Season 2 Episode 4 - Allison from Palmdale

A dark tunnel. Or a hallway. It's hard to tell. But Cameron runs... and runs.. and runs. Lights after her, she pushes her way through a door and into the outside, post-apocalyptic world. But a giant net catches her, trapping her...

...in her mind. Cameron and John park the truck. John checks in with her, they plan to split up. Cameron goes for groceries, John to the electronics store.

Kacy flags down Sarah on her way down the driveway -- she's bleeding. Sarah quickly realizes she has to get her to the hospital.

Cameron's a bit abnormal at the grocery store, even for her. Her T-vision spits in and out and she recalls being trapped in the net -- until she just freezes. Later, a Cop checks her out, asks her name...

...which brings us back to the future. She's being interrogated -- but by whom we can't see. She refuses to give up her name and so a Terminator brands her with a bar code. Finally, she relents and screams out her name: Allison! Allison Young!

Cameron remembers this in the present. In the jail's drunk tank she meets Jody, a local street kid. Confused, Cameron introduces herself as Allison.

Kacy checks out in the hospital but is told she's going to have to stick around for a bit. Sarah stays by Kacy's side.

John looks for Cameron in the grocery store where he learns that Cameron wigged out and was taken by the Cops. Meanwhile, Cameron and Jody are let out with a warning and while given back their belongings, Jody spots Cameron's huge hunk of cash. Jody takes Cameron with her.

Absolutely the last place he wants to be, John checks for Cameron at the police station. But all he learns is that Cameron took off with Jody, who normally hangs out on the Boulevard.

Kacy tells Sarah she's having a boy. She asks Sarah what having John was like. "I was hiking in the jungle." Sarah goes on to lie and tell her that John's father was there. It's a glamorized tale, one that is interrupted by Trevor, Kacy's boyfriend...

As they bond, Sarah checks out the babies in the maternity ward. She checks in with John, who is out asking around for a girl called "Jody." He lies to her and doesn't mention that Cameron is missing.

Weaver and Ellison meet in Catherine's office. As Weaver warns him not to anthropomorphize the machines, she tells him the story of the helicopter crash that killed her late husband. "Human error," she says. Unlike humans, however, machines are neither good nor evil...

In the future, Allison is held in some sort of cell. She's given food but throws it against the wall. Back in the present, Cameron and Jody grab burgers. Cameron compliments Jody's necklace. "I got it at this awesome thrift store in Echo Park." They're then interrupted Jody's confronted by a thug. He claims she stole his stuff and he warns her by punching her in the face. He grabs Cameron and as we wait for her to defend herself, all she does is coil in defense and give him her wad of cash. Huh?

Jody takes Cameron to a halfway house. She tells Cameron that to stay there they have to have an interview with a counselor -- Jody encourages her to lie her way through it. A new bond between the girls, Jody gives Cameron her necklace as a gift.

Ellison stops by to see an old coworker at the Bureau. She's especially friendly and the two seem to have a familiar banter. He asks for her help in checking into Catherine Weaver and ZeiraCorp. He tells her that Weaver offered him a job. The Agent notices that Ellison is different -- he's not wearing his cross. She knows that the massacre really got to him. Her assistant comes in to bring her a file and we learn that she is also Agent Ellison! This is James Ellison's ex-wife, Lila. She promises to look into Weaver for him.

Allison is interrogated in the future as Cameron is questioned by the Social Worker in the present. Allison reveals that she lives in a tunnel and eats garbage. The Interrogator asks about Allison's bracelet -- she reveals that her sister gave it to her for her birthday. As Cameron spots a statue of a tiger, we learn that Allison is from Palmdale.

John is told that Jody hangs out at the halfway house on Yucca. Meanwhile, Kacy tells Sarah about Trevor.

A young woman answers the phone. It's Cameron on the other line, calling her Mom. This woman tells her that she has the wrong number -- but we quickly learn the woman's name is Claire Young and she's pregnant! "Allison: very pretty name.."

Trevor brings Kacy and Sarah food. Kacy's told she can go home tomorrow. Trevor offers to take John out to the shooting range -- turns out, Trevor's a cop! And Sarah's silent alarm goes off...

Lila Ellison tells James that Catherine Weaver checks out. Nothing in her past. But James spots something in her file -- the plane crash that killed Catherine's late husband was due to mechanical failure not human error. Lila suggests James talk to a professional, but he rebuffs her.

John finds Cameron and Jody at the halfway house. She looks oddly happy. John approaches Cameron and wants to take her home, but she doesn't recognize him. She believes she is Allison but John tells her the truth: "You're not Allison. You're not from Palmdale. You're from the future. You're a machine." John knows her chip is messed up, as we flash to...

The future. Again, Allison wanders down a long corridor. She escapes through a doorway and finds cages, a Skynet concentration camp. There are humans, captive. And animals, too. Allison runs through the cages, climbs up a ladder to a deck -- she's on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean! Spotlights blaring, a terrified Allison propels herself hundreds of feet into the ocean but is quickly swallowed up by a huge net and carried back up again...

John tries to take Cameron with him, explaining that he's her brother John Baum, but she throws him against the wall. Security escorts him out of the halfway house, leaving Cameron wondering.

Dropped back into the interrogation room, Allison glances up to meet her interrogator -- it's Cameron! Cameron tells Allison that she wants to get to know her. She knows that John Connor chose her because she's brave, and even claims to admire him and his determination. Cameron explains that the machines are going to kill her and every other human until they're extinct -- but she doesn't want that. Cameron wants them all to live in peace. We learn that Allison was chosen by the machines, as well. She demands that Allison tell her where John's camp is.

Back in the present, Cameron explains to the Social Worker that she believes she is a machine, an infiltrator in the future. She was programmed to find John Connor. "Why's he so important?" She explains that he saves mankind from extinction. The Social Worker asks what she's going to do when she finds John Connor. "I'm going to kill him and hang his head on a pike for all to see."

As John waits outside the halfway house, Cameron wants to know more about Jody and her life. She seems to be becoming more and more like her old self -- machine-like. Our worried Social Worker brings the police in to find Cameron, but both she and Jody are gone!

Trevor questions Sarah suspiciously -- he's never heard of her before and now she's suddenly Kacy's best friend. Sarah questions him back, specifically about his job. Trevor has to take off for work; he asks Sarah to stay the night with Kacy.

Catherine introduces Ellison to her daughter, Savannah! The deadly T-1001 has a daughter!? Ellison tells Weaver he read the official report on the helicopter crash and that it blamed the crash on mechanical failure. She admits that it's not what she told him. He realizes that files don't always reflect what actually happened -- "I think you saw what you saw." "Just as you saw what you saw." Ellison agrees to go to work for Weaver.

Jody and Cameron break in to a suburban home (with John following behind them). When Cameron finds earrings that match the necklace Jody gave her, we quickly realize that this is Jody's parent's house -- everything she has said has been a lie.

Cameron remembers torturing Allison in the future. Allison told Cameron where John's camp is, but Cameron knows she lied about the bracelet. Cameron drops a bunch of identical bracelets in front of her -- "We found these on your friends." It's a pass to enter the camp! Allison planned on sending Cameron to the camp without the bracelet so they would know she was a machine! "I'll never help you get to John Connor," Allison says. Cameron kills Allison and takes the bracelet.

At Jody's house, Cameron interrogates Jody threateningly. Jody says that they have to go because there's a silent alarm. Cameron knows she was going to leave her there to take the blame. Like with Allison in the future, she grabs Jody's throat. As John gets in, we see that Jody isn't dead, she's just hurt. Cameron once again recognizes John and tells him they have to go.

Kacy wakes to find Sarah. Sarah confesses to Kacy that the story of John's birth in the jungle wasn't completely true -- John's father wasn't actually there. "Why did you tell me that story?" Because Sarah wished it was the way things could have been. She implies that Kacy doesn't need Trevor -- she's capable of raising this baby on her own.

John drives Cameron. He asks her about the necklace, but she lies. "I got it at this awesome thrift store in Echo Park."

 

Guest Cast:

Busy Philipps as Kacy Corbin; Leah Pipes as Jody; Jon Huertas as Trevor; Jillian Armenante as Rita; Garvin Funches as Police Officer; Fay Wolf as Lila; Enrico Natale as Customer; Roberto Sanchez as Desk Sergeant; Jeff Leaf as Helmut; Ralph Cole as Male Prostitute; Amy Tolsky as Housewife; Ali Chen as Secretary; Laura Leyva as Doctor; Ace Gibson as Slacker; Jessica Makinson as Woman/Mrs. Young; Ray Conchado as Security Guard; Mackenzie Smith as Savannah