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Recap and Review: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Episode 2: "Gnothi Seauton"
Monday Nights on Fox

Review by Jessica Korcok

The Sarah Connor Chronicles reviews index:

  • Episode 1
  • Episode 2

    Cast:
    Sarah Connor: Lena Headey
    John Connor: Thomas Dekker
    Cameron Phillips: Summer Glau
    James Ellison: Richard T. Jones
    Cromartie: Owain Yeoman
    Charley Dixon: Dean Winters
    Short Review:

    A quick moving episode that shows Sarah, Cameron and John settling into life in 2007. Sarah broods on the nature and value of one's identity. Some intended comic relief ala Cameron helps to lighten this episode?s dark mood. Ellison, Charley and Cromartie also appear.

    Recap and Summary (Spoilers!):

    In the introduction, construction workers clean up the site of the time jump. Cromartie's head, which was blown off by Sarah, managed to time jump with the trio. A construction worker picks up the head and takes it home. Meanwhile, in voiceover, Sarah reminisces about the value of one's identity.

    Sarah hass used 9 aliases, held 23 jobs, learned 4 languages and spent 3 years in a mental hospital for speaking the truth.

    This show picks up three days after the events of the pilot. Sarah and John are both experiencing "Time lag," jet lag for time travel. Sarah recognizes the need to acquire new forms of identification. She plans to meet an old acquaintance, Enrique, but Cameron has another idea. Cameron shares that there are resistance fighters from the future in the city.

    Cameron and Sarah travel to meet the resistance fighters but find them all dead. One of the dead men have a tattoo that matches one Sarah saw on Kyle Reese, John's dead father. Cameron explains that it is from a Skynet prisoner camp. Cameron discovers that one of the bodies is alive and a terminator. Their scuffle takes them flying through the window. The new Terminator tries to evade Cameron while Sarah pursues them both on a stolen motorcycle. Sarah throws a motorcycle at the Terminator (not really, but almost), but he still manages to get away.

    Sarah realizes that they aren't safe and gets angry at Cameron for bringing them from the future. She could have had seven years to train John. Cameron reveals the truth, that Sarah would have died from cancer on December 4th, 2005. Their jump in time enabled them to skip over Sarah's death.

    The Terminator encountered was not after John. Rather, Skynet has sent an unknown number of Terminators into the past on particular missions. John is anxious for a new identity so he can go back to school and end his mother's house arrest. Sarah and Cameron leave to meet with Enrique, with Sarah calling Cameron "Tin Man." Sarah tells John to stay home, which of course means that he very soon goes out on his own.

    Enrique explains that he is retired but sends Sarah to his nephew Carlos, who has taken over the family business.

    John goes to the mall to acquaint himself with 2007. At a tech store, he surfs the web, where he reads articles explaining their apparent death at the demolished bank. He sees pictures of Agent Ellison and Charley Dixon.

    Meanwhile, at an unidentified house, the Terminator's head's eyes glow red. At a junkyard, a skinless Terminator arm emerges from the debris.

    Sarah and Cameron visit Carlos. The dogs go wild so Sarah sends Cameron outside, where she silently bonds with a female gang member. Carlos wants $20,000 for I.D.s. Sarah is shocked to see how prices have changed and, while talking to Carlos, learns about 9/11.

    While Sarah is inside with the gang-bangers, Cameron is approached by a police officer. Sarah intervenes and cleverly extricates Cameron before the situation gets out of hand. Realizing that Cameron was about to kill the cop, Sarah wants to set rules. However, Cameron will only answer to the future John.

    John breaks into the home of Charley Dixon. Going through Charley's mail, he finds that Charley has married a woman named Michelle. Charley comes home and is shocked to see John, who hasn't aged in the last seven years. John breaks away after Charley tries to touch him.

    John returns home just before Sarah and Cameron. However, both figure out that he has snuck out, although neither admit it to him. Sarah wants to know what Cameron is capable of and learns that she cannot do CAT scans.

    Sarah, John and Cameron go back to the hideout of the fallen resistance fighters to search for money. John finds a safe hidden behind a cat poster and Cameron is knocked out by a trap. John figures out that the combination for the safe is the Judgment Day date. The terminator looking for the resistance figures returns and Sarah throws the still inert Cameron out the window to hasten their escape.

    Back at home, Sarah counts the money while John and Cameron discover diamonds. Cameron explains that she knows who the Tin Man is and that he needed a heart. Cameron tells her that Sarah reading him The Wizard of Oz is one of John?s favorite memories of his mother.

    Lots of scene jumping next:

    At the home of unfortunate construction worker, Cromartie arrives to retrieve his lost head.

    At Carlos' home, Sarah and Cameron collect the new I.D.'s. As they leave, Carlos says something in Spanish to a friend that makes them both pause.

    Michelle asks Charley why he is so tense. She notices his injured shoulder but Charley doesn't tell her about meeting John.

    Sarah arrives at Enrique's home and holds him at gunpoint. She explains that Carlos called his grandfather the Spanish slang word for "snitch" or "rat." Enrique claims that he was in prison and gave up his cellmate. Sarah appears convinced but Cameron shoots the man dead, claiming that he could have been lying. Sarah is visibly shocked and chastises Cameron.

    The next morning, Sarah and Cameron quiz John on his new identity, preparing him to go to school.

    At Enrique's home, police officers investigate the homicide. Agent Ellison is on the scene. An voicemail message playing on Ellison's cell demonstrates that Enrique did intend to betray Sarah to the authorities.

    Sarah goes to an oncology office to check on her health, haunted by the specter of cancer.

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