Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Heavy Metal

Plot: While hunting for Cromartie, the Connors and Cameron get on the trail of a Terminator that is stockpiling Coltan, a metal used for the assembly of machines after Judgement Day.


This is certainly a step down in pace from the last couple of episodes and I really think we're starting to get in to the nitty gritty of what this show is going to be about. It's becoming clear that there are many, many elements that are all working, often independently of each other, towards making Skynet a reality. In this case, a Terminator model has begun stockpiling Coltan, keeping it safe in a fallout bunker, ready for Judgement Day.

John had been seperated from Sarah and Cameron after finding the Coltan, getting locked in a truck with the shipment, which leads them to the fallout bunker. Sarah is a little beside herself, but Cameron is able to bring her to her senses. John has a little more to worry about, especially during one particularly tense scene where he must sneak past the machine that has gone in to stand by mode. Cameron explains that it'll take him fifteen seconds to boot up, but the fact that you won't know he's done this until he's back to full capacity really makes for an intense scene. They make it away eventually, leaving the Terminator stuck in the fallout shelter, ditching the Coltan in the ocean.

Of the Coltan, Cameron remarks that it's being stockpiled in the place where the factory that she was made will eventually reside. She says that Coltan is in short supply in the future, following all of the bombs going off on Judgement Day. It was interesting to see that the machines aren't just working to make Judgement Day happen, but by planning for future eventualities, they're trying to make a more secure future for themselves. It's all quite fascinating.

Meanwhile, Cromartie gets a plastic surgeon to make him a new face before killing him off. The face he takes is of an actor, played by Garret Dillahunt. Dillahunt is best known by me as playing Matthew Ross in The 4400. More recently, he appeared in the Coen Brothers' sublime No Country For Old Men. His performance in that showed me that he has a great range of characters in him and it's great to see him playing both the washed up actor, and the murderous machine in this. I think he's in a similar vein to Robert Patrick and expect that he'll be a regular for the time being, as Cromartie gets back to chasing the Connors.

The murder of the plastic surgeon gets Ellison involved. He's finding it difficult to put all the pieces of the case together, but definitely feels a connection to the case that, he thinks, resulted in the Connors and Cameron Phillips blowing themselves up in a bank vault. I like the character, but he's not doing anything particularly thrilling for the moment, just following up in the Connors' wake. I'm sure he'll come in to his own throughout this season.

I did really enjoy seeing John go it alone in this one, even if it was against his own will. He's headstrong and eager to remind his mother that they're fighting a war. I do feel that he might regret being too cavalier at some point. He won't necessarily get himself killed, but he could hurt someone else.

This was a fun and tense episode, but it was just lacking a little bit of tightness. A couple of scenes involving Ellison just didn't quite come together and made the pace drop a little.

7 out of 10