http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sarahconnorchronicles-cameron1.jpg
[[caption-width:233:Holy crap, it's ''[[{{Firefly}} the Taminator]]''.]]

->''"In the future, my son will lead mankind in a war against [=SkyNet=], the computer system programmed to destroy the world. It has sent machines back through time, some to kill him, one to protect him. Today we fight to stop [=SkyNet=] from ever being created, to change our future, to change his fate. The war to save mankind begins now."''

After the [[{{Terminator}} first two films]] (but [[strike:ignoring]] acknowledging some plot elements of while [[CanonDisContinuity still discarding the story of the third]]), Sarah and John are still on the run from both the FBI, a new Terminator, and their own sorry social lives. That is, until [[SummerGlau Cameron]] shows up to [[TimeTravel bring]] them from 1999 to 2007 in order to stop [=SkyNet=] from being built.

The first season dealt with Sarah, John, and friendly machine Cameron on the run from the killer cyborgs. They are soon joined by Derek Reese, John's uncle, who introduces himself by murdering a man who may have helped contribute to the design of his future's [=SkyNet=]. This marks the start of the show's headlong dive into [[GreyAndGrayMorality murky morality]]. The foursome set up shop in Los Angeles, where they try to stop the future war and hide from FBI Agent Ellison.

The show then takes a quick swerve with Ellison's growing awareness of the machines and the introduction of a love interest for John. The BigBad Terminator Cromartie, who has been hunting the Connors since the first episode, is re-appropriated for another, possibly sinister use. The second season started with a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Terminator of the Week]] style, but soon grew more philosophical, eventually turning DarkerAndEdgier. After completing its second season, it was subsequently canceled. Whether the final season's evolution was to the [[GrowingTheBeard show's benefit]] or [[SeasonalRot otherwise]] is [[YourMileageMayVary an ongoing matter of debate.]]

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[[folder: This show provides examples of: ]]


* AbortedArc (Did they ever pay off the blonde girl/spooky graffiti thread they set up in act one?)
** Sort of. It might still technically count as an aborted arc, since it hasn't really played a big role since it happened, but it ''has'' been brought up.
** And we'll all forever rue the fact that they never followed up with Cameron and Morris going to the prom.
*** I so looked forward to seeing Cameron in a dress too...
****According to Josh Friedman on the commentary DVD track for the season 2 finale, there were many proposals in the writer's room to bring back Morris. They could never fit him in, and so he didn't wind up appearing in Season 2 at all.
* ActionGirl (Both Sarah and Cameron)
** Also Jesse.
** Even Riley. Just for a moment.
** In fact, the tagline of the series should be ''Girls Gone Wild''.
* ActionMom (Sarah Connor herself)
** Cathrine Weaver [[spoiler: claims the title in the finale.]]
* AdultFear. This troper shivered all the way down when[[spoiler: John Henry, in the recycled body of Cromartie, led little girl Savannah to his basement. "Would you like to play hide and seek?" Oh no, not the innocence.]]
* AlasPoorScrappy ([[spoiler: Riley's senseless death at the hand of Jesse seemed pretty redeeming to this troper.]])
* AlternateTimeline: Diverges from the main timeline by disregarding the third movie. Also features divergent timelines caused by TimeTravel.
* AnyoneCanDie ([[spoiler:Riley's death]] came out of nowhere for many viewers)
** It was actually given away to attentive fans by Friedman's blog, where he mentioned [[spoiler: "one of Summer Glau's female co-stars won't be around after March 6"]], and the episode summaries for those afterward mentioned [[spoiler: Sarah and Jesse still being alive]], which narrowed it down a ''lot.''
** Another recent episode [[spoiler: killed off Charlie after looking as though he would be joining the heroes for good as John's father-figure.]] Apparently if you're not one of the three leads, you're not safe in this show.
*** Not even they're safe. [[spoiler: Cameron is effectively put on a bus, with Cameron-played-by-Summer being effectively dead.]]
** And now they've killed off [[spoiler: Derek Reese with zero warning]].
*** In a move which made many viewers look at their TV screens and go, "What? ''What?!?''"
*** [[spoiler: He's back. Time travel.]] It's one big messed up cornucopia of whackiness.
*** It's not the same one though, due to alternate timelines. The one we knew is dead.
* ArcWords (''Will you join us?'', three dots)
* BackStory
* {{Badass}} (Sarah, Cameron, Cromartie, ''and'' Derek)
** TookALevelInBadass (John, starting in season 2)
*** And it looks like [[TheMedic Charley Dixon]] may have taken a level in badass, too.
** BadassAdorable (Cameron)
** BadassFamily
** LittleMissBadass (Again, Cameron)
* BattleDiscretionShot (The fight between the FBI and Cromartie at the end of Season 1)
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished (Both justified and averted; Cameron routinely gets banged up, but her skin goes back to normal due to her epidermal layer's HealingFactor. Lampshaded occasionally.)
--> John: You're healing quickly.
--> Cameron: Faster than you.
** Allison Young, however, has some nasty, untreated cuts and scapes on her face.
* BecomingTheMask (Cameron briefly adopts Allison Young's personality in "Allison from Palmdale")
* BerserkButton (Don't threaten John around Derek or Sarah. And while we're at it, ''never'' lie to Cameron.)
* BigBad (Cromartie assumed this role for season one and much of season two, though Skynet is obviously an ever-present threat. [[spoiler:Subverted with Catherine Weaver, who seems to be set up as an evil, ruthless force sent back to create Skynet - but she's actually creating an equivalent AI to stop it.]]
* BloodstainedGlassWindows (A couple of episodes in second season, complete with booby-trapped baptismal fonts, crossfire ambushes in front of the altar, and [[CrucifiedHeroShot crucified villain shots]].
* BootCampEpisode ("Goodbye To All That" has John enroll in military school and Derek sign up as a teacher.)
* BreakTheCutie (Monkeywrenched. Allison Young comes pre-broken, and Cameron's brief time as Allison shows her breaking down too. Riley also breaks over the course of the second season, though that's because [[spoiler: she's a resistance fighter from the future, and the stress of everything going on around her rapidly wrecks her already fragile psyche.]])
* BroadStrokes (The dates of the BackStory involving the events of the first two movies are changed a little. The year is never stated in T1, but T2 establishes that T1 took place in 1984, John was born in February 1985, T2 itself takes place when John is about 10, and Judgment Day would occur in August 1997. TSSC changes it so that T1 took place in early 1983, with John being born in November of that year, T2 taking place in 1997 when John is 13, and Judgment Day having been expected to occur some time after T2 but before September 1999.)
* [[{{Cancellation}} Cancelled]] by the Network (yep, it's officially done).
* CanonDisContinuity (It only keeps Sarah's cancer as a plot element, along with the possibility of [[spoiler: John Connor's death in the future.]])
* TheCastShowoff (Summer Glau is a trained ballerina.)
* CatchPhrase (several characters)
**Cameron: "Thank you for explaining."
**Cromartie: "Thank you for your time."
* CharacterDevelopment (Sarah becomes noticeably more humanized in the second season, though at the same time becoming much, ''much'' more erratic and psychotic as the stress starts to weigh on her psyche)
** Similarly, John is slowly - very slowly - edging away from his whiny teenager phase and into a real leader, especially after [[spoiler: Riley is killed]].
** Cameron is also showing interesting character development, particularly with relation to matters of trust and suicide, especially after she goes berserk at the beginning of the second season.
* ChekhovsGun: In "Goodbye to All That," Weaver shows Ellison an eye that was recovered from the Terminator that had impersonated Greenway in "Automatic For The People." [[spoiler: This is the same eye that is used to repair the one Cromartie's endoskeleton loses in "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today" when it is used to give John Henry a body.]]
* ChekhovsGunman (The priest in "Samson and Delilah," the Latina from the first season, and Allison Young are all minor characters who [[spoiler: return in the season finale.]])
* CloudCuckooLander: Cameron's out-of-the-blue comments early in the series, and her even more out-of-the-blue commentary ''after'' [[spoiler: her chip was damaged.]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience Cameron's eyes, HUD and 'internal brain lights' are blue; while those of the Terminators of the Week are red.
**In the Season 2 finale Cameron's eye is red. According to [[WordofGod Josh Friedman's commentary track on the episode]] this is deliberate and reflects a change in her software, but he doesn't go into any more detail than that. It's possible that her eyes have been red since [[spoiler: her FaceHeelTurn, since she overcomes her compulsion to kill John rather than actually being repaired.]]
* CoolCar: No matter what Cromartie drives, it's ''always'' a nice ride.
* ContemplateOurNavels (Sarah's narrative diary monologues at the opening and closing of each episode, presumably her "chronicles". These are largely absent in the second season. Catherine Weaver, aka [[spoiler: the T-1001]], is also unusually fond of long monologues with biblical overtones.)
* ContinuityNod (Multiple references to events in the first two movies, even a few in-jokes referring to the third movie, even though that's now a CanonDisContinuity)
** Sarah's assault on the Dyson residence with an M4 in T2 is mirrored by Cromartie's with an M16.
** Sarah's death from cancer in the timeline averted by their jump forward is a ref to Sarah dying from Leukemia between T2 and T3.
** Cameron dressed as a motorcycle cop in one episode, complete with CoolShades, is a ref to the fake cop T-1000 in the second movie.
** The picture of Sarah that Kyle Reese carries around as a good luck charm in the future is a re-creation (with the new actress) of a very similar pic seen in the first movie.
** Also, from the second season premiere, Cameron's use of "Call to him", a reference to a scene in T2.
** In "Automatic for the People," Riley says that John's English teacher is "Mr. Henricksen," a reference to Lance Henricksen's role in the first film.
** When Cameron's [[spoiler:"switch is flipped" to Terminate instead of Protect]] in season 2 premiere, when she is chasing them she has a limp not unlike T-800 in first film.
** In "Goodbye To All That", the terminator of the week begins killing people with the name Martin Bedell, of which there are exactly 3 in the area, just like the 3 woman named Sarah Connor in the first film. As with the film, the intended target is the last one on the list.
*** And the terminator is using the ''same'' ".45 Long Slide with Laser Sighting" gun prop from the first film (the production also took some promotional pictures of it with Summer Glau before they returned it).
** The T-1001 uses the same finger-wagging motion to taunt Jesse that the T-1000 did to Sarah in T2.
** ''Born to Run'' has a Terminator buying from a gunshop, and a terminator attacking a police station, presumably as continuity nods to T1
*** Interestingly, the T-888 is sophisticated enough to actually pay for services, compared to the T-800, whose ability to interact with shopkeepers seemed limited to the "[[BallisticDiscount 12-gauge discount]]".
**** Also possible that the T-888 had money, but the T-800 didn't. Though series Terminators seem to be more concerned about not attracting attention, maybe because their missions are longer-term.
** In the finale of season two, Cameron says "Hasta luego." to the gangster girlfriend from season one.
* CopBoyfriend: Sarah's landlady had one. Ultimately subverted.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive (played with a twist, where the executive in question is [[spoiler: a liquid-metal type terminator T-1001]].)
** May not be as corrupt as we think, though, considering she's apparently [[spoiler: trying to teach John Henry morals, and there's ''another'' high-end machine intelligence operating out there with distinctly opposing goals to hers.]]
*** Completely subverted now. "Born To Run" [[spoiler: confirms that Weaver is building John Henry to fight Skynet and save humanity.]]
*** [[spoiler: That's debatable. Weaver shows little concern for humans or killing them as needed. The smallest that can be said is that she's not actively trying to kill SkyNet and SkyNet sees her as a threat to its dominance.]]
*** [[spoiler: Except that Cameron is not any less [[IDidWhatIHadToDo inconsiderate]] of humans as far as the mission demands. Weaver simply plays at a higher level and for bigger stakes]].
* CoolShades (In "The Demon Hand," Cameron finally dons a pair of motorcycle cop sunglasses. [[{{Narm}} Very large ones.]])
* CrazyPrepared (The Connors as a whole, including the shotgun in the umbrella stand and the recliner filled with kevlar)
* CreepyMonotone (Summer Glau plays both its use and its ''absence'' to chilling effect)
** And let's not forget Cromartie, especially when he [[spoiler: becomes part of the Turk/John Henry]]
* CuteBruiser (Guess who?)
* DangerousSixteenthBirthday. And ''how''.
* DarkerAndEdgier (Wins bonus points for making ''TheTerminator'' darker and edgier)
* DeadExMachina (When Kyle Reese appears to Sarah)
* DeathGlare ("Its not safe for you here.")
** Cameron's death glare is good for intimidating fellow students as well, though one nerdish boy on Pizza Day seemed rather turned on by the experience. "Hectic!"
* DeathIsDramatic (Totally, completely, and ''absolutely'' averted.)
* {{Determinator}}: (Well, ''yeah''.)
* DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep (A recurring theme in the series, particularly pertaining to Cameron and John Henry. The episode "Allison From Palmdale" is pretty much asks nothing ''but'' the question of whether a Terminator can have a soul.)
* {{Doppelganger}}: Cameron impersonating Allison, [[spoiler: the unnamed Terminator impersonating Ellison.]]
* DrivenToSuicide ([[spoiler: Riley]] Except, maybe not. It may have been a BatmanGambit. Also, Cameron suggests this is the cause of John's gun 'accident'. Derek also contemplates suicide.)
* DroppedABridgeOnHim ([[spoiler: Derek's death in the penultimate episode.]])
* DysfunctionJunction (Find someone on the main cast who ''isn't'' screwed up.)
** Catherine Weaver. ''Maybe.''
** James Ellison seems to have held up pretty well, considering all he's been through.
* EmotionlessGirl (Cameron, again. Sometimes juxtaposed with brief flashes of her "regular girl" performance, switched on and off to creepy effect.)
** Also slightly subverted by her occasional instances of inexplicable behaviour like writing a letter to the dead or practicing ballet in private.
** Then it's subverted, inverted, and played with in the episode "Allison from Palmdale."
* EnemyCivilWar (An apparent rebel faction of machines opposing Skynet in the future that wants peace with humanity.)
** In "Allison from Palmdale," it's pretty clear that Cameron's flashback reference to an EnemyCivilWar is a lie to try to get Allison to cooperate, and that at that time it still works directly for [=SkyNet=].
** [[spoiler:The T-1001 impersonating Catherine Weaver eventually makes a similar claim. What it's really doing and who it's really working with or for is never clarified, since there will be no third season.]])
* EnsembleDarkhorse (Cameron's pretty much ended up being the series' iconic character, and is overshadowing even Sarah and John in popularity)
** SummerGlau just seems to have that effect on whatever show she's in. See the fan response to her in ''{{Firefly}}''...
***It's worth pointing out that the series is titled The ''Sarah Connor'' Chronicles. Yet look who's in the article image.
*** John Henry and Savannah have a substantial fanbase as well.
* EvilDetectingDog (All dogs hate Terminators; even the robot dog in "Queen's Gambit" barks at Cameron)
* EyeScream [[spoiler:AAAHH GOD the end of "Some Must Sleep, While Some Must Watch"]]
* FanNickname (The ''Taminator.'')
* FanService (the pilot does, indeed, have Cameron kicking ass while in the buff)
** There's plenty of fanservice in the series, mostly around Cameron, including a rather blatant piece of it in "Some Must Sleep, While Some Must Watch" where Cameron walks by John in a bright red bra and pair of panties. [[spoiler: This turns out to just be a dream by Sarah, made up of her worries and perceptions.]]
** And a ([[FetishFuel mostly]]) non-sexual form of fanservice: Cameron with the glowing Terminator eye and dozens of bullet wounds, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with the Terminator theme music blasting in the background.]] We've been waiting two seasons for that, and it ''did not'' disappoint.
** The metaphorical sex scene in the series finale, where John checks whether Cameron's power source is leaking radiation... penetrating her yummy-belly with his hand... after cutting out with a knife... He seems nearly blowing it up. An obvious fan service to Jameron geeks, but an absolute FanDisservice to others.
* FantasticRacism (From the resistance fighters toward machines, and a mild form from Weaver toward humans, whom she feels "will disappoint you.")
* FantasticSlurs (The use of the word "metal" has now become frequent enough to qualify)
* [[{{FetishFuel/Terminator}} Fetish Fuel]] Large steaming bucketloads of it...mostly centered around Sarah and especially Cameron.
** Indeed. The page may be ''called'' "Fetish Fuel: Terminator", but it's indexed under "The Sarah Connor Chronicles"--because not one of the examples in the article came from one of the movies.
* FetishFuelStationAttendant (Cameron. Holy God, Cameron.)
* FishOutOfTemporalWater (The pilot episode sees the heroes jump from 1999 to 2007. Sometimes it's played for laughs (the group getting cell phones) and sometimes...not so much (Sarah having 9/11 explained to her))
* FlashBack (monkeywrenched - Derek has a FlashBack, but since he comes from the future--or one possible future--it's confusing what to call it)
* FoeYay ("Your hair... it's so pretty...")
** Not to mention the interaction between Cameron and Derek. Look at how they act in "The Demon Hand" or "To The Lighthouse"....
*{{Foreshadowing}} ("Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today" is filled up the gills in little clues as to [[spoiler: Riley's origin from the future.]])
* FridayNightDeathSlot
* GodivaHair (See pic)
* GlowingEyesOfDoom (No need to mention any.)
* GunsAkimbo (Cromartie on a couple of occasions, once with M-16s. Cameron does it on occasion too. Justified by both of them being cyborg killing machines with computerized targeting and superhuman strength.)
* HealingFactor (The living tissue covering on the new Terminators gradually grows back after sustaining damage. Cromartie/John Henry even regenerates from having half his face blown off. Compare this to the first Terminator movie, where sustaining damage seemed to make the T-800's skin die, start to decompose, and attract flies, essentially turning the Terminator into a walking [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Robot Zombie]].)
* HeyItsThatGuy One of ther T-888s appears as a cult leader in ''{{Dollhouse}}''.
** The racist douche Dietze from "Today Is The Day" is a wounded defected Ravenswood soldier in ''{{Jericho}}''.
** GarretDillahunt AKA Cromartie/John Henry shows up as a possibly crazy wife killer in LieToMe
* HonorBeforeReason (John runs rampant with this)
* HotSubOnSubAction (The USS ''Jimmy Carter'' vs. the [=SkyNet=] Kraken)
* HeroicBSOD (Cameron goes through several of these in "Allison from Palmdale")
* HeroicSociopath ([[spoiler: Catherine Weaver]] is one of the ''good guys.'')
* ICannotSelfTerminate (Cameron [[spoiler: gives John a kill-switch for a bomb in her head at the end of "Ourselves Alone."]])
* [[ImNotHungry I'm Not Hungry]] (Allison Young refuses to eat while being held prisoner by Skynet)
* ImplacableMan (Cromartie is a T-888, slightly more advanced than Arnold's T-800, and [[DisContinuity thankfully unrelated]] to Arnie's MadeOfExplodium T-850 from ''Terminator 3.'')
** Cameron also shows just how unstoppable she is in the second season premiere.
* ImportantHaircut (John cuts off his mop in the second season to show how he's growing up into the leader he needs to be ... and, for that matter, that the actor has established himself in the role and doesn't need hair and makeup tricks to establish continuity with the performance in ''Terminator 2'' any more.)
* InspectorJavert (monkeywrenched - FBI Agent Ellison [[spoiler: chases Sarah and John but gradually starts to believe them.]])
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique (played with a twist in "Complications," where Derek tortures Charles Fischer's ''younger'' self to get the older version to talk.)
* JustAMachine
* {{KillerRobot}}s
* KillItWithFire (with a twist...they don't actually kill Terminators with fire, yet, but when they do manage to take one out with other methods, they have to burn and melt the endoskeleton with thermite to prevent bits of future-tech falling into the wrong hands and being used to [[LostTechnology reverse-engineer]] Skynet)
* KissOfDeath (a liquid-metal terminator disguised as a beautiful woman seduces a man...then sends a [[NightmareFuelUnleaded liquid-metal tongue/tentacle down his throat to strangle his heart through his esophagus to kill him in a way that mimics a heart attack]].
** Almost a decade earlier, in the music video for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbLR67_F9E The World is not Enough]] by Garbage, a robotic Shirley Manson (who would go on to play Catharine Weaver) is being built that kills a test subject by burning him to death by kissing him. "She" then kills the original the same way, and then explodes during a packed concert.
* KnifeNut (Cameron with a hunting knife anyone?)
* KryptoniteRing (Cameron giving John the detonator)
* KungShui (When two terminators fight, punches and kicks don't do much, since they are almost literally MadeOfIron. So they tend to try and pick each other up and throw each other through walls...out windows...even through floors and ceilings. Much property damage ensues.)
* LadyOfWar (Cameron, Sarah)
* LaughingMad (Dr. Peter Silberman in "Demon Hand")
* LesYay (mostly between Jesse and Riley, made slightly disturbing by the large age difference and Jesse's manipulation of Riley)
** The age difference might be a product of their time and environment; there are some subtle indications of a similar relationship existing between future John Connor and Allison Young, who are similarly separated in terms of age difference as well. Of course, that could easily be [[WildMassGuessing wild speculation]].
** There's not a small amount of this apparent between Allison and Cameron, which is just plain ''disturbing,'' considering [[spoiler: Cameron casually kills her a couple scenes later.]]
* LookBothWays (Terminators show utterly no ability to do this. [[WMG/TheSarahConnorChronicles Perhaps they figure cars are machines, and thus should be on their side against the humans]]?)
** The first episode of second season, Catharine Weaver lampshades this a bit with a scary monologue about humans "crossing against the light" and getting run over, and that she's looking for a computer that can "cross against the light". Guess she eventually found one.
* MamaBear (Sarah again.)
** PapaWolf (Derek Reese, toward John)
*MagicPlasticSurgery Cromartie's change from Owain Yeoman to Garret Dillahunt. Actually semi-justified in dialogue: he's a robot who can't feel pain or suffer any complications on the table, making a more complete job possible. It's later revealed that Sky Net can literally whip up a Terminator of ANYONE that they have an image of.
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] (Jesse, who [[spoiler: deliberately introduced Riley to John so that Cameron would feel threatened by Riley and thus be forced to kill her.]]
* MeaningfulFuneral: Charley Dixon's wife's funeral was heaping with symbolism. [[spoiler:Derek Reese's funeral, on the other hand was just his "John Doe" ashes being buried in an unmarked pauper's grave, with no one in attendance.]]
** Worth noting, however, [[spoiler:Derek's ashes were buried in the same graveyard as his brother's, which they visited earlier in the episode ({{Foreshadowing}} much?).]]
* MeaningfulName (John Henry, a reference to the legendary railroad worker, and Cameron, whose name is a direct ShoutOut to James Cameron, and even minor character Billy Wisher, named after one of the screenwriters of the original movie.)
* TheMedic (Charley Dixon)
* {{Moe}} (Cameron is probably the most MoeMoe walking death machine since Lucy from ''ElfenLied''.)
* MoralityPet (Savannah, to John Henry.)
* MurderIsTheBestSolution (Cameron advocates this theory, which is only natural, as she ''is'' a Terminator.)
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast ([[spoiler: Queeg]])
* NeckLift
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel (Cameron's stoic emotionlessness while doing horrible things just goes to show how terrifying Terminators really ''are''.)
** Not to mention when she suddenly switches on her emotions, like that scene in [[spoiler:the Season 2 premiere. "John! Please, please don't! I love you! Please-"]]
** And a certain liquid-metal terminator with a penchant for killing men with their pants unzipped.
** And the terrifying birth scene of a certain newly-repaired terminator emerging, skinless but not fleshless, from a literal bloodbath, and opening his eyelids to reveal his glowing cybernetic eyes.
** "Hello, Mister Ellison. My name is John Henry."
** "Your hair...its so ''pretty''...." I never thought it was possible to make LesYay ''terrifying''.
** "What...is...all this...about?"
* TheNthDoctor (Cromartie's changes across the first season)
** Not to mention Cromartie's changes in personality. He goes from Cromartie to [[spoiler: John Henry]] and now possibly [[spoiler: Cameron]].
* OffscreenTeleportation (Catherine Weaver seems to do this a lot).
** With some StealthHiBye thrown in for good measure.
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter (notably ''averted''; several episodes focus on [=SkyNet=] securing the limited supplies it will need to wage its conventional war on humanity after the nuclear war)
* OminousWalk: Cameron, especially in "Samson and Delilah." ''Step....step....step....step....''
* {{Omniglot}} (Cameron: English, Armenian, Russian, Spanish, and Japanese as of the end of the second season.)
* ParanoiaFuel (Aside from the obvious, one recent episode ended with the possibility that [[spoiler:there might be a Terminator ''in your walls''. Right now. He's been there for decades. He's armed. And he wants to kill you. The fact that the Terminator in the episode was hiding in the walls of an old, abandoned hotel isn't actually better; think of how many buildings in your area are old and under renovation. Think of how many old government buildings there are, period, that you ''have'' to use.]] [[SarcasmMode Pleasant dreams!]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Both Charlie Dixon and Derek Reese act as father-figures to John.
* PayEvilUntoEvil (Most of the unarmed noncombatants murdered by Cameron or Derek -- for being witnesses, liabilities, building apocalyptic genocidal computer networks, etc. -- are assholes or petty criminals of one form or another.)
* PetTheDog ([[spoiler:John Henry]] playing with his toys and wondering why God didn't create humans with more ball-and-socket joints.)
** Cameron gets a similar moment when she explains that Terminators aren't inherently cruel, and demonstrates this by rolling a battered Ellison (whom she herself had beaten up) off of a bunch of broken glass.
* ThePowerOfTrust (John trusts Cameron absolutely, to the point that he tells [[spoiler: Jesse]] that even if he ''did'' believe [[spoiler: Riley's death was caused by Cameron]], it [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming would not have broken his trust for her.]])
* PsychoSidekick (Derek and Cameron as the ruthlessly pragmatic half of the team, with Sarah and John as the more highly moral one. [[spoiler: it's possible that Weaver might have ended up as one to John Connor and/or John Henry in the future if there had been a third series]])
* PunchAWall
-->'''Cameron:''' Breaking the computer won't help.
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway (subverted by Derek Reese, who [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim simply shoots.]])
* RaisedByWolves (Cameron)
* RealityEnsues ([[spoiler: Derek Reese]] encounters a hostile Terminator at close range with only a pistol. Guess what happens.)
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots (Cameron shows that she can eat food, something no other Terminator before could do, and also the ability to cry and show other honest emotions when in her "Allison" persona)
** Also, "Vick", the Terminator after Derek, [[spoiler:apparently had a wife, but this was only to make sure she made a piece of SkyNet]]. So, [[{{Squick}} it's implied that he can...]]
*** Dialogue from that episode states that "Vick" was never the same after his "car accident", and that his wife thought there was something "off" about him, so it seems likely that [[spoiler: T-888 "Vick" killed the real Vick (the woman's husband) and took his place, rather than wooing her from scratch, using PTSD as an excuse to cover up any behavioral or functional abnormalities.]]
* RoboCam ("Termovision")
** In "Allison from Palmdale," when Cameron adopts Allison's identity, the "Termovision" disappears, apparently reinforcing her belief that she is human. At the end of the episode, when Cameron reasserts herself, the HUD reappears.
* RobotGirl (a ''very'' scary one, too)
* RoleAssociation (It's difficult to accept Charlie Dixon as the nice guy he is when you're used to viewing him as the [[ManipulativeBastard sociopathic backstabber]] Ryan O'Reilly in ''{{Oz}}'') or the corrupt mob guy Pete Tyler in ''{{Life On Mars}}''.
** Hey, wait a minute, isn't Sarah Connor also [[ThreeHundred Leonidas' wife?]]
** And we can't forget the most obvious one of all: [[{{Firefly}} the Taminator.]]
*** This troper likes to think of the series as a River Tam spin-off.
**The [[spoiler: fake]] Sarkissian in "What He beheld" kept making this troper think he was [[CallOfDuty a corrupted Gaz.]]
* {{Room 101}}: The basement in "Dungeons & Dragons."
* SarcasticConfession (really, that ''is'' where she got the car.)
* ScannableMan (Derek Reese and his fellow future resistance fighters who spent time in Skynet work camps have barcode tattoos. We even get to see Derek's being applied in a FlashForward.)
** "Allison From Palmdale" shows Allison getting a bar code burned onto her skin as well.
* TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction (You just know the [[spoiler:plant manager]] is toast in "Goodbye to All That")
* TheScrappy (Riley. Possibly averted, now that [[spoiler: it is revealed that she is an agent from the future sent to seduce John, and is just as weirded out as the viewers. She honestly doesn't really know what she's doing. Plus, attempted suicide.]])
** [[spoiler: And then she gets killed by Jesse when she realizes that Jesse was trying to get her killed by Cameron in the first place.]]
** [[spoiler:For some fans, that makes Jesse the ReplacementScrappy.]]
* ScrewDestiny
* ShipTease (the series is ''constantly'' teasing at John/Cameron, and contains hints at [[UnequalPairing future!John and Allison Young.]])
** Both of these seem to be helped by the ending to "Born To Run." [[spoiler: John actually "penetrates" Cameron in bed]], and [[spoiler: John ends up in the future, with who looks to be Allison.]]
* ShootTheDog (Derek does this sometimes. Cameron, on the other hand, doesn't shoot the dogs. She ''nukes'' them.)
** And now that [[spoiler: The T-1001]] has been "revealed" to haven been one of the ''good guys'' all along, or so [[spoiler:it]] says, [[spoiler: its]] multiple murders seem to fall here too.
* ShoutOut (Detective Ellison is named after sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, whose stories inspired the first Terminator film. The episode "The Demon Hand" is even named after one of Ellison's ''[[TheOuterLimits Outer Limits]]'' episodes, "Demon With A Glass Hand.")
** Someone who watched way too much anime might argue that Cromartie is a shout out to ''SakigakeCromartieKoukou'' - a theory that gets more credence when one considers that James Cameron himself is a bit of an {{otaku}}.
** Also, that moment where Derek Reese shoots the hostage taker is very reminiscent of a scene from a ''{{Firefly}}'' episode... never, ever hold a gun to a hostage's head in the last-broadcast (but not last-filmed) episode of the tragically-short first season of a FOX sci-fi series starring Summer Glau.
** Also, in "Heavy Metal," the truck carrying the coltan alloy is owned by the [[{{Akira}} Tetsuo Shipping Corporation.]]
** In "Goodbye To All That," Derek chews out an overeager cadet named [[FullMetalJacket Pyle]].
** Cameron is a ShoutOut to James Cameron himself.
** Savannah telling her mother: "You can't sing." The mother is played by Garbage singer Shirley Manson.
** John refers to the ill effects of time travel as [[TemporalSickness time-lag]], the same term used in the book ''ToSayNothingOfTheDog'' by Connie Willis.
** ThisTroper couldn't help but think of the sci-fi classic ''ABoyAndHisDog'' upon seeing that last shot of [[spoiler: Allison Young]] in the future with a dog at the end of "Born to Run".
*** ThisTroper also thinks that ''AGirlAndHerDog'' would make a great spin-off series.
* SixthRanger (Derek Reese, who starts off a mysterious guy from the future)
* SmallGirlBigGun (Sarah and Cameron, on a regular basis)
* SoundtrackDissonance (both played straight and subverted; Cromartie slaughters an entire FBI HRT unit to the upbeat but [[LyricalDissonance lyrically disturbing]] Johnny Cash song ''"When the Man Comes Around"'')
** ''"When the Man Comes Around"'' actually fits lyrically. It's just the melody that contrasts. A straighter example would be the season two episode after [[spoiler: Derek's]] death, when a little girl singing a Scottish folk song is played over the burial of his ashes in an anonymous grave.
* SpotlightStealingTitle
* StableTimeLoop. Averted. The first ''Terminator'' film implied a StableTimeLoop, in this series that's clearly not how things work. Cameron comes from a future where Sarah Connor doesn't even live to see 2007, Derek and Jesse come from different futures, the date of Judgment Day changes all the time.
* [[TalkingToHimself Talking To Herself]] (Cameron having a series of ''very'' creepy interviews with Allison.)
* TearJerker (Any of the character deaths. The endings of "Demon Hand" and "Born To Run".)
**"I'm sorry John I'm sorry John I'm sorry John."
* TemporalSickness ([[ToSayNothingOfTheDog time-lag]])
* TerminatorTwosome (Cameron and Cromartie, sort of)
* TheOtherDarrin (Sarah, John, Dr. Silberman, Mrs. Dyson, played by different actors than their film equivalents)
** Also, Cromartie has been played by two different actors, but they [[JustifiedTrope justified]] this with the original Cromartie being burned to his exoskeleton and needing a new body and face. This was presumably intentional, not the result of actors being unavailable or aging out of their roles like the other examples.
***Garret Dillahunt was the actor that they wanted for the pilot, but there was a scheduling conflict. So if they'd gotten him in the first place we might not have gotten the neat Cromartie-regenerates-himself subplot, OR we might not have gotten Dillahunt in the series proper (which would have been a TRAGEDY).
* ThereAreNoTherapists (both played straight and averted)
** Hey, even [[AIIsACrapshoot AIs]] need therapists.
* ThouShaltNotKill (Only the Connors subscribe to this)
** At least until the start of the second season. [[AttemptedRape Then...]]
** And now Sarah's gone ahead and killed one of her attackers, so this law is being abandoned.
* TimeTravel
* TookALevelInBadass (John, during the season 2 premiere.)
** And he's taken another level in the episode "Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter" where it's revealed [[spoiler:John learned of Riley's true origin, and he tracked her back to Jesse. His speech to her is a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for him.]]
* TrickedOutTime (The terminator's behavior in "Self Made Man" is a text book example)
* TwoFirstNames (John Connor, John Henry)
* UncannyValley (Cameron, Cromartie, and just about all the other Terminators look very human, but they're... ''off''...)
* UnflinchingWalk (Weaver, after destroying the warehouse in the desert. Complete with an OutOfTheInferno moment.)
* TheVoiceless. TheNameless girl employed as a lookout by Carlos never speaks a word on screen. EmotionlessGirl Cameron appears to identify with this, because she lets her live in "What He Beheld".
* TheVondaShepardTreatment [[spoiler: John Henry and Savannah Weaver]] singing a slow ''a capella'' version of the Scottish-kitsch comedy song "Donald, Whaur's Yer Troosers" over a tragic montage at the end of the last-but-one episode.
* WaifFu (Cameron, albeit justified by the fact that she's a superstrong cyborg assassin)
* WhamEpisode ("To the Lighthouse." [[spoiler: There's another machine intelligence out there, trying to take out both John Henry ''and'' the Connors. All signs point to it being the ''actual'' Skynet. Not to mention, they killed Charley.]])
** Let's just say the last several episodes of Season Two. [[spoiler:The cast are dropping like flies, there's another machine intelligence out there, John Henry is learning to lie, Sarah is under arrest in very public fashion, and everything is going straight to hell.]]
*** Plus [[spoiler: they frakking killed Derek!! Out of ''nowhere''! Towards the beginning of the episode, even! What is it with [[{{House}} FOX and out-of-the-blue deaths lately?]]]]
*** And "Born to Run." [[spoiler: Cameron gives John Henry her chip. John himself ends up transported to the future (with the T-1001 along for the ride), where he meets future Derek and Kyle Reese, and Allison Young..]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic (Used with constant Christian references, with an oblique LampshadeHanging when the CorruptCorporateExecutive's underlings show chagrin at her constant ContemplateOurNavels Bible references)
* TheWoobie (Allison, and Cameron when she ''becomes'' Allison)
** Cameron ends up being a woobie ''all by herself'' later on.
** Riley, of all people, starts becoming one of these later on, once her history as [[spoiler:a resistance fighter from the future]] becomes apparent. And doubly so when [[spoiler: it's revealed Jesse is psychologically abusing her and deliberately trying to get her killed.]]
* XanatosGambit (Cromartie pulls off a nice one in "The Mousetrap." [[spoiler:It only fails because he [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim]]]]; not to mention the [[ThirtyXanatosPileup psuedo-complex]] nuclear power plant plot of ''Automatic for the People''.)
** Also, in "Complications," Charles Fischer arranges for [[spoiler: his younger self to be sent to prison so he can survive Judgment Day and assist Skynet]].
** Also [[spoiler:Jesse]]'s plan to [[spoiler:turn John against Cameron by inducing her to kill Riley]]. It only fails because Cameron [[spoiler:has an unexpected moment of indecision]].
** It seems that nearly every time traveler has their own secret agenda that may or may not be for the Human Resistance, the Machines, [[spoiler:the Other Machines]], or themselves. Series has been canceled in the middle of a ThirtyXanatosPileUp.
* YourMileageMayVary
** JumpingTheShark (During the second season, the show readjusted its style, lessening its emphasis on the action and fighting, in addition to what some fans felt was a pointlessly slow and uninteresting plot buildup)
** TooGoodToLast (The rest think the show got ''better'' during its second season, and the cancellation was unfair on the part of the network.)
*** GrowingTheBeard (The show's second season saw it coming fully into itself, embracing a DarkerAndEdgier mentality, becoming more deep and meaningful than its source material, and developing its characters into real, three-dimensional people.)
* YouShallNotPass ([[spoiler: Charley Dixon]])
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