User Reviews

This episode is about as stand alone an episode as they've produced so far. One of the best of the series yet, as well. The Citizen Kane style it was created with really added to the overall effect.

Billy Lush as Eric made a very strong and compelling case for becoming a returning character as a means for Cameron to discover her humanity. A stellar performance.

Also, the plot device of the Terminators missing their intended marks while time traveling has some very interesting aspects that could be explored in future episodes.

All in all, one of the best story lines of the series thus-far.

We already know that Cameron doesn't sleep; here we learn what she does all night… she goes to the library! She has befriended the wheelchair bound librarian who lets her in out of hours. As she looks through various historical items she sees a photograph of something she didn't expect… a terminator standing at the scene of a fatal fire at a 1920s speakeasy. Clearly he should not be there and Cameron is determined to discover what he was doing there, where he is now and what his mission is. While she is out John gets a call from Riley asking him to come and pick her up from a party although when he gets there she doesn't want to leave after all, eventually her behaviour leads to a confrontation where John beats the living daylights out of a fairly obnoxious party goer.

Some viewers may think of this episode as just a filler as it doesn't seem to advance the main plot at all; I don't think that matters though as it was a good story. John and Riley's scenes were okay but Cameron's investigation into the 1920s terminator was fascinating; both as a mystery and as a way of seeing her interact with a person in a way that could be considered friendship. Summer Glau really shines here as the good terminator who doesn't quite get how to deal with ordinary people who think she is human. Her investigation leads to some good action but more importantly to some a poignant scene where Cameron tells her new friend a truth he wasn't ready to hear. Overall I'd say this was a really good episode with just the right mix of drama, mystery and excitement.

I would have loved to have seen where Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles would have gone over the three extra seasons that it never got. This entry in the Terminator franchise added many subtle touches and bits of information to our knowledge about the nature of the bleak future of robot wars, time travel, and the establishment of the logical trope that those who travel back in time inevitably change the future they came from into something else. Most episodes were concerned with the efforts of Sarah, John and Cameron (plus the few humans caught in their wake) to evade the efforts of Skynet to strike at them from the future, during the days of Skynet's birth. Summer Glau, from her amazing turn as River Tam in the short-lived "Firefly" series, is perfect here as she again plays a person who seems a bit off, hiding the propensity to become a hair-trigger killing machine as events warrant. While most episodes pertain to the main story arc, this episode of TSCC explores the resourcefulness and adaptability of Terminator programming - as one killer robot displaced in time has to ensure its target is destroyed, and another killer robot tasked to find threats discovers the plot in the historical record. Glau's portrayal of Cameron in this series is filled with bits of business that open many doors into the psyche of the terminators, and this episode is an interesting exploration of how far Cameron can and will go to find and eliminate threats. Todd Stashwick is perfect as the terminator stranded in time and making the best of it. Glau's contact with the human helping her also is unexpectedly poignant. See this if you can.

An original approach as well as a good answer to one of the show's biggest plot hole this far: what does Cameron do at night?

A nice diversion from the show's usual formula and can be watched by itself.

Cameron has a nocturnal habit of popping to the library. Which is at odds with her being John's protector, but we'll just have to overlook that.

The Stark story felt a little confused. It's my understanding that Stark (a terminator) was sent back to kill someone, but I think what happened is that he landed in the wrong time and had to wait it out (but perhaps that was always the plan). During which time Stark empire builds. There's mention of him treating his employees well. To which I was hoping that it might be a terminator come good story. Which it may well have been. Stark ultimately doesn't deviate from his programming.

It still requires a leap of the imagination as to how Cameron's interest in Stark was piqued in the first place. Is she always trawling the history section for inconsistencies? I was secretly hoping that Stark would remain alive to become a wise role model or confidant for Cameron. But alas it wasn't to be. I'm still unsure as to how he became entombed in a wall? You would have thought that a plasterer might have noticed.

Weird side story in this episode with Riley. She goads John to obtain an emotional response. I'm still unsure as to what Jesse's mission is at this point and which side she's on. Perhaps Riley is to provide a healthy distraction for John. Who like most teenage boys prefers the company of a computer to that of a human being.

Cameron apparently goes to a library every night bringing donuts to the wheelchair bound employee who works there. It's not explained why she does this or how she met him. She seems to go to chit chat with the guy I guess?!

It's just expected for us to believe this is what she does nightly while the Connors are sleeping. On this night however, she conveniently happens to glance at a picture on a table taken in 1920 of a terminator who went back in time and spends the whole night researching the history of the man.

It's all so convoluted and confusing, and silly because we discover that this terminator has been standing behind the wall of a building for 90 years waiting to kill the governor of California on New Years Eve 2010.

Yes you read that right. The terminator has been waiting behind a damn wall in a building for almost a century waiting to kill a man who wasn't even born yet. It's so ridiculous.

Cameron goes to the building in the middle of the night and bangs a hole through the wall where Terminator has been hiding with his machine gun for 90 long years lol.

A fight ensues and she puts him out of commission. I'm sure after 90 years behind that wall he was thankful. I have no idea who this terminator is and why he waited behind a wall all that time to assassinate a governor because it's never explained. And if it was, it's too confusing.

And Cameron can now apparently see into the future because she sees the assassination take place a year from then when she walked into the room. This is the silliest and most boring episode of the series.

I'm starting to see why this show never made it to a third season....viewers probably tuned out in droves at this silly point.

I'm ready to bail myself but I may as well continue on and see how it ends.