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The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive: John and Cameron are hiding out in a motel while trying to decide what to do about Jailbird Sarah. John's other concern is that maybe leaking radiation from Cameron's nuclear power source is what's caused Sarah's theoretical cancer.
Meanwhile, Weaver's desperate for a meeting with John Connor, ostensibly to thank him for saving Savannah. Ellison manages to track him down and request this. John's all, "Not without my mother." But Ellison's other assignment is to pass on this message from Weaver to Cameron: “Will you join us?” He's expecting that Cameron will know what it means. She says she doesn't but she's clearly agitated.
So despite Sarah getting a message out to John to stay the hell away, he goes after her. Of course he does. Because what's a Terminator incarnation without an assault on a police station? This one's more T2 than original recipe, with Cameron firing her shotgun in creative non-fatal-yet-still-incapacitating ways. Weaver and John Henry look on with interest.
And Sarah and John go to Zeira Corp to meet with Weaver, while a badly damaged Cameron makes her way through the building's basement in search of John Henry. Things start to heat up very quickly when Zeira Corp is attacked by hunter-killer that flies straight into Weaver's office. She protects the group by turning herself into the Chrysler logo, and then the gang heads for the basement, and it's finally revealed that Weaver's not building Skynet, but building something to fight Skynet. So Sarah better hope Cameron hasn't destroyed John Henry, Weaver says, because John can't save the world without him. When they get there, Cameron's disabled, her chip gone. John Henry's vanished into time, and Weaver wants to get back to the future too. John's in, for Cameron's sake (dude, she's a CYBORG. A hot cyborg, yes, but still a cyborg), but at the last moment, Sarah steps out of the Electric Blue Time-Teleportin' Globe.
When Weaver and John arrive in the future, they're immediately intercepted by a resistance team led by Unky Derek. John's thrilled to see him, and he introduces himself. But neither Derek, nor any of the other resistance fighters, have heard of John Connor. But that jacket John pulled on after he showed up in the future naked? That belongs to Derek's brother. Sure enough, there's Kyle Reese. And with him is Cameron. Or, more likely, Alison from Palmdale, given the fact the dog she has isn't losing its shit. So: is this how John Connor started with the resistance? Do they not know who he was because he skipped over J-Day and joined the fight later? Or is this how it always happened? Since there's no word yet on a third season, we might not ever know. But what a way to go. Baby, this show rips the endoskeleton from your back.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Sarah's sitting in her orange jumpsuit in an interview room when in walks Joshua Malina, star of Sports Night, the very first show I recapped for this website, not long after television was invented, and he looks pretty much exactly the same. Maybe a little older. Much like Jeremy did, this guy, Agent Aldridge, talks a lot, too, very eloquently, sophisticated sentence structure. Calling himself a "measure twice, cut once" kind of carpenter, he wants to make sure Sarah's aware of her rights, including the right to a lawyer. Sarah continues to exercise her right to glower at people.So he moves on and tells her that ten years ago she murdered Miles Dyson. "Long time gone, but the man's still dead, so we've got that." Eight years ago, she and her son and a high-school friend blew up a bank and died in an explosion. "Now of course, you're still alive, which is inconvenient for many, but the bank's still blown, so we've got that." And more recently, as in Monday, she participated in a firefight, leaving five dead and kidnapping Savannah Weaver, daughter of Catherine Weaver and citizen of Scotland, so this time Sarah's gone international! He tells her that two of the dead were off-duty police officers, which usually earns someone the needle.
Sarah tells Agent Aldridge that he's a funny boy: "I never liked funny boys." "I doubt they like you either, Ms. Connor," he says. Laughing time is over! He says there are two ways they can bring her son into custody: with her help, or dead. Sarah says her son is dead, but Aldridge isn't buying it. He tells her to think about it, and walks out. Sarah looks up at the security camera, red eye blinking.
Meanwhile, John is angrily watching the news, by which I mean he is visibly seething as he watches news footage of his mom's arrest, and they show a picture of the three of them, with the announcer saying the other suspects (i.e. John and Cameron) would now be in their mid-twenties.
John wants to move to a new hideout, but Cameron says it's a bad idea to do that within twenty-four hours of an "incident," and this room provides excellent sight lines down the highway. "This is not an 'incident.' This is my mother," John snaps at her. Cameron looks at him. He says he needs a computer so he can do some research, and she thinks he wants blueprints for L.A. county jail so he can bust out his mom. She says she won't let him do that, and he should know that by now. He says he does, and she asks him what he needs to research, then. "Power sources. Shielded nuclear power sources," he says, staring straight at her. "Like mine," she says. Bingo, he says. "I want to know if being around them all the time can give you cancer."
Elsewhere, the current terminator patches up his gunfight wounds with what looks like Krazy Glue. Nearby, on a computer screen, noted journalism website "Online News" is playing footage of Sarah's arrest, the same footage that is also on a television screen at Zeira Corp, where Murch is playing Dungeons and Dragons with John Henry. Uh oh, John Henry! You rolled a one, so you don't see the umber hulk in its nest of stone, and so you take three hit points of damage! Umber hulk smash! John Henry's face is like, "...the fuck?" Fortunately, he rolls a twenty when he attacks with his "vorpal long sword," so that's a "crit hit" and the umber hulk is dead. John Henry proudly relays his accomplishment to Weaver when she comes in, and it takes all her programming not to roll her eyes.
She asks to talk to Murch, who gets up from his chair, like maybe if they stand four feet away John Henry can't hear them. She asks who's winning, and Murch says it's not that kind of game, although he's "bummed" that John Henry killed the umber hulk so fast. Don't be so down, Murch. It's not like if the umber hulk had lived you'd be losing your virginity any time soon. "I'm sure you've considered the possibility he can roll whatever number he decides." Murch looks like he really hadn't thought of that.
Anyway, she didn't ask to talk to him because female-looking terminators are fascinated by Dungeons and Dragons. She just wants to know how long it would take to transport John Henry and all his equipment, should they need to. "John Henry's already been attacked once," she points out. He thinks moving all the stuff could potentially be a bad idea, and tells a little story about changing out a little fan wire, replacing it with the exact same kind of wire, same length. But it kinda "tweaked" him. "What I'm getting at is I think what we know to be John Henry only exists as this specific collection of hardware and software ... body and soul." Change a wire, change John Henry, says Weaver, getting it. John Henry interrupts to say he's ready to confront the "mind flayer" now, and he rolls another twenty. Uh-oh! Another "crit hit"!
Back at the jail, Aldridge opens the door to Sarah's interrogation room and shows Ellison in and then leaves. Ellison opens by saying he was followed to the movie theatre and had no idea, and he's spent the past four hours convincing the FBI that they're not in it together. Sarah's all, "Maybe I should tell them we were!" and then she yells that at the security camera. He says he just wanted to make sure the girl was safe, and Sarah says that's what she wanted too, and Ellison asks, "Safe from who?" and Sarah says she doesn't know. "Don't know or can't say?" asks Ellison. Sarah admits that while she doesn't know, she probably wouldn't be able to say if she did.
Ellison says they wanted to know what she's been up to for the past ten years, and he told them he had no idea: "What else could I tell them?" he says. He suggests telling them everything she knows: "If you're innocent, you could do that." Yeah, and wind up in a psych ward again, right? Ellison says it might be different now, as she's got nothing to lose. Not sure how that keeps her out of a psych ward, but OK. He says he's sorry ("sure you are," she retorts) as he gets up to go. She asks him where the girl is. Back with her mother, says Ellison, all duh. "She's not safe," Sarah tells him. He ignores this, so she starts yelling it at the security camera, which is being monitored by Aldridge, and also John Henry, with Weaver beside him.
So for some reason Aldridge's office is in a jail cell? I mean, it's clearly a temporary thing, but they couldn't find any other space for the poor bastard? Ellison comes in to see him. "This is where they stick us now. Pretty sure I know what the subtext is, but I refuse to read that deep," says Aldridge. Small talk over, the agent says Sarah's not budging on giving up her son, and Ellison suggests she's telling the truth, but Aldridge ain't having it, and says she's got a "guilty conscience," which is probably why she requested a priest, Father Armando Bonilla. The name doesn't ring a bell for Ellison, and Aldridge doesn't know what the connection is. "Did it ever occur to you she just might want to pray?" says Ellison. Oh, that's what you always think. Aldridge says what's occurred to him is that a priest is the only person other than a lawyer who Sarah can talk to, and they're not allowed to listen in.
Father Bonilla comes in, and Sarah asks if he remembers her. Yeah, the crazy family that hid out in his church? Yeah, he remembers you. He reminds that she told him there was a problem with her daughter. Sarah says she's better now, although she's in hiding, along with her son. She doesn't know where. "They're wanted. You have included them in your crimes," says Bonilla. She asks if he believes in the devil. Well, it's really a requirement of the faith, Sarah, but Bonilla's a little more equivocal. "Something opposes God. Something tempts man into sin," he says. Sarah says she believes something or someone wants this world to burn. "That day in the church, my daughter... you saw things, didn't you?" she asks. Bonilla says he prays every day to understand what happened. Sar
ah says she can explain it all for him, and then she's going to ask him to do something for her.
And again we're watching the security footage being watched by John Henry and Weaver, although we don't hear any sound. Ellison comes in, and Weaver asks how his "friends in law enforcement" are, and right away John Henry asks the exact same question. Ellison says they're "very determined" and then asks about the security footage. Weaver says Sarah Connor's talking to a priest. Ellison knows that; what he wants to know is why they're seeing the footage here. "John Henry monitors all law-enforcement channels. Seems prudent," says Weaver. "It seems illegal," says Ellison. So's lying to the FBI, counters Weaver: "I don't think now's the time to be parsing which laws we'll be obeying, and which we will not." John Henry chimes in: "Now's not the time." "I heard it when she said it," Ellison tells him, testily. Weaver says she wants to talk to John Connor, because she thinks he may know something about her family being attacked, plus she wants to thank him for saving Savannah. "Thank you," chirps John Henry. Ellison wants to talk to Weaver outside, so they leave the room.
He tells her it's a bad idea, and he has no idea what she thinks John Connor knows. Well, he was at our house that got attacked, and I want to know why, she says. His mother thinks he's the messiah, and she wants to know why. "And despite your reluctance to tell me, I surmise he and his cyber-companion are connected to the John Henry body. And I want to know why," she concludes. Noting his surprise that she knows Cameron's a cyborg, she tells him not to pretend that he didn't know. "She's dangerous," says Ellison. Weaver sarcastically tells him it's "sweet" that he's trying to protect her, but he shouldn't lie to her ever again. Now, about finding John Connor ... Ellison doesn't know how to find him, but Weaver says she does. And apparently it involves John Henry rolling a twenty-sided-die and coming up with twenty every time.
Over at a gun shop, everyone's favorite new unstoppable terminator stomps in and lays a couple of guns on the counter. He wants silencers, but the clerk tells him they can't sell that kind of stuff. The terminator lays a wad of hundreds on the counter. The clerk looks at it, then scribbles down a number on a piece of paper and gives it to the guy. "Ask to speak to Manny," he tells the terminator. "I want to speak to Manny," is the terminator's instant reply. Heh. The clerk explains about dialing the number first, so the terminator picks up his guns and leaves. The clerk says he always thought the best thing about those guns was the sound. "No. It's not," says the terminator over his shoulder, and then he walks out of the store.
Over at the motel, John's still watching the news, like there has to be a Simpsons rerun on somewhere. He asks Cameron how much weight his mom has lost. Eleven percent of her mass in the past six weeks. My god, maybe then we could have someone other than Valerie Bertinelli on the cover of a magazine for a change. She says if she were leaking radiation, she'd know, because she has sensors for that. John wants to see them, but Cameron says he can't. Oh, so he's just got to trust her, right? "Stuff does go wrong with you, doesn't it?" he says, ticking off things breaking, her twitching, her trying to murder him, that time she accidentally erased his saved games on his PlayStation memory card... "You're not perfect. You're a machine," he says.
His cellphone rings, and he scrabbles for it, and answers, putting in his little beeps, thinking it's his mom. "Ah, yes, I remember you. Buenos días to you too, Father."
After the commercial break, Father Bonilla enters his side of the confessional, looking nervous. He pulls out his rosary, and just then the other door opens and closes. We can see a woman through the screen. At first I thought it was Cameron, but since the show's being cagey about the identity, it's not Cameron. Father Bonilla tells her there's an envelope under the seat: "I hope it is enough. It is all I could find." The woman stands up, but Bonilla says he also has a message for her. But we don't hear it.
The woman, face hidden by shadow and hair, carrying an envelope, walks out of the church and down the street, past a parked car in which Ellison sits, watching.
Sarah's in her cell, reflecting. I hope the other prisoners vote to watch Maury tomorrow in the common room.
Back at the motel, John's doing a great job of hiding out by peering out the window every ten seconds. I'm not sure what the point of doing that is if they're still going to be surprised by a knock on the door. It's Chiquita! From way back! And she fortunately doesn't get shot in the face by the fugitives, who've drawn their guns on her.
She's got new fake passports for them, which John looks through. He glances at the details, and then rifles through all the blank pages.
"There's nothing else there," says the formerly silent Chiquita. "There's nothing hidden there. No secret message there for her escape. I am to tell you this from your mother: Leave this place. As soon as it is safe, leave this place. Do not think of her, do not come for her. Leave." She looks over at Cameron. "You are to make sure that he does." She gets up to go. You know, John, she's pretty cute. Maybe you should see if she wants to get a bite to eat, maybe see a movie.
One more thing: "We lose everybody we love," she says. That's not a message from Sarah. That's Chiquita trying to bum John out a little bit more. She heads for the door. "Hasta luego," Cameron calls after her, and Chiquita glances over her shoulder.
Cameron goes back to the window. "That's interesting," she says, and then we hear the sound of her shotgun being pumped. Chick-chick.That sound can make any statement more dramatic, hey? "Are you done in the bathroom yet?" Chick-chick.
Cameron heads for the door, and the thing we know, she's plopping Ellison down in a chair. He repeats that he had nothing to do with Sarah's arrest. If he had, there'd be a SWAT team outside their door right now. "The same thing would happen to this SWAT team as happened to your last one," says John evenly. Heh. Touché. Ellison says Weaver wants to meet with John, but John's all, "no thanks," and Ellison says he told Weaver he wouldn't be doing it without his mother. So in that case, he's been instructed to ask Cameron one question: "Will you join us?" Which is what, you'll remember, the message was from the liquid-metal terminator aboard the sub a couple of episodes ago. Ellison says Weaver hopes Cameron will know what that means. John asks her if she does, and Cameron twitches briefly before saying she doesn't. And she abruptly asks Ellison to leave, telling him he's said enough. Ellison tries appealing to John, but Cameron's not interested. "I won't ask you again," she says. Ellison gets up and leaves, Cameron closing the door behind him. "He upset you," she says to John. "Me? I think he upset you," he says. Cameron says, you know that's impossible, and John's all, "Is it?" "You said it yourself, John. I'm just a machine."
Sarah's sitting in her jail cell when Aldridge comes in to hang out. He tells her he believes her. About the machines, the time travel, that she's seen a world that he never has. He says in the last eight hours he's received dozens of calls from people who knew Sarah, John and Cameron Baum, who they now know are actually named Connor. "By all accounts, your son looks 16 and not 24, just as you look 35 and not 43," he says. Hey, good genes, man. "I believe you have participated in the miraculous and the terrible and through it all you have maintained a moral and good soul," he says, and he wants to help her and her son. "Help me do that," he says. "M
y son is dead," she says. He sits there a moment longer, then stands up and leaves the cell. The door closes, and he asks if she knows who Danny Dyson is. Miles Dyson's son, she says. He asks if she knows where he is. She doesn't. "He's been missing for three months," he tells her, and leaves. Here's hoping this pays off in the as-yet un-greenlit Season Three.
An underground parking garage. A car pulls up and parks right in the middle of the aisle, and water delivery terminator gets out, just as a security guard gets out of the elevator. "Hey! Are you the guy who smashed my gate?" he says. "Yes," says the terminator, pulling out his guns and unloading several shots into the guard. Suddenly, Weaver's there. "I liked that gate," she says. "Catherine Weaver?" he says. "Sure," she answers. So he starts pumping bullets into her too, at least until he sees that they're having no effect. I don't understand why terminators just stand there and take bullets sometimes. Aren't they risking damage? Well, maybe not the liquid ones. Anyway, Weaver looks down at the closing liquid-metal holes, then turns her arm into a long spear and pins water delivery terminator to the car. With her other arm-spear, she jabs a nearby electrical box, using herself as a conductor to electrocute the other metal but good.
John Henry checks out water delivery terminator's chip, which is burned beyond use, having been treated with phosphorous so it would burn up on contact with oxygen. Weaver asks him if any data can be retrieved, and he's doubtful, but he'll try. She wants to know who sent it. He says it's obvious the metal was sent by his brother. Maybe it was a birthday gift! A delayed birthday gift! Ellison strolls in with his coffee, and Weaver wants to know where he's been. "It's 7 in the morning! I've been asleep!" he whines. That kind of "humans need periodic stretches of sleep" attitude won't get you very far at Zeira Corp, mister. He asks if Weaver got his message, and she says it was very disappointing. She asks if he relayed the message exactly as she gave it to him, and he says he did, but neither of them will leave each other's side. "We'll see," say Weaver and John Henry simultaneously, and Ellison totally falls down on his teaching duties by not explaining that one of them needs to yell "Jinx!" and the other can't speak until his or her name is spoken by the victor.
Over at the motel, Cameron yanks the covers off John, waking him just the way his mother did, which bugs him. But what comes isn't something his mother ever did, I imagine. She tells him it's important that he knows just how her body works, because her hardware and software were designed solely to terminate humans. "Not you. Not anymore," he says. "But what was there is still there. And will always be there," she tells him. "So down deep, you want to kill me," he says. Yes, she says. He asks why she doesn't. "I might, someday," she says. She says she needs to show him something: "This body." She takes off her shirt. John's like, so far, so good. Then she sits on the bed to him, unhooks her bra. Eyes front, soldier! And then she lies down on the bed. And then she tells him to get on top of her. No argument from John. She tells him to put his knee there ("Uh, John? I said 'your knee.' And I said 'there'"), and then gives him a knife and shows him where to cut. He does so. "Reach down, under the breastplate." He does so. She asks him what it feels like. Cold, he says. "That's good, right?" he says. She says it's perfect. Jesus, John can barely breathe. Not that I can blame him. But let me get this straight: the way to check to see if a terminator is leaking radiation is to take her top off, lay her down on a bed and get on top of her? Give me a break. "John, it's time to go," says Cameron. Yeah, he's gonna need a minute, Cam.
Over at the church, Father Bonilla is singlehandedly keeping Los Angeles warm with all the candles he's burning. The phone rings. "Buenos dias, Father," says Cameron's voice.
And then Aldridge is leading Father Bonilla down the hall to Sarah's room. She's surprised to see him, and asks if he passed on the message. He did, but they've got a message for her: "She's coming." Before Sarah can even react, there's a siren in the distance. He frantically tries the door handle, but it's locked, like, it's a JAIL, Father. He says he doesn't know what to do. "You're a priest. Pray," she tells him.
So what's a Terminator incarnation without an assault on a police station? Cameron calmly strides through L.A. County Jail with a shotgun shooting at many guards, but not actually hitting them. She hits a light fixture that swings down and beans a guard. She's avoiding killing them. They, however, are throwing everything they have at her, and all seem to be armed with submachine guns.
John Henry watches the carnage with interest. On another screen he brings up the jail's electronic lock subsystem. In Sarah's interrogation room, she notes the green light on the door handle and asks Father Bonilla about the Bible story where the locks fall off. "Peter," he tells her. "Gird thyself," she says. Sure enough, the cell doors are sliding open across the jail, and the prisoners are spilling out into the corridors, like students on the last day of school in a summer comedy.
Cameron's still making her way through the jail, although now half her face is blown off. She can probably brush her bangs down, though, and no one will notice. Barely anybody seems to notice her anyway, in all the general hubbub. Weaver comes in and says it appears there's been a bit of an incident. She asks if he knows how it started. Yes, John Henry tells her, pointing out Sarah and Cameron in the security footage.
The two of them meet up. "You look like hell," Sarah tells her, when I'm pretty sure a simple "thank-you" would have sufficed. She asks if Cameron can keep up, and Cameron just breaks her handcuffs in response. They make their way outside, where John pulls up and the women climb in, and they go busting through a gate in this ridiculously unsecure, unguarded prison.
She angrily snaps that she told him not to come after her. "Yeah, bad John Connor. Ground me," he says. Sarah figures she should shut up now. John asks Cameron if she's OK, and she says she's not one hundred percent. "How far from one hundred percent are you?" asks Sarah, telling John that she needs to meet Catherine Weaver, and Cameron needs to destroy whatever's in the basement.
But first, no one can escape the corporate waiting room. John and Sarah sit in the lobby. No time like the present to have awkward family discussions, right? John asks his mom if she's sick. He tells her Cameron thinks she is. Sarah doesn't really answer. John points out she's lost weight.
Then the elevator door dings, and Ellison gets out. The two of them stand up. John says, "I love you," before walking towards Ellison, and after a moment, she follows.
In the elevator, Ellison asks where Cameron is. "In the car," says Sarah, doing her little head-bobbing thing she does when she's lying. "Expecting trouble?" he says. Although if they were expecting trouble, they'd kinda want Cameron with them? He asks if they're armed. Sarah's all, no, expecting trouble? If I'm Ellison, that answer is a big fat, "Yes. Always."
Down in the basement, Cameron is launching a security guard against a wall. She makes her way to John Henry's room, and they say hello to each other. I think you two will really hit it off! You both like the movies of Wes Andersen, and both of you need periodic lube jobs. He says, "Will you join us?" Cameron pulls out her knife, and shuts the door. But now we know that her knife is just part of her foreplay.
Up in Weaver's office, she asks them why they're here, but then turns it around and thanks them for saving Savannah: "She's the light of my life, and I'd be lost without her." Sarah asks where Savannah is. "Let's assume school," says Weaver. Hee. She tells John that they've got a common enemy, and Sarah jumps in to say "Kaliba?" on
ly Weaver's not talking to her. And she's talking about Skynet. Weaver says she knows Savannah told them about John Henry, which is why their cyborg is in the basement right now.
Suddenly Ellison notices that Sarah looks like she's standing in front of a green screen or something, and outside Weaver's office is something approaching, in the air, rather quickly. It gets a little closer, and it turns out it's a hunter-killer headed straight at the window. Weaver goes into liquid metal form and spreads her arms out and forms a shield to protect them from the flames and the exploding glass. "Run!" she says to the humans crouching behind her. She doesn't have to tell them twice. Actually, she shouldn't have had to tell them once. The gang goes flying out the door, and Weaver morphs back into human form. And the eel that was formerly in the aquarium slithers into her ankle, joining her body. Nice.
Everyone scrambles down the stairs to the basement, but Sarah wants to get out: "They're trying to kill my son," she says. "No, they're trying to kill my son, Just like you are," says Weaver. Sarah's all, "Ten bucks says Cameron already did it!" Weaver says Sarah'd better hope not: "Your John may save the world, but he can't do it without mine."
Down in John Henry's room, the gang find a lifeless Cameron, with her chip taken out. John Henry's nowhere to be found, but the words "I'M SORRY JOHN" are flashing on the computer screen. John wants to know where he is. "Not where. When," says Weaver. Ellison's all, whaaaaa? Like what MORE DOES HE NEED TO SEE? That's when Sarah notices the three dots -- red lights -- on the computer, which John recognizes as Andy Goode's Turk. "You lying terminator bitch," snarls Sarah, who accuses Weaver of building Skynet. "No. I was building something to fight it. And I'd watch who's calling who a bitch," she says.
Weaver asks if Ellison's up for going after John Henry, their "boy," but Ellison's all "no thank you!" so she asks him to pick Savannah up after gymnastics. So she flicks the switch, and the blue electricity starts to swirl around the group, but Sarah steps back. She tells John she can't go. "He's got her chip! He's got her!" he whines. Didn't he just start to figure out that the terminators are just machines? Oh, right; that was before Cameron took her shirt off. "I'll stop it," she tells him, and the blue ball whisks them away.
Naked John and Naked Weaver get up from their crouches, John looking much more in pain. And he barely looks away for a second before Weaver's already morphed her up some futuristic biker skankwear. But Cameron's body's not there. "No. It doesn't come through," Weaver tells him. There's the sound of an approaching patrol, complete with dogs, and John grabs himself a nearby jacket, and once the patrol is past, the two of them steal away into the tunnel, only to be found by someone else who yells, "Got one!" and trains his rifle on John, thinking he might be metal. John looks around, and Weaver is nowhere to be found. So that's a concern, but the person leading this patrol makes John smile: it's Unky Derek, who comes forward and stares into John's eyes, which is how he says he can tell who's human.
John introduces himself. "I know a lot of people, kid. Don't know you." Derek asks the group if anyone's heard of John Connor. Nope. However, Derek thinks John's going to be famous, because his brother's back, and John's wearing his coat.
John turns around, and sure enough, there's Kyle Reese, strolling in in slow motion. He and John stare at each other for a while, and then John's attentions shift to the woman behind Kyle. It's Cameron! Well, actually, since she's playing with a dog that isn't growling at her, it can't be Cameron; must be Allison from Palmdale. Elsewhere, there's a final crackle back where John and Weaver jumped through time, and we hear Sarah say, "I love you too."
So this is the way the world ends: Sixteen-year-old John Connor smack in the middle of the end of the world, only no one's heard of him. So either this has always been the start of John Connor's involvement with the resistance, which doesn't seem that likely, since you'd think the Derek who came back to protect the young John Connor might have realized that teenage John would be jumping forward any day to the future. Probably more likely: John jumping ahead in time means that he missed Judgment Day altogether and wasn't around to lead the resistance already like he would have been. I think I prefer the time-travel convention that you can't actually change the past or future, which is one the Terminator universe used to subscribe to, but we already know this show doesn't. Besides, if future time-travelers could alter the past, you'd have to think that people in the future would have been sending people back in time to watch this television show and keep its ratings up so it wasn't constantly facing cancellation.
Hasta la vista, Sarah Connor. See you when we see you.