Writers: John Wirth and Ian Goldberg
Director: Steven DePaul
Originally Aired: 11/17/2008
Grade: A
I had a hard time deciphering the dream metaphors in this one. Cameron watering metal cacti? Do I need peyote for this? It was unclear to me whether I should view Cameron as even more of a threat than I already do because Sarah had a wacky dream about her being a nurturer to turtles and cacti, or if the meaning was more complicated than that, or if I should just write it off as Sarah being batshit crazy. I do think the idea of Cameron as a nurturer is fascinating, though, especially since she’s been more receptive and helpful about John’s emotional state than Sarah has this season. And Cameron nurturing the turtles was obviously tied to Sarah turning over the turtle at the beginning of the episode, which was intended as an act of kindness, so it’s kind of odd to think that the dream symbolized something bad about Cameron.
As far as Cameron turning Ellison over, I didn’t even crack a smile. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be funny—it probably was—but my reaction was more like John’s, which is to say stunned, saddened, and confused (and props to Dekker while I’m at it—say what you want about John being an annoying emo brat, but the guy can act). I love watching John react to Cameron as much as I love watching Cameron.
I wonder if John will ever ask her about her “I love you and you love me” moment in the season premiere, because that would be one riveting conversation…
The scene in the truck with John was awesome on many levels. They built on Cameron’s sense of physical sensation a bit more, and they established that she has something resembling musical taste (weird musical taste, too, and John totally noticed). Her smile when John “complimented” cyborgs blew me away, too. I think what fascinates me about her is that no matter what she does with her hands, there is always something innocent about her mind. She’s always curious, always wanting to learn, and not only is she starting to learn how to understand emotion, this episode seemed to indicate that she’s trying to learn “morality,” too. And because she’s my favorite character, I kind of want her to succeed, at least a little bit, but I think these writers are probably going to break my heart in that respect, and they’d probably be right to. Whatever happens, I’m still completely fascinated by her.
Sarah not wanting to talk about Cameron was amusing, too, although I am curious how she would have tried to express that relationship with half-truths.
John’s insistence that “We’re not murderers” to Sarah, followed by him he amending it to, “You’re not” killed me. And I like that these writers can leave it at that, rather than actually having him blab out, “Well, you’re not, but I am.”
As for John not telling Sarah about Chromartie’s visit, I wasn’t terribly bothered. I was glad that he at least told her about the missing body. I can easily imagine him being relieved to be growing a little bit closer to Sarah again, and being afraid that telling her about Chromartie's visit might ruin it and get her angry at him all over again. I don't think it actually would have that effect, I just think it's likely that he might think that way, hence it not bothering me that he didn't tell her. If his withholding that info still posed an immediate threat, I would be a lot more upset.
That's not to say that that information doesn't still hold some kind of threat that I (or John) haven't considered, and it may come back to bite him in the ass, much like Sarah leaving that kid alive in the bowling alley.
And the Fisher storyline seems like it has to come back into play at some point this season, unless they really intended it to be ambiguous as to why FutureFisher would be so loyal to the machines rather than just kill himself. What on earth kind of sway could the machines have over him that would make him do their dirty work in such a bizarre manner? Maybe they offered some kind of protection from Judgment Day to his family? But we don’t know, and if this were supposed to be a closed storyline, I think the writers would have given viewers that closure. The fact that they didn’t and the question remains unanswered makes me think there’s more to this that will come up again later. They’ve been doing this all season long as it is, introducing stories and characters that seem like one-offs, only to have them brought back once again.
This was definitely a slower episode, but the pacing didn’t bother me at all. I do think that it needed a bit more Sarah and a bit less Derek/Jesse. Not that I’m complaining about more of Derek, but some their “You really don’t remember?” “I really don’t remember” scenes were redundant and should have been compressed.
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