The T-888 is hunting down and exterminating any and all Martin Bedells in California, because Bedell in the future is an engineer who's a major help to future John Connor. Nice job on Skynet's part, because if the "look up the name in the phone book and kill 'em all" method had worked in the first place, the Terminator franchise would have lasted all of one movie. And it would have been a short movie at that. So Unky Derek and John go after one of the two remaining Bedells (likely the right one, based on the cryptic message left behind on the wall a couple of episodes ago) at a military school, with Derek flashing back to the future and remembering him and his brother with Martin, disobeying John's orders to save some prisoners from the Terminators ("tin cans" in future parlance).
So Derek sweet-talks the head of the military school into enrolling John (as John Baum) and the school director is so impressed with the way Derek surrenders as LITTLE INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE about himself that he signs Derek up as a teacher-advisor right there on the spot, even though Derek himself protests.
John goes to work impressing as a killing-machine-in-training, which garners the attention of Bedell, and Derek winds up making overly excited cadets regret they ever decided they want to get into the service. And also possibly makes them wet their pants.
As for Sarah and Cameron, they've found the other Martin Bedell, but he's just a kid, and kind of an asshole when it comes to online videogaming. They save him mere split-seconds before he's about to be cut down by gunfire from the T-888, but from the obnoxious way this kid plays videogames, you're thinking it wouldn't be so bad if Cameron and Sarah hung back a little. Instead, they kidnap him to some other house. He watches his mom plead with the kidnappers on television, but he's more concerned about getting his book report done, and they find him The Wizard of Oz to write about. You know, "Baum" and all that.
Derek has a bunch more "war is hell" moments and flashbacks, while John learns that Bedell is feeling the pressure from a full family tree of war heroes and other hyper-successful men. All he wants to do is run, a sentiment that resonates with John, who's conflicted, because he knows he needs Martin to finish school head to West Point and help fight the Terminators, but in present day he wants to encourage Martin to run away and be with his girlfriend. Whu-tish! (That's the approximate sound of a whip cracking.)
Meanwhile, Agent Ellison has his first assignment from Catherine Weaver: investigate the supposed meltdown at Serrano a couple weeks ago. He discovers a lot of inconsistencies as to what happened and by whom and such, and he's not the only one asking questions: so's the plant manager, who says any problems could delay the plant's opening year. Ellison tells Weaver, who winds up seducing the plant manager and killing him, but considering the black-haired bar hound Catherine turned herself into, I'm guess it was completely worth it. But really, if you have someone asking questions about a supposed meltdown, is killing him actually going to ensure that certain timelines are adhered to?
Cameron figures the T-888 must be on the trail of military cadet Martin Bedell, because the trail's gone cold on the obnoxious videogame player. So Derek's warned that the Terminator is probably on it its way to the military school, which I guess justifies his using the other cadets in a war-game simulation that isn't really much of a simulation at all. The cadets serve as an early-warning system when it comes to the approach of the T-888, giving John and Derek time to set up an ambush that ends up with the Terminator shot and stuck in some handy tar pits. They thermite his metal ass, just around the same time that the other Martin Bedell is reading The Wizard of Ox to Sarah. The part about the wicked witch melting comes at just the right time to serve as a metaphor, but I can't help thinking that the younger Martin Bedell is having the time of his life with two hot older females looking after his every whim.
Since his life is no longer in danger, though, Sarah packs him off on a bus back home, with the kid agreeably telling her that she sucks as being a mom. She promises him she's working at it.
As for military cadet Martin Bedell, he's seen everything. A blown-up Terminator, a shot Terminator with freaky metal underneath the skin, and John and Derek torching the T-888. So John outlines just how his life is going to go. West Point and so on.
Well, not his whole life. Derek provides the ending as the two of them head back to the Connor Compound: Martin sacrificed his life by running to carry some explosives to a tank that threatened John's position. "He died for you, John," says Uncle Downer. "Everyone dies for you." I don't know what John's crying about this. Sounds like something he could use to his advantage.
See how John and Cameron's relationship is just like any other normal family in our gallery. Plus, talk about the show with other fans.
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