Sarah’s piece of mind about being in a different time is quickly shattered when Cameron tells her of Terminators seeded throughout their timeline in order to prepare for SkyNet to come online in 2011. The Terminators not knowing of John’s existence in the timeline is a great tension setter, for Chromartie, who was accidentally sent forward with John, Sarah, and Cameron to the current timeline, is the potential game-changer of the story. The Resistance also sending their own fighters to the present levels the playing field and makes the shows premise more clear: fighting a war of the future in our present.

Summer Glau as Cameron

Not only is humanity itself at stake, but also Sarah’s mortality. Finding out that she “died” in 2005 gives her the motivation to start training herself to be the fighting Sarah we saw in T2. A lot of criticism, unfair in my view, was that Lena Headey’s portrayal of Sarah Connor doesn’t fit with Linda Hamilton’s original take. The criticism is neither here nor there, because in a weekly tv show, you’re seeing characters on an extended journey that no one movie could accommodate. If the physical journey from one timeline to another started in the pilot, then Sarah’s emotional journey begins here.

John’s desire to leave their safehouse prematurely leads to the weak point of this episode. Wanting to explore the “new” world around him is one thing, but leaving to find your mother’s ex-finance is just plain stupid at this stage of the game. I know it’s probably needed in order to stage a reunion for Sarah and Charlie Dixon (Dean Winters), but I just find it to be annoying and unnecessary. As a fanboy, I don’t want to see the John Connor character to become the “annoying child” of a tv show.

Overall, one plot point does not overshadow jam-packed second episode that really gets the show and the revised mythos behind it rolling.

Rating: 8.4

The show picks up two years after T2 on two fronts, the first being with Sarah and John Connor, played respectively by Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker, on the run from the FBI after they incorrectly think Sarah killed Miles Dyson, the purported creator of SkyNet and in turn the Terminators. In particular, the agent in charge of the manhunt, Ellison (Richard T. Jones) takes a personal interest in the case because of the aloofness of the Connor’s movements. On the other front, Sarah believes that, even though SkyNet was supposedly destroyed with Dyson’s work at Cyberdyne, the threat of the future still exists. She feels that her purpose is to continue training John to fulfill his role as the savior of humanity. The decision to hit the ground running with what I just described is a step in the right direction, because it shows that even the Connor’s have and know that there’s a breaking point in their lifestyle.

Cameron (Summer Glau) and Cromatie (Owain Yeoman)

Of course, Sarah is right to be as paranoid as ever, when the Machines return to once again take out John. Of course, they also have a protector in a new female Terminator, Cameron Phillips, played by the smokin-hot Summer Glau. She is known for playing out of the ordinary characters, particularly in Firefly and its spin-off film Serenity, and it pays off here, especially when the small agile protector is fending off a big, muscle-bound killing machine, it just a fun sight to behold.

To anyone that might be confused thus far, take into account that T3: Rise of the Machines doesn’t exist in the alternate timeline that the show takes place in. This can be interesting, if not potentially detrimental, when franchises can do this (i. e., Halloween, Highlander to name a few) because while an overall story can be retold, retooled and retconned as it were, it can go either way. In this case, the pilot shows the beginning of a new journey while at the same time wiping the slate clean from here on out. This is done with the Connor’s and Cameron traveling forward in time from 1999 to 2007 in Los Angeles so that they can prevent the as-yet nonexistent SkyNet from coming online and take the offensive against the future.

Overall, this episode is 45 minutes of exposition that is executed well. The real grabber of this show will be Episode 2 onwards.

Rating: 7.5

Here’s a brief summary as to what the series is about for those of you who aren’t familiar with it:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles reveals what happens when Sarah (Lena Headey) stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 16-year-old John Connor (Thomas Dekker), is only now taking steps towards embracing his destiny as the future savior of mankind. John finds himself caught between his fearless protector, the sexy but sweet cyborg Cameron (Summer Glau), and his uncle Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green) who refuses to accept Cameron as an ally. Former FBI agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) has been transformed into a believer. Accepting Sarah’s reality that “no one is ever safe,” he’s now bent on figuring out his role in this ever-evolving fate.

With the fall season being just a few months away, the networks are working on their schedule. Fox has taken the initiative to air all of the first season of Terminator as a run-up to the premiere of the second season. Starting August 10th at 9pm ET/PT, the first season will begin airing, one episode every night (well, Sunday through Wednesday) until the debut of the second season on September 8th at 8pm ET/PT.