The questions that season 2 has left us were more subtle and left us slightly curious. But it wasn't like how the seasons of a lot of shows end with a complete cliffhanger. We can really go on without being bothered what happened to Danny Dyson. How the timeline has changed now that John is in the future. Whether or not Sarah has cancer. Or whether that is Allison Young or Cameron in a new body.
Instead of leaving us with a cliffhanger that just dangles at us demanding to be answered, season 2 left us with a completely different feeling in my opinion....
See though, there's the problem... It's your opinion, but you use the term "us." I am well beyond "mildly curious" about what happens next now that John is 20 years into a future where he is not leading the resistance, and the lives of the only two people he has left in the world hang in the balance of the choices he makes, and about 90% of the Terminator fans I've talked to online feel he same way. Like I said, this is like TSCC's equivelent The Empire Strikes Back. Empire Strikes Back did not make me say "hmm... it could be interesting to see some of those questions answered, but I think it could be a good series closer if necessary." it left me shouting "I want to watch Return of the Jedi freakin' NOW!"
Likewise, I want to watch Season 3 of TSCC freakin' now. Even if/when the series gets renewed, waiting till fall for more episodes is going to be a slow, painfull process... Even with Terminator Salvation to tide me over.
The show's point was to be about Sarah Connor and her role as John's protector in the years following Terminator 2. That point has been fulfilled and there is no way it can continue with the way that season 2 ended.
I think I'll let Josh Friedman, the show's creator handle this:
Josh Friedman said:
But we needed a central relationship to anchor the story. The first Terminator movie was a romance, really, between Kyle and Sarah. The second movie is a father-son story between John and the Terminator. So I thought my show, at its core, would be a family drama, a relationship between a mother and a son who is coming of age. But if we're going to be about Sarah and John, there should be a girl. That's what usually breaks up that Oedipal relationship. And I decided to make the girl a Terminator.
This show is about the Connor family, consisting of Sarah, John, and Cameron. As long as Sarah Connor is alive, this is still going to be "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," and since Lena Headey has a 7 year contract with Warner Bros., I don't think that's going to change any time soon. Even though Summer Glau as Cameron is my favorite part of this show and I think Thomas Dekker is a terrific actor as John, Lena Headey as Sarah is what carries it. The show's identity largely comes from the fact that it's a family drama, and when you lose that you lose the show.
Season 3 has to be completely different. Radically. Just like how Justice League went from a group of seven heroes into a political entity on par with NATO and the United Nations in Justice League Unlimited. Or how Archie Bunker lived on without his wife in Archie Bunker's place. Or the Power Rangers getting a new power source from the power coins to the zeo crystals and fighting the Machine Empire instead of Rita and Lord Zedd in Power Rangers: Zeo. With the way it ended, I think a new show similar to how the shows I mentioned would be best. A fresh start for FOX on this series.
I think that Season 3 will be different, just as Season 2 was different from Season 1, but the show does not need an overhaul. Things will be different because for the first few episodes at least, we're likely going to be looking at a story that takes place in 2 separate time periods until John returns to 2009 (I'm thinking we'll see more than a few shades of Lost in those initial episodes). The Connors are once again without a home and Sarah is once again a wanted fugitive. They also are without Derek, unless John for some reason brings the alternate reality version of him back, which I foresee causing a lot of problems for the story (in addition to being a cop-out).
Even when the Connor family is back together things will be different, but not different enough that I think they should try and re-brand it. This is a show that's evolving, and now that the writers are finally escaping the shadow of the films I don't think it'd be smart to clean house. The show is still about the Connor family, and as long as that's true the show will still be "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Re-branding is just a cheap stunt to get attention, and I think this show would do much better by getting attention through reruns on cable.
