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Tue Dec 8
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Just watch this again and realized something: Sarah Connor did what any divorced mom would do with her son when she couldn't protect him anymore: She sent him off to live with his dad.
Wait. John Connor has been protected all this time to lead a resistance against Skynet. How is the resistance existent or at least going off strong if the uprising of it was supposed to be fueled by John Connor? How can John skip over x years and find a fully functional resistance? Does it even need him anymore?
"That sequence where Cameron cuts herself open and gets John to inspect her insides seems like she was testing her readiness for the jail and ZeiraCorp. missions. But maybe it was something else?"
I'm pretty sure it was just a quick bit of "what can we do include Glau nuding up". She had John put his hand in below her ribcage and reach up inside. WTF logical reason would there be for her to take off her bra first? Shirt? Yeah, fine, whatever, but the only reason I can see to go further was to get all the Glau fanboys drooling.
@Purple Dave: Yeah, maybe it's that simple. Or Maybe they were talking about it earlier and Cameron has been known to be damaged, the thought crossed his mind that maybe she was leaking radiation and giving his mom cancer. She said she was fine, but she's lied before and they both knew it, to prove that she could be trusted when it came down to it she showed him that she wasn't lying.
It's really more symbolic also, she let him reach inside and put his hand on her heart. That's pretty much ultimate trust.
@Laughtrey: Congratulations on totally missing the point of my post. The whole "check for damage" bit makes sense. The whole "take the bra off to check for damage through the belly, which is not immediately adjacent to anything the bra covered" bit was clearly just thrown in there for the Glau-fappers.
@Iamtehawesome: No, she had said something about reaching up underneath the ribs, so it would have to be a belly entry. In retrospect, I suppose it could have been worse. I'm sure if they thought they could have snuck it past the Fox censors, they would have had her fully nude up and cross her ankles behind her neck before handing the knife to John.
I would love if the show just stopped with the modern day. There are about 900 ways to play it, but for our purposes Sarah Conner is gone. Maybe Dyson is leading the resistance, and he recognizes John and hates him for not being there when they all needed him. Dyson was 'saved' by Sarah and Ellison 'twelve years ago' or something. Or John just starts saving the day in the future, and earns himself a place as a leader quickly. Also he could gain experience fighting them here, and be the first to be sent back, thus setting up his timeline again, with him maybe just a little older.
Who knows? There was that 'flashback' of the future that showed John Conner in silhouette about twelve episodes back, and he was the same height as John is now, hinting that he was maybe a year older, and not twelve years older.
They basically have all the possibilities in the world to do whatever they want, including sticking with Sarah Conner and ditching John in the future, but it looks like they'd rather stick with John and leave Sarah alone.
I thought the ending was amazing. I realized after the show was over that I had been gripping the sofa cushions really really hard. My fingers hurt!
It was incredibly interesting that Josh Friedman and the gang to turn the ending into another alternate future. Loved it. Spooky and cool. I was also gratified to discover that there is a Terminator resistance to Skynet, and that Catherine is a foil to Sarah. "Watch who you call bitch" - great scene. I agree that Catherine was clearly the liquid metal Terminator on the submarine, and the scene with the eel merging into her body sort of confirmed that by visual reference (since she swooshed eel-like out of the submarine in the future).
The sexual tension scene with John feeling up Cameron's breastplate? Whoa. Seriously intense. Someday she may become John's greatest enemy.
The more I think of it, the more messy the ending seems to be. We had that whole cutting open scene, the priest, the agent who claimed to believe in things, the T1000 who claimed to be lost without the daughter, the pointless and weird attack (just fly a drone into the building - that's their plan?), the extra piece of T1000 that joined with it, trip to the future for some strange reason, that comment that John Connor is about to become famous for taking the coat, etc.
Because the T1000's have to take the shape of something of equal volume. The original Weaver was smaller than the T1000 so it had to store part of its bulk elsewhere to maintain Weaver's size.
Only two sets of hands was needed to take Cameron's chip out and insesrt it into John Henry's empty slot. Cameron cut away the skin around the chip area of her head, and gave JH the insturctios for removal. While still being hooked up to the Turk, JH inserted Camerno's chip in his empty slot, and then unplugged himself.
I wonder if it's Cameron's programming that's running John Henry's endo, or if JH overide Cam's programming. Cameron's programming could have been downloaded to The Turk's hardware. Hence the "I'm sorry John" message. There's also the possibility that Cameron's and JH's programming are mixed up together in some kind of software soup.
Also, in that video clip with Garret, he was referring to the time Skynet tried to attack him in "To The Lighthouse." I too made the connection that Garrret was takling about a one on one battle. But, then I realized how cyrptic his wods were, and he was talking about Skynet attacking him through the internet.
Also, Charlie, you forget to mention that Danny Dyson has been missing for 3 months. It's very possible that he's workig for Kaliba and is continuing his father's work. Maybe, he's out for revenge aganist John and Sarah. Possible a new human villain for the third season.
@ReneePlautus: Yeah, I got that Dillahunt was talking about Skynet attacking him in "To The Lighthouse." And after that happens, Dillahunt says, John Henry becomes a lot tougher and less innocent.
I think your reading is the interpretation the writers go with if there is a season 3. The idea of John Connor and John Henry are stripped of their messianic vision of themselves is a powerful and interesting. And I think we can use our knowledge of the TV industry to predict that they'd have to end up back in the present at some point -- it just isn't practical to film an entire show post Judgment day.
But this ending has two clear and opposite readings. As it season finale it is as you describe. But as a series finale you could read it in a much more final way.
John jumping forward is how he survives Judgment day and Skynet hunting him -- this is how it happened. That is, this is the original timeline: this is how John met and befriended Derek and Reese, John Henry is how John begins winning against SkyNet and reprogramming Terminators (his secret weapon). So eventually he must send Reese and Derek back, he knows Allyson will be killed and replaced by Cameron, etc. He had to let his mother go, and she had to let him go, to move forward save everyone else. He has to be with this people knowing they he will send them to their deaths because this is what has to be done.
In this reading, the reason why future Jon trusted Cameron unconditionally is because he knows her future -- he knows she'll sacrifice herself to save John Henry.
It's a neat trick of writing that the same ending can be open enough to serve both purposes while still managing to be satisfying if it indeed the last word.
My big question was where is Cameron's mind now? Is she sharing it with John Henry inside her damaged chip, or did she download into the Turk mainframe?
And what of Kaliba and the missing Dyson Jr.? Is he the one responsible for John Henry's "Brother?"
Also, and this is just a nitpick, anytime Cameron's eyes do their Terminator light up thing, it's always been blue (blue being the eye color of the interceptor line of terminators in T3 and in the comics and novels) so why the hell was her eye red last night?
Just pulling my hair out now, praying to God that this show gets a third season. Oh, and best line of the night goes to Weaver, "Watch who you're calling a bitch."
@cash907: I think the red eye, along with the gun store and the terminator shooting up a police station, was an homage to the first movie. there was probably more, but I was really waiting for someone to say "Come with me if you want to live!" since "I'll be back" would be to obvious.
WOW. Double WOW (that'd be a WOW-WOW). There are so many goodies in this episode you hardly know where to start! Spoilers ahead!
John Henry parroting Weaver and then cheating at rolls of the dice, exclaiming, "TWENTY!"
Weaver telling Ellison it wasn't the time to be "parsin' out" who is breaking the law.
The return of the stone-cold, gangsta girl. More, please?
Cameron telling Ellison that he has said enough. As in, "Shut up or die."
Cameron giving a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Felt up." Is it safe to say John was getting a little "distracted" there at the end? What a disturbing, kinky, totally hot intimate scene.
The agent interrogating Sarah. Me thinks he's a fed, not a cop, and he wasn't kidding when he said he believed Sarah.
The agent says Dyson's son has been missing for three months. Probably working, under duress, for the enemy (John Henry's "brother").
Sarah telling the priest to, "gird thyself."
Weaver killing the Terminator assassin, "Hey, I liked that gate!"
Weaver protecting Sarah, John, and Ellison from the HK explosion.
The "eel" from the fish tank, which was liquid metal all along, rejoining her as she reformed after the explosion.
Cameron and John Henry recognizing one another.
Cameron uploads to John Henry's mega-computer, while John Henry gets Cameron's chip.
Weaver taking no $hit from Sarah Connor re: who's calling who a bitch.
John Henry goes to the future, one would think, because he's carrying information from Cameron, etc.. To whom is he carrying the information?
Derek is alive in the future, but why doesn't anyone recognize John?
Kyle Reese "just got back," but from where? Was it my imagination, or was there some kind of recognition between him and John?
The human prototype for Cameron, Allison from Palmdale, hugging the dog at the end. What a moment when John realized that it was not Cameron, but a human!
@EarthSmiles: That was the eel? I only watched it once, and all I caught was a glimpse of a tube of liquid metal slithering forward to join Weaverbot. I kinda thought that maybe the Skynet craft had a liquid metal Terminator onboard that was sent to take over the Weaverbot in case the direct attack failed. But then she met up with John again and didn't skewer him...
@vitasimplex: Yup. It's been debunked over and over again. It's very, very silly. Apart from anything else, "the sets have been struck." What sets??? Tell me what sets this show uses, on an ongoing basis.
@Charlie Jane Anders: Well I've noticed the same warehouse set several times this season, but I'm pretty sure that warehouses are pretty standard fare in Hollywood.
@vitasimplex: As someone who has been on nearly every studio lot, this story sounds like complete bunk.
This part in particular stands out:
"We were offered a tour of the studio and was asked is there anything in particular we would like to see."
Uh, no... It's not like the Universal Studios tour with the little tram. You don't get to go around and wander a production's sets because you know some dude who works on the lot.
Anyway, a random dude on the WB lot is not going to know anything more than anyone else.
You don't need a third pair of hands if Cameron had John Henry pull her chip and install it in his head. He doesn't have a chip, just a link to his body. She knew her body was badly damaged, and needed a new one. It occurred to me that maybe she's still carrying out Future John's instructions. After all, someone has to make the entreaty to the rebel Terminators, so who better than one of their own? They couldn't risk John Henry to do that, but for all that she's been through, Cameron, in whatever body she's running around in, is the perfect one to do it.
@Briareosdx: I really don't think that's Cameron in John Henry's body. I think it's John Henry in John Henry's body, using Cameron's chip. Why else would Catherine Weaver have been saying "John Henry's gone"? The body is just a body.
In my imagination, Cameron's chip is in John Henry's body, but it's not in the way you think.
Cameron's body was beyond self repair. I don't remember seeing any terminator in the movies or tv series function well with that kind of damage.
John Henry took the water guy terminator's chip and put himself on that chip, and took Cameron's chip and put in somewhere in his body for storage so that he can time travel with it. Whilst in the future, John Henry goes into skynet factories and steals a couple of terminator, one to place Cameron in and a few to just hang out with. Also, he steals a T-1000 or T-1001 that we know as the submarine liquid metal.
I think they were very clear that the water guy's chip was toast. Otherwise, it makes for a pretty weak storyline. Why would they need Cameron's chip when they could just get a chip from any terminator around?
They wouldn't. So they had to invent an explanation that Skynet was booby trapping the new chips.
04/12/09
It is quite nice to have a show (most likely) end this coherently, yet with lots of surprises.
And yes, I'm saying this looking at you, BGS.
04/12/09
04/11/09
04/12/09
04/11/09
I'm pretty sure it was just a quick bit of "what can we do include Glau nuding up". She had John put his hand in below her ribcage and reach up inside. WTF logical reason would there be for her to take off her bra first? Shirt? Yeah, fine, whatever, but the only reason I can see to go further was to get all the Glau fanboys drooling.
04/12/09
It's really more symbolic also, she let him reach inside and put his hand on her heart. That's pretty much ultimate trust.
04/12/09
Congratulations on totally missing the point of my post. The whole "check for damage" bit makes sense. The whole "take the bra off to check for damage through the belly, which is not immediately adjacent to anything the bra covered" bit was clearly just thrown in there for the Glau-fappers.
04/12/09
If that was the case, then a bra would possibly get in the way.
04/13/09
No, she had said something about reaching up underneath the ribs, so it would have to be a belly entry. In retrospect, I suppose it could have been worse. I'm sure if they thought they could have snuck it past the Fox censors, they would have had her fully nude up and cross her ankles behind her neck before handing the knife to John.
04/11/09
Who knows? There was that 'flashback' of the future that showed John Conner in silhouette about twelve episodes back, and he was the same height as John is now, hinting that he was maybe a year older, and not twelve years older.
They basically have all the possibilities in the world to do whatever they want, including sticking with Sarah Conner and ditching John in the future, but it looks like they'd rather stick with John and leave Sarah alone.
04/11/09
It was incredibly interesting that Josh Friedman and the gang to turn the ending into another alternate future. Loved it. Spooky and cool. I was also gratified to discover that there is a Terminator resistance to Skynet, and that Catherine is a foil to Sarah. "Watch who you call bitch" - great scene. I agree that Catherine was clearly the liquid metal Terminator on the submarine, and the scene with the eel merging into her body sort of confirmed that by visual reference (since she swooshed eel-like out of the submarine in the future).
The sexual tension scene with John feeling up Cameron's breastplate? Whoa. Seriously intense. Someday she may become John's greatest enemy.
04/11/09
"Someday she may become John's greatest enemy."
Wow. That's an interesting comment. Care to elaborate?
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
JOHN: Hey, honey, it's been a week since, ya know.
CAMERON: My shielded nuclear generator has a headache.
JOHN: Oh, c'mon!
04/11/09
Too many threads flapping loose in there.
04/11/09
Apparently a lot of people didn't get that it was the fish.
04/11/09
And does that mean that T-1001 can separate itself into two or more terminators?
04/11/09
Because the T1000's have to take the shape of something of equal volume. The original Weaver was smaller than the T1000 so it had to store part of its bulk elsewhere to maintain Weaver's size.
04/13/09
Cool info. Thanks.
04/11/09
04/11/09
- Why did John Henry jump to the future?
- Why did Sarah stay behind?
- What was that final bolt of time travel lightening at the end? Did someone else or Sarah decide to follow?
04/11/09
I wonder if it's Cameron's programming that's running John Henry's endo, or if JH overide Cam's programming. Cameron's programming could have been downloaded to The Turk's hardware. Hence the "I'm sorry John" message. There's also the possibility that Cameron's and JH's programming are mixed up together in some kind of software soup.
Also, in that video clip with Garret, he was referring to the time Skynet tried to attack him in "To The Lighthouse." I too made the connection that Garrret was takling about a one on one battle. But, then I realized how cyrptic his wods were, and he was talking about Skynet attacking him through the internet.
Also, Charlie, you forget to mention that Danny Dyson has been missing for 3 months. It's very possible that he's workig for Kaliba and is continuing his father's work. Maybe, he's out for revenge aganist John and Sarah. Possible a new human villain for the third season.
04/11/09
04/11/09
But this ending has two clear and opposite readings. As it season finale it is as you describe. But as a series finale you could read it in a much more final way.
John jumping forward is how he survives Judgment day and Skynet hunting him -- this is how it happened. That is, this is the original timeline: this is how John met and befriended Derek and Reese, John Henry is how John begins winning against SkyNet and reprogramming Terminators (his secret weapon). So eventually he must send Reese and Derek back, he knows Allyson will be killed and replaced by Cameron, etc. He had to let his mother go, and she had to let him go, to move forward save everyone else. He has to be with this people knowing they he will send them to their deaths because this is what has to be done.
In this reading, the reason why future Jon trusted Cameron unconditionally is because he knows her future -- he knows she'll sacrifice herself to save John Henry.
It's a neat trick of writing that the same ending can be open enough to serve both purposes while still managing to be satisfying if it indeed the last word.
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
I agree that is certainly possible. I don't they ever said anything that could contradict the possibility.
04/11/09
And what of Kaliba and the missing Dyson Jr.? Is he the one responsible for John Henry's "Brother?"
Also, and this is just a nitpick, anytime Cameron's eyes do their Terminator light up thing, it's always been blue (blue being the eye color of the interceptor line of terminators in T3 and in the comics and novels) so why the hell was her eye red last night?
Just pulling my hair out now, praying to God that this show gets a third season. Oh, and best line of the night goes to Weaver, "Watch who you're calling a bitch."
04/11/09
04/12/09
There was the 'hasta luego' homage.
04/11/09
John Henry parroting Weaver and then cheating at rolls of the dice, exclaiming, "TWENTY!"
Weaver telling Ellison it wasn't the time to be "parsin' out" who is breaking the law.
The return of the stone-cold, gangsta girl. More, please?
Cameron telling Ellison that he has said enough. As in, "Shut up or die."
Cameron giving a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Felt up." Is it safe to say John was getting a little "distracted" there at the end? What a disturbing, kinky, totally hot intimate scene.
The agent interrogating Sarah. Me thinks he's a fed, not a cop, and he wasn't kidding when he said he believed Sarah.
The agent says Dyson's son has been missing for three months. Probably working, under duress, for the enemy (John Henry's "brother").
Sarah telling the priest to, "gird thyself."
Weaver killing the Terminator assassin, "Hey, I liked that gate!"
Weaver protecting Sarah, John, and Ellison from the HK explosion.
The "eel" from the fish tank, which was liquid metal all along, rejoining her as she reformed after the explosion.
Cameron and John Henry recognizing one another.
Cameron uploads to John Henry's mega-computer, while John Henry gets Cameron's chip.
Weaver taking no $hit from Sarah Connor re: who's calling who a bitch.
John Henry goes to the future, one would think, because he's carrying information from Cameron, etc.. To whom is he carrying the information?
Derek is alive in the future, but why doesn't anyone recognize John?
Kyle Reese "just got back," but from where? Was it my imagination, or was there some kind of recognition between him and John?
The human prototype for Cameron, Allison from Palmdale, hugging the dog at the end. What a moment when John realized that it was not Cameron, but a human!
04/11/09
That was the eel? I only watched it once, and all I caught was a glimpse of a tube of liquid metal slithering forward to join Weaverbot. I kinda thought that maybe the Skynet craft had a liquid metal Terminator onboard that was sent to take over the Weaverbot in case the direct attack failed. But then she met up with John again and didn't skewer him...
04/11/09
did anyone see this?
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
This part in particular stands out:
"We were offered a tour of the studio and was asked is there anything in particular we would like to see."
Uh, no... It's not like the Universal Studios tour with the little tram. You don't get to go around and wander a production's sets because you know some dude who works on the lot.
Anyway, a random dude on the WB lot is not going to know anything more than anyone else.
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
In my imagination, Cameron's chip is in John Henry's body, but it's not in the way you think.
Cameron's body was beyond self repair. I don't remember seeing any terminator in the movies or tv series function well with that kind of damage.
John Henry took the water guy terminator's chip and put himself on that chip, and took Cameron's chip and put in somewhere in his body for storage so that he can time travel with it. Whilst in the future, John Henry goes into skynet factories and steals a couple of terminator, one to place Cameron in and a few to just hang out with. Also, he steals a T-1000 or T-1001 that we know as the submarine liquid metal.
I can go on...
04/11/09
I think they were very clear that the water guy's chip was toast. Otherwise, it makes for a pretty weak storyline. Why would they need Cameron's chip when they could just get a chip from any terminator around?
They wouldn't. So they had to invent an explanation that Skynet was booby trapping the new chips.