Thanks to the writers' strike, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles reached its final destination serendipitously.  With a stroke of luck, show creator Josh Friedman and cast of the sci-fi series was able to deliver the show's first season finale that left viewers with enough revelations and cliffhangers to leave them wanting for more.

While "Vick's Chip" and "What He Beheld," the eighth and ninth installment of the pilot season which aired on March 3, never intended to be the season finale by the makers of Terminator, it ended up being so due to the strike.  The episodes saw Sarah, John, Cameron and Derek working together to disable Skynet's future surveillance network.  It also featured Agent Ellison and a SWAT team attempting to take down the FBI impostor, Derek taking out John for his birthday, and as the series came to a close, Cameron's fate left unknown.

"We had only written up to this number and produced up to this number when I went out on strike. So it happens that a lot of stuff locks in and comes together during these last two episodes and frankly, that's just dumb luck," Friedman said during a conference call with reporters.

"If we would have gone one episode more or one episode less I think it would be probably less satisfying."

And although Terminator wrapped up earlier than Friedman had originally intended, he is happy with the way things have turned out.  In fact, the season ender dominated Monday night's ratings with 8.29 million viewers.

"I don't know that four episodes from now would have been a much better finale than the one that we have," he said.  "I have a plan going forward.  It's just how we integrate that into the beginning of season 2."

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Richard T. Jones as James Ellison, Summer Glau as Cameron, and Thomas Dekker as John Connor.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CTV.ca
(Image courtesy of FOX)