As you might expect, I am watching this series on Blu-ray. I believe it was my first Blu-ray purchase of a TV show back in 2008/2009. At that time only movies were being released on Blu-ray. If I remember correctly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was indeed my first (SCI-FI) shows to be released on Blu-ray.

The first episode “Samson & Delilah” continues where the first season ends. In the aftermath of the explosion of the jeep, Sarah and John are being taken by Sarkissian. Cameron ‘survives’ the explosion but she now believes her mission is to kill john because of a brain malfunction. John saves his mother by killing Sarkissian, although this is not revealed immediately. John and Sarah escape and are on the run from Cameron. Catherine Weaver, a mysterious international businesswoman and CEO of Zeira Corp who purchases the late Andy Goode's Turk computer system for $300,000 and she clearly has plans to use it for her own purposes. John manages to repair Cameron but with great risk to himself, his mother, Derek and Charlie. Note – A great opening to the 2nd season, John and Sarah being in captivity by Sarkissian was very interestingly shot and well portrayed.

In “Automatic for the People” Sarah and Cameron go undercover in a power plant because of dying words of another fatally wounded resistance fighter. Agent Ellison and Charlie tell a disbelieving Michelle, Charlie’s wife, about what's going on with Sarah Connor. Ellison tells them to go, they are not safe. John meets a girl named Riley, takes her home with him which is not appreciated by Sarah. Catherine Weaver disguises herself as a black man being a CEO, he tells the press that the plants and all others like this one, will be automated, to rule out disasters. Exactly what she planned. Note – Really did like the Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson) character. The audience knew what she was, but not what her agenda was.

“The Mousetrap” is the best episode yet where Cromartie uses Charlie and Michelle to get to John. He counts on the fact that Sarah will try and rescue them which makes John vulnerable. Cromartie comes after him. Note - Really strong episode, what I don’t understand why would Cromartie pick such a busy place to capture John. I know he doesn’t care about other humans but it is easier for John to hide. A strong moment when John tries to comfort Charlie after Michelle’s death.

“Allison from Palmdale” is the for me the weakest episode of the season or even the whole series. Another malfunction causes Cameron to believe that she is actually a human from the future named Allison. She even doesn’t know who John is. She appears to have backflashes to the future where she is interrogated by machine looking like her. Ellison has got a job offer from Catherine Weaver and accepts. Note – As said, was not my favorite episode, in fact the weakest till now for me. Derek Reese is absent the whole episode.

“Goodbye to all that” is one of the strongest episodes this season. John and Derek sign up for military school to protect a key future Resistance hero from termination, Marty Bedell (Will Rothhaar). They know the Tripple-8 will come eventually, Derek has a special bullet for it, which will make it consider its life’s choices. Bedell wants to leave the academy, Derek says that he needs to be convinced to stay, he witnesses the demise of the Tripple-8. Back at home, Sarah and Cameron protect a young boy Marty Bedell (William Brent) who shares the same name as the intended target. The boy and Sarah grow closer together. Catherine Weaver kills Nelson (Dean Norris) when she learns from Ellison that he wants an investigation about what happened there at the plant. Note - Really love this episode, seeing flashbacks of Derek about Bedell, the deer story that Kyle couldn’t stop crying after Derek killed it. Also the B-story where Sarah protects the kid is really satisfying. Lena Headey does a wonderful job, really enjoy it how she portrays Sarah! Derek Reese about Bedell’s heroism and that would all die for John Connor: We all die for you…I die for you - How difficult is that, hearing this from his uncle at 17 years, at any age.

In “The Tower is Tall but the Fall is Short” Sarah and the others find a Boyd Sherman (Dorian Harewood) in the list of Skynet, it is a psychiatrist. They go investigate, having a family session together and they bug the place. Savannah also goes to Sherman, she wants her old mommy back! John rather wants to talk to him than to his mother. Weaver’s company is testing with an AI in the basement, off limits for Ellison but he is kinda curious but Weaver tells him nothing about it. Meanwhile Derek sees a former lover from the future, Jesse, she defected, she does not have a mission. Weaver asks Sherman to come to work for her, to become a consultant for the AI. Savannah Weaver is looking for affection from her ‘mother’. Catherine has watched some old video’s of the real Catherine and tries to mimic her emotionally, although this is very hard for Catherine Weaver. Note – Again, I really find Catherine Weaver a very interesting character!

In “Brothers of Nabulus” Ellison is saved by Cromartie when an Ellison lookalike terminator tries to kill him. Later he has been arrested for murder. He calls in the help of Ms. Weaver and with her ability to change, she saves Ellison from prison. There is a break-in at the Baum (Connor) family, Riley forgot to set the alarm. Cromartie comes very close to catching John when he forces himself into the house pretending to be an FBI agent. Sarah and Cameron find the ones who broke in, Cameron shoots 3 of them, Sarah lets the 4th one go. However later, Cromartie finds the boy and finds out what he knows about Sarah. Note – Sarah is not a killer, although in this case, it bites her in the ass again!

“Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today” is a strong episode where John and Riley run off to Mexico where John and Sarah lived for a while. Cromartie kidnaps Sarah and is on his way too to Mexico, as is Ellison and also Cameron and Derek Reese. John and Riley have been arrested but narrowly escape as Cromartie comes in and shoots all the cops. Ellison, John and Riley escape in Cromartie’s car and find Sarah in the trunk. Cameron shoot off Cromartie’s head and they burry it to come back for it later. Riley was already put on a bus back to the states. Note – Love everything about this episode, jail scene makes you think about the original movie.

In “Complications” Sarah is feeling ill, having nightmares and sees some kind of sign she cannot understand, she goes back to Dr. Sherman. Jessie has kidnapped a man she thinks is Charles Fisher, who was collaborating with the tin cans. Derek doesn’t recognize him. Cameron and John go back to Mexico to burn the metal but it is gone! John suspects Ellison, he denies it but he did do it. Sarah has nightmares again, in this nightmare Dr. Sherman is there also and on the wall we see his name and the sign she is seeing everywhere. Note – Strong episode, Ellison withstands Cameron’s pressure to tell the truth!

In “Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point” Sarah's quest to find the meaning behind the "three dots" leads to a technology firm seeking an advanced microchip. Turns out to be a bust, the CEO was trying to get money, the chip was never real. Dr. Sherman is killed while working with Catherine Weaver's A.I. computer. This A.I computer formerly known as Cromartie! Jesse comes clean about her mission, she is there to take out Cameron and protect John, in the future apparently he was only talking to her (to Cameron). Jesse and Riley are working together, Riley wants out but Jesse does not let her. For now Jesse has Derek’s trust and he tells her that John is his nephew. Note – I have a little trouble watching Jesse, find her annoying. Don’t know if it is the actress or the character!

In “Self Made Man” we learn that Cameron indeed never sleeps, she spends most of her nights at the library with her friend Eric. Cameron learns that a terminator was accidentally sent back to 1920s Los Angeles, and she tries to find out what happened to him. He named himself Myron Stark (Todd Stashwick) and disappeared from the face of the earth, Cameron deduces where he is, hid himself in the walls of a building he had built, waiting for the right moment to come out to kill his target he travelled back for, the new governor in 2010. John needs to pick up Riley from a party, but once there she plays hard to get. Note - Not a bad episode, entertaining even, still, not a favorite of mine, it is sort of a standalone episode.

In “Alphine Fields” Sarah and Cameron set out to rescue a family, named the Fields, in the woods, which is on the list of people targeted by Skynet Terminators. Six months later, Derek finds himself trying to save the life of the wounded and very pregnant Mrs. Fields whose child will play a part in the future. Derek also flashes back to his time in the underground resistance with Jesse in 2027 and dealing with a mysterious bio-weapon that the machines use on one hidden facility. The baby Derek is saving is Sydney, sister of Lauren. Sydney is immune to the bioweapon and saves 1000’s of people. Lauren also works in the resistance. Note – No John Connor this episode.

In “Earthlings Welcome Here” Sarah attends a UFO convention hoping to get information on the three dots she keeps seeing. Via a woman named Abraham, who gets killed, she finds a warehouse, she gets in a fight and gets shot before she kills the man. Then she sees a UFO, or so it seems! At home, John is re-decorating his room with Riley's help, always under the watchful eye of Cameron. Through flashbacks, we learn more about the connection between Riley and Jesse. Jesse makes clear that she not her friend, mother or whatever, after she hits her in the face for getting too close. Now that Catherine Weaver's AI computer has taken humanoid form in what was Cromartie, she wants Ellison to teach it ethics.

In “The Good Wound” Sarah is in the hospital after she’s shot. At the same time Riley is also taken to the hospital because she tried to kill herself at Sarah’s home. Jesse takes Riley home, she’s very angry at her, Sarah escapes and kidnaps a Doctor to treat her wound. The doctor has a boyfriend, a policeman (Connor Trineer) and apparently he was abusing her. Ms. Weaver kills everyone at the warehouse, she is also looking for that specific metal.

In “Desert Cantos” Sarah attends a memorial service for Catherine Weaver's victims at the supposed heating and air conditioning plant to search for answers and find a connection to Skynet, which they do find, in a basement with surveilling equipment. it becomes clear to Reese that this is some sort of a workcamp, like Skynet did in his time. Workers working for Tin cans. While looking for one of them who faked his death, they all 4 see a drone come out of the water, flying off. Few miles over, a truck with the man they are looking for, we see the drone is loaded into the truck. Back in Los Angeles at Zeira Corp, while Catherine works to successfully cover her tracks and block Ellison from learning more about her work involving Project Babylon. It’s the anniversary of Catherine Weaver’s husband death, she tries to connect with ‘her’ daughter Savannah. Note – Savannah to her ‘mommy’: your lap is cold!

In “Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep” Sarah suspects that something fishy is going on at the medical clinic where she is being treated for insomnia. During her stay, she has flashbacks to a run-in she had with a man from the plant whom she thought she had already killed. Note - Sarah thinks she is dreaming about that man but in fact that was the reality, nice twist. In “Ourselves Alone” Sarah doesn’t trust Riley, but when she talks to her foster dad it turns out that they think John is the reason for her attempted suicide and that his (John) family that are the weird ones. Now a guidance counsellor (Jesse!) is on the case! Riley actually is afraid of Cameron, and when Riley realizes Jesse’s plan, to set-up Riley to be killed by Cameron so that John turns on Cameron, she confronts Jesse and starts a fight she unfortunately doesn’t win. Note: Really strong episode, one of the better ones, was really sorry to see Riley lose that fight with Jesse.

The two-parter “Today is the Day” is a strong episode. John has a hard time dealing with Riley’s death but he believes Cameron didn’t do it. Jesse lets herself beat up so she has an alibi. She still tries to influence Derek in that it was Cameron who killed Riley. In the future we see Jesse on a sub commanded by a thin can, she recalls how her trust for him waned. They brought in a liquid metal terminator, apparently on orders of John Connor and it gives the message: no we will not join you. John knows Jesse killed Riley and what her plan was, he decides not to kill her so that she has to live with what she has done. It is unclear if Derek actually killed her afterwards or not at this point. After this John breaks down, seeks comfort with him mom as he starts crying, mostly over the death of Riley but likely about his entire existence. Note – Moving scene at the very end where we see John break down in the arms of his mother.

Sarah and the gang are moving again after all that has happened. She and John go separate from the others, make a detour, and she brings John to the lighthouse, where Charlie lives. Sarah thinks she has breast cancer and tells this to Charlie. Her intention is to leave John with Charlie. Meanwhile John Henry has been hacked by what seems like sort of a brother, with the same capabilities. Turns out that the lump is not a tumor but a transmitter from when she was captive in that van. At the same time Cameron and Derek as well as John and Charlie are being attacked. Sarah is also attacked. To immobilize the transmitter, Sarah uses a defibrillator on herself and just in time can overcome her attacker. John escapes with Charlie’s boat but Charlie dies while defending John. Cameron saves Derek after she also was attacked, it seems to be instigated by John Henry’s so-called brother. Note – Perhaps the best episode this season, or one of the best. Nice family moment between Charlie, John and Sarah and the dog at the breakfast table. Also an emotional moment between Charlie and Sarah when she fears she has cancer.

Another strong episode “Adam Raised a Cain”, Sarah, Derek, Cameron and John reunite at a graveyard where Kyle is buried. John found a picture on a phone from Charlie’s killers, Savannah’s picture. They decide to try and save Savannah which they succeed in but Derek is shot in the head by the terminator who is coming for Savannah. John Henry sees it all via the camera’s. He sees Sarah, who was supposed to be death. Ellison asks him to lie for the moment so he has a better chance finding her. He gets Sarah agreed to meet him, Catherine Weaver agrees to meet with Sarah but on her way out Sarah is captured and arrested by the police. Ellison tells John he didn’t know but john shouts he will going to kill him. Note - A real shame why Derek had to die also besides Charlie. Derek was a favorite character of mine. But in SCI-FI anything is possible and we do see him in the final episode!

The season finale became the series finale unfortunately, with a cliff-hanger, that always sucks. In “Born to Run” Sarah is being interrogated in jail by the FBI. John wants to save her but Cameron knows that Sarah doesn’t want that, so she stops him. Weaver wants to talk to John, Ellision gives the message but knows he will decline. Her follow-up question would then be to Cameron: Will you join us! Cameron says no. Cameron breaks out Sarah against her wishes but she comes with and they go to Catherine Weaver, who appears to be not their enemy perse, otherwise they would be dead immediately. Cameron gives her brain chip to John Henry and he’s gone. Weaver goes after him to another timeline, John comes with, Sarah doesn’t. They arrive in a future where Weaver disappears as John meets his uncle Derek. Derek however says he doesn’t know any John Connor, then he meets his father, Kyle Reese and Cameron…. Note - This is it, the ending sucks because it is a gigantic cliff-hanger, it seems to be an alternative version of the future where John Connor wasn’t the messiah after all. Most likely, because of this time jump.

Final Word:

Terminator: Sarah The Connor Chronicles is yet another show FOX cancelled too early. Yes, I do understand it is all about the ratings but still, sometimes you have to have more faith and give it a bit more time. For instance: they could have easily renew the show for only 13 episodes and let it start mid-season, give it a new timeslot or something. A real shame this got cancelled so soon. It had a lot of fans, still do I think. Well, we have two seasons, I for one will rewatch this every five or six years. I really enjoy it, even though it has no satisfying conclusion.

Blog written with help from IMdB, screencaps taken from IMdB.