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sheafrotherdon's journal entries (here and here, both worth reading). Posted mostly to put my thoughts in one place and see if they shape anything that makes sense, and also in case any of you were interested or have other theories to toss out.
1.
So, here is my pet hunch -- it's not a theory, because I have nothing to back it up, just my gut instinct based on this show's predilection for turning expectations on their heads. I think that John Henry is going to play god for Sarah Connor. The obvious choice would be to have him view her as a threat and attempt to eliminate her -- but that's the wrong choice given so many of the themes they've been setting up, and so many of the things Ellison has been trying to teach him. I think that John Henry is going to help spring Sarah from jail. He has a child's morality and understanding of interpersonal cause and effect -- that's perfect for a formulation of "if I help save them even though they want to kill me, they will see I'm not evil and then they won't want to kill me." After all, the series has put a lot of muscle into posing the question of free will for Cameron, and John Henry is one open question himself. She may be programmed to kill under given conditions, but her judgment about when those conditions apply looks a lot like free will.
As for John Henry, we haven't to my knowledge been told he's programmed to do anything except learn -- the rest is up to him. A big theme of the show has also been that the future isn't fixed -- Derek's future differed from Jesse's, and we don't know for certain that Cameron's was the same as either of theirs. The biggest possible break from the destiny the characters focus on would be for John Henry, apparently (but not certainly -- after all, there's his brother, and I'm starting to believe that John Henry is Abel to Skynet's Cain) the forefather of Skynet, to decide that the best way to protect his own life was to save Sarah and John. It's an extension of Weaver's statement. Savannah and Ellison's -- humanity's -- survival may depend on John Henry, but John Henry's survival may depend on humanity as well.
Also, on Weaver -- I'm wondering if she's not trying to do the same thing Cameron is. It's extremely unlikely she's from the present, and the other nano-machine we saw in the future had implicitly been a neutral third party that future!John was trying to court to their side. What if she's trying to cultivate an AI with a moral compass so that there's an Abel in place who can stand against Skynet's Cain?
2.
See, I'm not sure about John Henry being headed for a tragic end if he saves Sarah. You're completely right about Sarah, completely, but (I just realized this) in the structure of the show John:Sarah::John Henry:Weaver. Both women are convinced their child is the key to saving the world, and both women are willing to go to just about any lengths to protect them. But in both cases, the arc is ultimately about the sons reaching understanding of how the world works, claiming their own agency, and taking the responsibility from their mother's shoulders to their own. And both have made different decisions than their mothers would have wanted -- John Henry in learning more than Weaver intended and acting in secret when he sees a reason to do so, John in trusting Cameron and exercising mercy with Jesse. I think that, while the mothers may believe they must eliminate the other side's threat to preserve their own, John and John Henry (really, how did I miss the name connection until now) may forge their own accord.
3.
I have hope, though. I mean, it's been a while since I read or saw any of Shakespeare's histories, but don't they always take the names of the fathers but lead inevitably to the sons taking the throne?
4.
Also, re Weaver: I just had the (embarrassingly belated) realization that Sarah:John::Weaver:John Henry. (Elaborated more at your other post.) She, like Sarah, occupies the teacher/protector role. Having given birth to a child she believes will save the world, she is attempting to shape and shelter him until he is grown and can usher in the new era.
Interesting twist on this show's feminism, though -- in TSCC, it isn't the sons who are sacrificed, like Isaac and Jesus, but the other-daughters. Cameron by Sarah, over and over again; Savannah by Weaver, though never premeditated; and Riley by Jessie, first in intent and then by her own hand. All three daughters are like and not-like their mothers, all three are ultimately expendable to the greater good. What makes TSCC different from the standard dynamic, where women's relationships are hinged upon and destroyed for their relationships with men, is that a) the mothers and other-daughters in the show actually have relationships to each other, and b) when the mothers sacrifice the other-daughters, it isn't for the sons themselves, but for the futures the sons will bring into being.
The mothers birth the sons. The sons birth the world. The daughters bridge the gaps. The fathers do not survive the sons' conception. The uncles help rear the sons in the fathers' places.
5.
[in response tosheafrotherdon's comment that for all the potential to tell a Jesus story, so far this series most strong echoes Genesis] Exactly. And Genesis is full of stories about wrath, and brother turned against brother, and the erasure of cities, armies, even the world -- but it is also a book about covenants. It even ends with truces and covenants, and one nation harboring another ... which doesn't end well, granted, but takes another book to work out badly.
Interestingly, so far the show has only explicitly referred to one major pair of Biblical brothers -- Cain and Abel -- but it's glossed over two pairs who are just as relevant if not more so. Jacob and Esau recur in human/machine scifi parables, with one son (humanity) cheating the other (machine) of his birthright (in scifi, free will and self-determination) to benefit himself. But I think it's possible that the series will make John and John Henry into Jacob and Ishmael -- two sons of different mothers, one foretold and one not, but both protected by God and meant to father great nations. This could the story of Sarah and Hagar's children, with no Abraham to create a rift and bestow unequal status of wife and concubine.
sheafrotherdon's journal entries (here and here, both worth reading). Posted mostly to put my thoughts in one place and see if they shape anything that makes sense, and also in case any of you were interested or have other theories to toss out.1.
So, here is my pet hunch -- it's not a theory, because I have nothing to back it up, just my gut instinct based on this show's predilection for turning expectations on their heads. I think that John Henry is going to play god for Sarah Connor. The obvious choice would be to have him view her as a threat and attempt to eliminate her -- but that's the wrong choice given so many of the themes they've been setting up, and so many of the things Ellison has been trying to teach him. I think that John Henry is going to help spring Sarah from jail. He has a child's morality and understanding of interpersonal cause and effect -- that's perfect for a formulation of "if I help save them even though they want to kill me, they will see I'm not evil and then they won't want to kill me." After all, the series has put a lot of muscle into posing the question of free will for Cameron, and John Henry is one open question himself. She may be programmed to kill under given conditions, but her judgment about when those conditions apply looks a lot like free will.
As for John Henry, we haven't to my knowledge been told he's programmed to do anything except learn -- the rest is up to him. A big theme of the show has also been that the future isn't fixed -- Derek's future differed from Jesse's, and we don't know for certain that Cameron's was the same as either of theirs. The biggest possible break from the destiny the characters focus on would be for John Henry, apparently (but not certainly -- after all, there's his brother, and I'm starting to believe that John Henry is Abel to Skynet's Cain) the forefather of Skynet, to decide that the best way to protect his own life was to save Sarah and John. It's an extension of Weaver's statement. Savannah and Ellison's -- humanity's -- survival may depend on John Henry, but John Henry's survival may depend on humanity as well.
Also, on Weaver -- I'm wondering if she's not trying to do the same thing Cameron is. It's extremely unlikely she's from the present, and the other nano-machine we saw in the future had implicitly been a neutral third party that future!John was trying to court to their side. What if she's trying to cultivate an AI with a moral compass so that there's an Abel in place who can stand against Skynet's Cain?
2.
See, I'm not sure about John Henry being headed for a tragic end if he saves Sarah. You're completely right about Sarah, completely, but (I just realized this) in the structure of the show John:Sarah::John Henry:Weaver. Both women are convinced their child is the key to saving the world, and both women are willing to go to just about any lengths to protect them. But in both cases, the arc is ultimately about the sons reaching understanding of how the world works, claiming their own agency, and taking the responsibility from their mother's shoulders to their own. And both have made different decisions than their mothers would have wanted -- John Henry in learning more than Weaver intended and acting in secret when he sees a reason to do so, John in trusting Cameron and exercising mercy with Jesse. I think that, while the mothers may believe they must eliminate the other side's threat to preserve their own, John and John Henry (really, how did I miss the name connection until now) may forge their own accord.
3.
I have hope, though. I mean, it's been a while since I read or saw any of Shakespeare's histories, but don't they always take the names of the fathers but lead inevitably to the sons taking the throne?
4.
Also, re Weaver: I just had the (embarrassingly belated) realization that Sarah:John::Weaver:John Henry. (Elaborated more at your other post.) She, like Sarah, occupies the teacher/protector role. Having given birth to a child she believes will save the world, she is attempting to shape and shelter him until he is grown and can usher in the new era.
Interesting twist on this show's feminism, though -- in TSCC, it isn't the sons who are sacrificed, like Isaac and Jesus, but the other-daughters. Cameron by Sarah, over and over again; Savannah by Weaver, though never premeditated; and Riley by Jessie, first in intent and then by her own hand. All three daughters are like and not-like their mothers, all three are ultimately expendable to the greater good. What makes TSCC different from the standard dynamic, where women's relationships are hinged upon and destroyed for their relationships with men, is that a) the mothers and other-daughters in the show actually have relationships to each other, and b) when the mothers sacrifice the other-daughters, it isn't for the sons themselves, but for the futures the sons will bring into being.
The mothers birth the sons. The sons birth the world. The daughters bridge the gaps. The fathers do not survive the sons' conception. The uncles help rear the sons in the fathers' places.
5.
[in response to
sheafrotherdon's comment that for all the potential to tell a Jesus story, so far this series most strong echoes Genesis] Exactly. And Genesis is full of stories about wrath, and brother turned against brother, and the erasure of cities, armies, even the world -- but it is also a book about covenants. It even ends with truces and covenants, and one nation harboring another ... which doesn't end well, granted, but takes another book to work out badly. Interestingly, so far the show has only explicitly referred to one major pair of Biblical brothers -- Cain and Abel -- but it's glossed over two pairs who are just as relevant if not more so. Jacob and Esau recur in human/machine scifi parables, with one son (humanity) cheating the other (machine) of his birthright (in scifi, free will and self-determination) to benefit himself. But I think it's possible that the series will make John and John Henry into Jacob and Ishmael -- two sons of different mothers, one foretold and one not, but both protected by God and meant to father great nations. This could the story of Sarah and Hagar's children, with no Abraham to create a rift and bestow unequal status of wife and concubine.