Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is still met with skepticism by those who by all rights should be fans of the series.  This is something I understand.  Action movies don't often, or ever, make great TV shows.  There's really no precedent for such a thing.  Just like most TV viewers who have given Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a chance, I've thoroughly enjoyed the first few episodes of the second season.  The show is an excellent character study that augments the smaller moments with what may be the biggest action set pieces currently on TV.  Despite all of its excellent traits, Terminator suffers from something completely out of its control – a lack of suspense.  When I say suspense, I mean it in the grandest way imaginable.  We know how the Terminator story ends – Sarah eventually dies, John survives the terminator apocalypse and becomes the leader of the rebel forces.  So, why do we even bother watching?

Before I proceed, I'll answer a criticism that I'm sure some Terminator fan will use as rebuttal.  The whole conceit of the Terminator series is that the future is uncertain, and that the time travel element allows for the possibility that the terminators can execute John and Sarah Connor, thus stopping (or at least hindering) the future human rebellion.  This is all true.  However, the suspense that works in a film (James Cameron could have easily killed John or Sarah or both in T2, though it would have made the film's ending a lot more depressing), doesn't work on a TV show.  Josh Friedman and the Terminator writers aren't going to kill Sarah (the show is named after her).  Or, if they do, it will be in the show's very final episode.  They could conceivably kill John, but I doubt FOX would allow this to happen, considering how heavily it would conflict with the upcoming new Terminator films, set during the terminator wars.  

I actually kind of like the idea that, keeping in line with show's title, John dies and Sarah survives, then Sarah takes John's place as the leader of the rebellion.  But, again, I doubt FOX would allow such a massive detour from the established Terminator mythology.

(As I write this, an idea comes to mind.  Hear me out.  If The Sarah Connor Chronicles manages to run three, four, five seasons, how cool would this be:  What if the first half of one season culminated with the death of John Connor and then they hit the reset button for the second half of the season?  The second half would kick off with a protector going back in time to help keep John from dying (maybe it could even be an older Sarah).  The show could run the second half episodes parallel to the story line of the first half of the season.  Far-fetched, but could be cool.)

So, we pretty much know that our two main characters will remain alive and well until the end of the series.  In most TV shows this is a given, but most shows aren't centered around the main characters trying to stay alive.  The lack of suspense regarding John and Sarah is unavoidable.  It exists, and it won't go away.  What the Terminator writers have done (and the reason that this article isn't a negative one) is create new characters that we've slowly come to care for very much.  In the name of suspense, Josh Friedman told fans at Comic-Con in August that one of the members of the panel (which consisted of Thomas Dekker, Lena Headey, Shirley Manson, Garret Dillahunt, Richard T. Jones, Brian Austin Green and Summer Glau) would have their character killed off by the end of the season.  

To maintain suspense, I believe that they will have to kill off one of the human characters.  So, here's my informed guarantee: Either Derek Reese or Ellison will die by the end of season 2.  It's a lock.  To keep the audience on its toes, to keep them invested in the series, sacrifices need to be made - the Terminator writers, thankfully, know this. 


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)