Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Alpine Fields
This week's John-free episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles takes our heroes off on another, seemingly alternate, but not necessarily disconnected, storyline associated with another one of the clues written in blood on the wall of the Connor's garage by the mysterious, dying man from the future. Incidentally, we (the loyal viewers/fans) never did get any insight as to whom that guy was. Odd, since his bloody scrawlings seem to be driving so may of this season's episodes. Will we ever find out who he is?At any rate, this week starts with Derek arriving in what appears to be a garage for derelict transit buses. He's on the phone with Sarah, who is hunting a Terminator. Derek locates his target, Anne, a pregnant woman who is dying from a gunshot wound, and her teenage daughter, Lauren. As Derek and Lauren struggle to keep Anne alive, Lauren tells Derek of a terminator that has been tracking her family for the last six months who had suddenly found them that day. Derek asks Lauren what mistake they made to clue the cyber to their location. Lauren admits to calling a man named Roger, but Derek doesn't buy it.
This is another flashback-intensive episode. The writers of the show seem fond of this device lately, but I suppose it's the only way to show what's going on with multiple characters in multiple timelines.
Anyway, we flashback six months to the first meeting of Sarah, Cameron and the Fields family: David, Anne and Lauren. They are vacationing in their Alpine cabin -- "Alpine Fields," get it?? -- when the shotgun-wielding Sarah and Cameron barge in. The terminator that is hunting their family is on its way to the cabin, Sarah tells them, so it's vital for her to know which one of them the cyborg is after. No one in the Fields family seems particularly anxious to spill any personal beans.
Then we flash forward to 2027, to the human resistance stronghold at Serrano Point. Derek is incensed at a commander over his decision to send "metal" to retrieve an important survivor from the human-controlled Eagle Rock Bunker overrun by a Terminator-introduced pathogen. Derek insists on being sent on what amounts to a suicide mission, and his commander agrees, but not before calling him out on his death-wish since his brother Kyle -- John's father -- died.
Back in the "six months ago" timeline, Sarah is still giving the Fields' family the full court press about their connection to SkyNet. David, the testy father, is still tight-lipped, but Lauren outs him when she bonds with Sarah in the tool shed, explaining his link to Simdyne Cybernetics. He was remiss to explain his "banking" relationship with Simdyne due to some shady bookkeeping. But is it this link to the future that has attracted the attention of the ruthless Terminator, as well as Sarah and Cameron? We shall see.
The Fields family continues to argue about David's shady dealing while Sarah sets a trap for the Terminator. The trap is undone by Anne so she can greet her "neighbor" Roger, the man she is sleeping with and the father of Sydney, the child that Anne is giving birth as she lay dying.
Back in the future at Eagle Rock, Derek scopes out a grim scene of room after room of dead humans. Overcome by emotion, Derek runs out of the bunker, clawing off his gas mask as he goes. Topside, he runs into Jesse, who, as usual, has a gun drawn on him. We quickly see that this is their fateful first meeting. She's a commando from Perth, Australia, who has been leading personnel and supply runs between and Australia and the States about a nuclear submarine. She came to the bunker responding to a distress call from the plague survivor. Derek and Jesse quickly don their gas masks and head back down. They soon find the grim survivor, a teenage girl named Sydney. She's the only human with immunity to the Terminator plague. She's the girl that Derek is tasked with bringing back to HQ or die trying. Sydney grimly tells them that their masks can't save them, and that they are already infected.
Back to six months ago, a despondent David Fields picks a fight with the Terminator to save his family, only to be cast aside when the machine realizes that David is not his target. The Fields family, Roger, Cameron and Sarah finally escape the machine by speeding away in a car. In the present, Lauren becomes aware of the grim destiny that awaits her and her newborn sister. (In the future, Lauren appears to be some kind of medic in the resistance, delivering the vaccine that saves Derek's life.) Derek offers the girls sanctuary. Lauren agrees, only to disappear when Derek turns his back.
Stay tuned, fans. Dec. 15 is the last episode of Terminator: TSCC in the fall season, so writers either have to wrap up a bunch of loose ends or leave us hanging until Terminator returns in February.
Then we flash forward to 2027, to the human resistance stronghold at Serrano Point. Derek is incensed at a commander over his decision to send "metal" to retrieve an important survivor from the human-controlled Eagle Rock Bunker overrun by a Terminator-introduced pathogen. Derek insists on being sent on what amounts to a suicide mission, and his commander agrees, but not before calling him out on his death-wish since his brother Kyle -- John's father -- died.
Back in the "six months ago" timeline, Sarah is still giving the Fields' family the full court press about their connection to SkyNet. David, the testy father, is still tight-lipped, but Lauren outs him when she bonds with Sarah in the tool shed, explaining his link to Simdyne Cybernetics. He was remiss to explain his "banking" relationship with Simdyne due to some shady bookkeeping. But is it this link to the future that has attracted the attention of the ruthless Terminator, as well as Sarah and Cameron? We shall see.
The Fields family continues to argue about David's shady dealing while Sarah sets a trap for the Terminator. The trap is undone by Anne so she can greet her "neighbor" Roger, the man she is sleeping with and the father of Sydney, the child that Anne is giving birth as she lay dying.
Back in the future at Eagle Rock, Derek scopes out a grim scene of room after room of dead humans. Overcome by emotion, Derek runs out of the bunker, clawing off his gas mask as he goes. Topside, he runs into Jesse, who, as usual, has a gun drawn on him. We quickly see that this is their fateful first meeting. She's a commando from Perth, Australia, who has been leading personnel and supply runs between and Australia and the States about a nuclear submarine. She came to the bunker responding to a distress call from the plague survivor. Derek and Jesse quickly don their gas masks and head back down. They soon find the grim survivor, a teenage girl named Sydney. She's the only human with immunity to the Terminator plague. She's the girl that Derek is tasked with bringing back to HQ or die trying. Sydney grimly tells them that their masks can't save them, and that they are already infected.
Back to six months ago, a despondent David Fields picks a fight with the Terminator to save his family, only to be cast aside when the machine realizes that David is not his target. The Fields family, Roger, Cameron and Sarah finally escape the machine by speeding away in a car. In the present, Lauren becomes aware of the grim destiny that awaits her and her newborn sister. (In the future, Lauren appears to be some kind of medic in the resistance, delivering the vaccine that saves Derek's life.) Derek offers the girls sanctuary. Lauren agrees, only to disappear when Derek turns his back.
Stay tuned, fans. Dec. 15 is the last episode of Terminator: TSCC in the fall season, so writers either have to wrap up a bunch of loose ends or leave us hanging until Terminator returns in February.