Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Sarah's haunted by more than those pesky dots.

Here's your final (for now) historical recap for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, just in time for the new episodes beginning tonight. If the last episode I 'capped was a little Terminator meets 24, this week we revisit The X-files. Sarah is STILL looking for the answer to her Dots of Destiny Delusion, only now she's on her own. Add an alien convention, a mysterious blogger, and a conspiracy to cover something up and she just might be in over her head. The truth is out there, can Sarah survive the search; or will the ghosts of her former selves lead her astray?

Previously: Meet John and Riley, both weirdos, both with secrets, and both irrevocably chained to their hidden pasts. The AI, John Henry, needs some morals, will Ellison be the one to teach him some? Sarah's seeing the all-powerful Dots of Destiny Delusion everywhere, but no one believes they mean anything. It makes her sad.

Sarah's on the road, driving in the desert and giving us one of her meandering philosophical voice-overs. Man, I was hoping we were done with those - she can be worse than Mohinder. At any rate, she speaks of Alcar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who became stranded and lost in the deserts of the New World. He adapted, embracing the native culture around him, eventually becoming a healer. "The desert had transformed him. He was not the first, he would not be the last."

As the voice-over finishes, we open on, of all things, a UFO convention where survivors of abductions are having a group session. A woman named Eileen is describing her frustration at not knowing what is real and what is fiction. The group leader, a psychologist by the name of Barbara Morris, is reassuring her. It's a common theme for this episode, the real and the unreal, dots and delusions, identity and confusion. Morris turns to a figure standing in the back, watching the group, and she asks, "What brings you here today?" Sarah, says she's looking for people who may have seen UFO's with a particular mark. She holds up a pamphlet that shows three dots that are more than familiar to anyone who's been watching the last few episodes. She goes on to say that she needs answers, she's having dreams about them and her son doesn't entirely believe her. "He's never doubted me before." Morris says, if there's one thing this group understands, its doubt. Sarah's skirting the line between fishing for information and preaching to the choir, and her hints at the truth are very subtle. Normally I wouldn't note it, but Lena Headey does a good job with the scene, especially in light of the fact that Sarah's so rarely subtle, so an early kudos to her.

From there we transition to a booth where your typical UFO enthusiast is talking about a "California drone" that's been spotted all over the desert. Sarah comes up to him and asks, "Alien? Not military?" The enthusiast is certain the military isn't capable of what the drone is supposedly doing. When she asks about the markings associated with the sightings (a.k.a. Dots of Destiny Delusion), he starts gushing about the "Abraham Blogs." Abraham was a scientist working with the military on a metal that was light years beyond what was thought possible. He first noted the sightings and then he disappeared, the blog entries stopping completely. Sarah tries to dig for more and the enthusiast shuts her down, essentially calling her a poser. Eileen, on the other hand, asks Sarah if she's interested in Abraham. If so, she might have some information. Sarah tries not to drool at the prospect.

Back at home, it looks like John's finally doing something about the kiddie-decor in his bedroom. He's stripping the wall paper off the walls when his phone rings. Answering, Sarah tells him she's going to be late, she found a lead on the blogger Abraham. Strangely enough, they forgo their usual button-mashing phone recognition routine, it must not be a necessary plot point this week. Needless to say, John is quite unconvinced, "We all know how reliable bloggers are." Sarah, bless her, takes offense on behalf of all of us and John asks her to be careful. He hangs up and in walks Riley, back from a smoothie run. They snark on the state of the room and John asks her what's wrong, "You're smiling with your mouth and not your eyes." Riley's evasive, she says she flipped out on her foster mom, just stress, no big deal, and she hedges the real truth like a pro - Jesse's been a good teacher, I guess. Cameron enters, and wonders why Riley didn't get her a smoothie. Hee. Riley says she didn't know Cameron was there. "I'm always here." Except when she isn't. For someone assigned to protect John, she sure does spend a lot of time on errands, doesn't she? John tries to send her out for more paint (see?), but Cameron's done the math, and she says he has enough. John disagrees, "Two coats, it's a bigger job than it looks." Cameron insists that she has a job, too, and so John asks her to do it in the next room. He tacks on a "please" and Cameron exits with Riley watching every step.

Flash-forward. Actually, I should call these post-Judgment Day scenes flashback-forwards, shouldn't I? However we call it, we see a recognizably-dirty and bedraggled Riley sifting through some garbage and future detritus with a small group of soldiers, including Jesse, looking on. Riley sees the soldiers and runs, trying to hide, but Jesse catches up. Looking at Riley's face, Jesse remarks, "Pretty girl. What's your name?" I shudder.