Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season 2

As with the first, I had some ambivalent feelings about this show's second and likely final season. On one hand, too many of the episodes failed to really hold my interest for anywhere close to their entire running time, and it still stumbles a little too often with dumb logical leaps and story inconsistencies. On the other, it did some things that I really respect, and had at least a handful of really great moments and unique story structures that kept me from ever dropping it. It never reaches the level of greatness that other shows have, but I liked it enough that at least part of me is sorry they'll probably not get a chance to explore their newest time travel retcon loophole in the finale, even if it lessened the impact of other scenes. Plus it's hard to hate something that featured the most accurate representation of tabletop roleplaying I've seen on TV.

The second season introduces a lot of new elements to the series, changing it from a few characters just trying over and over to stop Skynet to more open cast with a variety of conflicting goals. The problem is that most of the people aren't terribly interesting, all of them talking more or less like the same person whether they be soulless machines, veterans of a taxing future war, or just FBI agents who have seen a lot of messed up crap. There's a sort of detachedness to all of the dialogue that makes listening to people argue over whatever less engaging than it should be, and overall stuff just doesn't blow up as often as it should. One particular episode at a funeral practically had me asleep waiting for something to happen. Not that it was always like that, some things like an episode about a terminator sent to the 1920s by accident ended up being pretty fun, and there were quite a few times where music was used very effectively to set a mood for a dramatic moment. I also liked how the deaths were sudden and unceremonious, with no teary farewell speeches. If the show really is over, then it gets the same sort of end, without a chance for true closure. I'm not too torn up about it, and I'm not sure if I'd recommend the series or not, but I don't feel like I wasted my time.