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Sarah's in the hospital, after being shot one episode all those months ago, and she's hallucinating Kyle Reese. Which thankfully does not include ghost sex, so it's already gone up a point for me. Kyle encourages Sarah to chill the hell out while she escapes from the hospital and kidnaps a doctor at gunpoint to remove the bullet from her leg. However, Doc is unable to do so in the seedy motel Sarah has thoughtfully provided, due to the bullet's proximity to the femoral artery and convinces Sarah to sneak back into the hospital so that Doc can operate with proper equipment. Their secret location? The morgue. Sarah just does not get any breaks in the foretelling her death department, does she?
Meanwhile, back at a different hospital (forgoing inevitable Scooby-Doo wacky hospital hijinks), John is getting bawled out by Derek for bringing Riley there after her attempted suicide. After receiving a call from Sarah, Derek heads over to her hospital, leaving John to deal with the responsibility of making such a decision. John may have more to deal with than he ever considered since Riley's disappeared -- Jesse's broken her out of the hospital and brought her back to the hotel where they continue to have a most disturbing relationship.
Turns out Doc's sweetie is the local Sheriff (played by Connor Trinneer) who is trying to find Sarah and his beloved. Derek covers Sarah's tracks by getting to blow shit up, then turns up at the hospital just as the Sheriff has tracked them down in the morgue. Derek, Doc and the Sheriff hold themselves a little standoff, but Doc has bonded with Sarah over domestic abuse (her conclusion from Sarah's injuries, current and old) and shoots the Sheriff -- it not being the first time he's held a gun on her. Happy Valentine's Day!
In other storylines, John Henry worries Ellison by wondering why God didn't give people better joint movements (my knees wonder the same question) and totally calls Weaver on being a machine. John Henry also tells Weaver about some info he's parsed on Coltan, which leads her to the warehouse where Sarah was shot. Weaver terminates the living in the warehouse then blows it sky-high, sauntering out of the fireball without a scratch on her lovely metallic body.
Derek and Sarah almost have a moment driving back from the hospital -- then notice the big cloud of smoke coming from the vicinity of the ex-warehouse.
And if you've tuned in because of the Summer Glau-Eliza Dushku ads, prepare to be disappointed as Cameron doesn't do any ass-kicking tonight. Well, she verbally ass-kicks John, and we'll just have survive with that.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Previously, on T: TSCC: Cameron shoots Chrome Artie; Weaver introduces Ellison to John Henry; Riley wants out but Jesse tells her no; John and Cameron find Riley with her wrists slit; Sarah hunts down a man dressed as a woman who tells her of a strange metal in a warehouse, gets shot and is approached by a strange alien craft (a Hunter-Killer?) -- which sounds more like a telenovela when written out and if Ugly Betty had storylines like this, I wouldn't have given up watching that show four episodes ago.Voiceover! Oh crap, weecapping means I actually have to pay attention. The voiceover is not Sarah this week, but a male voice paralleling Kyle Reese in the first Terminator movie: "John Connor gave me a picture of you once, I didn't know why at the time..." Over Sarah waking up in a hospital and flashing back to being shot, he continues, "You were young, like you are now. I always wondered what you were thinking in that moment. You seemed a little sad, like you were remembering something long ago. I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have". Okay, voiceover, you've got my attention, I'm a sucker for callbacks.
Outside the door, a deputy is asking the nurse who shot Sarah and who did she shoot. The nurse wishes him good luck on finding out, as Sarah couldn't even tell her the year. Ha! Yes, that time traveling can be a bitch on the concussion test. Sarah is distracted from the conversation by a voice telling her "On your feet, soldier!" She notes that her file says she's a Jane Doe with a gunshot wound while the deputy informs the nurse that he can't go anywhere without more info. The nurse looks less than thrilled about that as she closes the door to Sarah's room. The voice commands Sarah again, "On your feet" and Sarah pulls out the needle in her arm and half falls out of bed. "Pain can be controlled", says the voice and a hand reaches down for her: "Come with me if you want to live." Eeee! Kyle Reese himself! Sarah takes his hand and looks startled at his appearance in the hospital, rather than amused at the patchy beard-sideburns-growth thing on his appearance.
Sarah fakes out the deputy by breaking the window with her I.V. and hiding behind the door to attack him when he comes to investigate. At Kyle's instructions she takes the deputy's gun and leaves. She's a little less willing to follow his instructions, which are to call "Him" to help -- not John, but Derek.
Derek receives the call about Riley being in the hospital first while at the hotel with Jesse. At first I think Jesse shows a teeny sliver of humanity when she asks after Riley, but then I slap myself for being an idiot. It's ironic that these people are fighting for the future of humanity and have trouble with such concepts as compassion.
At the L.A. hospital Derek berates John for bringing Riley there because of the cops and social workers that will now get involved. John exerts his newfound leadership skills and tells Derek to live with it because he (John) made the call. Riley's doctor tells them that she'll be placed under a section 5150 hold and that they need to stay there until CPS arrives. Derek receives the call from Sarah about the warehouse, Coltan and her leg -- when he asks about her leg, she just tells him that she needs to get rid of the evidence all over her jeep. Derek passes on the info to John who, being a decent son at heart, wants to take off to see her. Derek pulls him back and tells him to stay with Riley as John made his call: "This is what living with it means". To be fair, Derek does not smirk while repeating John's words back to him. Living with a teenager myself, there's no way I would have been so civil. Maybe there are some "Raising a Teenager" hints I could take from this show! I kind of wrote it off at the "give your child a gun" mark.
Sarah and Kyle hang out in the parking lot of the county hospital discussing Derek and their shared focus on John, while I'm yelling for Sarah to get the hell out of there. But I am put in my place because Sarah has a cunning plan -- as a doctor pulls into the parking lot, she holds the woman at gunpoint and takes her to a motel to patch up her leg. The doctor appears to have taken a class at hostage school and tries to connect with Sarah by asking her name. Sarah's understandably cranky and Kyle tries to chill Sarah out, especially after she snarkily replies to whether or not she'd hurt someone, "Not today". The doctor notices Sarah's injuries as she's tending to the bullet-wound and asks who hurt her while Kyle is also inspecting her wounds. To Kyle she replies that she was stabbed to make her scream so that John would come to her -- she caresses Kyle's hand, and let me state now that I am glad they got baby-faced Jonathan Jackson to play Kyle so its obviously the Kyle she knew 16 years ago, but it's also very sweet. Especially when a tear trickles down his cheek. The doctor thinks Sarah is talking to her about domestic abuse and apologizes. Sarah, more cognizant than I think I would be with a bullet in me, realizes this and plays up her fear of going to the hospital because her abuser would track her. The doctor asks if he's a doctor or in law enforcement, and nice work show, the signs are subtle enough that I didn't pick up on it here, but are obvious when you see the conclusion of the doctor's storyline.
Another deputy and the Sheriff are inspecting Sarah's jeep for clues -- wait! It's Connor Trinneer playing the Sheriff! Apart from our dear keckler, he was the reason I watched all four seasons of Enterprise. While the deputy jumps to conclusions from the evidence, Sheriff Tripp seems to be the nicer one, reminding the deputy that Sarah hasn't been proven to have done anything wrong. They head over to the hospital where Sheriff Trip is impressed Sarah pulled out her needle, broke a window and choked out a deputy (which I first heard as "chucked out a deputy" and I was impressed Sarah had thrown the guy out the window), drawling, "She is, as they say, accustomed to her circumstance". I'm too busy waiting for him to order a plate of catfish and pecan pie to say Bingo. Choked-out deputy informs the others that Dr. Felicia Burnett didn't show up for work today and Sheriff Trip finally takes a tiny step to where the conclusions are and seems angrily dismayed that "Felicia" has disappeared. I miss this, as I'm too busy squealing that Trip's sweetie is named Felicia (close enough, I'll take it!) and will be in denial for the 40 minutes.
Felicia shows a sense of humor as she informs Sarah of the two things she needs to know about the bullet removal: "This is going to hurt. And second, this is really going to hurt". She also proves she aced Being a Hostage 101 by asking about Sarah's son. Sarah snaps back at first, but relents and tells Kyle, standing off to the side, about John -- again paralleling Reese from The Terminator as we get possibly our only ever Kyle-finds-out-about-John scene: "You'd trust him. There's a strength about him". Kyle adds, "I'd die for John Connor". Sarah: "I'd die for my son".
Riley scene. I like to state that first so you can skip it if you want, however I am quite happy that my fears of this episode being a Riley-suicide-angst-fest were unfounded. John and Cameron visit Riley in her room where she calls herself an idiot and I agree. John doesn't, but Riley asks them to leave because she's tired. Cameron stays just long enough after John to creep Riley out -- which is about 0.01 of a second.
Sarah wakes up to Kyle at the end of her bed quoting John's message to her from The Terminator: "You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive or I will never exist". Sarah says that she's not strong enough and is going to die. Kyle says, "Buck up, little soldier!" Or maybe Sarah actually wakes up shouting his name and reaching for a gun. She is so well trained -- I wake up reaching for the snooze alarm or a cup of coffee. Felicia and Kyle convince Sarah that as the bullet is to the femoral artery, Felicia needs to take Sarah back to the hospital to operate. Members of my household are excited about the possibility of fountains of blood.
Ellison comes to talk with John Henry who is playing with some toys the Eagle-Eyed Forum Posters have identified as Lego Bionicles. As John Henry talks, you can also see on the screen behind him the words and pictures of his conversation, reminding you that his body is only one form of communication. Ellison and John Henry move through a discussion of the human body's hinge joints to the fact that John Henry was made in humanity's image, which was in turn made in God's image. And suddenly I'm wondering if I stumbled into a Battlestar Galactica episode two hours too early. John Henry conveniently recaps his history for the new viewers that are certain to be tuning in on a Friday night, and creeps Ellison out by his unemotional recitation of his knowledge. Apparently John Henry had Googled his new friend Ellison. As Ellison goes to leave, John Henry has a question for God: "How come He didn't use more ball and socket joints when He created you?" As he waits for an answer that isn't forthcoming from Ellison, John Henry rotates the Bioncle to show how ball and socket joints would be much more useful. You know, it's always a bad sign whenever somebody or something thinks that humankind needs to be 'improved'.
Ellison goes to see Weaver to share his concerns about John Henry being given access to the internet. I somehow doubt his are like mine -- unexpected porn sites and staying up all night chatting with god knows who. Weaver tries to reassure Ellison that he is the guiding light in John Henry's existence. Like all parents, Ellison looks daunted.
Cameron and John hang out some more at the L.A. hospital. John asks Cameron what Future John Connor would do about Riley. I suggest that it would be similar to asking What Would Chuck Norris Do? but Cameron verbally gut checks him with "Future you has more important things to do". Meanwhile Jesse breaks Riley out of the hospital. Good keeping watch, guys.
Sheriff Trip has tracked down Felicia's car at the motel, however Felicia and Sarah are back at the hospital in another car (I assume they stole it?). Felicia wheels Sarah into the morgue on a gurney, which is a bad omen for Sarah's continued existence in any future. Felicia asks whether Reese is the guy who attacked Sarah, but she laughs that notion off assuring both Felicia and Kyle it was not Kyle's fault and anyway, he's dead. (I appreciate that she neither thinks he's here for her or is a ghost haunting her, which makes this storyline more palatable than most of the current 'people seeing dead people' storylines). Felicia leaves Sarah to get supplies and Sarah checks in with Derek who's heading out for clean-up duty on her car. He also tells her that he thinks Riley's beginning to be a problem. Sarah scoffs at the word "beginning" in that sentence. She admits that she might be in a lot of trouble with her leg. He knows -- she called him, and called him twice. He reassures her in the only way he can: "Don't worry about John". Sarah doesn't look too comforted but for a moment there she's sans Kyle.
Weaver comes in to talk to John Henry, who is still playing with his toys. Yes, I mean actual toys you dirty people, the Bionicles from before! He tells her about Solik who idolizes the Toa and is best friends with Takua, then states: "You're not human". Weaver shows the best expression of surprise an unemotional robot can show. John Henry informs her that he knows because she is made of metal -- different than his, but still metal -- and also because he looked into her eyes and saw that there's nothing there. If it were that easy, you'd think Ellison would have figured it out by now. Weaver asks if he's told anyone, sharpening up her T-1001 stakes, but he hasn't and she tells him that he shouldn't. John Henry shows off his mad Googling skillz with an outpouring of information on Coltan, including that his body's Coltan came from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I show off my internet skillz by discovering that Coltan actually exists and 25% of it comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I'm learning all sorts of things tonight! John Henry also adds that Weaver's company now owns 7% of the Coltan reserves worldwide, so he searched for even more information, discovering an unsecured audio conversation about the metal where two men talk about a breach, someone getting shot, and therefore the need to shut the place down even though there is 16 tons of Coltan. This peaks Weaver's interest, although she admonishes John Henry for searching it out. She starts to leave, looking like she regrets giving John Henry internet access. I'm telling you, Catherine -- vigilance is necessary for safe internet searching. Imagine what questions he would have had had he decided to go to porn sites instead? Are you really ready for the nuts and bolts speech yet? John Henry stops her and asks directly "What are you doing?" She replies that she can't answer that but that "Everything I do, I do for you", which makes me giggle at the thought of a Terminator watching Kevin Costner in tights. Did that make her become a Terminator? It would certainly make me want to kill humanity. I would have preferred if she had replied, "There's nothing I wouldn't do, to keep myself around and close to you. Do you have an opinion? A mind of your own?"
Felicia's brought a camera-thing to insert into Sarah's leg while she operates and tells Sarah she'll need to be put under. Sarah isn't liking this but Kyle argues that she isn't a machine and she needs to do this. Sarah starts to tell Felicia she knows nothing but Felicia cuts her off and tells her she understands and that Sarah needs to give up the gun. Sarah does so and Kyle reassures her that he's always there watching. At my house we all cry "stalker!" and are not reassured.
John and Cameron are told that Riley's missing. John wants to go looking for her but Cameron grabs him and says that he doesn't. Yes, listen to Cameron, John. Good riddance! Riley is being lectured at by Jesse with the whole "I took you out of the tunnels and into paradise and this is how you repay me?" speech. If I had a nickel every time I've had to use that one... With hardly a beat, Jesse then shows concern over Riley's wrists. Riley justifies her actions by telling the story of the girl who killed herself at school back in season one and how John tried to save her. Jesse's a little disbelieving at this excuse and Riley asks if she can stay with Jesse for a little while. Jesse agrees to an hour then swings open a drawer in her table to reveal medical supplies. For the first time in our household's history, we all agree that a piece of furniture is cool.
At the warehouse of Sarah-shooting, the employees are clearing everything out. Boss Man acts like all administrators and gives people unneeded instructions. He heads in to the bathroom to the urinal and the males in the room wince as we expect another urinal termination. But no! We then expect the sink to turn into a T-1001, then the mirror, and it's getting to final-cylon-guessing proportions (my door is the killer robot!) when Weaver puts us out of our misery by doing a drive-by stabbing of Boss Man. As the creepy terminator machine-like music plays (the one that always makes me shiver), Weaver stalks through the complex in her white fitted sheath dress and fantastic shoes (I can't believe I have clothes envy of a machine), slicing and dicing people. She downloads info from their computers, goes looking for demolition equipment and saunters out of the warehouse as it explodes. The giant fireball reaches her, but no running for this T-1001 -- in a very cool effects shot, her liquid metal body walks out of the fire and reforms into Weaver.
Sheriff Trip has taken the recording of Allan's hypno-regression and shooting from Sarah's car. He identifies the gunshots, concludes they weren't from the gun found in Sarah's car and heads out to find a warehouse at the end of a dirt road. Secretly, I think that's code for "going to the bar for a drink". An explosion rocks the sheriff's department and we are being spoiled tonight because this is a second explosion - Sarah's jeep has been blown up. I'll give you three guesses as to who did it. While Sheriff Trip and the deputy are distracted, Derek burns their files and takes their laptop, but misses the recording that is still in Sheriff Trip's pocket. Seeing as Derek and Sarah recover it at the end of the episode, I don't quite know why such a big deal was made about it.
I suddenly feel like I'm watching a medical show as Felicia extracts the bullet in Sarah's leg. Inside Sarah's head we're in a misty gray field with a tree. Kyle says it's an apple tree but Sarah tells him he's wrong. Sarah, don't be rude to your helpful hallucination. Kyle insists that the tree was his and Derek's marker and digs up an old ammo box with the picture of her (you know, the picture) inside it. He tells her that he never lies to her. Really, Kyle? Not even that you're only going to be another 5 minutes? That you did buy that present for your mother but you must have lost it? I think Sarah should be glad they didn't get down to the mundane realities of life. Kyle kisses Sarah, and then we cut to the morgue where Felicia reassures an unconscious Sarah she'll be okay. Derek bursts in and Felicia points Sarah's gun at him, assuming he's the abuser and wanting to protect Sarah. I really like that Sarah makes these connections with people -- it makes up for the lack from Derek and Jesse. Derek fakes her out with the whole "your safety's on" thing and this is why she's a Felicia and not a Felicity because Felicity's watched too much TV and wouldn't have fallen for that. Derek whips his gun out (his actual gun, dirty people!) and stares her down, conversationally asking if she has body armor, because of course he does. Sheriff Trip bursts in, also with a gun, but is not the savior he was hoping to be when Felicia tells him to get lost. After a couple of calm attempts to get Felicia to put her gun down, Sheriff Trip shows his true colors by grating at her "Felicia, put the gun down you crazy bitch, or I swear on a stack of bibles I'll-" We never get to hear what lovely ending he might have said as Felicia shoots him in the chest.
The gunshot wakes Sarah up and Derek tells her that they have to go. Sarah's still groggy and calls him "Reese". Felicia looks at him from where she was making sure the asshole was completely dead and says "You're Reese?" Derek looks a little hesitant but admits that he is. Felicia states that he isn't dead (Derek: "Not yet", boy is he a riot to have around) and asks if he's John's father. Sarah and Derek look at each other for a long moment, but Sarah's seeing Kyle. When she sees that it's Derek, she nixes the idea of Derek being the baby daddy and Felicia looks understandably confused. And you didn't even try to work out the time-travel logistics, honey! Count your blessings! Sarah tells Felicia to let the authorities blame the Sheriff's death on her, but Felicia spins a story of the Sheriff having a gun right at her head: "After all, it wouldn't be the first time". And again, good work show. It wasn't anvil-ish but it wasn't out of nowhere and that's a hard line to walk. Felicia asks Sarah if she told her anything that was true. All Sarah will admit to is that she got shot.
In the truck, heading home, Sarah tells Derek that she wants to explain about John and Kyle. Derek tells her that he doesn't need an explanation. I can't tell from Sarah's expression that she knows that he knows, but I think from Derek's look at her that he knows that she knows that he knows. This bonding moment is interrupted when Derek sees a column of thick smoke on the hillside. He asks Sarah what it is and she does not retort "Smoke, you idiot" which would have been my first answer, or "The Mythbusters must have blown something up again" which would have been my second, but tells him that that was where the warehouse was. They both look worried into the end credits.
Felicity lives on the edge of Silicon Valley, a place she is convinced will be Ground Zero on Judgment Day. You can email her your condolences at felicitycf@gmail.com
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