The future is unwritten…

As we discussed here, the first episode of this show is very strong. The rest of it is better. Over the course of its eight episode run time, Terminator Zero honours the existing continuity(ies), tells an emotionally resonant and nuanced story and pushes the core idea of the Terminator franchise in the only direction it can go and the last direction, at times, it or its fans have wanted to go. Forwards.

Let’s do that one first. Terminator Zero expressly states the Skynet conflict is a false binary. The very nature of the franchise, and the emotional growth of previous terminators, has demonstrated this but Zero spends most of its final two episodes pointing at this and shouting to make sure you get the point. The last time any element of the franchise was this ambitious was The Sarah Connor Chronicles and that’s some of the highest praise I can offer. This isn’t a story about stopping Judgment Day, because you can’t. It’s a story about the incredible heroism of sacrificing your life to save a world that isn’t yours but that you’re now trapped in. No Fate, like the man once said, and every character here embodies that concept.

The ambition of the storytelling is reflected in those characters. The show is brave enough to have a large cast and give all of them a lot to do. Each of those plots provides a different perspective on the end of the world and they combine to give you a complete view of the awful, incredible opportunity Malcolm sacrifices everything to get. His conversations with Kokoro spark with big, ethical concepts and show us just how uncertain the future is. Malcolm has some of the biggest surprises in the show and he and Kokoro leave the show with a wildly different status quo that completely harmonizes with the existing world.

Misaki, Eiko and the Terminator provide us with a veteran’s eye view in very different ways. Eiko, voiced with excellent hard-bitten focus by Sonoya Mizuno, is a non-romantic Kyle Reece who gets some gloriously crunchy action sequences (her going hand to hand to hand with a Terminator is especially fun) and a surprisingly emotional arc. It pairs beautifully with Misaki’s arc, played by Sumalee Montano. Malcom’s housekeeper is key to the war and the story and the way she finds her individuality is one of the show’s most interesting beats. Timothy Olyphant’s Terminator, amazingly, is in this space too. He’s a monosyllabic doombringer for much of the series but when you get context for his story you see just how deeply the show has been thought out and through and just what potential there is for depth in these metallic, skull-faced killing machine.

Finally, Kenta, Reka and Hiro – Malcolm’s children – show us what the future looks like. The voice actors, Armani Jackson, Gideon Adlon and Carter Rockwood are great and the terror the kids feel is central to the final two episodes. They, like Eiko, grow up fast and the show does some extraordinary work with a future that, if real, puts them on different sides and if not, is one of the most insidious things done in the franchise. They’re a family, and that’s a strength. They’re a family, and that’s a weakness.

Finally, those existing continuities. They’re all real. They all work. The future of the Terminator franchise is multi-choice, and this series doesn’t contradict your head canon. Rather, it adds perspective and depth to it and  franchise whose willingness to play the hits is finally being replaced by a willingness to experiment.

Verdict: Complex, big idea science fiction and a real standout in both its franchise and Netflix’s anime slate. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart