After being damaged in a car explosion, Cameron reverts to
her original programming and attempts to kill John Connor.
The opening preamble of each episode this season is re-written
and spoken by an anonymous male voiceover instead of using Sarah
Connor's voice as in season one.
This episode was the second season premiere. The unresolved
plotlines of the strange wall paintings appearing at John's high
school,
Cheri Westin's secret, and Morris' crush on Cameron from the
first season are dropped this season without explanation. Rumor
is that the producers decided the non-Terminator storylines in
season one were not working, so they were dropped completely.
Which is kind of irritating. They could have at least wrapped
up the loose ends at some point this season and possibly
salvaged those recurring characters for a more on-point
storyline.
This episode introduces Catherine Weaver, the CEO of Zeira
Corporation, who becomes a major player throughout the season.
She is portrayed by
Shirley Manson, the lead singer of the alternative-rock band
Garbage.
priest (unnamed here, but later identified as Father Armando
Bonilla in "Born to Run")
Didja Notice?
The "Previously on the Sarah Connor Chronicles..." segment
at the opening of this episode covers virtually the entire
first season, running at one full minute.
The song that plays at the beginning of the episode is
"Samson and Delilah", a classic song from the early 20th
Century. The version heard here is performed by Shirley
Manson, the lead singer of the alternative-rock band
Garbage; she also plays Catherine Weaver in this season of
the series.
The lyrics of the version of the song here are slightly altered
from the original in order to make it more fitting to the
events in these opening scenes.
Sarkissian is killed during the attack on the Connor
house, but it is not shown how it happened. From the song
lyrics, we might assume that John killed him with bare hands
since John seems to the be the Samson figure of this episode
and the song (and Bible story) tells that Samson
killed a lion (Sarkissian) to protect his mother (Sarah).
This is revealed to be the case in the later episode "The
Tower Is Tall But the Fall Is Short".
Cameron is the Delilah figure in this episode, the
"love" of John/Samson.
At 2:44 on the Blu-ray, Sarah pulls a Remington 870 shotgun
from the umbrella stand in the house. (She used the same
type of shotgun, taken from a SWAT van, near the end of
Judgment Day).
The scene from 6:10-7:19 on the Blu-ray is from the season
one finale "What He Beheld".
The FBI coroner's team finds George Laszlo's corpse in his
apartment (having been killed by Cromartie way back in
"Heavy Metal"). One of the FBI
coroners asks Agent Ellison how Lazlo could have taken out
20 of their HRT.
HRT stands for Hostage Rescue Team. I'm not sure why HRT
would have been sent to make an arrest at the apartment when
no hostage had been taken. Also, Laszlo's body should be
decomposing and stinking by now! Plus, an autopsy by the FBI
would soon show that he died some time back, not during the
firefight and thus could not have been the one who killed
all the HRT agents.
The van Sarah and John make their escape in is a 2001
Chevrolet
Venture with CA license plate 3PCI258. This same plate
appeared on a
Jeep
Cherokee driven by Sarah in "Gnothi Seauton"
and on a Chevy Blazer in the series' final episode
"Born to Run"!
The car that Sarah almost runs into at 8:41 on the Blu-ray
is a 2007
Toyota
Camry CE and has CA license plate 3PCI499 (the same license
plate appears on a GMC truck John hot-wires later in the
episode and again on a van in "The Mousetrap" and yet
another car in "Desert Cantos"!). The car she does
hit is a Ford
Taurus with CA license plate 2QCE265, a plate which has
appeared in many other Hollywood productions.
Fire Department Station 56 is seen to have responded to the
fire at the Connor home. Station 56 is an actual fire
station in Los Angeles.
The Fire Department vehicle that pulls up to the Connor
house at 10:00 on the Blu-ray is a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban.
The TV news reporter seen at 12:03 on the Blu-ray is from
KZPZ Channel 6. This is a fictitious station for Los
Angeles.
Zeira Corporation, headed by Catherine Weaver, is a
fictitious company.
The flat panel TV screens in Weaver's office are made by
Dell.
Having obtained the Turk for Weaver, Walsh remarks, "It's
not much to look at for 300,000. Better be able to checkmate
Bobby Fischer for that."
Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) was an American chess grandmaster,
considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all
time.
When Weaver tells her secretary to arrange a meeting of the
department heads for that night, the secretary says that
Justin Tuck is already in Palm Springs for a long weekend.
Palm Springs is a desert resort city in California,
about 110 miles east of Los Angeles.
At 13:07 on the Blu-ray, Cameron walks past a thrift store
window with a Liberace record album and Pumping Iron
and Rambo: First Blood Part II video discs visible.
Liberace (1919-1987) was an American pianist. Pumping
Iron is a 1977 documentary film about competitive
bodybuilding, known for introducing Arnold Schwarzenegger to
the world; Schwarzenegger, of course, would go on to legend
as the Model 101 Terminator in 1984's
The Terminator and
beyond. Rambo: First Blood Part II is a 1985 action
film starring Sylvester Stallone.
At 13:39 on the Blu-ray, a sign in the discount store
Cameron walks into reads "Especial!!! Pistola de grapas!!!
$10.99". This is Spanish for "Special!!! Staple gun!!!
$10.99".
At 13:53 on the Blu-ray, the license plate of Charley's
ambulance is California 2204560. The vehicle is a 1995 Ford
Econoline converted into an ambulance
At 14:01 on the Blu-ray, the City Center Motel, DeVille
Motel and Rene Cafe are seen across the street from Sarah
and John. These are actual businesses on 7th Street in Los
Angeles, though the Deville is now an Americas Best Value
Inn.
Fleeing from the scene of their car accident, Sarah and John
eventually seek sanctuary at M. Jesus El Salvador del Mundo
church. "M. Jesus El Salvador del
Mundo" is Spanish for "Messiah Jesus the Savior of the
World". This appears to be a fictitious church. Above the
entranceway are painted the words "Martes y Viernes 7:30 PM"
and "Domingo de Milagros 6 PM"; this is Spanish for "Tuesday
and Friday 7:30 PM" and "Miracle Sunday 6 PM".
A Pacific Bell pay phone with a slightly altered Pac-Bell
symbol is seen outside the church at 14:39 on the Blu-ray.
The car that is stopped in front of Charley's ambulance at
15:49 on the Blu-ray is a Toyota with CA license plate
4PCI310;
this same license plate is seen later in the episode on a
truck Sarah confiscates to save John at the warehouse! This same license plate was seen on a BMW in
"What He Beheld".
At 16:43 on the Blu-ray, Cameron sees blood on the sidewalk
and her sensors analyze it to determine if it is the blood of a
human male. Notice that a listing of the blood's components
quickly flashes and disappears on the left of her POV
display.

At 16:56 on the Blu-ray, we get our first glimpse of the pet
moray eel Weaver keeps in an aquarium in her office. The eel is
revealed in a later episode to be a part of her liquid metal
self, kept separate as a "key" for operating her time
displacement equipment.
At 17:00 on the Blu-ray, the close-up of Weaver's head
reveals that she has pierced ears, even though we will later
learn she is a T-1001 liquid metal Terminator.
As Sarah and John hide out in the kitchen of the church,
several cans of
Teasdale
brand foods are seen on the table and shelves.
The male FBI agent who questions Ellison is revealed to be
named Sac Federici in the end credits.
At 24:12 on the Blu-ray, we see that the church is located
at 1301 7th Street. A search on Google Maps reveals that
this is the actual address of the building that was used as
the church in this episode.
A billboard advertisement for Dr. Pepper is seen at 24:12 on
the Blu-ray.
The car that spins out in front of Sarah and John as they
race across the street fleeing from Cameron in the church is
a Toyota Camry with CA license plate 2SBI583.
The car that Sarah and John steal to make their getaway (and
later crash) is a 1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ with CA license
plate 3Q49953. It is seen to have star style hubs for the
tires during the getaway sequence, but after it crashes and
land upside-down in the concrete waterway, it has standard
hubs.
At 24:36 on the Blu-ray, Sarah and John drive past a Spilo
Worldwide warehouse.
Spilo Worldwide
is a maker of beauty products.
At 24:52 on the Blu-ray, a
Michelin
Tires sign is seen.
One of the boxes Sarah drives through at 25:06 on the
Blu-ray has "lavadora" printed on it. Lavadora is
Spanish for 'washing machine".
At 25:16 on the Blu-ray, we can see that it is not really
actors Thomas Dekker and Lena Headey in the Jeep! Stunt
performers were inside because they were about to roll
the vehicle.

At 26:47 on the Blu-ray, a Golden West Service boxcar is
seen.
Golden West Service boxcars were widely used by the Southern
Pacific Railroad (now part of Union Pacific Railroad). Like
the one seen here, any Golden West Service boxcars you see
today tend to be heavily weathered and covered with
graffiti, as they were refurbished boxcars in the first
place and have been in service for decades, with no new
boxcars under that name made since the early 1990s or,
possibly, earlier.
After the car crash, John is forced to flee without his
mother. Cameron comes upon Sarah trying to extricate herself
from the wrecked Jeep and applies painful pressure to her
wound, telling her to "Call to him." This is similar to the
T-1000's actions near the end of
Judgment Day. But why
didn't Cameron just mimic Sarah's voice? Is the glitch in
her programming that made her turn bad also causing a glitch
in her voice mimicking function? Seems like a stretch.
In the old warehouse at 28:03 on the Blu-ray, John sees a
1990 GMC Topkick truck (which he later hot-wires) and a
Chevrolet P-1500 UCBC.
The truck Sarah drives into the warehouse at 30:12 on the
Blu-ray is a 1970 International Harvester Loadstar with CA
license plate 4PCI310 (see earlier remark above).
Conflictingly, the gas and brake pedals Sarah's feet are
shown to hit have the Freightliner logo on them instead!
John pulls a Glock 17 pistol on Derek to save Cameron.
Weaver's new project at Zeira is called Babylon, another
Bible reference. "Zeira" may be a reference to Rabbi
Rav Zeira, an historical figure in ancient Jewish history
who was a student of the Talmud and who was born in
Babylonia.
As Sarah makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 40:58
on the Blu-ray, notice that the label of the jelly jar is
partially torn so as to have removed the brand name!
However, another Teasdale brand food can is seen fairly
clearly in the background of this shot.
It's clear she and
the others are back in the church from the Christian
decorations seen on the walls and shelves.
At the end of the episode, Sarah wishes John happy birthday.
This episode continues on from
the same day as "What He Beheld",
where we learned that "today" is John's 16th
birthday.
John cuts his hair much shorter at the end of the episode,
just as Samson (against his wishes) has his hair cut in the
Bible story.
The urinal Justin Tuck uses at the end of the episode is
seen to be an
American Standard brand. Then, the urinal transforms
into the liquid metal form of
Catherine Weaver!
Notes from the episode commentary by Josh Friedman, Lena
Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Shirley Manson
Josh Friedman states that the introductory scenes of Sarah
and John taken hostage by Sarkissian and the rogue Cameron's
intervention in the house are a mini-version of what would
have been seen in episode 10 of season one if it had not
been prevented by the early end of the season due to the
writers' strike.
Josh Friedman states that when John reactivates Cameron and
she says she is not going to kill him, the "TERMINATION
OVERRIDE" message that appears in her POV screen is possibly
meant to suggest not that she has reverted back to her
"good" programming, but that she may have made an actual
decision not to kill him.
Unanswered Questions
What did John do to fix Cameron's chip? We see him cleaning
it after it is removed, but not working on it in any other
way. How would cleaning be of any help considering it did not
appear to be fouled with any kind of substance?
How did
Catherine Weaver know which urinal Justin Tuck would use in
order to disguise herself as the correct one?? At least
three urinals are seen in the men's room in this scene!
Memorable Dialog
can you walk?.mp3
it plays a mean game of chess.mp3
this is not the right thing.mp3
I love you, John, and you love me.mp3
faith isn't part of my programming.mp3
I'm sorry I piss you off.mp3
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