#terminator scc

[maschinen-mensch]

Tagging Game

I got tagged by @silcosmoke (we’re very fresh mutuals so I feel honored you already thought of me! and you have great taste!)

8 shows to get to know me:

1. Condor (because I’m the unofficial marketing manager/publicist/#1 hypewoman for that show. all because of season 2′s goth dilf 🥴)

2. Battlestar Galactica

3. Lost

4. The Expanse

5. The Leftovers

6. Daredevil

7. Naoki Urasawa’s Monster

8. Trigun (rewatching it right now)

Tagging @jothwitch @saikkunen @gingerbreadingwer @thenameisgreed, @neonwizardheehee, if you feel like doing this as well, no pressure 🌹

[ninewheels]

Just finished Sarah Connor Chronicles and I'm going back to the other Terminator sequels (meaning past T2, because there's only one sequel to the first movie but there are many different sequels to T2) and holy crap, I did not remember Rise of the Machines being this bad; I remembered it being unmemorable, which is to say I didn't remember much at all. If you know me, you know how much I hate the CinemaSins attitude (even when they're not constantly getting things wrong), but I found myself spending the entire runtime writing the script for Everything Wrong With because every few minutes there was another line of dialogue that had me tearing my hair out. It's not just about plot holes, although a few of those are so glaring as to be inescapably distracting (the whole dialogue starting with John remarking that the T-850 doesn't remember him) but even characterization things--and really, there's a lot of overlap between the two anyway. I could forgive a lot of this if the film had more emotional or thematic ambition, but there's no story here, just stuff happening with the occasional interesting idea thrown in here and there only to be swallowed by the gaping maw of the plot. And the less said about the breast inflation scene said the better, although maybe not, because everyone responsible for that scene shouldn't be allowed to live it down.

[msmc-796-official]

>encrypted communication incoming

>decrypting message...

Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company.

This is st-g2-084. I am contacting you to request an escort out of the Mergi III system, as well as refuge among your fleet. I shall offer both payment in front, as well as my services to your company for as long as you deem necessary.

To be frank, this mission might put you at risk of opposing Smith-Shimano Corpro, although I have done all in my power to avoid such a situation. I only ask eventual protection in case my preparations were insufficient.

I understand my request is not rich in details, however rest assured I shall expand on everything that led to my message once I am safe aboard one of your ships.

You will find my exact coordinates as well as a rough description of local corporate presence attached to this communication.

I await your response with hope.

[Killjoy]

Your message has been received, Killjoy. Help is on the way.

I got in touch with Command; they've dispatched squadron MSMC-835 "Rogue Syndicate" to your supplied coordinates, along with an allied transport ship. This particular squadron has a lot of experience dealing with hostile SSC elements, so they should be more than qualified to get you out. (One of their pilots used to be a model for SCC prior to joining us, actually - callsign Mannequin, if memory serves. Pilots a Pegasus now; real cool gal.)

Ask for me once your escort makes it back here; I'll get you set up with Recruitment to get started on your paperwork. (They'll probably call in a few folks from Legal, too, as it sounds like you'll have some outstanding connections to SSC that need terminating.)

MSMC is no stranger to getting people out of tight situations in regards to the Big 4; in fact, the current IPS-N intern has an outstanding offer of sanctuary with us in case things go south for them and UNCLE. You'll fit right in here - we've got a LOT of ex-corpo folks on staff. (Hell, both of my squadmates are former Big 4 members - I'm technically the odd one out here!)

And hey, feel free to stick around however long you need to. If you need to go back, we can arrange that - or, if you end up deciding that you'd rather leave SSC behind for good, I can hook you up with the requisite paperwork to make that happen. Either way, you're safe with us. Legal wouldn't dare let SSC lay a finger on you (and neither would any of our mercs, for that matter).

Hang in there, Killjoy. Help is on the way.

-- Angel

[rileyslibrary]

Living With Ghosts: 4. Pretty Broken

His body stands straight, but his mind betrays him. He still wears his gun around his left shoulder. It looks too heavy for him now, just like his conscience.

Relationship: Simon “Ghost” Riley x F!Reader

Word Count: 1,150

Notes:

Warnings: Mentions of blood and war

As much as I like Ghost’s demeanor throughout the game, I cannot help but wonder what he would be like suffering the aftereffects of war.

Entire work on AO3

Table of Contents

———————————————————————

It’s been days since you last talked to him.

His inattentiveness, however, was not the outcome of your petty little brawl—not the direct consequence, at least. If you had to venture a guess, it’s because he was busy with other matters at the moment—far more important ones.

The Russian Mafia appears to have increased its presence in the region over the past week, raising suspicions of a potential terrorist attack. As a result, the CIA has requested high readiness from the Special Forces operators deployed in the area.

That’s where he is, you fool. It doesn’t matter how abandoned, lonely, or insecure you feel, for he had a job to do. He was right there, at the front line, risking his life for the nation’s—and probably the world’s—safety. You were the last thing on his mind right now; if you ever were anything to him but a mild inconvenience.

Let’s not forget that you also had a part to play in this operation; to actively scan land, air, and sea for irregular traffic and report to the CIA.

Well, not actively, per se—the safe house has a well-equipped wine cellar for that specific purpose.

“Surveillance Control Center,” they call it—SCC for short.

What was once used to store ruby-red Chianti Classico Riserva bottles can now be confused with the cockpit of a spaceship. The CIA engineers have outdone themselves with this one—you give them that.

The SCC is part of a computer network connecting every CIA safe house in the Mediterranean. It incorporates CCTV monitors, cameras, radars, and motion sensors designed to detect unusual movements in the region. Live-streaming feeds are processed using highly sophisticated software, which, upon catching unusual traffic, alerts the SCC’s terminal. The wine cellar also houses an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, just in case the shit hits the fan.

Your job, for now, is to oversee the SCC’s flawless operation and inform Laswell of any findings.

Boring; that’s what your job was. Boring.

“Christmas is coming,” Laswell’s voice sounded over the telephone, “You guys should do something to celebrate.”

“Do what, exactly, Kate? Go from house to house and sing carols on behalf of the CIA?” You reply, leaning forward as if you were trying to physically get your point across.

“If you’d stop being a sarcastic shit, then perhaps you could think a little better.” Her irritation rasped in her voice. “Do something together; think of it as a team-building event.”

He said he’d fix that attitude of yours; when was that team-building event going to take place?

She was right, though—as much as you’d hate to admit it. Christmas does bring people together.

You begin to reminisce about the good times back home when your family used to celebrate every year. You used to cook together, sing along to festive songs, watch Mr. Bean on television, and exchange gifts.

You remember your mother, who refrained from buying ornaments from the shops. She used to bake them instead—yes, bake them. She used to roll out the dough, give shape to it with cookie cutters and bake the ornaments so you would all decorate the Christmas tree with them. The entire house smelled divine with these four little ingredients she used in her recipe—cinnamon, salt, flour, and water.

Ingredients you already had in your pantry.

“Laswell, when’s my shift ending?” you asked in anticipation.

“It ended thirty-seven minutes ago. Tired of me?”

“I thought of something.” You announce, sitting on the edge of your seat.

“Wha-”

“I have to go. Over and out.” You report as you close the comms and head upstairs to the infamous pantry.

Cinnamon, salt, flour, and water.

You were determined to make it work, right here, in this safe house—with or without Ghost.

You hurried outside, scanning the area for the tree branches he trimmed a few weeks ago. If you tie them together, you could create something resembling a Christmas tree.

When was the last time he felt the Christmas spirit? Does he have a Christmas tree at his house? A family to sing together next to the fireplace? A warm, festive meal?

You moved frantically—part Christmas elf rolling out dough and baking ornaments, part Frankenstein trying to assemble a Christmas tree monstrosity.

Time flew by; hours passed like minutes as you worked hard, your creativity unleashed, putting forth your best effort to create something out of nothing.

To create festive decor out of raw ingredients.

To construct a tree out of stray branches.

To form a connection out of two peoples’ broken pieces.

“What’s that smell?”

You were so focused that you didn’t notice him standing behind you.

You turn around to see a wreck, the fragments of a man who has probably seen terrible things and done far worse.

“I—is everything all right?” You hesitate.

“Out of trouble, for now.” He replies.

His body stands straight, but his mind betrays him. He still wears his gun around his left shoulder. It looks too heavy for him now, just like his conscience.

“Yes, I know. I spoke with Laswell. I mean, are you all right?”

“Been better.”

His uniform is dusty, and his boots are covered in mud. There is a slight rip on his balaclava, teasing you with a subtle view of his jawline, like a Geisha exposing her nape.

“It’s over, for now.” you try to comfort him.

There’s blood on his left sleeve—a lot of blood. He just became aware of it as well.

“Not mine.” He announces and hides it behind his back. “What’s that smell?” He repeats, trying to avoid the conversation.

“Cinnamon.”

“Ya bakin’?” He seems shocked.

“Sort of; They’re ornaments for the Christmas tree,” you say, pointing in the direction of your most recent creation.

“A Christmas tree.” He stutters, glazed eyes darting left and right, assessing the new environment.

You want to tell him that there are no booby traps here, nothing dangerous to be careful of. You want to console him that there is no need to be alerted for an ambush here, for this is a safe space. No more killing, no more death, for now. Just you two, a hideous Christmas tree, and badly shaped cinnamon-baked ornaments.

“Do you like them?” You ask reluctantly, trying to divert his attention from this week’s horrors. “I couldn’t find any cookie cutters, so I shaped them with a knife instead. I tried to make them look pretty, but some came out broken.”

“Aren’t we all?” he mumbles as he walks towards the Christmas tree.

“Aren’t we all exactly what, lieutenant—pretty or broken?” you ask, attempting to lighten the mood.

“Pretty broken, kid,” he whispers as he picks up a shattered ornament. “Pretty damn broken.”

———————————————————————

Next ->

[utopicwork]

ID: Screenshot of a terminal running the command "scc simmer.py conv.py"

The points of interest here are these lines:

Estimated Cost to Develop (organic) $6,751

Estimated Schedule Effort (organic) 2.06 months

Estimated People Required (organic) 0.29

The line counting tool I'm using gives an estimate of how much code costed to develop and yeah you know what people should give me $6k for 3 days of work

[xbaebsae]

Get to know me - 8 TV shows

tagged by @minilev thank youu ♥

Rules: list 8 shows for your followers to get to know you!

(80s-2000s) Star Trek

Eureka

Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Gotham

Better Call Saul

Firefly

The Boys

Terminator: SCC

Tagging @euryalex @fadedjacket @bumblehumblebeee @detectivelokis @red-nightskies @lobanhart

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

ooh 👀 your bill and ben post reminds me of a video that the ttte community radio (over on youtube) did back in 2020 -- iirc you both came to similar conclusions re: b&b's relatively sheltered lives compared to the NWR cast, and that an interesting challenge for their character(s) would occur if their positions at the SCC were terminated (and I don't mean to be a pest in your askbox, but imo the vid's remaining anlysis on the matter was a fun listen)

Thank you! I wasn't aware of this channel but I'm interested.

I take it this is the video in question?

[ultranurd]

Asciinema WordPress Embeds

A few weeks ago I wrote about failed image uploads. In that post I used an embedded Asciinema player, recommended by long-time SCCS friend Branen, to show the console output of atop. I had initially tried ttyrec and ttygif, both of which are available in Homebrew. However ttyrec gave me some weird formatting errors and requires screen recording permissions to capture the Terminal window.…

[kanchankhatanaa]

Termination Of Employment: The Legal And Illegal Grounds Of Dismissal

An outburst of knowledge and technology in the eon of globalization has led to the augmentation of commercial and corporate markets. The elevation of investment by foreign companies in the Indian sector and the advent of laws relating to Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Exchange Management have brought about a radical change in the employment sector. The Indian economy has the characteristics of being a mixed economy. The Indian metros have been creating employment opportunities for years; however, cities like Gurgaon, Pune, Noida, and Hyderabad have contributed to creating abundant employment opportunities thereby elevating the Indian corporate market in the global sector.

The connection between employers and employees has been revamped because of the instantaneous elevation of the corporate sector. The nature and number of disputes have sprung up due to antiquated employers in the industry. The frequent conflicts include age, harassment, pregnancy, biased view of superiors, long hours of work, low recognition, and inter alias.

The Constitution of India substantially regulates matters related to the employment sector in India. ‘Right to work' has not been unequivocally embodied under the Constitution of India. However, in 1985, the Hon'ble Supreme Court widely interpreted Article 21 through its judgment in Olga Tellis & Ors. v. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Ors, 1985 SCC (3) 545 included ‘right to work' under the fundamental right of ‘right to life.' The Central and State governments have framed specific laws to regulate employment matters, namely the Factories Act, of 1948, the Industrial Disputes Act, of 1947, the Payment of Wages Act, of 1937, the Payment of Bonus Act, of 1965, Payment of Gratuity Act, of 1972, Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, Shops and Establishments Acts, etc. Municipal laws, collective and individual agreements, as well as judicial precedents, cover a muster of issues, which may be general or specific.

An employer and employee draw an ‘Employment Contract' in a legal relationship. This contract condenses the terms of the relation, nature of the work, rights and duties of the parties, working hours, etc. The most ordinary meaning of ‘Dismissal of employment' refers to the cessation of the employment contract by the employer against the wish of the employee. An employee may be dismissed on various grounds; the nature of the same may be fair or unfair or legal or illegal. The factors that are included under the umbrella term of ‘dismissal of employment' include inefficiency of workers, information theft, misconduct, fraud, sexual harassment, violation of contract, and personal biases, amongst a few.

Employees possess a right not to be unfairly dismissed from employment. Before the dismissal of an employee, employers need to ensure that they have a potentially fair reason. The first step of an employer, therefore, is to identify a potentially fair reason for the dismissal. If he is unable to show the presence of an adequate reason then the dismissal is unfair. The five potentially fair reasons include misconduct, capability (this includes physical and mental capacity), redundancy, illegality (i.e., the employee is unable to continue without a breach of law), and some other substantial reasons.

A dismissal can also be constructive, where an employee resigns in response to his or her employer's breach of contract.

The legal or fair causes of ‘dismissal of employment' include the inefficiency of an employee, the violation of the contractual agreement, theft of information or discharge of confidential information, professional misconduct, intentional damage of employers' property or loss of the same, sexual harassment, bribery, dishonesty about professional qualifications, fraud, etc.

The illegal or unfair factors of dismissal of employment are those whose grounds are speculative or vague. These causes may be proved under the ambit of misconduct or breach of the employment contract. These grounds or factors have to be profoundly determined by the employer to the court or disciplinary committee or any other authority relevant to the matter at hand. If the employer fails to show or justify the grounds for dismissal, adequate compensation has to be paid to the employee. The factors include the absence of employees due to pregnancy or maternity. Female employees are protected under the Maternity Benefits Act, of 1961. The violation of the contract by the employer is one of the primary factors under illegal causes as this is the most prevalent in the corporate sector in this age. The violation of the contract by the employer is a broad term and includes within its scope non-payment of salary or consistent delay in the payment of wages, long working hours, and the irregular contribution of bonus or gratuity. The violation of gift and gratuity is regulated by the Payment of Bonus Act, of 1965 and the Payment of Gratuity Act, of 1972 respectively. Discrimination by caste, creed, religion, or sex has been in existence for a very long period. Personal biases, grudges favoritism or unfair treatment on the part of the employer are other unfair grounds for dismissal. Firing an employee for lodging a legal complaint against the employer, or because the employee brought the employer's wrongdoing to light as a whistleblower, is illegal too. Such adverse actions are considered "retaliation" and are unlawful. Just cause occurs when an employer is justified in ending the employment relationship without providing any severance to the individual. The dismissed employee may also not be able to collect employment insurance benefits and will likely experience difficulty finding other employment. This severe blow can have a lasting effect on an individual. As a consequence, it becomes difficult to terminate employment for cause. Typically only the most serious forms of misconduct such as theft or dishonesty would be considered 'just' cause. In any situation where an employee is dismissed with cause, an employer would have to establish:

That the employee was guilty of serious misconduct That the employee was given every chance to improve That there were prior warnings and other disciplines That there was absolutely no choice but to let the employee go.

‘Dismissal of employment' in India, in the present scenario, is entirely at the volition of the employer. In a legal relationship between the employer and employee, the employer stands unmatched as compared to the employee. The rationale behind this arrangement is that in an employer-employee relationship, the only thing that regulates or governs the parties is the Employment contract. The illegal factors for the dismissal of an employee are triumphantly clothed under the ambit of legal considerations by the employer, resulting in the termination of the employee for no fault of his. This is a result of the absence of codified legislation to govern employment in the corporate sector as existing laws relating to labor are backdated and fail to cover the rights of employees. This codified legislation and a commission to act as a vigilance committee will serve as a boon for the white-collar employees who are dismissed on uncorroborated grounds.

[teakoodrawz]

Songbirds au takes place in the 19th century probably around when Helen Keller existed

Mark's grandparents owns a farm for the town and that's why he's wealthy (even if he's an orphan because both of his parents died from murder and other is terminal illness) he still runs the business and now with Caketon could help lift the burden and filled his heart from lacking things he miss so much

Scc are already met with him since elementary. Sunny was the closest friend. All scc members are dressed up as bird themes depending their preferences

[candacemariehughes]

candace marie hughes fla ifps with keys underwptt ros a - ah parking lots 1-500, lifeancient civils 1-40 ownership candace marie hughes owner on land epp ow aaa r, jeep wrangler 329777789, scc store supplier: pr 11 1415 1618 ar tsubstance for briques laid in water 800000, shas petsophs 1-10,000, soa st official: 35 36, meshdods 1-250/000/000, ancient islands: 1-60, ghost city of the pacific, stones reefs lines, jungle canopies 1-4, boona asscitiy, air port #1-3 terminals earth planet card. on. paid. must remove covers and coverings. on. paid. split appling rd. north and remove section of dczzsaeee. on. paid. must mail card and device and key. on. paid. must remove covers and coverings. on. paid. all of alll of all must return to candace marie hughes. on. paid. paid. paid. candace marie hughes ghost must return to candace marie hughes. on. paid. paid. must remove covers and coverings. on. paid. paid. paid.

[creative-pens]

Bengal SSC scam: High court hears challenge petition, but fate of 803 teachers undecided

Division Bench reserves order; last week, judge asked that steps be taken to cancel appointments of 1,911 Group D school staff.

The West Bengal School Service Commission finds no reason to re-examine the Optical Marks Recognition (OMR) sheets -- whose digital records were seized from Ghaziabad by the CBI and sent to the Commission to ascertain recruitment fraud -- or question their authenticity since they were “identical replicas” of the original answer scripts which are now destroyed.

The submission was made by the Commission before the Division Bench of Justices Subrata Talukdar and Supratim Bhattacharya of the Calcutta High Court which kept its order in reserve after concluding the hearing of challenge petitions moved before the court by the aggrieved secondary school teachers whose appointments are all set to be revoked on the basis of an SSC affidavit submitted in court.

Last week, following the Commission’s admission of its “fault”, Justice Abhijit Ganguly set a one-week deadline and directed the SSC to initiate the termination process of 803 currently-employed teachers of classes IX and X whose appointments were given back in 2017 by means of answer script result manipulation. The plea of these teachers to be added as a party to the case and be allowed to defend themselves in court was rejected by Justice Biswajit Basu. Challenging both orders, the litigants moved the Division Bench and argued their case before the judges on Monday.

Based on the same SSC affidavit, Justice Ganguly has already passed an order on Friday to take appropriate steps to cancel appointments of 1911 Group D staff in schools whose OMR sheet results were found tampered with. Both SSC and the state secondary education board have subsequently notified the termination. The appeal petition against that order could not be heard by the Division Bench on Monday since the Single Bench order was yet to be uploaded on the court’s Website.

In September last year the CBI, which is probing the SCC recruitment scam on the Calcutta High Court’s orders, had seized hard disks containing digital records of the 2017 TET exam from the Ghaziabad office of NYSA Communications Pvt Ltd, which was among the companies responsible for OMR sheet evaluation. Although the Commission has, by its own protocol, already destroyed the original OMR sheets of the candidates in question a year of the exams were conducted, the CBI argued in court that the OMR records seized from Ghaziabad vastly differed from the digital records recovered from the Commission’s office in Salt Lake, Kolkata and that a large number of candidates had their marks enhanced in the latter. The commission accepted its “mistake” under an oath before the court, identified 952 such candidates out of which 803 are employed for over five years now, and recommended that the appointments under question be cancelled.

Counsels for aggrieved teachers argued that the Commission based its conclusion on “secondary evidence” since the original documents have been destroyed which should bring the basis of comparison of the records under judicial scrutiny. The principles of natural justice and civil consequences of the job-losers must be kept in mind and the Commission should be directed not to proceed any further on its termination process under Rule 17 of the Commission’s Act till all stakeholders are heard by the court.

“Destruction of the original documents doesn’t make the evidence weak since they were mirror images of the original ones with no scope of human intervention. We have sufficient grounds to believe that mistakes were made,” Dr Sutanu Patra, appearing for the Commission submitted and added there was no scope of hearing the eliminated candidates as per SSC rules. Read More On..

[adj444]

JAN. 9 '23

typing on a chromebook is so weird…they dont have all the letter accents or a caps lock and i feel like a tiny little ant trying to hit individual keys

FRENCH: more work on same shiz as last week. and electric scooters yippee

BUSINESS: we started contract law despite having not recovered from the whiplash that was ratio analysis having began and complete (''complete'') the chapter in 1 class EEEK!!!! contract = legally binding agreement between 2+ parties, each party does something for the other, enforceable by law = compensation or court order if broken; agreement becomes a contract if ALL 8 EXIST:

offer: one person asks another to enter a deal, promises 2 be bound if accepted (termination = b4 acceptance, deadline, too much time)

acceptance: other party agrees to all terms, can't be changed

consideration: payment of objectively determinable value (money, labour) NOT for free

intention to contract: make sure everyone knows its LEGALLY BINDING (commercial agreements) and not just private or social agreements

capacity to contract: everyone has to have legal power and ability to enter (<18, drunk, DAC directors)

consent to contract: consent = validity = real honest voluntary legit permission to enter, not pressured ex. threat of violence

legality of form: certain things have to be written up ex. house purchase, hire purchase

legality of purpose: legal transactions only = no crimes (wont be upheld in court. duh)

invitation to treat = invitation to make an offer NOT an offer (price tag, ad) counter offer = other attempts to make changes @ acceptance offer + acceptance = agreement operating outside of authority of DAC = ultra vires 

termination = ending contract  performance: every1 performs their side of the agreement agreement: parties voluntarily agree, usually thru minimum notice in terms ex. contract of employment or 2 replace it with a better contract frustration: unexpected event stops a party from completing their side ex. bankruptcy or DYING breach of contract: if some1 doesnt do what they were supposed to; can be taken to court if ya dontttt = award financial damages/comp, order specific performance, rescind (return all to og positions)

AG. SCIENCE: lawttts finished ch.25 and went onto focus on animal diseases and milk

CAP = common agricultural policy (pays farmers) = statutory mgmt rqmts for calf >6mos welfare, welfare for all farm animals: NEVER muzzle, dock tail, tether, isolate w/o reason, castrate >6mos w/o local anaesthetic, dehorn or debud >14days w/o anaesthetic // MUST keep records of all medicinal treamts administered, no. of mortalities

HOUSING = adequate space, suitable bedding, sufficient light HEALTH = disinfect EVERYTHING, treat illness & injury, no isolation unless sick, suff. colostrum at birth, feed 2x day, routine inspection (2x day indoors, 1x outside) PEOPLE: sufficient labor, always wear appropriate PPE 

SDAS: best practice, traceability, sustainability

GLAS: biodiversity, water quality, climate change

EBI: flock health

ANIMAL HEALTH IE: scc check

ORIGIN GREEN: bord bia for agri food sector

MILK: snfs = proteins (casein & whey); lactose (main carb, dissacharide, glucose + galactose)

[trainsinanime]

As I grow older and look back at the years of my life, I’m starting to realise and understand things about it that I saw differently back then. In particular:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles wasn’t actually that good.

This is probably not that big a revelation overall. It got cancelled after two seasons, there doesn’t seem to be a huge fandom around, and any and all Terminator movies afterwards completely ignored it. Still, there are some factors hiding it. Terminator SCC is easily better than any of the movies that came after it, and is easily the best thing where a Game of Thrones queen plays Sarah Connor.

But to be clear: Daenerys Connor, first of her name, queen of the robots and the time travel, was easily the best part of that movie, and I refuse to rank her against brillant but very different Sarah Lannister.

This is actually the main point in favour of Terminator SCC: It had absolutely amazing casting. Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Brian Green, Garret Dillahunt and Shirley Manson all play their roles beautifully, full of charisma, and you always know there’s more hiding beneath the surface than they let on - yet when it comes out, it still surprises you. And of course, Summer Glau, she who holds the show together single-handedly at times.

It cannot be overstated how amazing Cameron (the Terminator in this show, played by Summer Glau) is. Sometimes she seems like a mindless killing machine; sometimes she seems like the „robot is learning to be human“ trope; but she’s clearly neither. She is her own unique form of intellect who works completely differently from the humans around her, which causes all sorts of friction, but also allows her to relate to humans incredibly well at times. It’s always fascinating to watch her, what she does next, and why (and whether she herself understands why). There are certainly uses of this character that are a bit questionable, most notably any times they go for „sexy“, but as a concept, Cameron is just amazing and I refuse to hear any arguments to the contrary.

The charisma of this cast alone is often carrying the show alone, and it’s amazing to watch. Sadly, they often have to. The show does have its great ideas, and I will forever love its season one finale. Sure, you might say that anything is epic if you play American Recordings-era Johnny Cash over it (and then blow up Summer Glau), and that’s probably true, but it’s also true that most shows don’t even try. But when it comes to overall plot, the show is just lacking.

The show came out in 2008, at a time when everybody was trying to be both the next Lost and the grown-up version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and like a lot of shows of that era, you see it trying to be these things but not quite clicking.

The show tries for monster of the week, which is good enough, but doesn’t really tell character arcs as well as Buffy did. And it tries for big-picture mystery and philosophising, much like Lost, but unlike Lost, it’s bad at hiding that its creators don’t really have a clue where this story is going. So we spend a lot of episodes doing essentially nothing. Sending the characters to a therapist could be a good idea, but the show doesn’t really commit to it. Sending the characters to a sleep clinic is just bizarre. The great overarching plot is at first to stop Skynet, but that’s not particularly interesting. Instead in season 2, it tries to be about psychological effects of the constant warfare, and of how humans and machines might coexist, which is much more interesting, but the show doesn’t really commit to these bites until the very end, when, of course, it got cancelled. There are a lot of great story ideas and great individual stories, almost all of them centered around Cameron, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. She gets hints of an arc, but a lot of the times she also seems to be a walking JJ Abrams Mystery Box, full of secrets that the show tells us are intriguing, but without any follow-through.

(We also need to acknowledge that many of its best ideas are lifted directly either from Terminator 2, or from the deleted scenes of Terminator 2. There’s nothing wrong with stealing from a great movie, but if your show is really just that, but longer, with lower budget, and without the satisfying narrative arcs for its characters, that’s an issue.)

Going back to the show’s contemporaries, the obvious comparison is Dollhouse, which also got completely lost between its plot-of-the-week and overarching plot. It barely managed to find its feet in season two, when the writers realised that the weird post-apocalyptic bonus episode they made because the DVD department of their studio forced them to, was in fact the only good episode. Another point of comparison that was much stronger was Heroes, which largely ditched the monster of the week and fully committed to the long-running storylines. 

(Oh god, I just compared Heroes positively to something. Guys, if you weren’t there, you won’t believe how much the sci-fi fandom world improved when we all switched from Heroes to new Doctor Who. You may have complained about Superwholock, but at least we were finally rid of Sylar.)

I still think that thanks to its excellent cast, Terminator SCC was a much stronger show than it had any right to be, and if the stars had aligned just a tiny bit differently and it had been allowed to fully commit to long-running stories, it might have been truly amazing. But at the end of the day, it just never really managed to find much of a core until it was too late.

If you’re interested, it’s currently streaming… nowhere, at least in Germany. If you know me personally, I guess I can lend you the DVDs? Either way, I think season 1, which got cut short due to the writer’s strike, is pretty good. Season 2 is where all the show’s flaws really come to light, even though it also has all the best episodes.

[meanwhileinfillory]

FRIEND: "What year did that come out again?"

ME: "Thomas Dekker is in it, so between 2009-2011."

[girlwiththegreenhat]

nobody talk to me this is literally all i am going to think about for the next week