After watching the “Demon Hand” episode of the new Terminator TV series, I am grudgingly going to admit that I’m a total fanboy. Bring unto me the next episode.
It started off with the fact that Summer Glau rules. She’s the odd, quiet girl who knows kung fu. She’s River Tam and she’s the Terminatrix. As with Starbuck in Galactica, that’s enough to have me paying $2 a pop to download it, though not enough to order cable … the “devil’s highway” does not have an exit at my apartment.
This episode though … it got me right between the eyes. The vindication of seeing the truth after decades of being called a liar. Revenge, a perfect right cross to the nose, after decades of waiting. The simple fact that realizing the truth of the world in all its awful glory is enough to reverse the roles of crazy and sane. The themes of “mother will always love you.”
But finally the idea that the ultimate punishment inflicted on the human prisoners in the machine regime is to be shown machines making art beyond human art. To be brought to the realization that humans … in the very depths of our humanity … have been replaced. That the machines feel passion beyond our passion, as much as their speed and strength are beyond our strength. Perhaps that they commune with God more directly than we do.
As long as that special and unique spark of humanity was sacred, they could keep fighting. Once they realized that a truly superior being had evolved … what else was there to do, and why?
Leave a Reply