JOURNEYMAN

Kevin Falls created Journeyman about time-travelling journalist Dan Vasser. The show lasted just 13 episodes but in an interview with Aint-It-Cool-News, Falls revealed where the show was headed:

Dan and his wife, Katie, were going to separate.  Jack (Dan’s brother) and Dan were going to live together and then Dan and Katie would get back together.

Livia (Dan’s time traveling ex-fiancée from 1948) was slated to die in episode 20. Dan was going to go back in time and save her in 21. In episode 22, Dan would come back to his house in the present and find someone else would be living there. Katie (his wife) and Zack (his son) would be gone and this time Dan would have no idea how to get his family back.

Ultimately, many of the people who Dan saved from the past were going to come together in a “Rube Goldberg-inspired climax” to play a part in saving Dan and his family in the present.

The show would eventually reveal that a massive organization was sending Dan and other travelers through time, with the intention of doing good.

Livia’s original goal was to get Katie and Dan together, but then the writers felt that Livia was keeping some secret from Dan that was huge and tragic.

Livia only went forward in time and Dan backward because they each had a specific and separate purpose.  One of the side affects was the fact that Dan and Livia would never be able to live in the same time.

Eventually, Dan would have encountered an elderly Livia in his present.

REAPER

Reaper was a modest hit on the CW, following slacker Sam catching escaped souls for the Devil. Creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters revealed to cliqueclack.com their plans for the show.

Short-term, they would have given Andi a job at the DMV with Gladys the demon. Sam’s friends, Sock and Ben, would always be normal humans – Sam’s moral compass and tether to the real world.

Long-term, the revelation of who Sam’s father was would have been proven to be his father that raised him, not the Devil. The premise was that his father was a demon who made a deal with the Devil to be able to marry Sam’s mother because they were in love. Sam’s father was not a demon because of this deal, but also not quite human, which is why he couldn’t die.

This is also why Sam was considered so special by the Devil. His powers came from the fact that he was part demon and was something special. The Devil tricked him into becoming a servant so that he could try to corrupt Sam because he was afraid of Sam’s potential.

Ultimately, the writing duo say they intended to end the show on a happy ending with Sam getting out of his contract and getting the girl.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES

Show creator Josh Friedman has repeatedly declined to speak about his plans for a third season of Terminator, saying he prefers the audience to create their own ending. But in an interview with io9.com, star Thomas Dekker revealed what he had been told about the plan.

The show ended with John Connor leaping forward to the Future War without his mother. According to Dekker, he would have met a future version of Sarah who had survived Judgement Day. He also said that his character of John Connor would have found himself torn between Alison, the human who his Terminator bodyguard Cameron was based on, and the actual robot version of Cameron.

A new character to the show would have been Danny Dyson, the son of Miles from the second movie, who was originally responsible for building Skynet.

More information came from James Middleton, one of the producers on the show. In an interview with SciFiWire.com, he said John Connor erased his existence from history by leaping into the future. This helps back up what Dekker said about the show.

CARNIVALE

Carnivale was a very ambitious HBO show set in the Depression-era Dustbowl, and followed Ben Hawkins, an avatar of Light and Brother Justin, an avatar of Dark, as they exhibited supernatural abilities and moved towards an inevitable confrontation between good and evil. The show was announced by creator Daniel Knauf as having a five-year plan but only lasted two.

A quick jump to wikipedia helps to reveal some of the plans, with links to many different interviews of Knauf and other writers.

Jonesy would not have died from Sofie’s gunshot and the third season was going to begin with him playing Major League Baseball and still being married to Libby. Sofie would be revealed to be something called the Omega, and she does bring her father, Justin, back to life, but still has some good in her. The third season would have centered on her internal battle between good and evil.

Justin would be alive, but have an inoperable chunk of shrapnel near his heart, from the anointed blade in the season two finale. He would have been weakened and his sister Iris and daughter Sofie would vie for control of his organization. Eventually, Justin would marry Sofie and possibly have a child.

Meanwhile, Ben’s wounds from the finale would require constant mending and he would lose some of his Vitae Divina powers. Ben would change and become similar to Management, but remain in love with Sofie, and their ultimate fates together would be uncertain.

Hmmm. With vague answers like that, maybe it wasn’t such a bad time to end the show.

The link to Joss’ letter really is from him, in a post he placed both in response to Nikke Finke’s article on the auction and the site whedonesque.com.

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Got any insights on what happened on Lost? What do you hope for from Fringe next year? Any shows we neglect that you’re really enjoying? Chime in here. If there’s anything particularly clever, we may mention it on the podcast and would of course give you full credit for whatever you write.

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Producer and showrunner Josh Friedman posted a very eloquent message to the show’s fans, thanking them for their support and helping them understand that this happens all the time in tv.

Thanks for the show, Josh and crew.

Before I journey into spoiler territory, I just want to say that I really admire how the show’s creators never compromised their vision. They could have spelled things out and dumbed it down and I doubt anyone would be surprised. They could have made a cheesy action version of Terminator but instead they really embraced the characters and science fiction elements and tried to elevate the material and expected the audience to keep up. I think that’s awesome.

The show begins with Sarah in jail, interviewed by an FBI agent trying to get John (and Cameron) as well, but Sarah’s not talking. She instead talks to a priest (from the very beginning of the season) and using that confidentiality, has him tell John not to come for her. But John’s evolved a lot this season, and he’s the one calling the shots. He knows that Catherine Weaver has an AI in the basement of her company that could be SkyNet. He also knows a Terminator has been sent after Catherine’s child. John’s determined to accomplish both freeing his mother and getting into ZeiraCorp.

Ellison meets John and Cameron and says Catherine has a message for them – “Will you join us?” This question requires us to remember the backstory here. In Jesse’s flashback episode a few weeks ago (which takes place in the future) she recovered a box from a group of Terminators. When it was opened, a T-1001 liquid Terminator said that John had asked whether they would join him (establishing that there was definitely a second faction of Terminators that wanted to broker a peace) but their answer then was “no.” I believe that T-1001 was probably Catherine Weaver, who went back in time to help foster an AI with a moral compass to help battle SkyNet. And now she seems to have changed her mind and is willing to join John Connor.

Cameron of course knew about this, but no one else does. And Cameron lies, saying she doesn’t know what that means, telling Ellison to beat it. She has John cut her open to check on her functions. He has to cut and feel beneath her breastplate and the scene is a powerful metaphor for them having sex, but it’s also pretty damn creepy. I think Cameron is checking to make sure she is functioning well enough for the coming mission.

John earlier accused her of potentially leaking her nuclear battery and giving Sarah her cancer. Is that possible? Cameron says she has sensors which would let her know if she was broken, but I think her chip is kind of messed up ever since season 1′s finale where she was caught in a car-bomb explosion. Who knows for sure?

That mission involves breaking into the prison and walking through a hail of gunfire to get to Sarah. Interestingly, Cameron does not kill any of the guards. Meanwhile, Catherine Weaver’s AI, John Henry, is monitoring the jail and opens the cells for all the prisoners. But this is to actually cause confusion and aid in Cameron and Sarah’s escape. Cameron is in bad shape after this, looking very much like the Terminator at the end of the first film.

Still, the family is together and they head to Zeiracorp to meet Weaver. The Connors go with Ellison to Weaver’s office upstairs while Cameron sneaks downstairs to look for John Henry. The meeting doesn’t last long, though, because the Terminators have sent a Hunter Killer drone that crashes into the ZeiraCorp skyscraper. They’ve begun their attack on either Weaver or the Connors. Weaver turns into a shield to protect everyone from the massive explosion. They run downstairs to check on John Henry, and as Weaver leaves, her pet eel merges with her. I guess she always left a piece of herself in her office tank, maybe to spy on others? It was interesting.

Weaver also takes out last week’s Terminator who breaks into the building but she just impales him and then uses her other hand to connect to the electricity, shutting him down. It was very cool.

Downstairs, John Henry is gone and Cameron lies on the ground, lifeless. The computer screens scroll a repeating message: “I’m sorry John” Apparently Cameron’s ultimate mission was to be with the Connors only to find this AI. So which side is she on? I lean towards bad.

Either way, John Henry has taken Cameron’s chip, which allowed him to disconnect. He also found a way to use the same technology used in the show’s pilot to time travel. John and Weaver decide to chase after him, leaving a surprised Ellison and Sarah behind. And where do they end up? The future!

John is quickly found in one of the bunkers by a resistance soldier, and Weaver has hidden. He says he’s John Connor but someone steps up to say they’ve never heard that name! Who says it? Derek Reese. They’re in the future but it’s different because John leapt forward. Not only is Derek there, so is John’s father, Kyle. And Allison, the human that Cameron based herself on.

And that’s the end! If it doesn’t return, I think we can safely assume John came to be the leader (minus any messianic praising of him) who would send both Derek and Kyle back in time. With his elite hacking skills, he is a natural for reprogramming Terminators and figuring out how to use the time travel. And he’s grown this season. Props to Thomas Dekker for really stepping up as the show went on.

The show had some fantastic moments emotionally. In jail, Sarah was stoic but you could definitely sense the love she has for John. Various subplots were dropped such as the FBI agent claiming to believe in time travel and robots, but was he just saying this to convince Sarah to give up John’s location? I lean towards thinking he has corrobarated the info and does believe. He also tells her that Miles Dyson’s son has been missing for three months. Why? Could he have continued his father’s work and been responsible for SkyNet’s creation?

John Henry was also fascinating this week. Weaver’s engineer said they replaced some minor wiring but that it “tweaked” him. And he in fact repeated whatever Weaver said, at one point saying the same thing at the same time. Perhaps she created a moral intelligence, in her image. Or vice versa!

This episode easily had everything I like in the show, with no bad scenes. It deserves a flawless 5 out of 5 terminators!

photo credit: Grufnik

T:TSCC has evolved from simply an action show to a hard look at time travel paradoxes, the nature of artificial intelligence, and family relationships in stress. And for me, it totally works.

The latest episode, potentially the second to last ever unless the show receives a last-minute third season renewal this May, sets up the end game of the Connors versus Catherine Weaver, the T-1001 running ZeiraCorp with a mysterious ulterior motive.

Last week a bunch of humans, we don’t know who they work for, attacked both Cameron & Derek and Sarah & John. Cameron ultimately saved Derek and while Sarah was away from John, Charlie Dixon gave his life to save John. This week, they all meet up at the unmarked gravesite where Derek’s brother and John’s father is buried. The men that attacked them have a picture of Savannah Weaver. The Connors surmise that whoever attacked them has one more target, and John remembers Savannah from earlier in the season at the therapist’s office.

A Terminator invades the Weaver house, killing the nanny and going for Savannah, but Savannah has built an oddly touching relationship with John Henry, the AI that Weaver is trying to raise with some sort of morality. He tries to guide Savannah to safety but ultimately she is saved by the Connors.

However, in one of the show’s biggest surprises ever, the Terminator casually shoots Derek in the head while searching for Savannah. There is no build-up, musical sting, or any cue. It’s within the show’s first few minutes and Derek is just gone. It’s incredibly shocking to lose such an awesome, fascinating character and in such an atypical way. But I think it works perfectly, in that it raises the stakes for our remaining characters and gives the show a realism that it needs when dealing with time travel and robots. The fact is if you go up one-on-one with a Terminator, you have no chance. Your only hope is to run or catch it off guard.

The police begin an investigation to find Savannah, but Weaver quietly has Ellison, as head of security, talk with John Henry. Reading between the lines in this episode, we realize that John Henry is not Skynet. Instead he seems to be being groomed to oppose Skynet. There are at least two factions of the Terminators in the future, in addition to the human resistance. I hope we get some solid answers next week on what each side wants.

John Henry has learned that Ellison lied about not knowing Sarah Connor. He worries that she wants to kill him. We also realize that he knows Weaver lies and that he knows she is a robot. Still, he wants to help save Savannah. Weaver, meanwhile, explains to Ellison that Savannah’s ultimate survival will depend on John Henry’s survival and they don’t tell the police about him or what he has seen.

Ellison meets with Sarah to get Savannah back to her mother. Sarah agrees as long as she can meet Weaver, who John suspects has answers they want. Ellison agrees and the handoff takes place but Sarah is confronted outside by a large squad of police officers. Ellison says he didn’t tip them off and I believe that. Did Weaver call them? Or was the police detective just smart? I think the latter.

Anyway, Sarah is arrested (as far as the police are concerned she killed Miles Dyson and blew up Cyberdyne) and John is now left on the run with only Cameron. Early on in the season, producer/creator Josh Friedman said that of the three women in John Connor’s life (Riley, Sarah, and Cameron) one would die, one would leave him, and one would betray him. Anyone else think Cameron’s chip might go buggy in the finale?

This episode packed robot-on-robot action, reversals of fortune, and clever clues and answers on the forces involved in the Future War and in my opinion was about as good as the show gets. It loses a tiny bit only because there wasn’t more Cameron and it was sad to see Derek go (only to be buried in an unmarked grave in the same place as his brother).

I give this episode 4.75 Terminators out of 5.

photo credit: Grufnik

WINTER PREMIERES:

Thurs., Dec. 25
Doctor Who (BBC)

Sun., Jan. 11
24 (Fox)

Thurs., Jan. 15
Smallville (CW)
Supernatural (CW)

Fri., Jan. 16
Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi)

Wed., Jan. 21
Lost (ABC)

Wed., Jan. 28
Life on Mars (ABC)

Fri., Feb. 13
Dollhouse (Fox)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)

Mon., Mar. 9
Castle (ABC)

Tues., Mar. 17
Reaper (CW)

Tues., Mar. 24
Cupid (ABC)

Thur., Apr. 9
Harper’s Island (CBS)

To Be Announced:
Torchwood (BBCA)
Fringe (FOX)

However, John does believe her and thinks that Cyberdyne and Andy Goode’s Turk AI were examples of things starting small that grew.

Ultimately, Sarah becomes convinced it’s the symbol for Dakara Systems, a tech company startup. She and Cameron pose as investors to learn more and find out that a father and son (Alex and Xander Agagi) are developing an AI. They want to purchase a high-tech chip that will advance their research and Sarah expresses interest in buying it for them.

Meanwhile, Derek finds the Connor family surveillance photos that Jesse has been taking and confronts her. Jesse reveals her mission – in the future, several of John’s troops think he’s too close to Cameron and is making questionable decisions, so she’s come back to help him.

At ZeiraCorp, Dr. Boyd Sherman, the child psychologist that Catherine Weaver hired to teach the Turk AI has died. Ellison is tasked with figuring out what went wrong. They know that the AI project, now named John Henry, borrowed power during a surge to protect itself, and ended up trapping Sherman in a room where he suffocated.

John visits Riley at her home and meets her foster parents and siblings. They’re nice enough. He is almost ready to open up to Riley and explain his real life to her, but says there’s nothing he can explain or say and he leaves suddenly. Later in the episode, she meets Jesse at a clothing store. They know each other very well and Riley reveals that she’s starting to REALLY have feelings for John, but Jesse tells her she can’t back out and she can do this. Wow, finally Riley is interesting.

Derek and John have a good uncle/nephew moment where they talk openly and honestly. Derek asks him if he’s paying attention and staying sharp and expresses doubt in Sarah’s conviction that Dakara Systems is important. John defends her and insists he’s aware of everything around him.

Sarah and Cameron gather all their cash and diamonds to buy the chip for Dakara Systems. Meanwhile, Ellison is shown the Babylon project (the AI) and interrogates it. He learns that for the first time, it broke rules taking power from the building. However, he also believes that it was not ultimately responsible for killing Sherman. Someone else was involved.

Sarah and Cameron end up purchasing the chip at a dinner meeting and go home to test it but it’s a fake. They’ve been tricked. Alex later says he’ll make it right but not to mess with the guy they bought the chip from because he’s a gangster. She’s not afraid though, and gets a text from Cameron that they’ve acquired their target. They track the guy down but he’s just an actor, hired by Alex himself. Later, Sarah forces Alex to admit the truth to his son about what he’s done and gets their money back.

Derek confronts Jesse and admits that John is his nephew. He says they have to be honest with each other and work together to ultimately stop the machines. Jesse promises to come clean but doesn’t mention Riley.

Riley shows up at John’s house and tells him she rejects his rejection. They head off together but she seems to have real pain in her eyes. Sarah goes upstairs and sees her reflection in the mirror and notices the three dots on her face. She loses it and smashes the mirror. Yikes. Maybe she should go back to Pescadero!

Weaver thinks Ellison is right about John Henry and brings him down to the basement. Ellison, on the ride down, says that John Henry’s story was one where he defeated the machine but couldn’t stop progress. He then is greeted by John Henry – now hooked up to Cromartie’s old body!

This episode was all about dropping plot threads for what’s to come. Sarah’s quest to explain the three dots was ultimately fruitless but maybe it’ll teach her a lesson about obsession. Meanwhile, Cromartie just won’t die. Well, he did, but his body is still around. And Riley is finally given an interesting reason to be around.

Overall, this was interesting, but not really action packed or anything. I give it a solid 3 out of 5 terminator heads.

photo credit: Kadath

OK, that is slightly overstating it but the show was very focused this week, with one main story involving Derek and Jesse and two small subplots. In one, John and Cameron return to destroy Cromartie’s body from last week only to find it dug up. Well, only one other guy knew about that and by the end of the episode, sure enough, Ellison presents it to Weaver. He really had no choice, after Sarah turned him away from joining them. From his point of view, he and Weaver are working on figuring out what these robots are, but it seems far more likely that Weaver is trying to jumpstart SkyNet and Judgement Day to me.

In the second subplot, Sarah keeps having nightmares in which John is in danger. Ultimately, this leads her to see the therapist from a few episodes back. All I can say is smart move, Sarah. You need it. Of course, the therapist has also been recruited by Weaver. Hey, does she just go around tricking the brilliant black men in this show into working for her? What’s up with that? Well, he is ready to help Sarah, and I hope he’s able to shine some light in the dark corners Sarah normally stays in.

The main story was my favorite and has convinced me that Derek is my favorite character on this show. He’s so damaged, but he’s trying to be good. Anyway, Jesse calls him up and says she’s found a guy she was sent back to find, a Mr. Charles Fisher. She’s got him tied to a chair in a cargo shipment container, where no one will bother them. However, he insists that he’s not Charles Fisher, that he’s just a watch maker. Derek wants to trust Jesse but isn’t 100% convinced.

According to Jesse, Charles is a “grey.” A human who works for the machines to give them information. This guy, she claims, helped them understand what makes people tick. She tells Derek that he tortured her. When Derek isn’t totally convinced, Jesse comes up with a novel idea: she kidnaps the current-day Charles Fisher!

A much younger man is forced to say who he is and says his name to the older man, but he isn’t changing his story. Derek tells him that everyone cared about themselves at some point in time and begins ripping out the young man’s fingernails. This makes the older version crack and he says that he worked for the machines. He admits that he was locked up in prison on Judgement Day and was recruited to help explain how people work and that they have sent him back in the past but not for a mission, but as a reward.

Ultimately, Derek decides to stop Charles’ future work by pulling a gun on the younger Charles, but Jesse shoots the elder before Derek can do anything. They let the younger go, hoping they’ve changed his mind about his future. However, we later see that the FBI arrests Charles. They have a record of his fingerprints and eye-scan to get into a secured location that has info on artificial intelligence. Charles is at a loss to explain what happened and his bruisings don’t help the FBI to believe him. We see in flashback that older Charles was the one who did this. He’s already completed his mission, and now his younger self is put in the prison he will eventually be found by the machines in.

Later, Jesse asks Derek why he can’t remember Charles. She explains that it wasn’t her that was tortured, it was Derek. Derek says he honestly can’t remember that and wonders if he came from a future where that didn’t happen. “Is that possible?” asks Jesse. He theorizes that he wasn’t tortured and has changed the future in some way and Jesse came back later from that future. Which would mean that they can change the future, although in this case it wasn’t really for the better.

What a brilliant episode. Full of intrigue, therapy, and time travel paradoxes. I love it when time travel is dealt with in such a fascinating way. It seems like it may be beyond human ability to ever truly understand, but our heroes have to keep trying to make the future a better place and I love them for it.

I give this one five out of five terminator heads!

photo credit: Kadath

This episode actually features very little plot but what makes it unique is the presentation. The episode is told Rashamon-style, featuring various points of view that therefore jump the story constantly back and forth.

We begin with “Sarah’s Story.” Sarah is working on constructing something at home. It’s night and Riley is saying goodbye to John. John talks to his mom, saying he bought her a helmet for her scooter, but Sarah asks if he thinks it’ll stop a bullet. She doesn’t get through to him with this tactic. Cameron says she’ll talk to John.

In a way, I sort of understand John’s point of view. I mean, everyone’s going to die in Judgement Day if he doesn’t do anything at all, so is it really THAT dangerous for him to try dating someone?

Sarah’s finishes her project – a safe for their money that can be hidden in the floor. Cameron tells her that John won’t be seeing Riley anymore. Cameron drives off on a chore and Sarah looks up and it’s Cromartie! He tracked her down through the kid at the bowling alley from last week. He drags Sarah upstairs to John’s room, but he’s not there.

Now it’s time for “Cameron’s Story.” John and Riley say their goodbyes from the previous scene but it’s seen by Cameron, who watches them from above, in the house.

Cut to Cameron going to John’s room to talk to him about Riley. Before she enters, she drops her jacket to the floor. She climbs onto John’s bed beside him and talks about Riley, explaining the danger she’s in by being near John. John asks what she knows about loneliness and she says he used to talk to her about it, in the future when he’s older. She seems to get John to agree that meeting Riley is too dangerous.

Cameron tells Sarah about them not seeing each other anymore and leaves. She heads to a storage unit, but the lock is already open. Inside, it’s their ammunition dump and it’s Derek, stocking up. It’s his drop point but Cameron says John meant to tell him she would be coming. He didn’t and Derek says John’s not focused. Derek’s cell rings. Cameron sees the number and calls it herself, getting someone speaking Spanish on the other line. Derek says it’s an emergency code from John and that he’s in trouble.

Cut to “John’s Story.” John and Cameron are in bed and he agrees not to see Riley anymore. Cameron leaves and John calls Riley and leaves. He was just lying to Cameron.

John and Riley go on an impromptu trip down to Mexico, visiting a town he grew up in. The wander through the town center where folks are celebrating Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). They get a hotel room and while John fixes the hot tub’s broken bubbler, Riley presses him for details on his childhood, which he avoids.

Later, they go to a bar and a photographer takes their picture. John offers to pay him to just delete the picture, but the man recognizes him. John pulls him aside and the guy tries to blackmail him for all his money, but Riley grabs the camera and everyone gets in a scuffle. John and Riley run, but some local police grab her. John decides he can’t leave her alone and they’re both arrested.

At the police station, the police understand that it wasn’t a big deal about what happened but get John to admit that his mother and uncle don’t know where they are. He says he’ll let them go if he gets one of them to pick him up. John calls Derek’s phone and punches in his emergency code. He says he didn’t get ahold of him, so the police tell him to call his mother. He calls and punches in the code but Sarah doesn’t respond with the code herself, even though she answers the phone. John understands what’s happened and he hangs up.

John is sent to the holding cell with Riley while they run his name through Interpol. In the morning, Riley begs the guard to move her and that John is a guy she doesn’t know well and she’s making him uncomfortable. He goes to open the door and John grabs him and knocks him out against the cell bars. They unlock their cell door and head for daylight as bullets begin firing outside!

Now we’re back to more of “Sarah’s Story.” Sarah is tied up in the back of Cromartie’s convertible. She sees his files on them, including a photo of Cameron. Cromartie says she’s been making mistakes. Not many, but he says her chip must have damage. Sarah struggles and jumps out of the car, but Cromartie picks her up before she can recover and run. He throws her into his trunk. She begins twisting a soda can with the intent to cut herself free, when she feels the car stop and bullets being fired. The car starts up again and she cuts herself on the soda can. Sarah kicks at the trunk until the car stops. The trunk opens and James Ellison stands over him, with John beside. “Come with me if you want to live,” says Ellison.

FINALLY, Ellison is meeting up with the Connors.

Now it’s time for “Ellison’s Story.” Ellison is jogging when he gets a call from an old friend from the FBI. He says the name John Connor popped up as being arrested in Mexico and figured he’d want to know since he worked that case.

Cut to Ellison arriving at the police station (using his old badge) asking about John. The police officer in charge goes to retrieve John when Cromartie arrives, shooting all the police. Ellison sees John and Riley and grabs John and says he’s there to help.

Riley gets outside and runs for it. John yells for her to jump in Cromartie’s car and all three of them jump in and speed away from the attacking Cromartie. As they drive, Riley feels a kick so John orders Ellison to pull over. They open it to find Sarah and help her out. While they do, Cromartie drives into the area in a police car and she tells them all to run and hide in the nearby church.

Sarah and Ellison have a conversation and it’s revealed that he feels he owes her ever since she saved him from Silberman’s burning house. John orders Riley to run, saying she won’t be chased by the guy shooting at them. He tells her to take a bus to L.A. and he’ll call when they get back. Meanwhile, Sarah calls Derek and Cameron for backup. Derek reveals that they’re already there (having received John’s call).

Now it’s time for “Derek’s Story.” It’s brief. Derek and Cameron drive up to the police station, surveying the complete carnage. Then Sarah calls. What? That qualified as a “story?”

The final chapter is “Cromartie’s Story.” Cromartie enters the jail, saying he’s looking for John Connor. He then ruthlessly begins shooting all the police. He chases after the fleeing John and Riley.

Cut to Cromartie looking through the town for them, and spotting Ellison in a little church. He approaches Ellison, who asks him if he’s come to repent. “I’m looking for John Connor,” answers Cromartie. But it’s a trap. Sarah and Derek are each stationed by windows on opposite ends, above Cromartie, and unleash on him with the armor-piercing weapons Derek and Cameron brought. Cameron walks up behind him and shoots him in the face, disabling him. He twitches but is barely functional. From his point of view, we see his attackers congregate around him as his vision begins to fail. His final vision is John shooting him in the head, destroying him.

Cromartie gets thrown into a shallow grave and the Connors explain to Ellison that they’ll return with materials to destroy him completely. Ellison asks Sarah what’s next. She does not invite him in to join them as part of the team. There’s nothing more to say. He knows everything now, there’s nothing further to explain.

Ellison realizes that nothing he does to help the Connors will set his life right. Sarah places Cromartie’s chip on a rock and smashes it to hell. Sarah is completely distraught and John hugs her.

So, a lot happened for these characters even though not a lot of plot occurred. It was a lot like the final act of an action movie, just told differently. A lot of awesome action, though a somewhat anticlimactic end to Cromartie, their main opponent so far. The Connors trapped him, but it could have been more exciting. Still, it was cool how Cromartie was right about Ellison bringing him to the Connors, just not the way he expected.

I liked seeing John and Sarah share a loving embrace at the end. I understand why John is so traumatized over killing someone, but I want to see their relationship move forward. It will also be interesting seeing where Ellison goes from here. He wants to help the Connors, but they won’t let him get involved. I guess he has no choice but to continue working for “Catherine Weaver.”

A pretty cool episode. I dock it one point for the somewhat unexciting way they dispatched Cromartie, but overall I give this one 4 out of 5 Terminator heads.

photo credit: Kadath