By Daniel
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.This show finally gets back to following up on the fallout from Riley slitting her wrists in the Connor Compound bathroom. Sarah goes to Riley's foster parents' place to try to sniff out any truth to the suggestion that Riley's bruise came from the fist of her foster father, and she's none too subtle in asking about it, pissing off the foster father, who reveals that Riley attacked his wife, while freaking out about a hellish vision of the world featuring bleached skulls. Oh, and by the way, the guidance counselor thinks John is a bad influence on Riley as well.
So Sarah goes to see the counselor, who turns out to be Jesse (not that Sarah knows who she is), who shares with Sarah all of the Connor activity that Riley has seen fit to share with her.
Sarah's none too happy about Riley's big mouth. Nor John's for that matter, although he denies telling Riley anything. Sarah doesn't believe him. And this only makes Riley seem like even more of a threat to John, which makes Cameron want to take her out. Cameron also thinks Riley saw her arm opened up so she could tinker with the wiring inside; she totally did, but plays dumb anyway because, Jesse warns her, Cameron will slaughter you. Which, as it turns out, is apparently Jesse's plan anyway: to have Cameron kill Riley, turning John against metal.
And Riley wants none of it anymore, so she attacks Jesse, who fights back and eventually puts a bullet into Riley's chest. You know, not long after Riley transformed into essential plot point from annoying half-forgotten subplot. Jesse may yet achieve her goal, since John doesn't believe Cameron doesn't know anything about Riley's disappearance.
Derek might as well be on a totally different show at this point. Same with Weaver, Ellison, and Chrome Artie. Cameron tells John about the self-destruct she's placed in her head, since it's become necessary and terminators can't destroy themselves. Poor John, I hope he doesn't realize that all the women around him seem to be trying to kill themselves.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!There's a pigeon flitting around the Connor Compound. Cameron's watching it, then, amazingly, tries to persuade it to leave. "You shouldn't nest in the chimney," Cameron tells it. The pigeon declines to answer. "You're migratory. You need to find a mate." Already tired of the lecture, the pigeon flies into the window. "That's a window, bird." So the pigeon tries to fly by her, but she reaches up and snags it.
Holding the bird, Cameron walks outside. "I'm not supposed to kill you, but you can't stay here," she tells it. When I was a bartender, that's exactly what I told people at closing time. People eventually got the message. She holds the bird up and tells it to go, but it does not. Possibly because Cameron starts to squeeze it, and then drops it, dead, on the ground. She stares at her hand, figures twitching, looking mildly alarmed. Since most of the time her features are expressionless, she's completely freaking out.
Sarah's brushing her teeth in the bathroom, and then looks over at the huge bloodstain on the floor, like "Oh, yeah. That." So she hauls out a can of Nova Brite and is scrubbing away and suddenly Riley's standing there. "I was wondering when we'd see you again," says Sarah, instead of, say, "hello" or "how are you." Riley's wrists are bandaged, and she says, "They make you rest a couple days." Sarah asks if it helps, and Riley says it doesn't.
Speaking of helping, Sarah's used up all the Nova Brite, and Riley asks if there's some anywhere else, and Sarah tells her that it's in the kitchen, so Riley volunteers to go get it, which seems fair.
Only instead of bringing it back, she sits on the kitchen counter with it, reading about how it's deadly to people and domestic animals, and in case you're wondering if maybe she's thinking of trying to kill herself again, here comes Capt. Sunshine himself, John Connor, and she says she needed a "minute alone," and John asks if "she" said anything, and Riley says she asked her, but she thinks Sarah was just trying to be nice. The nickname "Suicide Blond"? Not so nice! It's John's opinion that it's not anybody's business, and Riley has to point out that she did do it right in their bathroom. And then they talk some more about forgetting things and things that are in the past, and he strokes her hair, and meanwhile poor Sarah is up there just waiting for the Nova Brite, and eventually she gives up and goes to get it herself and it's just been left there sitting in the middle of the hallway, like thanks for nothing, Riley.