TSCC 2.04 "Alison from Palmdale"

[hazelk]

1. In the founding myth for this franchise John Connor created himself by sending Kyle Reese back in time to be his own father. In its second installment Skynet created itself from the wreckage of the original machine that it sent back in time to kill John’s mother. In this episode I think Cameron may have created herself by giving the mother of her human template a name. And maybe one day she’ll tell John that name and at some point in the future he’ll meet a 16 year old girl and he’ll know both her name and what she needs to become to save him. John Connor saves the world but he’s not nice.

2. On a more mundane level the blonde girl of the week also become her own creation not by time travel but by a lie. Such a human thing a lie. In Ellison’s version of the Turing test, Weaver convinces him because he believes she told a lie for her daughter’s sake. The newly built machine-Cameron cannot bear to be lied to, it’s a killing offense. Later day Cameron is still offended but as a sign of her humanity no longer finds it a mortal sin, the blonde girl lives.

3. In an episode about identity Cameron’s was fractured to its very core while Sarah rediscovered a part of hers. From the character’s point of view it was a good episode for Sarah, bringing back memories of how she wasn’t just a killer or the mother of a killer. She told a lie that you’d infer has long been a comfort but seeing the effect on Casey took it back only to replace it with what may literally be another. It seems unlikely they can stay in that house indefinitely but if the world blows up maybe that isn’t the point.

4. Cameron stripped of her machine memories cried like a girl. Mimicry perhaps, I think all her tears followed Alison’s in the future, things she’s seen with her own eyes so whether she’s developing her own de novo emotional responses is less clear. In any case I don’t think simple emotions are what make us human in this story – according to Andy, the machines had rage from the beginning and we’ve seen it both in Weaver and in the machine-Cameron when she was lied to.

5. Cameron doesn’t swim but Alison tried to – nice call back to last week. Speaking of which…

6. Tiger!

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Meant to add: She does tell him her name in this episode. Whether he can put two and two together just yet remains to be seen, but she does tell him her name is Allison. From Palmdale.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remembered it too late but it was a clever scene giving Cameron/Alison a perfectly good reason to say the words and mean something by them when we were thinking about her more than John's reaction.

CAMERON: That was my last get-out-of-jail-free.
JOHN: Damn. Right.

Who's the programmed machine, and who's the irrational human?

Or who's the Daddy? Someone somewhere pointed out that this season John's been protecting Cameron not the other way round, their roles are reversing. More instances, as well, of being human making her vulnerable (and it starting with an apple). I liked the part where she and Jodi were being pushed about by laptop guy and you were expecting Cameron to crush him but Alison just folded and gave him the money.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Or who's the Daddy?

Well, there are three John Connors. ;-) The father (the guy who sent Kyle Reese back in time), the son (the kid who's actually there), and the holy ghost (the hero his mother is trying to turn him into, despite not knowing much about who that man will be...)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Excellent point!