Season 2 Episode 18 - Today is the Day (Part 1)

Bruised, Jesse sits in her hotel room, the scene of Riley's death. She adjusts a lamp, nothing feels right. Jesse zips Riley into a body bag. She flashes back to:

2027. She's shipping out on another mission aboard the sub. Derek tells her he's going on a mission, too -- a special mission. He warns her to be careful -- she's going to be stuck in a "can" in the ocean piloted by a machine. But she's not worried. "Aim for the chip, they don't get up," Derek reminds her before parting.

Sarah's packing up the house; it's time to move she tells John. He agrees and offers to pack up the garage, knowing it's where Cameron's been secretly stashing the undestroyed endoskeleton parts she's saved.

In the garage, John finds Cameron sorting through the parts. He tells her to bury the parts out back -- then they'll come back to burn them later. "And we will burn them," John informs her.

Jesse milks a drink at the bar. A man in a uniform hits on her. "What happened to your face?" he asks her. She blows him off. Upon learning that he's a PC Flyer for the Navy, Jesse tells him she's a Bubblehead. He hunts subs, she drives subs. She takes the opportunity to punch him in the face, inciting a fight...

Kacy keeps Sarah company while she packs up the kitchen. She tells Sarah that the newborn baby's with her policeman ex, Trevor, but he's not back in the picture completely. Actually, she feels bad for him after the call he got last night -- teenage girl found in the river, shot through the chest. Blonde, scars from an attempted suicide. It's all they have to go on besides a little star tattoo on her wrist. Uh-oh, Sarah knows immediately who she's describing...

Cameron and John are packing up the parts when Sarah enters the garage. She needs to talk to John alone. Sarah tells him that Riley's been killed. He looks to Cameron, unsure. Sarah then approaches Cameron. "I know. I heard you. Riley's dead."

John gets some air outside while messing with the kill switch Cameron made for him. She joins him. "Was it you? Did you kill her?" he asks her outright. No, she didn't. He wants to believe her but he knows that sometimes she lies to him.

Derek bails out Jesse. "So you gonna say anything?" No, she's not. All she'll tell him is that she got in a fight. "What's going on?" Nothing. But he doesn't believe her. She flashes back to:

2027. She's on the USS Jimmy Carter submarine. It's a celebration -- they've just crossed the equator. But it's interrupted by an explosion -- a depth charge. And everyone's off..

Weaver works in her office as Savannah grows bored. She wants to play hide and seek with her mom, but Catherine's uninterested. Disappointed, Savannah stalks off and is intrigued by a door opening for her. She follows it, leading her to the elevator, down to the basement, through the hallway, and into John Henry's room. "Would you like to play hide and seek?" he asks the child.

Catherine Weaver visits Ellison in his office and tells him that her daughter is missing. She knows Savannah's still in the building and she knows there is someone who knows what's going on everywhere in the building: John Henry.

Weaver asks John Henry if he's seen Savannah. Yes, she's hiding. It's a game. He wants them to play the game. Ellison refuses, but Weaver is excited he wants to play. First clue -- he's thinking of a country.

Derek patches up Jesse's bruises when Sarah calls. She tells him that Riley's dead -- he needs to come home. Before heading out, he tells Jesse that John's girlfriend is dead and the cyborg did it.

"You know that for sure?"

"Who else could it be?"

Jesse asks him what he's going to do about it -- he can't kill Cameron. John has to come to that decision on his own. She flashes back to the future on the submarine.

Inside the sub's control room, we meet Queeg, the reprogrammed Terminator driving the boat. More depth charges from metal in the water -- a Krakken. Jesse warns Queeg that they can't fight it with torpedos, they need to go around it. She checks the map. But Queeg doesn't listen and fires anyways. He's taking the boat to the edge of crush depth because the Krakken won't be able to follow. They're playing dead. It works. But Jesse has another question for Queeg -- why are they three hundred miles off course?

John finds Sarah in the garage with the endoskeleton parts. She knows. He admits that they were using it for research, but Sarah's angry. She's even more angry that he doesn't believe Cameron killed Riley. It's obvious to her. She lies. She lies about everything -- about the parts, about sneaking out at night, about loving him, etc. But John defends Cameron anyways and swears to find out what happened to Riley.

Weaver continues to play John Henry's game but Ellison is angry. He wants answers now. "You asked me to teach him moral and ethics and rules. What good is it if he doesn't follow them?" Ellison demands from Weaver. But she believes he will follow them if he learns them on his own. Ellison "wins" his first clue -- the sun is shining on Savannah. He calls for security to look near all windows. They "win" another clue by guessing the animal correctly: Bird. "The answer is the clue," John Henry tells them. Ellison knows where Savannah is:

ZeiraCorp roof -- the helicopter pad. Savannah was hiding in the helicopter. "You found me, Mommy!"

John goes to visit Aaron, Riley's foster dad, pretending he doesn't know where Riley is. Aaron tells him that Riley didn't come home last night. When he's there, Aaron gets a phone call -- from Riley? Only it's not Riley, it's Cameron impersonating Riley from the car. But she deviates from the plan and asks to speak to John. Using Riley's voice, Cameron tells John that she loves him.

Outside the house, John confronts Cameron. "What the hell was that about?" The plan was to make him think Riley was still alive so he wouldn't go to the police. She believes John's reaction was more authentic -- he became part of the plan. John takes off but Cameron asks him where they're going. But he's going by himself.

"You shouldn't be alone," Cameron tells him.

"Yes I should" he retorts.

Ellison visits John Henry again and tells him that he's very angry. "You kept a secret." But John Henry didn't know it was wrong to keep the secret. Ellison explains that this secret could have harmed Savannah. "What if she had died?" Ellison asks him. But John Henry knows now that human life is sacred. "It was the wrong choice not to tell..."

Derek follows Jesse back to her hotel room where they talk about Riley. He still believes Cameron executed her and Jesse eggs him on. Jesse thinks some good can come out of this, but Derek disagrees. Riley was an innocent kid -- no good can come out of it. Jesse flashes back to:

2027 - the submarine. Queeg tells Jesse they have a new mission, that's why they've chartered a new course. "What mission?" she wants to know. They're now headed directly to an oil rig in Skynet territory to pickup a special package for John Connor. They are to deliver it to Serrano Point. Jesse wonders what the package is, but Queeg won't say.

Jesse explains the new mission to Dietz before he goes out after the package. She reminds him to be smart when he's out there -- think before he pulls the trigger. It's quite a different Jesse than the one who sacrificed and murdered Riley.

Dietz and his team (including Goodnow) head into the oil rig and come face to face with Terminator endoskeletons. "Connor sent me. John Connor," he tells them. He's come for the package for him. They hand it over -- they are reprogrammed Terminators stationed at the oil rig.

Cameron finds Sarah burning the old endoskeleton parts in the garage. Sarah tells her she planned on killing Cameron -- it would have solved everything. "You know how bad I would have felt?" Sarah asks her. "Not bad at all." But she knows John would have never forgiven her if she had done that. Sarah doesn't know what to do with Cameron.

"It's not about me, it's about John. You're concerned for his safety. From Skynet. From me" Cameron knows. "We're all a threat. We're all a threat to John. He worries about us, that makes him vulnerable..." Cameron means all of them -- her, Sarah, Derek. John must be alone to be safe. This is the life he will have in the future, it's time to come to terms with that now.

John visits Riley's body in the morgue. It's untagged, a Jane Doe. He examines it carefully, taking note of the cuts and bruises. Blood on her fingertips. It's clear she was in a fight. John holds her, his last goodbye to his youth...

"I'm sorry," John says before leaving.

In her hotel room, Jesse shifts the lamp once again. Is it sadness or is it success?

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

Guest Cast:

Busy Philipps as Kacy; Stephanie Jacobsen as Jesse; Chad L. Coleman as Queeg; Drew Rausch as Rick; Theo Rossi as Dietz; Chris Ellis as Hayes; Yuri Lowenthal as Garvin; Gregg Perrie as Aaron; Erin Fleming as Goodnow; Krishna Cole as Blake; Mackenzie Smith as Savannah