Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Earthlings Welcome Here (Episode 213)

Give me your three dots and nobody will be hurt.Yay!  It’s our mid-season finale, featuring the return of the voiceover!  We see Sarah driving through the desert, lost in a daydream.  Sarah’s daydreams are far more complex and complicated than my own, and feature thoughts about a Conquistador who traveled to the New World in 1490.  He was captured and enslaved by locals, but learned their ways and became a healer after a spiritual journey to the desert.  Eventually, the Conquistador even became an object of worship by his adopted culture.  The desert had transformed him.  He wasn’t the first to trip on acid have a spiritual experience in the desert, and he won’t be the last.  Foreshadow, much, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles?  I’m thinking the desert will be featuring prominently in this episode.

And then… not yay, ‘cuz it’s also the return of the three dots.  Sarah’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel in her quest for the meaning of these things.  And the bottom of the barrel is a UFO convention, whose logo sortakinda resembles the three dots.  No shit.  Sarah watches a workshop full of abductees experiencers, facilitated by a therapist.  She tells the group about her search for the three dots, and the fact that her son thinks she’s on a wild goose chase.  One “experiencer” in particular, wearing what appears to be a horse blanket, takes note as Sarah wanders off to check out the rest of the convention.  

Sarah speaks to a kooky dude who may or may not have a googly eye, and who says the three dot symbol was mentioned by a UFO blogger named Abraham.  Abraham showed up on the blogosphere for a couple of months.  He claimed to have been hired by a mysterious company, which had him working with an indestructible metal beyond current human technology.  Then he disappeared.  Sarah asks one too many dubious questions, and the guy pegs her for a “nonbeliever,” and clams up.  But Sarah’s saved by the arrival of the woman in the horse blanket, who says she has dirt on Abraham and wants to show and tell.  Next thing you know, Sarah’s driving through the desert on another wild goose chase following what will surely turn out to be a super-duper lead.  

John’s hanging out at home as usual, stripping the wallpaper in “his” room.  Um, John, isn’t that house a rental?  Also: hee!  I did the exact same thing one time.  My parents were out of town and I painted my room turquoise.  Double hee!  Y’all should have seen the look on my dad’s face when he got home.  Anyhoo, Riley shows up and she’s acting weird.  Honestly, I still think she’s gonna effin’ lose it any time now.  The girl is skating right on the edge.  Sanity-wise, I mean.  Riley admits to John that she had a tiff with her foster mom.  Tiff, huh?  I would say that screaming “You’re all going to be bleached skulls!” at your caretaker would be categorized more along the lines of a blowout.  Just then Cameron comes in and fixes her best Unnerve the Natives stare on Riley.  Riley looks scared that her thoughts are written all over her face.  They’re not… but we, the lucky audience, do get a flashback!  In a filthy bunker in the future, Riley’s scavenging for food.  Her hair is a disaster and she’s streaked with dirt, and when Jessie tries to approach her, she runs away and hunkers down in a corner.  DOOD.  It’s clear from this scene that the whole “unbalanced” thing is not new for Riley – she’s clearly been fucked up for awhile.  Jessie comes up and strokes her hair.  Her posture makes me think of a cat toying with a mouse.  “Pretty girl,” purrs Jessie.  “What’s your name?”  Next thing you know, a time bubble shows up on a darkened street, and Jessie and Riley emerge from it nekkid as jaybirds.  Riley’s dazed and wild-eyed and shaking in fear, and Jessie’s deadly calm and collected.  They find clothes and make their way to a hotel room, where Riley’s amazed at everything she sees – a lamp, flowers, clean towels.  She’s also in awe of the shower – and from the looks of the approximately 893736 pounds of dirt washing down the drain, it’s the first one she’s ever had.  Jessie combs Riley’s hair and tucks her into bed like a child.  I find this scene very, very interesting.  Riley’s not the devious player that I thought her to be – she’s just a pawn in Jessie’s (increasingly effed-up) game.

Horse-blanket woman takes Sarah to her Airstream trailer, out in the middle of nowhere.  The inside of said Airstream is covered in photos of UFOs, the undersides of which look like… you guessed it, the three dots.  Horse-Blanket makes tea and tells Sarah that Abraham’s real name is Alan Park.  He was an MIT scientist who specialized in light radar… used in robots.  Alan Park’s been sighted in various restaurants in the area, so Sarah and Horse-Blanket decide to go scope out the most recent location, a UFO-themed café.  Hee!  With its pie plate “UFOs” suspended from the ceiling, it looks like a place that Mulder would drag Scully back in the day.  No sign of Alan, so Horse-Blanket excuses herself to the bathroom.  While she’s gone, a waitress takes orders nearby, and Sarah stares wistfully at her.  ‘Cuz she used to be a waitress.  Suddenly, Sarah has a vision; she sees herself across the table, which has something carved into it – "No Fate," I think, but I didn’t get a good look.  Anybody else see it?  A large knife spins by itself on the tabletop.  Suddenly inspired, Sarah charges into the bathroom and demands to know where Abraham is – she’s certain Horse-Blanket knows.  And… “I’m Abraham,” says Horse-Blanket.  Horse-Blanket totally pulled a Mrs. Doubtfire!  She removes her his wig, and admits that her his name is Alan Park.  My first thought: this dude has the girliest eyebrows I’ve ever seen.  Alan (who I’m relieved not to have to call Horse-Blaket anymore) used to have a well-paid job at an aerospace firm, where he had access to materials that seemed too advanced to be human-made.  He blogged about the experience, and things began to happen that put his life in danger.  He went into hiding as a woman to stay safe.  Sarah doubts the story, and Alan claims to have stolen a piece of the advanced metal before going into hiding.  He has it in a storage facility.  Great, now we have to go retrieve it.  Why does shit like that always have to be in some far-flung storage facility?  Why can’t he just stick it on a string and wear it around his neck or something?  Yeesh.   

Catherine the Terminator is still trying to convince Ellison it’d be a peachy idea for him to impart morals, ethics and traditional family values to John Henry the AI.  She brushes off his protests that the thing’s a killer – John Henry’s just inhabiting the body of Chromardi, and they’ll have JH completely under control at all times.  Riiiiight.  Those sound like some famous last words to me.  Ellison has his doubts too, and goes to church for a spiritual recharge.  He talks to the pastor about how he and his wife Lila wanted kids.  But after 9/11, she changed her mind about bringing a child into the world.  Problem was… she was already pregnant.  Ellison didn’t find out until after she’d ended the pregnancy.  Which in turn ended their marriage.  Hmm… nice little bit of backstory on Ellison, there.  We’re learning a lot about people’s pasts during this ep.  Anyhoo, it’s clear that Ellison’s child is weighing heavily on his mind as he decides whether or not to pass on his dadly wisdom to JH the fledgling Terminator.

Back at chez Connor, John’s attempting to flirt with Riley.  And between you and me, she seems about as into it as a Donald Trump at a Rosie O’Donnell variety show.  Suddenly John spots a bruise on her temple, and immediately loses his shit, ranting that he’s going to go kick her foster dad’s ass.  Riley swears that it wasn’t him, but instead of explaining the bump on her noggin, she goes running into the bathroom.  Whereupon we get another flashback, this time from the day Riley introduced herself to John.  She was sitting in a car with Jessie, stalking watching him.  Before making her move, Riley asks why Jessie picked her.  Jessie, who seems to get colder every time I see her and who practically has icicles dangling from her eyelashes in this scene, dodges the question.  In the present, Cameron confronts Riley on her way out of the bathroom, asking about the bruise.  Riley uses the dumbest, most obvious battered-wife excuse and says she walked into a door.  Whereupon Cameron admires the star tattoo on her wrist, and asks to take a look – she’s thinking of getting one.  Riley holds out her wrist and Cam grabs it.  John comes into the hall, and Cameron asks to speak to him alone.  Man, the tension between these three is thicker than extra-chunky peanut butter.  

At girly!Alan’s storage locker, he opens the safe, only to discover that the bit of metal has, predictably, been stolen.  And to make matters worse, a motorcyclist, wearing a dark helmet over his/her face, comes out of nowhere and starts shooting at them.  Alan proves that posing as a woman has rubbed off on him by letting out a high-pitched shriek.  Sarah, of course, does not hesitate and immediately shoots back.  The motorcyclist escapes, and Sarah and Alan go back to the Airstream.  He’s freaking out, calling Sarah a liar and a fake, demanding to know what she wants from him.  I really hate this scene.  This “Alan” character has known Sarah a total of what, fifteen minutes?  And he’s already spouting gobbletegook about how she’s a mother, seeker, and soldier.  Then he promptly insults her by calling her “nothing” and demanding to know what made her so “hard.”  I know it was intended to cut to the quick of Sarah’s vulnerabilities – she’s hard because she has to be, not because she wants to be – but it’s too personal too fast, and… bleh.  It’s also possible that I dislike it because Alan and his girly eyebrows kinda creep me out.  Anyhoo, the weird scene ends in them having tea together again.  Yokay.  Alan says that he’s glad to lead this solitary life, because it’s where he feels free to be his truest, deepest self.  Sarah admits that she used to be a waitress, but “they” killed that part of her.  Then she asks about the lab where Alan worked.  He says that it was so secret that the company picked him up and took him there in a windowless van every day, so that he wouldn’t know the location.  Sarah decides that it’s time to jog Alan’s memory.

Riley’s hiding in the bathroom again, in the throes of another flashback.  This one’s much more recent – she’s just gotten kicked out for shoving her foster mom.  Jessie’s not pleased to find Riley on her doorstep, but Riley doesn’t have anywhere else to go.  And also, she’s freaking out about the mission.  She needs someone to talk to – and wants that someone to be Jessie.  Riley’s all, “Hey, howzabout you and me quit this mission gig and get an apartment together?  Huh?  That’d be fun, right?  Huh?”  She even says that they could “Be together.”  Hmmm, well now.  That would explain Riley’s lack of attraction to John.  Riley may or may not be in love with Jessie.  Which really sucks, because let me tell ya, Jessie ain’t havin’ any of it.  She slaps Riley hard across the face (hello there, big fat bruise) and says she’s not Riley’s babysitter, or her mom.  Um, Jessie?  I think Riley was thinking of you less as a “mom” and more as a “lesbian lovah.”  Jessie says that Riley’s here to keep John away from Cameron, and she needs to go finish out her mission.  So let me get this straight: Jessie brings a frightened, mentally unstable, unbalanced lesbian teenager to the past, and expects her to seduce the Savior of Mankind away from his hottt robot galpal?  Great game plan, there Jessie.  Just fantastic.  In the present, Cameron tells John Riley’s lying about something – she felt her elevated pulse whilst pretending to check out the tattoo.  John warns Cameron to stay away from Riley, and heads for the bathroom to find her.  But the door’s locked, and Riley’s not responding.  John orders Cameron to break down the door… and they find Riley passed out, blood flowing from her slashed wrists.  John frantically drags her into his lap, grabbing her wrists to stop the bleeding.

Ellison has apparently decided to give in to Catherine’s request.  He plays chess with John Henry, and they talk about Dr. Sherman’s death.  JH doesn’t miss the doc, but misses the growth he’s lost in his absence.  Ellison retorts that Dr. Sherman’s life was more important than what he could provide for John Henry.  It matters if humans live or die.  “Why?” inquires JH.  Ellison replies that life is sacred because humans are God’s creation, and we are his children.  “Am I God’s child?” asks JH.  “That’s one of the things we’re here to talk about,” Ellison says.  And John Henry promptly checkmates his ass.  How symbolic.  

Meanwhile, Sarah takes Alan to the office of the therapist who was facilitating the group at the UFO convention – she specializes in memory retrieval through hypnosis.  Alan’s going to be hypnotized, in order to remember details about the ride to the facility where he worked.  As she leaves the room, Sarah slips a listening device in Alan’s purse, so that she can snoop on the therapy session.  She then goes outside and sits in the car, listening to Alan describe his van rides.  As she waits, Sarah sees a cop car pull up on front of the house.  The police officer, whose face we don’t see, goes into the therapist’s house.  And then… gunshots ring out.  Sarah goes bolting inside, where she finds Alan and the therapist shot to death.  Now, I'm thinking that it’s no accident we didn’t see the motorcyclist’s face, nor the cop’s.  If it was just some random Terminator, they totally would have shown us who it was.  It’s gotta be someone we know… Jessie, maybe?  Time will tell, I’m sure, because T:SCC has been picked up for more episodes!  It’ll be back in February, moving to Friday nights.  Clear your calendars, folks!  

Fortunately for Sarah, she had the insight to tape her snoop session, and has everything Alan said before he died recorded.  She listens to it, and retraces Alan’s steps as he was taken to work.  It’s pretty routine stuff – head North, bumps in the road here, a stop sign there.  But there’s also a bit where Alan says that secrecy doesn’t bother him, because he has a secret too… he’s not who his employers think he is.  I decide that if this was any other character, I would want an expansion on that statement.  But I still don’t like Alan, and I’m glad he’s dead.  So… nope, I really don’t care.  Alan narrates that at the end of the van ride, he and his coworkers would emerge beside a warehouse.  Sarah the sleuth finds said warehouse, and spots a van pulling up to it.  Action time.

As Sarah prepares to go into the warehouse, voices echo in her head.  “Who are you?” comes Alan’s voice.  And then Sarah’s reply: “I’m a waitress.”  I suddenly get it.  Even after years of fighting, training, running, and protecting, apparently that’s still how Sarah truly sees herself.  The person she is in the desert, when she’s alone… is a waitress.    But no time to ponder that now, because Sarah’s entered the warehouse with gun drawn.  There’s a frightened looking man inside, who denies that he knows anything about the mystery metal she’s demanding.  He babbles that he’s just the air conditioning repairman, sent by the warehouse’s new owners.  Sarah checks out his credentials, and seeing that he seems about to piss himself in fear, she starts to back away, ordering him not to call the police.  But just when we’ve all concluded that the repairman is just a trembly old man… suddenly he whips out a pistol and shoots Sarah in the leg!!!  He stalks over to her and makes like he’s going to shoot her again, this time at close range.  But Sarah Connor ain’t going down without a fight.  She grabs the gun and pulls, and they’re wrestling over it, face to face.  And then… BANG.  The gun goes off, and the man slumps down on top of Sarah in an uncomfortably intimate pose.  Sarah pushes him off and crawls across the floor, having visions again; the spinning knife, herself in the waitress uniform, wearing a peaceful expression, gazing out the door.  Sarah drags herself outside, lying on her back, looking up at the desert sun.  It grows brighter, and a vision materializes… what seems to be a flying machine, its undercarriage a match to Sarah’s three dots.  It comes closer, hovering over her, and all Sarah can do is lie on the ground and quietly close her eyes.