TV Verdict

Everyone who watched must have known Charley was a goner as soon as he turned up in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Episode #220, “To The Lighthouse.” Even the red herring with Cameron seemingly electrocuted didn’t throw me off that guess. Made me wish Fox hadn’t teased a death in last week’s trailers.

It was strange to see Charley in Sarah’s world, with explosives and alarms guarding the lighthouse’s beachfront. The scene with Charley and John comparing notes on mourning was good, too. Made me wish Fox hadn’t needed a death to tease in the trailers; Charley’s a character they could have used again, and T:SCC’s slower episodes don’t really need the extra shocker at the end.

The opening scene, with Sarah taking Even Younger John on a training mission, brought a smile to my face as Even Younger John was distracted by a colorful parrot, both for that moment and for the apparent parody nod to Psych.

Then there’s John Henry’s malware, put into his system by a “brother.” I thought he might have been talking about a sister, namely Cameron, but is there a possibility that there’s another Terminator out there, one that’s a danger to John Henry, Cameron, and Ms. Weaver? The kidnapping of Reese and the trap for Cameron put that one into my head.

It was a thoughtful, quieter episode that suddenly got violent at the end. Maybe if T:SCC gets to Season Three, they’ll try a thoughtful, quieter episode that doesn’t suddenly get violent at the end. While it doesn’t have a big audience, T:SCC has a steady audience; I don’t think a change of pace will scare anybody away.

On a final note, I don’t think computers will be taking over the world just yet; my station did the digital freeze-up thing a couple of times during this episode.