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Kareem Ali 3.5

Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #8

 

  • The good

    Loose ends are tied up, and events unfold in an entertaining way. Insight into John Connor

  • The bad

    Parnell as a mastermind with the ability to dominate Skynet so effortlessly is unconvincing. Ties up loose ends but doesn't cover new ground

  • The ugly

    • Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #8 continues with John Connor preparing to go through the time door to put an end to Thomas Parnell’s life before Skynet can use him for its plans. It opens with Connor reflecting on his life and how from the moment he was born he was being groomed to be leader of the resistance because it was his destiny. And he also knew from reports from the future that he helped win the war but didn’t survive the fateful battle. And he’s reflecting on all of this and telling Marcus Wright because he believes he actually has the opportunity to define his own destiny for the first time, and that maybe traveling back to the past is what made everyone in the future believe he died. Time is of the essence since the terminators controlled by Thomas Parnell are advancing on the time door, and there’s nothing Skynet can do about it. Parnell has figured out that Skynet has an agreement with the resistance and laughs off Skynet’s reason that it’s because he wants to destroy everything, humans and terminators alike. Parnell states it’s just a matter of time before he has full control and he will be Skynet until he remembers his past and how Simon was attempting to kill him. He says he always believed it was someone from that time period wanting to kill him out of revenge and the terminators were just protecting him but now he sees that it was actually someone sent from the future and he was the one who sent the terminators back to protect himself. Yet Simon has finally located Parnell in the past and is intent on killing him and effectively changing the future. But was Simon’s mission over before it even started or can the future be rewritten for all?

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    The last issue had me thinking that the series could finally get back on track in terms of living up to the potential in the first issue, so I approached this issue with a more hopeful mentality than I’ve had in a few months. And the start of this issue had me feeling optimistic one moment with John Connor explaining his life and what being sent back in time meant for him, and then it was gone the next when the realization that it was Simon who was sent back to kill Parnell sunk in. And when Parnell realized that he was the one who sent back the terminators I was somewhat disappointed. And the reason is there would be nothing new that would be revealed this issue since everything that was already shown was just now unfolding, and this issue was just going through the motions. Although it did raise the question of whether or not Parnell was the ultimate mastermind of this plan since the terminators also were the ones who contacted Dr. Kogan, and if so, that causes some problems. I can see the little things that hinted at this situation all along now but Parnell is not convincing as anything other than a pure killing machine and Dr. Kogan was approached by the terminators while still in the hospital. So her role in the messages being sent back and everything else becomes clearer but the plan wasn’t complete without those terminators. And his utter dominance of Skynet especially in such a brief time still doesn’t sit right with me fully. Aside from that there is plenty of action once again but unlike previous issues one of the story threads reaches a climax but what that means exactly going forward remains to be seen. So if you don’t have any problems with Parnell becoming so dominant in the past and future then you’ll enjoy the sequence of events because it is pretty exciting, and the way things are tied together is somewhat rewarding considering the time it took to reach this point.  However it’ll be very difficult for more progress not to be made next issue with the turn of events here so I am actually looking forward to that.

     

    SUMMARY

    Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #8 ties up at least some of the loose ends from the start of the series, and even though some things unfold in an entertaining manner, Parnell as the mastermind behind these significant events is unconvincing.  To get a brief understanding of Connor’s mentality about his destiny was intriguing, and I’m hoping there is still some meaning behind that conversation that will become clearer later. It has taken awhile to get to this point but with the loose ends tied up the series should now be able to cover new ground but I have to see it to believe it first after 8 issues.

     

    Release Date: 8/13/14

    Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

    Artist: Pete Woods

  • Rating ( 6.75 )
  • Total score 6.8

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