Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #5 continues with the resistance reeling from Skynet’s latest weapon, the serial killer Thomas Parnell, directly controlling the terminators and infusing them with his lust for blood. After Simon’s failure to kill Parnell after being sent in the past to hunt him, the resistance is paying the consequences and it’s unlike anything they’ve seen in previous battles. However the resistance’s plan to send back Kyle Reese is still going forward and the fact the time door has just become operational, according to the energy signature, is only encouraging for them. And only John Connor knows the true importance of sending Kyle Reese back and it’s not only to prevent Skynet from killing his mother but because he’s his father. None of this is relevant to Thomas Parnell who only cares about being able to kill, and with so many terminators under his control he’s having an euphoric experience and wants to be given control over all the terminators. Despite Dr. Kogan’s warnings that doing so would have an adverse affect on Parnell because he’s just adjusting to his new body and mind, Parnell is able to convince Skynet to give him control behind her back with the claim she’s having cold feet. So has Skynet’s revealed hand given it an insurmountable advantage or does the resistance have one final play considering Skynet has put its fate in the hands of a psychotic killer?

I loved the way this series started and I was hoping it was back on track after the last issue and we would finally get to see some of the brilliance in the original premise and story threads. And now halfway through this series I still can’t get a bead on it and what it’s trying to accomplish. I admit that I’m surprised at how much the focus has been on preparing to send Kyle Reese back to the past even after all these issues and this issue felt like Terminator: The Extended Edition or how one would describe the first Terminator movie to someone who never saw all of it and had questions about it. Nothing in this issue felt fresh and a disservice was done to the previous issues by tying all the story threads to the importance of protecting Kyle Reese to send him back to the past. Maybe it’s the length of this series and the need to have filler issues during its run but this series doesn’t even feel like a prequel to the original movie and instead feels like commentary filling in what didn’t need to be in the first movie. We already know why Kyle Reese was sent back and why John Connor wanted to make sure he was safe. There was one interesting development and that was Skynet choosing to listen to Parnell behind Dr. Kogan but it didn’t feel promising because of how everything was tied back to the events of the first movie. There are 7 more issues to go so it’s still possible there can be fresh story developments but what started off promising has turned into exposition that could’ve come from the cutting room floor of the first movie.

SUMMARY

Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #5 is a disappointing issue that only made me appreciate the original Terminator movie even more for its simple brilliance and execution. What started off as original story threads has descended into filler surrounding the events of that first movie. Even speculating about potential developments that could occur based on just the story making sense isn’t particularly exciting and so as of now I’m only looking forward to the next issue just out of curiosity considering the number of issues remaining in this series.

Release Date: 4/2/14

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Artist: Pete Woods