"Allison from Palmdale"
Flashbacks/forwards to the Skynet future are juxtaposed with Cameron's present-day experiences in this episode. These 'flashes' (for the lack of a better term considering the whole time/space continuum) seem to be triggered when Cameron is sent out grocery shopping by John. The flashes detail how the Cameron cyborg was created the original template for Cameron was a resistance member named, Allison Young. The yet to be named Cameron was trying to learn as much about Allison as possible so that she would end up being a perfect copy; then, doing what Terminators do best, she would attempt to infiltrate the resistance and eliminate John Connor. Cameron goes Vader on the girl, then kills her after Allison lies about the bracelet she is wearing. The bracelets are the resistance's way of identifying each other from the cyborgs and now... Skynet knows.
As stated above, the episode flashes (ala
Lost) to present day. Cameron is suffering from amnesia and assumes the name of her mold: Allison Young. After causing a semi-commotion at the supermarket, Cameron is locked up. In the holding cell, she is befriended by another lost soul, Jody. The two are eventually released and after spying Cameron/Allison's wad of cash, Jody takes her under her wing. Meanwhile, John hears about the incident in the market, then proceeds to openly search for Cameron and Jody. After being roughed up by an ex of Jody's, the two girls end up at a halfway house. Cameron/Allison begins to remember more as she is counseled by the staff there: she remembers her full name and hometown! A quick call there reveals to the audience that Allison has not been born... yet; although her future mother thinks that the name is cute. Later in the rec room, John finds his goal and confronts Cameron/Allison, who has no memory of him. He is forced to leave and Cameron/Allison receives more counseling. Of course, semi-mirroring (anti-mirroring?) Sarah's interviews at Pescadero, the cyborg shares the truth about her nature. Thinking she is mental, the staff call for the help to deal with her (trip to Pescadero?); however, both girls are gone. They end up breaking into a house that turns out to be Jody's parent's home -Jody has been lying to Cameron/Allison about her background. Mirroring future events, Cameron's Vader skills are called into play again, cept this time, she doesn't use the Force -Jody is just rendered unconscious. This final event seems to have cleared her amnesia. John bursts in and the pair exit before the police can arrive (silent alarm). During the ride home, Cameron lies to John about where her new accessories came from -apparently she has learned something from this whole experience afterall.
In other parts of present day LA:
Sarah happens upon Kacy who is having pregnancy related pains. Sarah takes her to the hospital where the tests reveal that Kacy and child are fine. Another revelation: Kacy's baby daddy, Trevor, is an LAPD detective.
Agent Ellison does a background check on Catherine Weaver before he ends up agreeing to work with her. Weaver also reveals she has a child, Savannah.
Commentary
There's isn't much for me to comment on in this episode (but that hasn't stopped me before, has it?). Basically, this was a filler/exposition episode that I hope will lead up to some major revelation in the future. Some interesting plot points that stood out to me were:
-The initial version of the Cameron Terminator was actually based on a real human person. In this case, the resistance fighter, Allison Young. Was it just random happenstance that Allison was captured or was there some other motivation? For example, was see John's significant other?
-Allison was still in her mother's womb at the time of this episode and Cameron's call inadvertently placed the name, "Allison," into the baby list of names. I like the idea of time being a circle as represented here shows that the creative folks are paying attention to such details. Just hope they can keep it up.
-Cameron killed Allison.
-Secret bracelets were used to ID non-cyborgs.
-Cameron learns to lie? At the moment, I cannot recall if she did this before, on her own, but I believe this is the first instance of it (when not in 'terminate John mode').
-Kacy's boyfriend is a detective.
-Weaver has a child. Is this a real child or another cyborg? Delightful visions of a tiny cyborg attacking Ellison (ala the Zuni fetish doll) dance through my head!
Just as the flashes were contrasted with present day Cameron, I believe there was a third instance of it occurring with Weaver and Ellison's two meetings. Sort of drilling the point home about which truth (reality) is the real one; however, the think the execution was off overall. I seriously hope that this is the last time we see the two of them in her office chatting away as it's getting kinda boring although her 'child' was a twist or sorts. Still, enough! Let's get this storyline moving!
On the technical side, I loved some of the camera tricks/shots/effects that kept the episode visually interesting at least. Of note were the various shots of Cameron at the supermarket and the flashes of the future. I loved the idea of the aircraft carrier being used by Skynet in that fashion. My complaint with all the three films has been that I wanted to see more of the future battles (especially from
T2). My guess my wishes will be answered in the forth feature film, which should have nothing to do with the TV universe. Ugh.
Is Sarah getting lax or what? Non-TV Sarah would have easily realized that Trevor was carrying and/or had a badge.
Yay! Angsty John is nowhere to be found! Angry John takes his place at the end! Kudos!
Nitpicks
Although it makes sense for the occasional lack of tech the resistance seems to have in the future (as opposed to the times when they have plenty), I believe that this type of security could easily have been broken. For example, if a terminator is looting a body for clothing could easily have taken and used a bracelet. Guess dogs were not (will not be) enough?
Umm. Hmm... Err... OK, maybe it's just me, but using their real first names (obviously not to confuse the audience not familiar with the Terminator backstory) may not be the brightest idea, especially since Kacy's boyfriend is Johnny Law! Also, I believe his mother needs to train him a little more as it was a terrible idea of John's to go into a police station as well as make himself very visible by embarrassingly asking everyone in LA if they know a 'Jody."
Lemme get this straight: Cameron, a bio-mechanical killing machine is sent to the supermarket to pick up some cheesy poofs (or crunchy ones). This is
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles I'm watching, correct? I will say that I did enjoy Cameron's expression at John;'s request as it reminded me of River. This of course leads me to:
I don't mean to typecast Summer; however, I think every time I see her in a role where she is bound and/or interrogated, I'll think of River. Not really a nitpick but it shows how deeply that character affected me (and other Whedonverse fans).
No more
Lost-type flashes! Methinks this will be done more often as it's a great storytelling device.
Where was Derek?
Quotes
Kacy: "Just a spicy taco kind of pain, but I haven't eaten any spicy tacos."
Counselor: "And what are you going to do when you find John Connor?"
Cameron: "I'm going to kill him and hang his head on a pike for all to see."
John: "Did you kill her?"
Cameron: "Apparently not."
Cameron: "That was my last get of jail free."
John: "Damn right."
That's it from me this week my fellow cyborgs! Any other thoughts regarding this filler-type episode? Where do you think the main plot is heading? Any idea what Savannah is? Are you sad that we didn't get another glimpse of Kacy's belly? Is Sarah getting too soft? Share!
Oh wait! I lied... like Cameron... and actually relating to Cameron, I have one more item for everyone: FOX will hold a teleconference with Ms Glau on Tuesday afternoon! Depending on how interesting it is, I'll see if I can post some of it either in a separate blog post or as part of next week's episode. I usually never ask any questions during these things, as almost every time I think I have a relevant question, another reporter will ask it before it's my turn! D'oh! No promises though as again, sometimes the questions can be inane to the fanbase (ie, do you pick out your own clothing? Ugh).
Now, I'm off to write the
Pushing Daisies blog! Whoopie! TTYL!
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