I love the pacing of the show, which others might find laborious, I find it refreshing and brave. 

John Connor will be the Future Leader of Mankind but at this moment he’s still a child suffering from a traumatic event – killing Sarkissian and lashing out at the one person who only wants to protect him but was helpless to do so. He’s acting more and more carelessly and they get robbed blind by common thieves.

Sarah and Cameron go about hunting down the thieves and their belongings with the occasional help of Derek but the main duo here is Sarah and Cameron. Cameron proves, once again, that she is a scary robot and that messing with her jacket would mean death.

Jessie seems to have her own motives that may undermine the Connors.  

Cromatie is an intriguing Terminator, he saves Ellison because he has faith Ellison will lead him to the Connors. It is intriguing that he has faith, that he seems to adapt in a way that Weaver and Cameron are, although in a more clumsier degree re: human interactions.  Seeing Cromatie smile was a little more creepifying than seeing Weaver smile. 

I feel for Ellison, being trapped like that and threatened with imprisonment for a crime he didn’t do and knowing that somewhere out there, a robot is counting on him to bring the Connors to him. 

Sarah still finds it impossible to kill an innocent. But this decision will come back to haunt her, especially with Cromatie finding the person she spared and torturing/coercing him for answers. 

Quotage:

Cameron: ‘I’ve always made my position on security very clear. No one likes a nag.’

–

Cameron: ‘My jacket, give it to me.’

Thief: ‘Come and get it.’

Cameron: (pulls out her gun) ‘Come and give it to me.’

Last episode Stella left Ted at the altar but surprise of all surprises Ted doesn’t react with any sort of anger, in fact he’s very mellow about the whole thing. Most fans find Ted annoying or unlikeable but I’ve never been part of that since I always liked him but this episode really brought it home. I like Ted this way, this really mellow guy from Ohio living in New York. 

Ted expressing that he’s fine and looking fine baffles the gang until it culminates with Lily confronting him and revealing Ted’s coping mechanism – ignore the pain and also a hilarious unveiling of the ‘A New York Guide to Places You Might Run Into Stella Zinmann’ Map. The show does descend to some very sit commy situation, the gang hiding under the table, another laugh out loud moment. 

I love this shows conceit with flashbacks and this episode was no different. Loved Lily’s revelation about what she did to Gasser, er, Michael in the ninth grade (and how fantastic was it that she really looked like a high school kid, hell, like the way she did in the first season of Buffy!) and even more fantastic was Robin’s revelation about her upbringing– her father brought her up as a boy! Her real name is Robin Charles Scherbatsky, Jr or RJ for short! It was both funny and sad and, to Barney, in a true Barney moment, hot. Also, just like Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders looked eerily like a teenager, way to go make-up department!

Have to give props to Barney’s priceless utterly Barney like expression as he dove under the table of three women. Classic. 

Things came together when Ted finally decides to confront Stella and undergoes a car/taxi chase and Ted finally getting angry and the main reason for Ted’s anger– Stella’s moving to the city for Tony when Stella wanted Ted to move in with her in New Jersey. There is no truer way to get Ted into a crazed rant than by invoking the very idea of New Jersey and his rant and anger was a joy to watch, especially with the whole gang (especially Marshall) egging him on.

But when he finally turned to confront Stella it all dissipated in the face of the happiness he saw Stella and her daughter had being with Tony. And opted to take the third option, by being adult about it and letting it all go. 

When I first saw the ending I was underwhelmed but as I rewatched the episode the more I realize how much I liked it. HIMYM never claimed to be a normal sitcom, it’s more than that and I like how ironic the episode title was. There was a happily ever after, it just wasn’t for Ted. I also like the conceit that maybe this isn’t his big grand romantic story. The Mother is still out there and I’m very ready to finally meet the Mother. 

Quotage

- ‘When life gives us pain we buckeyes take that pain and we push it down! And if the pain comes up again, we push more pain down on top of it!’ -Ted on the Ohio Way of Taking Pain

- ‘Stella hated Star Wars! She lied to you! Search your feelings, Ted! You know it to be true!’ – Marshall channeling Darth Sidious.

- ‘I love Angry Ted!’ – Marshall after Ted’s angry rant

I mostly watch American and Brit TV with the occasional foray into anime and KDrama. I’m a sci-fi fan but I’m also open to drama and procedurals. Especially one procedural but more on that later. Since this is about beginnings, I thought I’d start with a show I’ve just started watching.

The Fixer

Episode 1×01

John Mercer (Andrew Buchan) is a government assassin, hired straight from prison after killing his aunt and uncle for child abuse.

On paper, the show reminded me a little of Le Femme Nikita, an American show a few years back about a woman sent to prison and was recruited to be a government agent for a shadowy branch of the government.