'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' leaves a loose end
When you're eating dinner in your house and somehow also show up at your own door while you're still sitting at the table in the other room, it's probably not a good thing. It's also exactly what happened to Ellison at the start of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight. Poor Ellison, you just knew he wasn't going to be in for a good night.
Before the T-1001 could execute Ellison, Cromartie showed and eliminated the liquid metal doppelganger. Cromartie then explained that he killed the other Terminator because while Skynet didn't believe in Ellison, Cromartie had faith that Ellison would lead him to the Connors. Rather than forcing him to do it right then, Cromartie just took the dead Terminator and left.
Speaking of the Connors, they showed up at their house tonight to find out that they were robbed. Yes, they had a fancy-shmancy alarm system on the house, but John had given Riley the code so that she could sneak out of the house and she had neglected to turn it back on.
Sarah was awfully worried that the robbery would lead to their identity getting out and some evil Terminator learning of where they lived. She need not have been concerned about that, because the women's shelter that Cameron had gone to a few episodes back finally uploaded Cameron's photo to a central database. Cromartie picked up on the picture, headed over to the shelter, and learned from Jody not just about Cameron, but about her brother "John Baum" too.
The Connors weren't hanging out waiting for Cromartie though, they were off to find their stolen diamonds (and various other possessions). "Serendipitously," Derek just happened to know the fence who had the diamonds and so Derek, Cameron, and Sarah paid a visit to the fence who gave them the name Walter Ostrowski. Sarah and Cameron thought that Ostrowski was the man who had robbed them, but really he just owed the diamond guy and was the price of the Connors finding out the truth about the robbers (they should have been trying to find out the truth about Jesse, who Derek lied to them about, but that's going to be a down the line thing).
Okay, Derek's knowledge about Moishe, the diamond fence, wasn't really a coincidental thing as Jesse knew Moishe, but Jody taking Cromartie to the supermarket she heard that Cameron had been busted in just as John and Riley were shopping there certainly was. Neither she nor Cromartie spotted John at the supermarket, but it was still just a little too cutesy and coincidental for me.
After dropping Jody in the middle of the street (literally), Cromartie continued his hard-target search for the Connors and hit on Casey's place. Casey didn't give up the fact that she knew the "Baums" and called John to let him know about the strange man's appearance.
For his part, Cromartie wasn't put off by Casey's denial and knocked on the Connor-Baum's door. John tried to suggest that maybe, just maybe, Riley shouldn't answer the door, but she didn't listen. She tried to not to let Cromartie in, but when did you ever hear of a Terminator taking "no" for an answer? John grabbed a shotgun, but Cromartie bailed after a cursory search of the place and before he found John. I don't think Cromartie believed Riley's protestations about not knowing Cameron, but he did leave.
As for Sarah's plot... Moishe did end up giving them the name of the man who sold him the diamonds, one Tristan Dewitt. A visit to Tristan's home revealed that the 35 year-old still lived with his parents and allegedly worked at a video store when not robbing houses.
Sarah and Cameron were going to go visit Tristan at his place of business, but got a call about their stolen credit card being used at a bowling alley and changed course. I understand the impetus for their doing that, but surely they could have guessed that an evil Terminator might have been monitoring fraudulent credit card transactions using the Baum credit cards (after all, Sarah was worried about someone linking the stolen IDs to them). In fact, Cromartie was monitoring things and quickly headed to the bowling alley as well.
Sarah and Cameron got there first and confronted three thieves as they were discussing their latest film project (Tristan fancied himself a filmmaker). Cameron, recognizing that the men knew the Baum address terminated them with a few well placed gunshots. There was however a fourth person in the bathroom. After witnessing Cameron's handiwork, Sarah confronted the fourth thief in private and Sarah showed herself to be overly weak. She opted to simply terrify the final culprit rather than eliminating him. Sarah then told Cameron that the bathroom was clear. It was definitely not a loose thread I would have left and by the end of the episode Cromartie had found the thread and gotten the answers he needed.
Odds and ends:
- After the initial shock of Ellison seeing his doppelganger being killed, the man was quickly arrested for the murder of Peter Myers. Weaver visited him in jail, which was most interesting in that it meant that she wasn't the T-1001 that tried to kill him.
- The eyewitness to Ellison murdering Myers reluctantly delved into Ellison's appearing suddenly, completely nude, out on the street prior to the murder. The cop asking the question mentioned, without the witness prompting it, that Ellison appeared in an "energy bubble." The cop then let Ellison go, walked out of the station, and morphed into Weaver. That all seemed a little too quick and easy for me. Did the cop not really exist? Did Weaver, as the cop, with a fake ID, order the arrest of Ellison? The plot was interesting, but I needed a little bit more of it.
- Ellison finished his night by sitting outside his ex-wife's house. She caught him and was nice about it, he clearly needed a friend. He then went to go see Weaver and said that he felt like he was being tested, like Job. Seems an apt comparison and obviously (as he said it) one the show wants us to accept.
- Derek went back to visit Moishe and found that Jesse had already bullet a bullet in the diamond man's forehead.
- At the end of the episode, John finally got angry at his mom, venting anger about the whole Sarkissian hostage thing. It was nice to see him get angry rather than just being petulant.
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - where we tie up all loose ends.
i thought this was maybe the best episode of the season---or certainly up there.
Not to be nit-picky about the recap, but how was it determined that the Ellison doppleganger was T-1001? It looked more like a 888 to me. All in all, I liked this episode. Cromartie is getting closer, Ellison is being setup to help out the Conners, and next weeks ep looks like a big firefight between everyone.
How was it a T-1001? It had solid metal parts inside (Cromartie ripped a chunk out of it). We've already seen (with Cameron) that they can model T-800 style terminators on people.
1.Why did John not mention Cromartie to his mom?
2. I think that Cameron recognized the name Jesse when Derek first said it.
3. Who dies next week? I think that it will be Cromartie.
jesse is getting me hot
Was Chuck on last night? If not, I hope this was able to pick up in the ratings a little bit. This wasn't the best episode of the season, and I do like the character development of some of the prior episodes, but it was good to see an episode with some action and tension. I thought the supermarket scene with Cromartie and John being right next to each other was well done.
Sorry, Jeff, but the ratings were still low, even with the other networks showing reruns.
As for the episode, I'll admit that I'm slightly jealous of Riley's gorgeous hair and well-developed chest. Other than that, she's a waste of space. For somebody who is supposed to be the savior of the human race, Johnny Boy is about as useful as John Daly on an alcoholic crisis hotline. (He's that fat golfer who's always drunk, in case you don't know who he is...and it might be Daley, not sure, don't care). Good thing Jesus wasn't this stupid when he was a kid, or God might've just said screw it and blown up the whole planet. :P
I did enjoy Sarah's and Cameron's jaunt around the Los Angeles metroplex looking for those responsible for the break-in and subsequent fencing of the stolen merchandise. As many have said before, there must be special roads open just to characters on TV shows, because I'd sure love to know how they can get around to the various areas they traveled to in such a short span of time. Maybe American Idol was holding auditions that day and everyone was off the roads for that part. :P
Busy, I love ya, babe, but would you have that damn kid already? You're one of the few women I've ever seen who does not do pregnant well. She's not glowing as much as melting slowly, like a popsicle on a sidewalk in March. Bleah.
This may be inappropriate, but I almost need to see Savannah every week just to re***ure myself that her faux-mother hasn't killed her for some reason. I fear for the little tyke. Of course, now that Weaver has Ellison even more under her thumb, I imagine it won't be long until I fear for him, too. The Job reference was apt, I agree, but it interests me that an apparent Terminator is so up-to-date on what machines would consider to be human mythology. True, she has to fit in, but Weaver speaking of the Bible is a litle bit scary.
Is it evil of me to hope that Riley gets riddled full of bullet holes in next week's episode? Just might have to go to confession for that. :)
"Sorry...but the ratings were still low, even with the other networks showing reruns."
it was up against "dancing with the stars" (not a rerun), and isn't dancing with the stars one of the biggest hits (ratings-wise) on tv?
also to Tim, i think John didn't mention Cromartie to his mom because he didn't think the terminator will be coming back there again, and he knows if he tells his mom, she will make them move (and he doesn't want to move again). but anyway he should tell her.
i also think Cameron recognized the name Jesse when Derek said it.
maybe it will be riley who gets killed next week?
this is my fave show on tv!
I'm a huge fan of TERMINATOR and T2, but everything after that has been enormously disappointing. And for the life of me I don't understand how anyone can screw up an incredible franchise. If this TV series picks up after T2, then please tell me why the Connors are so unbelievably limp. Where's the bad*** Sarah that walked out of the trailer in her SWAT fatigues toting a CAR-15 ***ault rifle? The Sarah fire on a police officer in order to get her son out of danger? And John, after all that's happened, behaves like a spoiled little boy. Their is no self-reliance, no ingenuity that was the T2 John. FOX and the writers of the series have made John into a priss with too much eye liner and stripped Bad*** Sarah into a poser who knows nothing about protecting her son, much less their own house. Somebody please tell me how they can watch this show anymore? I want my TERMINATOR back!!!!
I hate myself for thinking SCC will become a great show. It's such a limp show. Why doesn't FOX just put it out of its misery?