Plot
The business card retrieved from the Shipkovs is for a man named Sarkissian. He holds The Turk. Sarah arranges a meeting with him.
Cromartie (A.K.A. Agent Kester) continues his search for John at high schools after accessing records for recent enrollments. When he arrives at John and Cameron's school, Cameron identifies Cromartie and tricks him by substituting Morris for John. With no facial match, Cromartie moves on.
Derek discovers that Cameron kept and hid Vick the Terminator's main CPU chip. Despite Derek's increasing distrust for her, John follows her advice of trying to download information from the chip to find out what Vick had been up to (and hopefully disprove Derek's suspicions that she set Vick on his dead teammates). They install the chip into a desktop computer, giving it just enough power to play back recorded 'memories'. They discover that the Terminator had been impersonating Vick Chamberlain, living with "his" wife Barbara, a computer programmer who was working on a traffic control system for LA, which might become Skynet's eyes and ears. One recording looks to show Vick killing Barbara in the woods, but the team track down the body to find that it was one of her professional rivals, who was a threat to the project. The Connors decide to sabotage the system.
After Derek and Sarah break into the facility but fail their mission of sabotage, they try a different approach: They remove Cameron's chip from her head and plug it into a traffic light, from which Cameron scrambles the whole system. Her chip is reinserted into her body, but not before Derek once again states that a Terminator John trusts is bound to kill him. John says "not this one".
While reviewing more recordings John accidentally overpowers Vick's chip, which for a moment comes alive inside his computer, identifies him, and tries to escape via the internet. They hastily remove the chip before any damage can be done.
At the end of the episode, Sarah confronts and threatens Derek mid-shower, telling him that she knows he is Andy's true killer. Vick's memories show that Vick killed Barbara mid-shower.
Tropes
- Asian and Nerdy: The young Korean fellow who sells John a powerful computer fits the stereotype of slacker/gamer as noted elsewhere on TV Tropes. He also claims you can only get that kind of power in Korea.
- Big Brother Is Watching: The traffic system would not only automate every traffic light but it would also gather information on citizens. The prototype is city-wide, with a plan in place to go state-wide.
- Brain Uploading: John uploads Cameron's chip to the traffic control system so she can shut it down
- Clear Their Name: John begins searching Vick's memory partly to clear Derek's suspicion on Cameron.
- Cut the Juice: Cameron does this when Vick reactivates and tries to upload himself to the internet.
- Dramatic Wind: On Cameron.
- Honey Trap: Vick the T-888 who romances Barbara to keep an eye on her and the ARTIE project.
- I Lied: Cameron admits to John she lies to him about important things if the mission requires it.
- Interrupted Bath: Sarah surprises Derek while he's showering, suddenly pulling away the curtain to confront him about him being Andy's killer. He doesn't bother covering himself and Sarah also doesn't bother looking.
- Lethal Chef: Sarah who lets roast overcook in the oven by 18 minutes.
- Mythology Gag: A rare one to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines despite it not taking place in the same continuity. Derek warns John "One of those things will kill you". In Terminator 3, it was revealed that John Connor will be killed by a T-850, due to a moment's hesitation because it looked like the one that protected him in Terminator 2.
- Neck Lift: Cromartie does this to the school board representative after he denies him access to the files at John's school. A Neck Snap follows shortly after.
- No Social Skills: Cameron's attempts at "making conversation" with John just end up irritating him.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The school board representative who won't give Cromartie the names he wants.
- Psycho Sidekick: Sarah has to intervene to prevent Derek from killing the two cops who pursue them after they break into City Hall and this confirms her (correct) suspicions that he killed Andy Goode. This does not stop her from keeping him as an ally, however.
- Robosexual: The T-888s are capable of romancing humans as a form of infiltration. Vick is revealed to be married to a woman named Barbara. The scenes with them can be pretty damned creepy.
- Shower Scene:
- Cromartie walks into a boys' shower looking for John.
- Derek is taking a shower when Sarah bursts into the bathroom to confront him.
- Barbara was taking a shower and was inviting Vick in when he killed her.
- Transferable Memory: John hacks into Vick's Chip to view his memories.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The traffic system Barbara Chamberlain was building could potentially be used as a "nervous system" for Sky-Net.
