'Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles': A surprising season premiere

SPOILER ALERT! Proceed with caution if you haven’t yet watched last night’s season premiere!

I’ve always reasoned that when Skynet sent the first Terminator back to get Linda Hamilton, they decided to give it a German accent because that would strike fear in the hearts of people who’d grown up seeing scary Nazis in World War II movies. So now I figure, um, maybe they gave Shirley Manson’s new villain a Scots accent because it would give a false sense of security to fans of Shrek?

Conundrums like that aside, the second season premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles left me more enthusiastic about the show’s direction than EW’s critic Gillian Flynn was in her recent B- review. I was happy to see that Cameron survived the explosion that cliff-hanged last season (although I think the blast would have left her a lot more scarred), and her injured-Terminator limp was a worthy homage to Ah-nuld’s in the first movie’s final action sequence. I was surprised when Cameron turned on John, and I was actually moved in an Old Yeller sort of way when she pleaded for her life. (“I’m fixed!…I love you, John, and you love me.” Aw…) And during Sarah’s final conversation with John through the bathroom door, EWwy nominee Lena Headey’s tormented expressions delivered a full script’s worth of emotion in less than a minute.

Still, it wouldn’t be a T:SCC episode if it didn’t leave me with a few questions. Did Cameron’s chip injury suddenly make her able to emote convincingly again? Why did Cromartie let Ellison get away, and vice versa? And why would Shirley Manson’s Terminator be programmed to deliver zingers after killing people, even when nobody else is watching? (“Sorry I piss you off, Mr. Tuck….The feeling’s mutual.”)

So what did you think? Are you going to keep watching? (I will, though EW won’t be doing a regular TV Watch this season; we did, however, put together a gallery of season 1’s best and worst moments, so click here to check it out.) Did you guess that Shirley Manson would turn out to be a robot? What was your favorite action sequence? (Mine was when Cameron flipped over that moving truck.) And are you happy John lost the emo bangs?

addCredit(“Terminator: Michael Desmond”)