesn't bring up the time war aspect of their future. If they are in a time loop, but an adjustable time loop, maybe in the current cycle he did, and maybe Sarah actually remembers that he did, that just isn't the version we initially saw. If after T2 the future was changed, maybe it would echo back to the original encounters between Sarah and Kyle. This episode clears things up a bit, at least in so far as the time war being a new facet, that Kyle wouldn't really have known much about yet.
It is kind of impressive how much this tries to stick to events we saw in T1, with even a little bit of insight into John and Kyle's relationship; it's basic, but it tries to make things make some sense, Then seems to re-embrace the time loop and future-John committed to playing his part in keeping it going, because apparently he did know that the Connor team would show up in 2007 LA, as if all this has happened before and all this will happen again. Also, although Kyle does actually look younger here than he did in T1, he's still too old to have been born post 2011 apocalypse so things definitely don't entirely fit.
Look, if you want reviews that don't consistently try and work out how the time travel works, you've come to the wrong place. I love time travel when I can make sense of it, and I also love the act of trying to make sense of it if I can come to any kind of conclusion. This one is a weird combination time travel that I'm not sure makes that much sense, but I'm still getting something out of trying to.
I'm not quite sure how Andy fits into this. As noted, his death last episode happened so abruptly that I have a hard time being sure is the final note; plus we don't see Derek grab the computer nor did he have it on him last episode, so it's still out there whatever happened to Andy.
Also, there's a victory for face blindness, I really could not tell the future people apart. The camera was following Derek enough that I could usually keep him straight, but the others were all pretty much generically scruffy and a apoca-pretty.
I'm a little less committed to my conviction last time that Charlie wouldn't make past this season. I still think he's had too much to do for this to be the last we see of him, and he is on Chromartie's radar so I definitely can still see Charlie getting killed off, I just don't think it's a certain as I thought before.
For now, onward I guess.
In structure, this episode gave me some of the same feeling as 1x04, that it's very much part of a bigger whole before being its own thing. Not that it isn't good on its own, but it's compact and focused (the present is almost a bottle episode) and more about its role in the larger story. But then you have the...flashbacks...flash-forwards...something, which are very concerned with packing as much into a single episode as possible...except also not quite as it very clearly subscribes to the idea of never answering more questions than it raises.
I'm actually not sure I have a lot to say on this one, also kind of like 1x04, because it is pretty good about speaking for itself. I do have a few questions though; like how Cameron doesn't know Kyle Reese was John's father, not because I think he would have told her, as he clearly didn't let that one get out, but I think she can do a certain amount of genetic analyzing so with Derek there she could figure it out. Similarly, how do they not know John's blood type, that's the kind of thing Sarah would absolutely be aware of, and Cameron should be too for that matter.
All the stuff with the blood is a little messy actually, but that was the most glaring to me. Other than that, that's some pretty fluke genetics for John to have inherited Kyle's blood type from the opposite end of the blood type spectrum. Also, while I can accept that fully compatible blood would be optimal, Derek is a universal receiver right? And if Sarah is a universal donor, I'd think they could at least supplement John's blood with hers. Then, if we follow the logic we're given here, that you would need the match blood types that completely, wouldn't it be harder for rare blood types to survive in the future? On the other hand maybe they just don't do that many transfusions in the future, I might buy that.
One thought I had after reviewing the last episode, that makes as much sense to bring up here, is how I mentioned Kyle in T1 doesn't bring up the time war aspect of their future. If they are in a time loop, but an adjustable time loop, maybe in the current cycle he did, and maybe Sarah actually remembers that he did, that just isn't the version we initially saw. If after T2 the future was changed, maybe it would echo back to the original encounters between Sarah and Kyle. This episode clears things up a bit, at least in so far as the time war being a new facet, that Kyle wouldn't really have known much about yet.
It is kind of impressive how much this tries to stick to events we saw in T1, with even a little bit of insight into John and Kyle's relationship; it's basic, but it tries to make things make some sense, Then seems to re-embrace the time loop and future-John committed to playing his part in keeping it going, because apparently he did know that the Connor team would show up in 2007 LA, as if all this has happened before and all this will happen again. Also, although Kyle does actually look younger here than he did in T1, he's still too old to have been born post 2011 apocalypse so things definitely don't entirely fit.
Look, if you want reviews that don't consistently try and work out how the time travel works, you've come to the wrong place. I love time travel when I can make sense of it, and I also love the act of trying to make sense of it if I can come to any kind of conclusion. This one is a weird combination time travel that I'm not sure makes that much sense, but I'm still getting something out of trying to.
I'm not quite sure how Andy fits into this. As noted, his death last episode happened so abruptly that I have a hard time being sure is the final note; plus we don't see Derek grab the computer nor did he have it on him last episode, so it's still out there whatever happened to Andy.
Also, there's a victory for face blindness, I really could not tell the future people apart. The camera was following Derek enough that I could usually keep him straight, but the others were all pretty much generically scruffy and a apoca-pretty.
I'm a little less committed to my conviction last time that Charlie wouldn't make past this season. I still think he's had too much to do for this to be the last we see of him, and he is on Chromartie's radar so I definitely can still see Charlie getting killed off, I just don't think it's a certain as I thought before.
For now, onward I guess.
