Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Alpine Fields (Episode 212)

What, no “previouslies” this week?  How are we supposed to know about the infamous three dots and how important they are?  Maybe this means the three dots have gone bye-bye.  Be still, my beating heart!  As we open, Derek’s walking through an abandoned warehouse, talking tersely to Sarah Connor on a cell phone.  Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Derek talk in a non-terse manner.  Suddenly he hears a cry of pain, and goes charging into a small room.  Inside, a teenage girl hovers worriedly over a v.v. pregnant woman, who’s bleeding from a gunshot wound.  But they’re in luck – Sarah sent Derek here to help.  The woman, Ann, is shot through the lung, and her breath is making really awful, rasping noises that sound rather like a bagful of angry wet raccoons.  Derek sets her up with a ghettofabulous chest tube to keep her breathing.  A Terminator has been tracking preggo Ann Fields and her family for six months.  “How’d it find you?” Derek asks.  “How do you know Sarah?”  Guess Sarah wasn’t so into providing details before she sent him on this little mission, eh? 

But we’re about to find out!  Six months ago, Ann, daughter Lauren, and hubby David arrived at their vacation cottage, only to be confronted by home invaders Sarah and Cameron.  Sarah looks downright shocked to find the Fields family still breathing.  The Fields family is shocked, as well, to find two gun-toting brunettes in their living room.  They think they’re being robbed, even though Sarah assures them she’s there to help.  In the midst of the confusion, John calls Sarah, and she takes a mommy moment and tells him she found the clue to another riddle on the wall – “Alpine Fields” refers to this family.  And then… suddenly Lauren has a pistol aimed right at Sarah!  Sneaky!  Sarah lowers her gun as David demands to know what’s going on.  Our heroine’s all, “Nuclear annihilation, war, and cyborgs.  Y’know, the norm.”  A machine found the Fields’ house in the city, killed their housesitter, and is on its way here as they speak.  Ann and David think Sarah’s off her nut, but they don’t get to argue, because Cameron and her Terminator reflexes promptly grab that pistol right back.  Time to get the hell outta Dodge. 

In the car, Ann and David, who like many married couples detest each others’ guts, argue about David concealing that pistol in the house.  They go back and forth with their whiny routine (they’ve obviously had mucho practice zinging each other) as Sarah and Cameron grit their teeth long-sufferingly.  Hee!  Their expressions clearly say, “The shit we have to put up with to save the world.”  Suddenly, a pickup comes out of nowhere and slams into the Fields’ minivan.  It’s the Terminator, and Cameron’s up out of the car ready for battle before you can say “Quitcherbitchin.’”  The big, beefy male Terminator, who rather resembles some sort of mythological minotaur, shoots Cameron several times in the chest, to no effect.  But David’s hit in the leg by a spare round as Sarah urges the family to run back up the road to the cabin. 

Speaking of shot, we’re back to the present, as Derek helps Lauren clean up her bloody and about-to-pop mother.  Seriously, the woman’s belly’s so big it’s like a freakin’ yoga ball under there.  Derek tells Lauren to keep the St. Jude medal she wears around her neck covered – apparently it’s a target for Terminators.  Surprise!  Ann’s conscious.  She says she and Lauren escaped while David distracted the baddie.  Once away, they called Sarah for help.  “Do you think David could be all right?” Ann asks hopefully from her prone position on the table.  Derek’s expression screams “He’s worm food,” but he very diplomatically replies, “Anything’s possible.”  As Derek looks at Lauren, he suddenly has a flashback to the war.  Lauren, behind a biohazard mask, injects him with something.  Dude!  Derek knows Lauren in the future, which means she’s going to survive Judgment Day!  Cool.  Now this episode is officially being told in three different time periods: past, present and future.  Here’s a key to keep it all straight: Past = Sarah Connor with the Fields family; Present = Derek in the warehouse with Lauren and Ann; Future = Derek during the war. 

Future. Serrano Point, the Human stronghold.  Some sort of disease (germ warfare, perhaps?) is wiping people out, and Derek’s being sent to find a survivor who radioed for help from a nearby bunker.  She’s immune, and they should be able to make a vaccine from her blood once he escorts her back to Serrano.  The doctor tells Derek to be careful - once exposed, there’s no way to know how long the disease will take to toast you like a bug on a zapper.  Wearing a paltry gas mask (which doesn’t even look like it would stop smoke, let alone the next Ebola virus), Derek inches into the bunker.  Which just happens to be full of dead bodies.  It’s like freakin’ Jonestown up in here, minus the kool-aid.  To make it just a touch more horrific, Derek spots a dead pregnant woman, with two dead kids at her side.  Thanks for that, T:SCC.  Thanks a lot.  Derek goes running out the door, ripping off his ineffectual gas mask and breathing hard.  He has his gun in his hand, and just for a second he looks like he might want to use it on himself.  And then… “’Scuse me,” says an ironic, drawling female voice.  It’s Jesse, cautiously approaching, gun drawn!  “Your fly is open,” she says.  Hee!  This is how they met!

In the present, Lauren tells Derek it’s her fault the Terminator found them.  She broke the rules and called a friend, Roger.  We flash back to the past, as Sarah herds the panicky Fields family back into their cabin.  The Terminator has, fortunately, caused them to start taking this thing a tad bit more seriously.  David’s limping, and it’s too dangerous to run when they don’t know where the Terminator is.  For her part, Sarah’d like to know who exactly who the Terminator wants, but Dad insists that they’re just a normal family that likes to bicker all the time.  Since she’s not getting anywhere with the Fields fam, Sarah decides to set a trap for the Terminator.  She heads to the basement to rummage for supplies, and is joined by Lauren, who seems fascinated by Sarah’s life.  But Sarah ain’t buyin’ it.  “You’re like my son,” she says.  “You look like you’re going to tell me a secret, but you don’t.”  So Lauren spills the beans: her father is involved in a Cybernetics company.  Upstairs, David admits that he banks for a tech company.  And also, their business may be v.v. slightly illegal.  Ann can’t believe what she’s hearing, and the bickering starts up all over again.  That is, until Sarah shuts them all up by sinking an axe into the wall.  Effective!  I’ll have to remember that one. 

Lauren, who is capable and smart and whom I’m liking more and more, asks what she can do to help.  Sarah wires the doorknob with an electric charge, designed to knock Minotaur Terminator out for a couple of minutes so that they can swipe his chip.  Now all they can do is wait.  Sarah heads into the bedroom, where she totally busts Ann in the process of making a phone call.  Ann pretty much crumples beneath Sarah’s withering gaze – she says she’s not strong, just normal.  “I was normal,” Sarah replies.  “All of this I had to learn.”  Whereupon Ann admits to Sarah that she’s pregnant.  But guess what?  The baby’s not David’s.  There’s an entirely unsurprising interesting development!  Ann sniffles that she thought crisis was supposed to bring families together.  “Don’t confuse close with happy,” replies Sarah.  Suddenly, the family dog starts barking.  A man is walking up the driveway.  Ann recognizes him; it’s their neighbor, Roger.  Sarah’s pretty sure it’s the Terminator in disguise, but Ann rips the electric charge off of the door.  Lauren and David were supposed to be camping tonight, and Ann always stays behind to sleep with the neighbor keep the home fires burning.  I think it’s pretty obvious who the baby daddy really is.   

Present.  Lauren, badassly toting a gun, goes for some air, whereupon Derek takes the opportunity to tell Ann he doesn’t believe Lauren phoned Roger.  She’s too smart to call anyone – she’s protecting her mother.  Ann doesn’t deny it.  She wanted to let Roger know she was okay, and instead it got them into trouble.  Ann cries that her life was good before, and she had no idea what happy was.  As that Joni Mitchell song plays in my head, Ann says that only Lauren and the baby matter now.  They’re all that will be left when she’s dead.  Which, given the giant frickin’ gunshot wound in Ann’s back, I’m thinking isn’t too far off. 

Past.  The affair between Roger and Ann comes into the open, and yet more bickering ensues.  This time, Sarah resorts to gunfire to break it up.  Hee!  They’d better knock off the fighting, ‘cuz next time I’m thinking she’s going to take someone out just to shut them up.  They explain the sitch to Roger (whom, BTW, uncannily resembles Art Garfunkel).  He’s skeptical (to say the least) that there are killer robots on the loose.  And then… KABLAMM!  Cameron comes flying in through the plate glass window!  Ouch… it looks like she’s losing this fight.  As a matter of fact, she’s in the midst of a reboot, limp and unresponsive on the floor.  Here comes Minotaur Terminator, stalking toward the house.  Roger makes like the wuss he apparently is and runs the hell away.  But David grabs a gun, ready to sacrifice himself to save his family.  He scampers outside and starts hollering that he’s the one the Terminator wants.  Whereupon the Terminator grabs and scans him.  But David… isn’t the target!  Minotaur tosses him aside, and Sarah realizes he’s after Ann and her unborn child.  She hides Lauren in the closet, and Sarah and Ann run out the back door.

Present.  Ann’s in labor and bleeding from her wound, frantically apologizing to her daughter for everything.  Derek reassures her that her baby is going to be all right.  He looks so certain that Lauren puts two and two together, realizing that Derek’s from the future.  “Your sister’s name is Sydney,” Derek finally admits.  “And I know her.”  In said future, Jesse and her group are supply runners between Perth, Australia and California.  Their preferred method of travel?  A nuclear sub.  Once she’s assured herself that Derek is a) not a Terminator and b) not some whack job who’s about to commit suicide, Jesse offers to help in his retrieval mission.  And… we’re back in the bunker with the dead bodies.  Derek bangs on the door of the radio room, and finally, the door opens.  There stands a pale teenage girl with big doe eyes.  Meet Sydney Fields, the baby about to be born in the present!   “Your gas masks won’t help,” she comments to Jesse and Derek.  “You’re already infected.”  Dude, I told ya.  Those gas masks seriously look approximately 456328 years old.  Since they’re useless and also unfashionable, Derek and Jesse remove the masks as they wait for it to grow dark enough to travel.  Jesse gives Sydney some plumpynut ; they’re growing food down in Australia, which apparently isn’t possible in CA.  As Jesse talks about her mission, she’s gulping down a lot of water.  Which, of course, is a symptom of the disease.  They have to risk daylight travel to make it back to Serrano in time. 

Present.  Derek tells Ann that her daughter Sydney carries an immunity in her blood, which will save a lot of lives.  “Sydney,” says Ann fondly, as though the name had not occurred to her before.  See, now here’s where the whole time travel thing gets confusing to me.  Riddle me this: Derek learned that name in the future from grown-up Sydney.  But he just gave the name to Sydney’s mother.  Effectively naming the baby.  So… who actually named this child?  I can’t think about this too much.  It gives me a headache, so back to the story!  Ann tells Lauren that “You have to do this.”  As in, deliver the baby.  Take care of her.  Be the strong one.  Survive.  I love this scene… it just symbolizes fate and family, love and commitment all rolled into one.  Lauren delivers her sister, and Ann lives just long enough to see Sydney.  Then she dies quietly, right there on the table. 

Past.  Lauren’s hiding in the closet when Roger opens the door and finds her.  She’s about to emerge when… THUMP!  Cameron takes him down to Chinatown.  Lauren’s all, WTF???  Whereupon comes the best line of the night.  Cameron: “He was human?  My mistake.”  Hee!  Meanwhile, Sarah and Ann are still fleeing through the woods, Minotaur Terminator in hot pursuit.  And then… Blam!  Minotaur gets mowed down by a car, piloted by Cameron.  David and Lauren are inside.  Ann and Sarah pile in and they roar off down the road, too fast for Minotaur to catch up.  In the future, Derek, Sydney and Jesse make it to Serrano point and are helped to the hospital ward by people in contamination suits.  Now why didn’t he get one of those in the first place??  Jesse and Derek are both sick as hell, coughing and hacking like they’ve got chicken bones stuck in their throats.  And then… a woman comes in with a serum, and injects them with the cure, developed from Sydney’s blood.  Huzzah, they’re cured!  Wow, that was easy.  Of course, the woman who injected Derek is none other than Future!Lauren.  “Thank you for saving my sister,” she smiles.  I wonder if she recognizes him? 

We flash to the past, and Lauren telling Sarah she doesn’t think her parents fully grok the situation.  “They’ll need your help,” Sarah replies.  She looks over at Ann and David, who are finally getting along.  In fact, they actually seem to like each other a little in this scene.  Too bad we know David's going to be toast.  Present, and Derek covers Ann’s body with a sheet as Lauren cradles Sydney.  “There are days when you don’t think you can go on, but you do,” he tells her.  “Because she needs you.   We all do.”  Derek asks Lauren to come stay with the Connors, and he calls Sarah to check with her.  But when he turns around, Lauren and Sydney are gone.  There’s only Ann’s body, Lauren’s medal of St. Jude resting on top of the sheet.