After the climactic events of the last couple weeks, the show took a bit of a breather this week. It was a time to revisit some old stories and some old friends, including Charley Dixon. It was nice to see Charley again, but this episode mostly served as a reminder that the Connors will never lead a normal life. It was just strange and altogether wrong watching them buddy up around a breakfast table after making pancakes.
Yes, it’s sad, but it’s their lot. Life sucks when you’re the savior of the human race… or will be, at least.
I really appreciated that the show revisited the story line involving Sarah’s cancer. When you introduce something like that, it’s important not to let it fall into the background, which so often happens. I also appreciated that they pushed it off for a little while too. After watching the BSG finale, I’ve had enough of watching my favorite female characters wither away from cancer for quite a while, thank you very much.
It was definitely an interesting turn revealing the implanted tracking device put inside of Sarah. Interesting and creepy. A whole new world seems to be opening up to us. It seems like that company in the desert was up to a whole lot more than we may have thought at first. Yes, they were making some fancy flying saucers, but it looks like perhaps they were developing their very own advanced AI as well. It would seem that John Henry may not be Skynet after all. Or maybe I’m just taking too many leaps here.
With only two episodes left I’m very interesting to see how this season is going to wrap up.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 28, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Is the company in the desert is attached to ZeiraCorp. The origin of the company in the desert is a little confusing to me.
Also, what predicated them trying to catch everyone in this episode? If they’ve had the tracker for a while, why did they wait?
Perhaps it had something to do with “cyberdyne brother” finding John Henry?
Loved it. BSGfan, I’m certain the “worm” was what allowed them to tap into the tracker. Good call.
Am I the only one who noticed what the said at the end of the episode at the preview for next week? Something to the effect of having all the people who watch over him, John’s fate will be revealed blah blah blah…”with only two episodes left.” – not “until the season finale.” The way they presented it made it sound like the writing is very much on the wall. Two episodes left and over. Anyone?
You call that “taking a breather”????
-bringing back Charley
-killing off Charley
-Cyberdyne hooking up with John Henry
-a tracking device planted in Sarah
-John on the run
You’re kidding, right?
No, I see what he means. The pacing of the episode was pretty slow until the end.
Still I think it works.
The show has gotten much better in the last couple of weeks (the Sarah Sleeping/Depression arc and episodes bored the hell out of me).
I think going from Dennis Duffy to Charley Dixon in 24 hours broke my brain. And Dean Winters will be in Life on Mars next Wednesday as well.
Even when very little happens in this show, it’s still tense as hell. I was enjoying the Sarah and John flashbacks in the Central American jungle, with their training/games, as well as Sarah’s cancer worries and the Charley/Sarah/John aborted family dynamic in the present. I didn’t expect all three plots to merge into an action/conspiracy storyline in the last act. The writers really faked me out this time with the implanted tracker.
Bob, when they jumped forward from 1999, Sarah was supposed to die in 2005 from cancer. Therefore, they could ignore it for the entire run of the show (should it last) and end the Chronicles with her death. Of course, running through the hot zone in the Serrano Point nuclear power plant without a suit could have made things worse, as Sarah herself noted, so they could introduce the storyline at any point they wanted. I don’t have any fear that she’ll be relegated to a bed like Roslin though.
Loved the Charley and John bonding on the dock… which turned instantly into a discussion of the perimeter defenses and escape plan.
“Hey, just don’t teach Bugslug to Cameron. She could do some real damage.”
Pancakes are as big a symbol on this show as the three dots (which we all saw in bright red lights on the wall when John Henry was pwned).
I knew the Turk would become Skynet, so I figured Weaver turned it into John Henry to change Skynet’s mind in the future. I didn’t expect another machine to become Skynet to fill the gap left by the timeline change. Now I have no idea where it’s going, and I think that’s a brilliant twist.
Cute Savannah and the Ducklings!
I was also sure that the Kaliba group was a subsidiary of ZeiraCorp, and that Weaver salted-and-burned Desert Canyon Heating & Air because anyone could have intercepted the unsecured transmission John Henry found. Now it seems she might have been taking out a competitor in the future war, but it’s too soon to be sure.
It seems one of Cameron’s new glitches is being able to skip steps during reboot, as she was out for at most 20 seconds, not 120. That’s definitely deliberate, as she was offline for much longer the previous two times. Interesting that the operative questioned where the endoskeleton schematic came from.
Actually, when I analyze it, a lot did happen in this episode. And I can’t believe they killed Charley’s dog!
Wait.
Who was instructing the guy to disable Cameron and remove her chip? Who has that intel? Did “the worm” (not Dennis Rodman) access that info from John Henry? I think that was a major plot point overlooked.
During the infiltration, the T-888 schematic pops up on one of the screens behind John Henry. The camera even switches so that it fills the whole frame, both the full exoskeleton shot and a close-up on the head.
I had thought the operative was talking to another human on the phone, but now that you mention it, the other AI could have been speaking directly to him. Whoever it is even says that he got the information from his brother, which could mean John Henry, who considers the infiltrator his brother.
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree Ryan, I definitely got the sense that it could have been the other AI on the other side of the phone.
Do you think that John Henry’s realization tha he could “change the rules” was the catalyst to his “breakdown” ? Please discuss.
Note that about fifteen seconds pass between John Henry agreeing with Savannah that he can change the rules and the attack; an eternity in computer terms. I don’t think it caused the breakdown, only allowed the other AI to find and access him. John Henry had been accessing the internet for days or weeks, but probably looked just like any other Google-bot. When he began to break out of his shell, he became visible above all the background noise.
Usually whenever John Henry does something weird, Weaver looks proud of him. I noticed she seemed almost concerned this time, so the incident didn’t seem to be part of her plan for him.
Darn it… this show is getting so good at the end of its run. I really hope they either have a hell of a two-episode wrap up, or it is renewed.
Someone please explain… is Weaver not on the side of Skynet?