'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' reveals Jesse's plan
Last week on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Sarah had some dreams. This week, it was Ellison's turn. Maybe next week we'll be treated Cameron dreaming. Anyone want to guess if her dreams are of electric sheep?
As for Ellison's dream, he dreamt of digging up a body, a body that looked an awful lot (at least to me) like John's. Okay, a little odd, but I sort of understand where such a dream could be coming from. But I can't say that I understood what Ellison woke to find -- Cameron in his backyard sticking a metal pole into the ground at various intervals searching for Cromartie's body. Why exactly she figured that Ellison would have dug up the Terminator in Mexico and then reburied him in his backyard, I can't tell you. I know that if it was me, I wouldn't bury a metal man in my backyard no matter how many times said metal man had saved my life for no good reason, but Cameron was going on the assumption he had.
In some other part of town, Derek and Sarah were busting into Dakara Systems (they had a three dot symbol -- you remember, like Sarah kept seeing last week and like is in their basement). They were yanking hard drives, hard drives that John later told them could do some sort of really spiffy AI thing, you know, if Dakara had the servers to actually be able to make the AI run. Enter Dakara's need for some venture capitalist funding and Sarah going undercover to provide said funding.
Apparently Dakara's computer program, Emma, has been of interest to the Air Force (so, that much more likely it could become Skynet). Dakara's boss man, Alex, said to Sarah that before the drives were stolen, Dakara only needed 100 grand in funding -- now it was ten times that. 100 grand? What kind of self-respecting computer start-up only needs 100 grand? My understanding is that 100 grand doesn't cover the toilet paper these companies use daily.
Cameron was betting against Dakara building Skynet, but Sarah wasn't and her next meeting with Alex confirmed that Emma could (with Sarah's financial assistance) get the chip from the Japanese team that won the AI chess tournament back in season one. She and Cameron cashed in the Connor diamond stash to get the money. So now Sarah is helping Skynet get built? I'm not sure Sarah was thinking straight tonight.
Well, she was probably planning on stealing the chip if the thing worked, but she never got the chance. The chip was bogus. Alex had set the whole thing up, including hiring an actor to sell the chip to them. He was planning on taking Sarah's money and making sure that his son (the genius behind the whole computer system who was more than a little socially awkward) was set for life. Silly man, he was trying to play Sarah Connor. Sarah Connor doesn't get played... mostly.
The night also featured, early on, Jesse revealing to Derek -- when he had her at gunpoint -- her mission in the present. She has been out for Cameron this whole time. She (and who knows how many other people in the future) have been a tad worried about present John spending too much time with Cameron and future John growing erratic and isolated due to her.
Derek, upon learning about Jesse's mission opted to do the sane, sensible thing -- protect his charge and eliminate Jesse. Oh wait, he didn't. He just bailed. He let Jesse run free and continue on her mission while he debated what to do. I can see him now, just like Rodin's "The Thinker."
Jesse wasn't so much a thinker though, she was a do-er, and she already had her pieces in play. Piece number one -- Riley, who has apparently been working with Jesse against John all along (except she now may or may not have feelings for John). It could have been a good plan on Jesse's part, if Riley wasn't clearly damaged goods. Learning about Judgment Day sent Riley off Sarah Connor-like, yelling at her foster parents about the coming inferno and how nothing they were doing now mattered. Later, she went to go again insinuate herself into John's life (John had gotten a weird vibe from her earlier and bailed).
In the end, rather than putting a stop to Jesse's crazy plans, Derek revealed to her that he is John's uncle and he revealed what he, Sarah, and the gang have been up to in the present. I guess he thinks just about as well as Rodin's statue.
Ellison got to do more than just have a dream this week, he went to work one Monday to find Doctor Sherman dead. Babylon may have been responsible and Ellison got all freaked out. He should have been freaked out, if that machine has control of the building, it could go all Gremlins 2 if it could coax some Mogwai's into eating after midnight.
Ellison went a-searching for the truth, and eventually ended up talking to John Henry (aka Babylon, and "steel-driving man"). Ellison quickly figured out that John Henry had no rules or ethics, he was all miffed by that. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but even with a name, John Henry is a machine, right? Sure, Henry took on a little bit more of a human appearance when Weaver got John Henry to talk through Cromartie at the end of the episode, but I'm still calling him a machine. I'm not at all surprised that John Henry didn't care if he had been responsible for Sherman's death.
Odds and Ends:
- At the end of the episode Sarah looked in the mirror to find three little red dots on her face. Cancer or possibly from her fight with Alex?
- Could you tell, I couldn't, was Cromartie hooked up to the computers that make up John Henry, or had John Henry been fully downloaded into Cromartie's body?
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - the keyboard-driving man.
awesome episode. this show continues to get better and better.
the riley reveal makes so much sense! except i think you got it wrong, she didnt learn of judgement day, she is from the future.
and john henry at the end was so creepy. that guy is great.
Tonight's episode was definitely an interesting one. And, I have to agree, the series is definitely getting more and more interesting with each episode. Definitely well thought out in its depth.
I had a sneaky su****ion about Riley being from the future. I am still waiting to learn more about Jordan though. As for John Henry, now that Babylon is hooked to Cromartie, could Terminators have a back-up memory system like most computers do (since Cro's actual CPU was destroyed)? And, in that case, could the AI connect into it to help create Skynet? Perhaps. This show really sets up the stage for Salvation.
INTERESTING TO SEE MICHAEL CORINTHOS THE THIRD IN A SCENE WITH LILLY MONTGOMERY...MEANWHILE BACK IN THE T-UNIVERSE WASN'T ELLISON DIGGING UP CHRISTIAN BALE !
i also thought it was made pretty clear that riley was from the future (and thus didn't just learn about judgement day, etc). it seemed she already had a mission/agenda, and wasn't newly recruited by jesse. many clues in her dialogue, like for example she referred to the present as "this world" (like she wasn't from it).
about riley...i just knew there was more to her. i've posted at least twice on this board that i thought there was more to riley than they were telling us. i never thought her friendship with john was just accidental. remember the first night when she referred to a robot to watch over john, to keep him safe while he sleeps?!
"Why exactly she figured that Ellison would have dug up the Terminator in Mexico and then reburied him in his backyard, I can't tell you."
actually, i thought it made perfect sense that cameron was "poking around" in ellison's yard looking for cromatie's body. why? because she thought ellison was lying when he said he didn't have cromartie's body. because ellison was the only other person who knew about it. how many more reasons do we need? i was thinking last episode, why didn't cameron go back to look? so now this week they showed he doing that.
i agree with you about derek, and cute "thinker" reference. yeah i wish he would have thought his way to not telling jesse that he was john's uncle. jeesh. doesn't seem like derek to do that, but then again people get crazy when matters of the heart are involved, even hardened soldier types like derrick i guess. love ths show SO MUCH!
I also knew from Riley's first appearance in the show that she was a plant. Although I figured she was a plant working for the machines. I think Jesse is lying about wanting to get Cameron. I think Jesse is a traitor who works for the machines. If Jesse were on the up and up, she would've told Derek from the start what her mission was.
Speaking of Derek, he's getting soft. I would've hoped he would've done some surveillance of Jesse to see what she does and where she goes when he's not around, before he spilled his secret to her.
Nice to see both Sarah and Cameron all dolled up and ladylike in this episode. It's a shame Lena Headly doesn't get to smile more because she's so pretty.
At the end, it appeared that Cromartie was hooked up to the computer. By the way, I can't wait to see the look on Sarah, John and Derek's faces when they see Lazarus, I mean, Cromartie, back from the dead. LOL.
As far as I can tell there are humans, machines, and machines that don't work for skynet.
Weaver can be from the third one. Since she doesn't want something that will wipe-out the human race (teach ethics)
but something. She supports slavery probably :P
Also it is interesting that they were collecting different animal species in a ship, in a previous episode. ( Nice reference to Noah's Ark.) that is why I think there is a third faction
rip, the third faction is an interesting idea. i haven't been sure what the deal is with Weaver yet. she doesn't seem to have killing john connor as her foremost agenda, that's for sure. does she even know who he is? does she care? "cromartie/john henry/babylon" WAS creepy at the end.
yes, please don't dumb down derek. i think IggyPop might be onto something about jesse.
Lena Headly is really pretty.
i agree this show just seems to get better and better.
It was definitely hooked up to him, the screen displayed what he said in words as he said them, implying 'John Henry' was still inside the computers.
I wonder if he'll ever actually become 'Skynet' in this timeline, as he was originally going to be purchased by the military (where it was given the name Skynet), but now that Catherine Weaver has him (which I presume is a time travelling change because she is a Terminator from the future), things have progressed differently.
It's interesting that Catherine Weaver cares about it having morals, why would a Terminator want Skynet to give a damn about humans anyway? Something deeper is going on here, especially since she allowed it to be given a human name...
this best show on tv i dont get the low ratings watch it fox live if you what a season 3
Between the increasing Biblical references, the newly introduced Go connections, and a few other things, I'm starting to worry this show might be getting too intelligent for US network TV. The fact it's on Fox and that it's STILL on Fox is a minor miracle. I keep expecting the other shoe to drop, especially with rumors (reports?) that the show is moving to Friday to tie in with Joss Whedon's new show. That itself isn't bad, but so many people are convinced that Friday is a TV series graveyard that they might simply stop watching Terminator (and never give Dollhouse a chance) simply because Friday scheduling=bad or dying show in their minds.