(Season 2, Episode 13 – “Earthlings Welcome Here”) 
In general, I’m a pretty snarky bastard, so during the opening scenes of the episode, when we were introduced to the Eileen character, I thought she totally sounded like a dude. I chided myself for being mean, and was going to let it go. Then, of course, it turned out that the character really was a dude. I need to learn to trust my instincts more, I guess. I do have to commend any actress who is brave and secure enough to play a man or a transexual. You have to be pretty comfortable with yourself to do that.
On to the episode….
Well, that was an interesting episode. It certainly wasn’t as groundbreaking as FOX was leading us to believe with their previews. It felt more like a normal episode than it did a “FALL FINALE!!!” Oh, well. There were some important things happening, not the least of which was Sarah hunting down the three dots of her nightmares. It turned out that they led her to a UFO convention where she teamed up with Eileen/Alan to hunt down one of the ships. Everything lead Sarah to a warehouse where, after letting her guard down and being shot, she saw the “three dot” UFO above her.
Now, this was all a little bizarre for me. I have to assume that this is some sort of machine contraption from the future, but … what the crap? I would think something that big would be garnering a lot more attention, or would be doing some more serious damage. If I were the machines I wouldn’t send back a giant evil flying machine to hang out in a warehouse. I’d be blowing shit up and causing havoc. Am I right here? Any theories on the UFO?
We got some more background on Riley in this episode, too, and I feel a lot better about her these days now that I know she has a purpose. I understand that teenagers need relationships, blahbitty blah blah. I just wasn’t feeling the Riley/John dynamic. Now that we know she’s from the future, I’m a little cooler with it. It was interesting seeing the dynamic between her and Jesse. Jesse was not so sympathetic toward her little ward, and clearly the girl needed a little help. I have the feeling that her wrist slashing isn’t going to stick though. We haven’t seen the last of her.
Some quick hit thoughts:
What did you guys think of this episode? Any theories on the UFO or who was on the motorcycle? Could it have been Derek or Jesse on some secret mission?
See you on Fridays Terminator!
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Dec 15, 2008 @ 21:45 EST5EDT
Actually… this is the first T:SCC episode in two seasons which I didn’t like very much. The answers were spoon fed to Sarah, which challenged my ability to suspend disbelief, and the thing with the UFO at the end was just a bit much. I love this show — the writers, the directors, its actors and actresses — very much, but this episode just wasn’t up to par, in my opinion.
I appreciated getting to finally know the Riley story, however.
I have to agree with David. This episode didn’t do much for me. The last few episodes have been so good. This one was a letdown.
I was glad to get more back story on Riley and Jesse. I am enjoying how the Riley character is coming along. I never hated her like some, but she has a real purpose now. Still hate Jesse. Never liked her. Hope she dies! Ok, that might be a little harsh.
I am missing Derek.
Not feeling the UFO stuff. Seems out of place. I hope it has a good payoff next year.
I think Cameron was looking at Riley’s tattoo in order to feel her pulse maybe. That’s how she knew she was lying? Or, she could have been looking at the tattoo and just happened to notice the pulse…I guess I could see it going either way.
Can’t think of her name, but the red head machine chick…I am starting to wonder if she is there in the past to try to prevent the war in the future. Basically, is she the Sarah Connor of the machines? If the machines have ethics and better understand humans, could machines and humans co-exist? I have wondered this for quite a few episodes, but tonight’s seemed to cement that theory for me. At least for now :)
I was captivated as usual while watching the episode, when I just immerse myself and try to catch every bit of dialogue, the glances and gestures. Like when Riley and Jesse were in the car when a dog barked, they stopped talking and whipped their heads around, looking for metal. Little nuggets like that are easy to miss.
When it was all over, though, I felt oddly underwhelmed. My only hope is that the next episode is basically part 2 and all the storylines run together, Best of Both Worlds style.
Regarding the prototype HK, I’m fairly certain the machines didn’t send it back in time. From the episode, we know that it was the secret project that Alan and all the others (who are probably dead now) were working to build, using materials and technologies they had never seen before. That’s why Abraham was tracking sightings of the “UFOs.” I don’t know whether I think terminators or humans masterminded the project. I do think they wouldn’t stop at just one and that someone is building (or has built) a private air force for Judgment Day. It’d be funny if it was Jesse.
The reason the “California drones” aren’t wreaking all kinds of havoc openly is that, no matter their technological superiority, they are still vastly outnumbered and outgunned by the U.S. military. If their existence were discovered, they would be sought and destroyed in short order, and wouldn’t be available for the coming war.
That being said, if they identified a high-value target like John Connor, I’m sure they would have no compunctions about leveling his house or taking out his Dodge Ram Never Back Down From A Challenge.
Actually, all the way back in S02E03, “The Mousetrap,” John tells Riley at the magazine stand that he doesn’t think he’ll be coming back to school, that his mom wants to home-school him for a while.
I also thought Cameron was connecting Riley’s star tattoo to some kind of Resistance ink, but it turned out just to be an excuse to hold her arm and measure her pulse and perspiration. She mentions this to John in the subsequent scene on the terrace as proof that Riley is lying about something (I had assumed Cameron could also measure galvanic skin response, but maybe the writers just haven’t heard of that yet).
So is Cameron a tiger or a wolf? I vote wolf, whereas all the other terminators seemed like tigers to me. Cameron’s different.
Maybe no one else noticed this, but the pics of the UFOs that were all over Eileen’s trailer were ones I have seen about a year ago on YouTube videos of UFOs. At the time, the pics looked to me to be professionally done. I am wondering if that was some kind of viral advertising campaign for T:SCC that started a long time ago, or if someone on the staff decided to use it in the story to make it “more realistic” in current timeline.