The Pullbox

TERMINATOR: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Season 2, Episode 10
“Strange Things Happen At The One Two Point”

Written By: Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Directed By: Scott Peters

Tomorrow’s Episode of the Connor Chronicles promises to be an awesome episode. This review is long over-due, but it works in a way as a recap of last week, reminding you what happened and getting you all geared up for tomorrow. Things are getting weird on the show. I’m really anxious to see where they’re going with all of this.

For my Spoiler Review, click past the jump…

- SPOILER ALERT -

Derek and Sarah go to check out a company called Dakara. Its logo looks like the three dots in Sarah’s dreams. Turns out they’re trying something with A.I. and advanced chip technologies. John points out that its small potatoes at first glance, but so was the Turk and the Traffic System. Cyberdine starts off small. Sarah’s convinced the three dots are significant and her obsession takes over for the entire episode.

Dakara needs a crap-load of money and two weeks to get the A.I. rigged up and going. The brain behind the new A.I. isn’t a chess fan, as Cameron figures out. He likes a game called “GO!,” which carries a proverb, where we get this episode’s title from; “Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point.” The fact that its not based on Chess proves this isn’t the Turk, and possibly confirms its not linked to Skynet at all, but we have to wait to find that out. They ask Sarah for half a million dollars to purchase the chip that will power the A.I.

They meet with the sellers regarding the chip. Sarah’s obsession causes her to act completely irrationally and gives Dakara the half million. They purchase the chip, only to find out they were screwed. The Chip was a fake. Even further, the Dakara dude planned the whole thing. He set Sarah up to take her money. So basically, the Design for a crazy powerful A.I. is there, in theory. But it doesn’t look like its directly affecting Skynet. In short, Sarah just wasted a crap-load of money, for no good reason. And the Three Dots don’t directly affect this particular situation.

Derek finally discovers the surveilance photos Jesse’s been hiding. She claims she’s here to save John from Cameron’s influence. I don’t buy it. And neither does Derek. At least not at first. Looks like Jesse’s got the power of persuasion on her side. She can convince Derek of anything, and Riley’s not immune either.

John finally checks up on Riley. It was awesome to finally see where she lives, and who with. It suddenly makes so much sense that she lives with foster parents. She’s clearly distraught over what happened in Mexico. But when he offers to explain, she suddenly doesn’t need an explanation. Riley, who always tries to get John to open up, and share, and be honest, suddenly doesn’t need him to explain why they were locked up, and shot at in Mexico. The first time I saw that scene, I thought it was so incredibly strange and suspicious.

My suspicions are proven correct when JESSE meets Riley at a store!!! Riley’s a plant. She’s there to report back to Jesse about John’s activities and mental/psychological condition. Jesse’s convinced Cameron’s having a negative effect on the future John Connor. But Riley’s conscience gets the best of her and she snaps. She doesn’t want to spy on John anymore, and when Jesse makes it clear she has to, Riley goes home only to go ape-crap berserk on her foster family. Turns out Riley’s from the future. Brought back, most likely, along with Jesse, specifically for this “Rescue John from Cameron” mission. She comes back to John at the end of the episode and resumes her position.

Derek points out that he’s seeing the three dots everywhere too, like Sarah. He’s worried that everything is getting to Sarah’s head, and he wonders if its happening to John too. Jesse’s influence on Derek has him paranoid that she might be right about Cameron and everything else going on around John.

At Weaver’s building, the shrink was found dead in a boiling hot room. The A.I. was responsible. Looks like the Turk doesn’t have any inhibitions when it comes to killing a human being.

Ellison is investigating the death of the shrink at the hands of the Turk, aka “Babylon.” He wonders if it knew what it was doing when it killed him. Dr. Sherman renamed the Turk as “John Henry.” In my favorite scene of the episode, Ellison actually interviews “John Henry.” And John Henry responds in binary code. 1 meaning Yes. 0 meaning No. Turns out John Henry doesn’t understand the concept of death, or at least the fact that death is a bad thing, and irreversible. Ellison is the coolest. It was nice to see Season 1 Ellison back on the show. He was confident, intelligent, and charismatic. For a brief while, we had old school Ellison back and I was glad to have him. I want to see more of this.

The pay off at the end of the episode, is the reveal of what Weaver’s doing with Cromartie’s body. She’s restructured it and is using it to house the John Henry A.I. program. And that reveal gave me chills, and excitement like you wouldn’t believe.

The A-Train’s “Strange Things Happen At The One Two Point” Rating: 4 out of 5 A.I. Chips.