The fiance played a prisoner on Oz and then a cop for a while on... L & O?

Dean Winters. To me he'll always be Dennis the pager salesman from 30 Rock. I'm catching up on TiVo delay right now, and so far, the recasting of the fiance is the biggest change from the leaked pilot. He was originally played by Tim Guinee, late of Strange World and SG-1, or as I like to think of him, the Poor Man's Nathan Fillion.

Interesting. I wonder why the recast. Do you think it was for the better?

Dean Winters will always be Oz guy to me - that's where I first met him. Wish I could remember his character's name. Which I just looked up. Ryan O'Reily. Also reminds me that I still haven't watched S6 of Oz. I should do that, I guess.

Interesting. I wonder why the recast.

It certainly looks like the fiance will be the ongoing recurring role and maybe there was an issue with Guinee's availability? I haven't watched Winters in Oz, and he was hella goofy in SVU and 30 Rock, so seeing him in a serious role is kind of throwing me off.

Also new since the leaked pilot: the scene with Cameron (haha, nice homage) and John where he's all, "yeah, no way a hot girl would notice a weirdo like me," which was charming. Thomas Dekker? Has eyelashes I'd kill for. And the scenes between Cameron and Sarah were hella slashy. I like that Summer Glau has nice chemistry with both Lena Headley and Thomas Dekker. I liked the FBI agent, too (Hi, Bruce!) and the fact that by the end of the finale, he's starting to question the party line about Sarah's story. Overall, promising stuff. Man, I'm glad to have something new to watch on TV.

Dean Winters was fucking awesome on Oz. I was so excited when I heard about the recast.

Also reminds me that I still haven't watched S6 of Oz. I should do that, I guess.

You should! People die!

I liked the FBI agent, too (Hi, Bruce!) and the fact that by the end of the finale, he's starting to question the party line about Sarah's story.

Yeah, the FBI agent was my favorite part. I enjoy that sort of character.

so seeing him in a serious role is kind of throwing me off.

I...yeah. I've never seen him do comedy. Unless slit-your-wrists black comedy counts.

I liked the pilot more the second time around. I still felt the early Sarah/John scenes were really off and cringey, but the ones later in the episode were better.

I do like killer robots wreaking havoc, though.

I liked John calling his mom on her creepy watching.

I hope a lot of the things that I found illogical or off or awkward were symptoms of pilotitus, and not the general quality to be expected from subsequent eps.

I did like the fiance and hope he really is a recurring character. But his going to the police felt like one of those pilot contrivances to get the plot moving along. He's not a dumb guy, and I'd think that if his girl ran off on him, he'd hire a PI, not go to the police where he has no case, or the sense to make it seem like he had a case. GF up and dumps your ass? Cops are not the next step in a any universe, unless you pretend you didn't notice the missing clothing and toiletries.

Unless they want us to believe he's obsessive and crazy, which I don't think is the case since they made a point to say twice or thrice over that John dug the guy.

I do like killer robots wreaking havoc, though.

Don't we all... especially when they look like Summer Glau.

I just have to share this TWoP post in response to a question about why Owain Yeoman paused before shooting John Connor (the real reason being he needed to be hit by Cameron in a truck).

GF and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really good cast (Summer Glau was great), cool effects, and nicely tied in to the movies. We're looking forward to tonight!