By Daniel
Upon taking the mysterious box aboard the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter, Jesse's crew, led by an increasingly insubordinate Dietz, rebel against the lack of information being provided them, and take it upon themselves to find out just what is in that box they're risking life and limb for. It's a T-1000, the shape-shifting terminator, which promptly kills one of the crew and slithers off like mercury into the nooks and crannies of the ship. Anti-tin can tension festers into outright mutiny and the crew lay the boots to Jesse in the mess hall, with Queeg stepping in, killing Dietz in the process. Jesse tries to relieve Queeg of the ship, but Queeg says his classified orders override normal behavioural protocols, so Jesse shoots him in the head, and sends the sub plummeting to crush depth. Just before she abandons ship, the T-1000 coalesces in front of her and tells her to tell John Connor that the answer is no.
She herself doesn't get to talk to John Connor but has to relay the message through Cameron, who lets her no that the question prompting the response was "Will you join us?" Oh, and one more thing, Jesse: you were pregnant. You aren't anymore, though. Cheers!
John confronts Jesse in her hotel room, because he's known for a little while that Riley was from the future herself; little phrases tipped him off. He'd followed her, and he figured out Jesse's plan. After a ton of blah blah blah, he lets Jesse go without shooting her. But she's not out of the woods yet; Derek confronts her in the parking lot, all suavely leaning against his truck and listening to music. There is much talk of sacrifice between the two of them, with Derek reminiscing about his good friend Billy Wisher, who was actually Andy Goode, who wrote the program that became Skynet. "John Connor let you go," Derek tells Jesse. "But I'm not John Connor." Jesse runs for it, and Derek pulls his gun. He seems to be in the process of depressing the trigger, but we never actually see the shot fired, we never actually see Jesse die. It seems likely she's dead, but it's also easy to think this is a case of the writers allowing us to fill in the blanks themselves, while also giving themselves an out if they need to have Jesse alive some time in the future.
John's leadership is being forged before our eyes, and the responsibilities he will shoulder in the future are weighing upon him, so is anyone going to begrudge him crying in his mother's lap because of his dead girlfriend (oh, and also because he needs to save humanity?).
Oh, and John Henry is some kind of miniature-painting Dungeons and Dragons nerd now, but we can talk about that later.
Fucking stellar.