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106SCC The Reese Brothers
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106SCC Series 600 Sentry
106SCC Series 600 Sentry Closeup
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106SCC The Rogue attacks Depot II
106SCC Captured Plasma Rifles
106SCC Derek and cell in TDE
"She's a machine. She's a liar. She's a liar... Everything she says is a lie!"
- Derek Reese.

Flashing in and out of consciousness, fighting for his life, Derek Reese recalls his future life battling the machines in 2027. Meanwhile, Sarah tries to explain the past to Charley.

Synopsis[]

The episode begins immediately where Queen's Gambit left off, with Charley Dixon commencing CPR on Derek, who had been shot by the Series 888 terminator Vick. After a lengthy fight for Derek's life, Charley's efforts succeed in stabilizing him.

Derek's first flashback reveals the future world is a nightmare landscape, strewn with rubble and ruin, where people hide from the machines in underground tunnels and only come to the surface to engage in combat. Kyle Reese and Derek are shown as soldiers fighting Skynet alongside two other soldiers named Sayles and Billy Wisher. When they come to the surface, they are attacked by a pair of HK-VTOLs and separated from Kyle and are captured by a Terminator. They are taken to an old house where one of the more primitive rubber-skinned Series 600 terminators fuses a barcode on each fighter's arm.

While in the holding ground, after being tortured by an unseen terminator, Wisher confesses to Derek that his real name is Andy Goode and admits his role in creating Skynet. He begs Derek to forgive him. As nights pass by, they notice that the machines are dragging a huge turbofan jet engine for something. Derek apparently undergoes the same torture after being taken to the basement, where music is inexplicably playing (Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor (Lento con gran espressione), Op. posth.). The actual torture is not shown, but after being taken back upstairs Derek appears unhurt yet traumatized and semi-conscious. Sometime thereafter, the prisoners awake to find they have been left alone, a hatchet left for them to break free of their chains.

When they get back to their base, they find the Terminators have located and attacked it. When Derek searches for survivors, he cannot find his brother Kyle (since at this point Kyle went back in time to protect Sarah Connor from the T-800 Model 101 Terminator as seen in the original film). Weeks later, at a resistance base, Derek recognizes Cameron as a Terminator and nearly shoots her. One of the other resistance fighters tries to calm him down by saying she was reprogrammed and is "one of ours". Sometime later, a reprogrammed terminator malfunctions and starts killing people in the base. Cameron destroys it, telling Derek that sometimes reprogrammed Terminators inexplicably "go bad". A few months later, Derek finds out about the newly developed time-portal, and agrees to go to the year 2007 with other resistance fighters (the same fighters found dead in the apartment in the episode Gnothi Seauton). While explaining the mission to the other soldiers, he sees Wisher/Goode. Andy Goode gives a nod, perhaps implying that he knows what Derek's mission is and accepts it as a means of freeing himself from his guilt.

The remainder of the episode takes place in the present-day storyline. Charley hesitantly gets reacquainted with Sarah and John. Sarah finally explains to Charley about the Terminators. Charley is bemused by the implausible-sounding narrative of Sarah's life, but seems willing to believe her. Charley also observes Cameron disposing of the T-888 she terminated in the previous episode. She strips away its flesh revealing its metal endoskeleton, which Charley inadvertently stumbles upon in the garage. By this point he has proof that Terminators exist; he also acknowledges that Cameron is a machine, calling her a "very scary robot."

Cameron destroys the remains of the T-888 by burning it with thermite in an improvised cinderblock furnace. This destroys all traces of the machine's existence, except for its dismembered left hand, which Agent Ellison recovered in the previous episode. Sometime later, tension develops between Cameron and Sarah, as Sarah intuits that Cameron might kill Charley because he has learned too much. Cameron submits that she will not and promises to recover the T-888's missing hand. Curiously, after promising to destroy every last bolt of the T-888, Cameron is shown to have kept the T-888's chip she had extracted from its skull in the previous episode.

Later, Charley and Sarah have an emotional reconciliation, but don't seem to rekindle their prior relationship. Charley apprises her of Agent Robert Kester, whom Charley doesn't know is really Cromartie posing as an FBI agent.

The episode also reveals that John's lineage—specifically his relation to his father, Kyle Reese—is a closely guarded secret. Neither Derek (Kyle's brother) nor Cameron are aware of this fact. John desires to learn more about his father from Derek. Sarah, however, forbids John from revealing his lineage to his uncle since she distrusts him, calling him "a stranger" and noting that future John has not told him about the secret. Derek later recovers from his wounds, and John tells him that Kyle had come back in time to protect him and Sarah and died doing so. Just as he is about to reveal that Kyle is his father, Sarah enters the room, so instead John calls Kyle a hero.

The last scene of the episode flashbacks to Andy's hotel room, while Andy is still alive. Derek appears, shoots Andy in the head, and leaves.

Nitpicks[]

  • If Sarah is O-negative, then John can't be AB-negative. If his father had AB-type blood, John would have either A-type or B-type from that combination.[1]

Continuity notes[]

  • Charley says to Sarah that "there's a storm coming", repeating the same line told to Sarah by the man at the gas station in the end of The Terminator.
  • The final scene of the episode reveals who killed Andy Goode in his hotel: Derek Reese. Derek lied about this to Sarah Connor when she visited him in jail in Queen's Gambit.
  • In Sarah's closing voiceover, she quotes Kyle Reese almost word for word from The Terminator. The only difference is that she says "the machine is out there" instead of "that Terminator is out there."

Notes[]

  • James Ellison does not appear in this episode.
  • One of the Terminators from the future appears to have what looks like rubber skin. This is the first time a T-600 has been spotted in any of the Terminator movies or TV episodes.
  • In the Producer's Blog referencing this episode, Josh Friedman states explicitly that at least some of the Terminators seen in this episode are in fact T-600's.[2]
OF DUNGEONS AND DEMONS...: Even though we aired "Dungeons and Dragons" sixth we shot it ninth because of all the prep involved. Unfortunately this put it right in the strike's crosshairs. I had to leave before a frame of D&D was shot and I’d be remiss if I didn't give a shoutout to the director Jeff Hunt and our Visual Effects Supervisor Jim Lima for their stellar work. Another perennial all-star is Rob Hall for his fantastic T-600 makeup.
  • Cameron states that Derek Reese is First Lieutenant, 132nd S.O.C.
  • Kyle Reese and John Connor were imprisoned at Century Sector Work Camp in 2015.
  • Kyle Reese and John Connor escaped Century Sector Work Camp in 2021.
  • The future part happened in year 2027, the year Kyle Reese was sent back from to protect Sarah Connor. This differs from the original timeline, where the year when Kyle was sent back to 1984 was 2029.
  • Kyle Reese was officially declared missing in action in 2027.
  • In the future, Andy Goode was living under the alias "Wisher". This may be a tribute to William Wisher Jr. who wrote additional dialogue for The Terminator and also co-wrote Terminator 2: Judgment Day with James Cameron. William Wisher Jr. also appeared in cameos in both of those films.
  • The graffiti on the wall in the future resistance base has the same words ("Hang In There, Baby!") as the poster that covered the safe in "Gnothi Seauton"
  • This episode differs from previous ones, having none of the chase sequences familiar to viewers. The main characters do not leave their property and are not disturbed by Cromartie. Instead, the episode introduces the back story to Derek Reese's life through a series of flashbacks to the future dystopia from which he came.
  • The Rogue Terminator's rampage is very similar to the one Kyle remembers when he has a flashback of a Terminator penetrating his base.
  • This is the first time that daylight has been seen during the Future War.
  • In The Terminator we see Kyle Reese having memories about the picture of Sarah Connor is burned up. In this episode when Derek Reese and Andy Goode escaped the house and going back to the bunker, Derek finds a small piece of that picture. Presumably this is shortly after Kyle experienced this and went back in time.
  • The bunker that the Resistance is staying at in the future is named Depot II.
  • Perry, a character who was only briefly mentioned once in The Terminator, appears in this episode as a Major General and commander of the 132nd.
  • This episode seems to indicate that the future John kept his parentage a secret, explaining why Derek[3] and Cameron have no clue that Kyle was his father. Strangely, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-800 seems to be fully aware of John's true parentage while the two are conversing and working together to fix a truck at Enrique Salceda's ranch; John says "I wish I could've met my real dad," and the T-800 says "You will." John then goes on to say that he will probably not meet Kyle until he's forty-five and that he isn't even born around the time of the film.
  • This is the second time that we see Cameron's eyes glow blue when they reflect the light of the burning thermite.
  • In hindsight, "Born to Run" explains why Cameron tried to keep Terminator Vick's Chip in reply to the question: "Will you join us?"

DVD Extras[]

  • Terminated Scene
    • Scene 1: Charley suspects John of harboring romantic feelings towards Cameron and recalls John's interactions with a girl in 1999. John denies being attracted to Cameron and Charley advises him to never forget that she is a machine.

Q&A[]

  • Q: What did Derek Reese mean about Cameron by "Everything she says is a lie"?
  • A: It's possible that Derek was tortured in the mystery house by a Terminator wearing Cameron's model of living tissue [citation needed]. He does not trust any Terminators, and disapproved of the Resistance program of "capture and reprogram" for the units. He was noted throughout the series to have an almost pathological hate and distrust for machines, so his statement and suspicions of Cameron should not be considered authoritative.
  • Q: Obviously Derek and Cameron have met before. What happened between them since Derek doesn't trust Cameron?
  • A: See the answer above. Even though Cameron saves Derek from The Rogue, he does not trust her because "Sometimes they go bad, no one knows why."
  • Q: In the future, Kyle is saying to Derek and Billy: "There was one slaughterhouse. Many Connors". Does this imply there are other family members of the Connor family in the future?
  • A: Very likely negative. It's a joke. He's taking Wisher's and Derek's winding up ("one slaughterhouse" - "two slaughterhouses") and taking it to absurd levels. Even if it wasn't, "Connor" is a very common surname (there were 3 Sarah Connors alone in T1).
  • Q: What is a Centaur?
  • A: There are references to Skynet Tanks prior to the Centaur reference. Presumably, a Centaur is a human nickname for the ground based tracked HKs as seen in the first movie.
  • Q: What is the secret weapon of Skynet?
  • Q: Kyle Reese was not captured and imprisoned by the Terminator. Where did he go?
  • A: Apparently back to the base (maybe to get reinforcements) after digging himself out of the rubble he'd gotten buried in. Otherwise, how would the photo from his pocket have ended up back in the tunnel?
  • Q: A Terminator is sitting together with Derek and Billy in the truck. Obviously its mission is not to kill humans. What is its mission?
  • A: To keep the prisoners in the transport until delivery.
  • Q: Derek and the others are all kept as prisoners in a house. Is this the same house Sarah, John and Cameron are staying in?
  • A: No. You see clearly the front of both houses and they look completely different.
  • Q: Is the Terminator guard in the house a Series 600?
  • A: Yes. This is stated explicitly in the producer's blog and the Season 1 DVD Special Features.
  • Q: Several times HK-VTOLs is flying right over the house with spotlights where Derek and Billy is imprisoned. What is it doing there?
  • A: It looks as if it is checking on the prisoners. It also seems to be a very effective way of torture by instilling fear. It might also be delivering new prisoners, picking up bodies, exchanging personnel, receiving new directions...
  • A2: It is interesting that the Terminator is never seen around when a HK is surveying the building. This can lead us to an interesting theory. We have seen in this episode a reprogrammed Terminator going bad. Also, during season two, we encounter terminators that appear to be working independent from Skynet. And again, we see in future episodes that Cameron's chip went wrong twice (first time she tries to terminate John Connor, second time she believes she is a human). This means that malfunctions of the chip are not so rare. As a machine gets older and the chip is more damaged (by electricity, fire or violent impacts), there is a higher chance that it will not work properly. We presume that Skynet destroys all machines that are not working properly. So, maybe the Terminator we see is a fugitive and the HK is actually hunting the machine, not the humans. Again, if the Terminator is not working properly, this can explain what happened in the end.
  • Q: Music is played in the house where Derek and the others are imprisoned. Why are they playing music?
  • A1: Unknown. Maybe an attempt at conditioning or brainwashing the prisoners, psychic terror. Or just an experiment.
  • A2: When Derek has his flashback to the mystery room, he is screaming "my blood!" It is possible that the machines are harvesting human blood for use in making infiltrator units, like in "The Turk"
  • Q: We see Terminators pulling a jet-engine and later a HK-VTOL is carrying a jet-engine away. Why does it do that? What is it to be used for?
  • A1: The scene where Derek is to see future John, Derek observes jet engines clustered around the Time Displacement bubble, powering it.
  • A2: In a future episode in Season 2, we learn that now there is metal everywhere, including in the human bases. It looks like John is massively using reprogrammed Terminators for his missions. Those Terminators and the HK may be under the control of the Resistance. If this is true, John Connor is playing a very dangerous game.
  • Q: Why did Skynet need the jet engines? It has the ability to build energy sources sufficiently powerful for energy weapons and aircraft, can't it just build its own power plant rather than scavenge human-built parts? Especially parts which probably aren't in very good condition anyway given the decades they've been laying around exposed to the weather without proper maintenance.
  • A: A Terminator is very likely more energy-efficient than a time travel device which, at least in most Scifi, needs a lot of energy to punch a hole into space and time. Also, Terminator power sources may not be as strong in this timeline as in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
  • A2: As shown in previous answer, maybe those engines are not used by Skynet. They are used by the Resistance and those robots carrying them are reprogrammed by the Resistance. And they might not be jet engines from the past, but engines from disabled Skynet machines, like prisoner carriers.
  • Q: Andy Goode is talking about a special group he were a member of. What is this group? Who are the other people?
  • A1: At this point, we can only theorize, since the timeline is destroyed when Derek goes back and kills him.
  • a2: He could be talking about the Kaliba Group, introduced in Season 2.
  • Q: Derek Reese is brought to the music room. What happened to him in that room?
  • A: It is implied that he was tortured and possibly they took blood from him. We find out next season in a very brief dialogue between Cameron and Derek. It is also referred to in Brian Austin Green's interview on the Skynext Podcast.
  • Q: Who put the hatchet in the room and why?
  • A: One theory is that Cameron came back and left the hatchet so the Resistance prisoners could free themselves. This would be easier than trying to explain to the bewildered (and most likely hostile) prisoners that she has been reprogrammed and is no longer working for Skynet. Cameron's decision is vindicated by Derek's behavior when he first spots her at the resistance base.
  • Q: Why didn't the Terminators kill Derek and the other prisoners? What was done to them? Were they brainwashed? Is Wisher really a repentant Andy Goode, or did they 'recruit' Derek to kill him?
  • A: The prisoners were kept there alive probably for an experiment. The fact that Derek was screaming from his dream shows that the psychological terror inside the dark room was something greater then many other things he encountered in the war. Maybe the experiment was intended to brainwash the prisoners. We don't know.
  • Q: The resistance is talking about Skynet using a AAA or a triple-"A". What is that?
  • A: They were saying "Triple Eight" or T-888. It's the advanced infiltration model we see as most enemy Terminators in the series, including Cromartie, Vick, and Carter.
  • Q: In the future, Derek recognizes Cameron. Have they met before in the future?
  • A: There could be several Terminators which look like Allison Young. Derek may not have met our "Cameron" before from the series, but simply recognized her as a Terminator based on the look. Another explanation may be in Season 2's 4th episode.
  • Q: Derek Reese sees the TDE while it is being activated. Who was just sent back in time?
    A: All we know is Kyle had already gone through the original TDE, so it wasn't him. It could have been Uncle Bob, Cameron, the Engineer who built the bank vault, or even a character we haven't seen yet or will never see. For all we know he could have sent a rat five minutes into the future to test the device.
  • Q: Cameron is acting strange and mysterious. Does Cameron have a secret mission?
  • A: Obviously. She has collected a fragment of coltan and the chip despite being told to destroy everything. She may be collecting spare parts.
  • Q: Why did Cameron keep the chip?
  • Q: We see Andy Goode get killed. How can he be alive and build Skynet?
  • A: The future part we see in this episode is the memory of Derek Reese and belongs to a previous timeline, before he time-traveled back to kill Andy Goode.
  • Q: Why was Derek Reese lying about killing Andy Goode?
  • A: For one thing, he might not have felt unobserved enough in a prison. Later, he probably wasn't sure whether Sarah Connor wouldn't actually carry out her later threat to kill Derek over it.
  • Q: What did Cameron do with Vick's cut off flesh?
  • A: The flesh contains water and organic compounds. This can alter the chemical reactions, so that the metal endoskeleton could not be completely destroyed. Cameron removed the skin to allow direct oxidation of the endoskeleton. If left at room temperature, any organic tissue will rot and get destroyed beyond recognition.
  • A2: We know that Cromartie took eyes from a human, so it is possible for Terminators to transplant body parts for their living tissue cover. We have never seen Terminators doing skin transplant. Anyway, Cameron did not have large wounds that would require new skin. Most probably, she took the flesh away and let it rot inside the plastic bags

Monologue[]

Opening
"On the night we first met, John’s father, Kyle Reese, told me words I remember to this day. He meant them as a warning, I think of them as words to live by. He told me of an apocalypse yet to come. Like a Pandora’s box, he unpacked every horror, every evil, every dark thing that haunts our future. He also left me an unborn son to whom he bequeathed what remained in the box after the nightmares fled. Hope."

Closing
" 'Listen,' Kyle said. 'Listen and understand the machine is out there. It can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop ever until you are dead.' "

Quotes[]

Charley: Bullet nicked his left lung. I got a fragment lodged in the soft tissue. I can get it out. But will someone please tell me what the hell is going on around here? (looks across to Sarah) Huh?
Derek: (delirious) She's a machine. She's a liar. She's a liar... She's a ...
Charley: (shouts) Sedative in my bag!
Derek: (continues) Everything she says is a lie! Don't listen to her! Don't listen to her! Don't... Don't... (sees Cameron prepare the sedative for injection) DON'T! You get that bitch away from me! Now! No! No! Get that bitch away from me!
Charley: (grabs Cameron's wrist) You heard him.
Derek: Get away from me! Now! (Charley now takes the needle from Cameron)
Charley: (yells at Cameron) You want him to die?
Cameron: If I wanted him to die...
Sarah: (screams) CAMERON! (Cameron leaves the table and stands quietly across the room)
John: Mom! Come on! What can I do?
Charley: (tentatively) So. Skynet. Robots. From the future. (points at Cameron) And you're a...
Cameron: Yes, I'm a...
Sarah: You need a...
Charley: minute?
Sarah: I was going to say a drink.
Charley: Oh. Yeah. That too.
Charley: So who's Kyle? He from the future too? Hmm? He come back before? And... he's John's father.
Sarah: Yes. They're brothers. He doesn't know.
Charley: So when you used to say John's father was dead...
Sarah: He is.
Charley: It was because of all... all this? (Sarah looks down crestfallen) Hey... we never had a chance.
Charley: (looking at endoskeleton) Wow! (nervously) Hey, is that really necessary? It's dead right? or powered off? whatever?
Cameron: Every component must destroyed beyond repair or recovery. Even a single unaccounted for piece of the endoskeleton could alter the course of technological evolution. And hasten the arrival of Judgment Day.
Charley: Uh, Yeah? You know little girl, you freak me the hell out. On the outside you're just pretty as a picture. But on the inside... you're a...
Cameron: Hyperalloy combat chassis.
Charley: Is that a complicated way of saying robot?
Cameron: Cybernetic organism. Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.
Charley: Ok. Scary robot. And here you are carving up this guy into chum.
Cameron: He's not a guy. He's a scary robot.
Charley: Ok. He's a scary robot? You. You are a VERY scary robot.
Cameron: (Lights the Thermite) You should go. It's not safe for you here.
Sarah: What did you say to Charley?
Cameron: I freak him the hell out.
Sarah: I'll bet you do. I'll just bet. I know what you're thinking. I may not know how you think, but I know what you're thinking about. And what you're thinking about right now is exactly what you should not think about. I didn't leave Charley because he was a threat to me or John. We're a threat to him, do you understand?
Cameron: You were right to leave him.
Sarah: (threateningly) You don't go near him. You don't touch him. You swear to me you'll leave him alone, or so help me, I'll find a way of taking you apart piece by piece.
Cameron: I swear.
Sarah: So do I. (pauses, looks at the empty Thermite pit) That thing's done, right? It's vapor.
Cameron: One missing component. His left hand. I'll find it.
Sarah: Everything needs to be destroyed. Everything.
Cameron: Everything.
Sarah: Every last bolt. (glares threateningly) Get it done.
Cameron: I swear. (waits for Sarah to leave, puts Vick's chip into her holster, and glances up suspiciously)
Sarah: (voiceover) "Listen." Kyle said. "Listen and understand. The machine is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead."

Characters[]

Main[]

Recurring[]

Minor[]

References[]

  1. The Health Board: What Determines what Blood Type a Person Has
  2. Producer's Blog - Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
  3. However, Derek reveals he learned that John is Kyle's son at the moment he saw (probably the young John in the episode What He Beheld.

External links[]

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