Writer: Josh Friedman
Grade: A+
This episode is difficult for me to examine because so much of it felt like setup rather than closure. It’s true that this can work as a series finale in some ways—John finally separates from Sarah and meets his fate head-on, Cameron’s suicide arc comes to a close, and we find out that Weaver isn’t quite what many viewers thought she was. But on the whole, I felt there were more old unanswered question, and even new questions, than there were answers.
What happened to Derek in that basement in “The Demon Hand” from the first season? We can put together that it had something to do with Cameron, but that’s about it.
What was really going on when Cameron told John she loved him in the season premiere? How much of that was Cameron and how much was Allison?
I’d theorize about this new Danny Dyson development, but with the cancelation, it feels so pointless…
Skynet didn’t seem to know that Weaver was a T, since the one they sent pelted her with bullets as if she were human and seemed puzzled that she didn’t keel over dead. Curiouser and curiouser…
Would Cameron’s admission that she might kill John someday have served as foreshadowing had the show not been axed?
Cameron asking John Henry “Will you join us?” made me wonder whether it was really Future John extending that offer to Weaver a few episodes ago (and many years into the future). It seems there are quite a few different factions at work both in the present and the future, so I’m sure there are a lot of unexplored areas in that particular branch of the storyline.
Despite the unanswered questions, I thought most of this episode worked, with the exception of the Chola Girl sequence. How did she get dragged into their mess? Sarah’s been keeping tabs on her all this time? I thought the actress’ line deliveries were strange, sort of overly formal and almost ritualistic in a way that seemed intended to enhance the dramatic tension but really just came off as unnecessarily pretentious (not the actress’ fault, as I’m sure she was simply doing what she was told). The only way I’d buy her bizarre, melodramatic performance would be if she were an undercover law enforcement agent, but even that wouldn’t work because Sarah would know that and would never have reached out to her in the first place. Friedman was probably pushing the “Mwahahaha, she’s not what you expected, right?” angle, but it ended up feeling silly.
Back on the subject of things that worked, there were some minor touches of humor that helped this episode feel… complete? Well-rounded? Something like that. Loved the seemingly dead eel turning into liquid metal and recombining with Weaver. And even better was the hilarious exchange between John Henry and Ellison. “Now is not the time.” “I heard it when she said it.” Bwah! John Henry was tweaked, indeed.
On a more serious note, the jailbreak sequence was beyond awesome. Glau has such fantastic control of her body—she makes Cameron move like a true badass, not like a tiny, pretty girl trying to move like a badass. Cameron seemed to be doing her best to avoid casualties, which I think is a throwback to one of the films (it’s been a while).
The pseudo-sex scene between John and Cameron could have felt like fanfic, and for some it probably still did, but I thought Glau and Dekker gave it enough emotional weight to be believable. The fact that Cameron’s “core” was cold didn’t really seem to faze John (if anything, it almost seemed to turn him on more…). Cameron, for her part, seemed to understand the intimacy of what was happening between them and was as moved as a machine could be, but of course, she has better impulse control than John.
So John jumps to the future to chase down Cam’s chip and meets the real, live girl on which she was based. If the show had been able to continue, would John have kept looking for that chip? Would he have fallen for the “real girl” and given up? Would he have fallen for Allison and found a way to get Cameron back, thus creating a truly bizarre love triangle?
And Derek! And Kyle!
Ellison would have been Savannah’s guardian, but what would Sarah have done? Would Savannah have ended up with a beyond-dysfunctional family unit? I tend to think yes, because Sarah on her own with no personal interaction with anyone else probably wouldn’t be very compelling.
Gah, I’m just so bummed that these storylines will never play out (unless Friedman can get permission to do a series of comics…).
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