Shameless perversion.

I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that I have a soft spot in my heart for the Terminator franchise, my appreciation of its dramatic worth has absolutely sweet FA to do with my decision to watch the TV spin-off. The fact that movies one and two are examples of science-fiction cinema at its absolute finest is completely incidental. I watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles for Thomas Dekker. And I’m not afraid to admit it.

Yes, I am a twenty five year old – male – teenybopper. Ever since he was running around Odessa filming indestructible cheerleaders and being hopelessly picked on by his peers in Heroes (oh wait, sorry, that was his character), I’ve harboured a silly celebrity crush on the guy… which, obviously, was what led me to sit in front of my computer screen every Tuesday for 45 minutes during nine weeks earlier this year, slavering at the mouth. Okay okay, maybe I wasn’t that bad. But I was certainly close. And then, three weeks ago, it all changed. I was looking forward to spending another few months watching Dekker run around as a teenage John Connor, getting into sticky situations (oh what a pun) and just generally being hot. And, for the first forty minutes, that was exactly what I got… and a shirtless scene, to boot:

I was in heaven. And then this happened:

Disaster. Worst plot development in the 2008-09 season, easy. You just don’t cut Thomas Dekker’s hair. Don’t you all know it’s like, the 147^th Commandment? With a simple brandishing of the razor, Dekker’s attractiveness has dropped. Oh sure, I'd still jump at the chance to do ungodly things to him if the opportunity ever arose, but, I dunno… a little piece of me died when the floppy fringe fell to the floor. Perhaps it’s the ‘I’m a tough man now’ connotations that seem to come hand-in-hand with this sort of thing that don’t sit too well with me (anyone remember Bauer’s remarkable transformation from dishevelled embarrassment to UNSTOPPABLE MACHINE at the end of 24's first episode of season two?) Cutting your hair does not change your personality, American television writers. Honest.

And yes, I do realise how incredibly shallow all of this is. I should really be talking about how the programme has seen a marked improvement on its debut season with its first episodes of year two, particularly in the well-paced action extravaganza of an opener ‘Samson and Delilah’ (very nice to see Summer Glau go postal and get some actual character development, to boot), the first ten minutes of which is certainly the best thing the writers have ever done. I should be intricately discussing the finer points of the mythology, the carefully constructed narratology, the admirable performances from all involved, particularly, it must be said, Dekker himself who has been hitting home run after home run, straight out of the park (and I’m not just saying that because I’d love to get in his pants). I should probably be rabbiting on about the surprising choice of Garbage’s Shirley Manson as the T1000 too. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m too traumatised. Oh floppy fringe, we barely knew ye.

201: ‘Samson and Delilah’: 9.0
Wr: Josh Friedman; Dr: David Nutter

202: ‘Automatic for the People’: 8.2
Wr: Natalie Chaidez; Dr: Jeffrey G. Hunt

203: ‘The Mousetrap’: 8.5
Wr: John Wirth; Dr: Bryan Spicer