The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Gnothi Seauton

by Melissa Voelker

Now ensconced eight years in the future, the Connors try to go about life as normal – for them. John sulks and pouts, and with his new Emo hair style it seems he has assimilated into 2007 pretty well for only being there three days. Cameron breaks up some sulky mother son talking to ask if it is time to get fake IDs and it turns out she isn’t the only time traveler out and about. Sarah gets a little ticked that she is just learning this, and things don’t get much better when she and the terminatrix go to track down the human resistance fighters only to find them all dead.

They are attacked by another muscle bound killer robot playing possum amongst the bodies. Cameron and the other cyborg start beating each other up, fall out a window, and then go for a merry chase down the street. Sarah steals a motorcycle at gunpoint in order to follow them.

Pissed at Cameron for yanking them through time into the hands of more killer robots, Sarah demands to know why they had to make the trip in the first place when they are less safe now then they were before. If they had stayed in the past they would have had more time to prepare to take on SkyNet, but Cameron drops a bit of a bombshell when she reveals that they wouldn’t have had that time after all, since Sarah died in 2005.

Cameron tells the Connors that the terminators in this When are not programmed to hunt and kill John Connor specifically. This gives him ideas about being able to go galavanting around town without fear of being recognized, but Sarah nixes any plans he might have immediately in the bud. Then she and Cameron head out to try for fake ID’s yet again, hopefully with better results, leaving the future leader of mankind behind. After playing with his voicemail for a while he grows bored and skips out of the house.

Sarah reminisces with her friend Enrique before asking him for some ID papers, but he tells her he is out of the business. He gives her the name of his nephew who can help her out. And while they are trying to get what is needed to keep the trio safe, John is at the mall doing things that will probably make them all not safe. He goes into a computer store and starts looking up people from the past, including John Connor who supposedly died in a bank heist in 1999, and Charley Dixon, the ex-fiancee Sarah skipped out on.

In another part of town, a road clean up crew member walks into his dirty shed and pulls a small trophy from work out of his bag. It is none other than the head of the terminator who was also in that ‘bank heist’ with the Connors when they made their jump through time, and in the long tradition of terminators since Arnold first tried to kill Sarah Connor so very many years ago, this head is not really dead yet.

Knowing nothing about this new/old menace possibly on their heels, Sarah and Cameron track down Enrique’s nephew, Carlos. Her cyborg self causes some ruckus with the guard dogs (a nice shout out to the first Terminator movie where it is mentioned that dogs can sense terminators) so Cameron is sent outside to wait while Sarah negotiates with Carlos and his men. He acts friendly, but he won’t give her what she wants for less than $20,000, which she doesn’t have. Outside Cameron is hassled by a cop who thinks she is dealing in dirty things. She is about to take him out the terminator way until Sarah busts in with some fine acting. She’s had a rough day, learning about the events of 9/11 as well as other things she missed from Carlos.

While she is getting a crash history course, John is breaking into Charley Dixon’s house. He gets caught, of course, but Charley isn’t mad just confused. He wants to know what happened, what is going on with Sarah now, and possibly just have a little male bonding. But John freaks out when Charley goes for the hug and slams the older man to the ground before running off.

John manages to get home moments before the girls walk in and give him an update on the ID situation. He tries to play off like he has been there the whole time, but both Sarah and the terminatrix know he is lying. They take him with them the next time they head out, this time to loot the crime scene where the resistance members where murdered earlier in the day. They find a safe hidden behind a cute kitten poster, and Cameron gets blasted by a booby trap just in time for the terminator who slaughtered the men before to return. John manages to get the safe open so they can grab the goods, but not before they realize they have company. Sarah tosses Cameron’s unconscious body out a window (which is really pretty cool) and they make their escape in the nick of time.

Later as they go through their somewhat ill-gotten gains, they find guns, cash, and a bag of diamonds. Then Sarah and Cameron share a moment over discussing “The Wizard of Oz,” as Sarah has been calling Cam the Tin Man almost all day. During their discussion some intriguing bits of information are revealed, such as the fact that future John Connor has had some rather intimate talks with the little terminatrix. Just how close are they in the future? Can the leader of the human revolution really be that friendly with a robot?

Other questions come about as well, when the road crew worker who found himself a cyborg heads gets a home visit from a very dead friend who has been taken over in a very yucky fashion by more of the cyborg’s body. Sarah and crew don’t know about this latest development, they have their money and are getting their fake ID’s. Cam also gets herself a bit of a makeover like a real girl. As they are leaving, Carlos starts talking in Spanish to one of his crew, not seeming to know that Sarah speaks Spanish. She learns some truths about Enrique she doesn’t want to hear so goes to pay him a visit. Looks like he is known in his family as a bit of a snitch, and could have or could be selling Sarah out. He tries to explain himself, then Cameron shoots him. Sarah freaks out on her, freaks out on herself a bit.

The next day Cam quizzes John on his new identity. He is back to his sulky self, though suddenly cool with staying hidden away inside. For a moment he seems about to tell Sarah about his visit to Charley Dixon, but then changes his mind. And in the home of dead Enrique the rat, it is revealed that he was about to sell Sarah out to Agent Ellison of the FBI.

Not as solid as the pilot, this episode did still have its strong points. The characters missed the last seven years, including jumps in technology, politics, and historic events. The show doesn’t entirely skip over this point either. When Carlos mentions how the world changed after 9/11 Sarah is confused because she doesn’t just miraculously know what he is talking about. The same thing happens with John when he heads over to the mall and marvels at people on their cellphones and Blackberry’s. Of course they do seem to have a knack with their modern cellphones that seems a bit less than believable, and where did they get those cellphones anyway? They’ve been in town three days without ID and have managed to procure a house, food, tools, and cellphones? Hrm.

The connection to the third movie – by bringing up Sarah’s death from cancer which is why she wasn’t in Terminator 3 – came as a surprise after the last episode seemed to take that out of the Terminator timeline. It was a smart move by the writers to find a way around that point without making the assumption that viewers would be too stupid to remember how things had already been said to happen. The shot at the end of the episode with Sarah getting tested in an Oncology lab was intriguing. Will she be getting cancer anyway, even though she cheated her death by skipping passed it?

The one thing this series really has working against it is the constant influx of new terminators trying to kill Sarah and John. It was novel the first couple of times, but now is wearing a bit thin. How many times can the Connors almost die but save themselves at the last minute before no one wants to watch anymore?

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About Melissa: By day a mild-mannered tv station receptionist, by night a fighter of crime and corruption in the dirty streets of Spokane, WA . . . or maybe not so much. More like a hyperactive, anal-retentive daytime receptionist and a melodramatic, hyperactive nighttime fangirl who only wishes she could be a fighter of crime and champion of justice (except that would lead to getting my super costume all dirty and I hate doing laundry.) Though my intent has always been to write bestselling novels and live a life of wealth and luxury, putting my talents for snarkiness and word doodling together while letting my geek flag fly suits me just fine – for now.

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