Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 Review (Parts 3 & 4)

I review the next three episodes in Season 1. Derek Reese finally appears!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 Review (Parts 1 & 2)

I go over the first three episodes of the season.

Shipping Confessions: Serek (TSCC)

Back to the lovely Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles! Oh how I've missed you. And I wish you could've lived a long life. Spanning many seasons and letting my obsession boil to new heights.

Oh, right, supposed to be writing a blog post here. Not a love letter to TSCC (aka, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). That can wait for later.

Anyways, we're back to talking about TSCC. And we are again going to talk about Sarah Connor. But instead of pairing her up with the enigmatic Cameron, we're going to look at the ship of Serek. Serek is the ship pairing Sarah Connor and Derek Reese together. And Serek is my OTP (One True Pairing) for TSCC. This is the pairing I watched the whole show wishing it would become canon. Before that glorious moment, a Terminator killed Derek with a head shot.

I believe Brian Austin Green (actor who played Derek Reese) said he didn't want his character to have a relationship with Sarah Connor.

Let's look at the fierce warrior queen Sarah Connor first. In the first Terminator film Sarah falls in love with a soldier from the future sent back to protect her. We also find out later that this soldier, Kyle Reese, was also sent back to impregnate her (you can't tell me John Connor didn't plan for it to happen, at least in the timeline that The Terminator deals with).

I am probably the only one who doesn't buy the love story in The Terminator and how deep it becomes by Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I find Kyle and Sarah to be lusting after each other. If Kyle's dialogue in The Terminator is to be believed, he saved himself for a woman he didn't know he would ever be able to meet. And Sarah? She didn't have enough time to really get to know Kyle.

But her relationship with Derek had longer to form. Did she think about Kyle? Probably. Though she ended up thinking of Derek as his own person.

Derek Reese is the older brother of Kyle Reese. He's also the darker one of the two, though he is still very much a 'good guy'. What's interesting, at least from a behind the scenes stand point, is that he was only supposed to appear for an episode or two and then die (or leave). On the DVD extras for Season 1 they have an audition tape for all the actors except for BAG (aka Brian Austin Green).

Derek, over the short two seasons, matches up good with Sarah. They have many little verbal sparring matches that seem to be done more out of love than hate. Yes, Sarah's last real conversation with Derek was that she didn't trust him/hated him (long story short: she blamed him for Riley Dawson's death and the chaos that had ensued before and after). But after he had died, and she's explaining it to James Ellison, Sarah mentions Derek's name first. Plus she might have been wearing his jacket (or at least a similar one to it, let's just say I stared at a picture for a long time over a series of days).

Now I know a lot of you will bring up Jesse Flores and say that was his love interest for the series. To me, and others, there was no real chemistry between the two. Both of them had their own interests of being a couple:

Jesse Flores wanted to use Derek after she had John kill Cameron (long story short: plan didn't work), so that Jesse could influence how John looked at Terminators and therefore ran the Resistance. I think Jesse liked Derek, but it wasn't the love that she once felt. Though she wished that it was.

Derek Reese wanted to be with Jesse to pretend that things were like they had been. It wasn't good when he was from, but something familiar always brings comfort in an ever changing world. It's also why I don't blame him for not looking too hard at Jesse's real motives.

Why did I bring that up? Because while it's canon, it didn't really have that much emotion behind it. Derek and Sarah, while not being a canon ship, had a lot more power and nuance to it.

You could tell that Sarah loved Derek. Their first meeting (well, the first meeting where they knew the other and weren't trying to beat the other up) at the prison hinted at what was to come. Subtle things were thrown in the conversation (and not so subtle things) to show that both were attracted to the other.

Jesse even comments at one point how easy it is for Sarah to get him to do things.

Finally, the shower scene. When Sarah found out that Derek killed Andy Goode, she confronted him in the shower about it. She also tells him that they will meet with a man the following day.

So why confront him while he's in the shower, with hot water running down him, and he's completely naked? While Sarah did want to intimidate him, she also wanted to see how that hot bod looked without clothing.

This is one of those times where a third season would not help this ship evolve. It could have Sarah admit her feelings for Derek, but that's about it. As the Derek we saw through the majority of Seasons 1 and 2 is dead.

Let me end this by saying to those who ship Jesse and Derek: I don't believe in the ship myself. But you have it being canon to back you up. Damn you lucky bastards!

So what is up for the next Shipping Confessions? We will stick with TSCC and talk about a very popular canon shipping. The reason this isn't breaking the rules I set forth in the introduction to this series, is that I don't think a lot of people really believe I ship it. At least I don't talk about it often.

Shipping Confessions: Camerah (TSCC)

I decided to start on a 'popular' ship of mine. I say popular because once Terminator ships are brought up, somehow someone talks (well, jokes usually) about me liking this pairing. It sometimes seems like that this can happen with even the tiniest opening. This is one pairing I adore but, of course, I keep quiet about it because most Terminator fans don't like it. So usually people find it funny or disgusting.

I actually started out loathing this ship and even started writing a series (S&N) as anti-Camerah (long story short). I started getting into this ship because of a Camerah fan on Facebook, that posted Camerah videos, that I started getting addicted to the pairing.

For those who are confused about who this ship involves, let me explain. This ship is pairing Cameron and Sarah Connor from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles together. This ship would also fall into the category of femslash. I consider this ship to be non-canon, but I ship it nonetheless. I ship it hard.

A lot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) fans don't like this ship because it pairs Cameron up with someone other than John Connor. I know Jameron (the ship of John Connor and Cameron) is the most popular pairing from TSCC, and those shippers are the ones with the complaints. Well, usually.

While I have nothing against Jameron shippers, the fact is that they seem to be against anyone who doesn't believe in that ship. Needless to say, that gets annoying.

So is there any other reason someone couldn't like this ship? Why, yes, there is. And I was a hater of this ship, in the beginning, because of it.

The reason is that it takes both of the characters to be something that they're not. Mind you, it seemed much worse before I really sat down and looked at this ship.

Let's talk about the members of this ship to really get at what I mean.

We'll start with everyone's favorite kick ass female: Sarah Connor. While it seems she is straight, as her past relationships have all been shown to be male, it could be that she's bisexual. And, for whatever reason, she hasn't had a sexual relationship with another woman yet. Or, she could've had a lesbian relationship but that's never been shown. So, to me, anyone bringing up her being straight isn't bringing up a good point.

But, more importantly, Sarah is a hater of anything to do with machines/Terminators. In the past a Terminator went back in time to kill her and her unborn son; she considered Uncle Bob (using the name that John Connor gave him in Terminator 2: Judgment Day) to be taking John away from her because he seemed to be a better parent than her; a T-1000 went back in time to kill her to get at John; and, finally, Cameron seems to be taking John away from Sarah.

So you can see she doesn't have a good past with Terminators. And, even though Sarah and Cameron work well together, nothing seems to go beyond the colleague stage. In other words: she doesn't attack Cameron because she is on their side.

As for one of the best Terminators (the T-1000 will always be my favorite), Cameron doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings for anyone but John Connor. She even goes beyond her programming and decides, for herself, to let John live and help the Resistance.

I am going to preface this next point by saying it is only a theory and is neither confirmed nor denied in TSCC's two seasons. However, it is interesting and gives a little insight into Cameron and John Connor's characters. So, please don't kill me for bringing it up.

The point is: John Connor might've put some programming into Cameron to make her love him. While this darkens John's character, it also destroys the ship as it makes Cameron's feelings false (I might explore this more in depth in a later Shipping Confessions). However, it also shows that Cameron loving anyone but John is impossible. Well, unless the programming is changed.

However, for those that believe Camerah is canon, some point out that Sarah and Cameron could grow closer together because of their love (not the sexual kind) for John Connor.

Me, I take this ship as non-canon. So why do I ship it?

You can't overlook how good Lena Heady (actress who plays Sarah Connor in TSCC) and Cameron (played by Summer Glau) look. Their physical looks just come together in a beautiful manner.

Another more "scholarly" reason for liking this pairing is because I want to see Sarah Connor overcome her hatred of Terminators. And what better way to do this than to fall for Cameron who shares a common interest with her? That interest being the health and well-being of John Connor. Also, they live together and so Sarah would be familiar with Cameron.

Some people have pointed out that Sarah would never be that cruel to take a girl John loves from him. However, John and Cameron are never in a relationship. They are always on the edge of it, but never in one. Also, this reasoning seems to leave out the fact that Cameron might want to act on her feelings for Sarah. And why would a Terminator really understand the complexities of human relationships (hell, I don't and I'm engaged)?

So Sarah and Cameron could become a couple if both decide to act on their feelings instead of hiding them for John's sake. Because, really, Sarah is risking life and limb for her son. She gave up her life so much that she forgot what she wanted to be before Kyle Reese came into her life.

John Connor would be angry, of course, but he'd get over it. I doubt Sarah and Cameron would start banging each other without talking to him first. And I don't think his feelings on the matter would stop the relationship.

In other words: man up, John.

So that's my feelings on the ship Camerah from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

If you are a fellow Camerah shipper: Hi! Maybe we can be friends forever and ever!

If you're not a Camerah shipper: As long as you don't pray I go to the pits of Hell, we'll be fine.

What's up for the next Shipping Confessions? All I will say is it'll be a shipping from the TV series Supernatural and will not be Wincest.