Terminator-217 "Ourselves Alone" - Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by nx1701g, Mar 6, 2009.

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Grade "Ourselves Alone"

  1. "I'll be back." (Excellent)

    25.5%
  2. "Come with me if you want to live." (Above Average)

    44.7%
  3. "Thank you for explaining" (Average)

    23.4%
  4. "I don't know if we can win this war." (Below Average)

    4.3%
  5. "You are terminated." (Poor)

    2.1%
  1. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    Holy crap that was sweet.
     
  2. Procutus

    Procutus Admiral Admiral

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    The HD version is up and running at the official site:


    www.startrekmovie.com
     
  3. Procutus

    Procutus Admiral Admiral

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    Of course, now John will think that Cam offed Riley.
     
  4. Procutus

    Procutus Admiral Admiral

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    Future John would have her run around naked.


    :devil:
     
  5. Brent

    Brent Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, hrm, ok
     
  6. SG-17

    SG-17 Commodore Commodore

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    Well....
     
  7. Tim

    Tim Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Wow...Jesse is one cold bitch.

    A slow start, but the return of Cameron's glitch, the surprise ending, and Cameron's thoughts of self-termination mirroring Riley's suicide attempt warranted an above average rating . I do hope we get some more oomph in the following episodes, though it does seem that the show is rebuilding momentum.

    Did anyone else catch the 2001 homage when Cameron is self-diagnosing and the circuit traces flash on her HUD? It's just like when Frank and Dave are testing the non-faulty AE-35 unit with HAL. Indeed, Cam is looking more and more HAL-like with her returning glitches.
     
  8. Meredith

    Meredith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Try to save the world and child services gets in the way, LOL

    The 2nd Amendment, the only thing that stands between us and a death from the machines!
     
  9. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    Well that was better than recent episodes; suddenly we're transported back to Early Season Two! Still not amazing though. Still no Terminator action :p I had been spoiled someone would die in the final batch of episodes, but man it really seemed obvious that Riley was gonna bite it here, just a question of who would do it. Nice to see more focus on Cameron. ... Actually I was hoping that JOHN would be the one to get killed, because who would see THAT coming? :D And then they have to time-travel to an alternate past (like the way Derek is from a different future than Kendra Shaw) to get a different young John Conner. One less douchey :p
     
  10. MeanJoePhaser

    MeanJoePhaser Admiral

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    The Connors are kinda jerks.

    Sarah's dealings with Riley's foster father.

    Then John's smug "I'll make my own sandwich".

    Jesse may be a bitch, but Jesse, you can always sell any dream to me.
     
  11. LutherSloan

    LutherSloan Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I gave it an Average.

    I have to say that especially after this episode, I'm praising the Lord that Riley is finally gone. She had gotten so whiny recently.

    Too much filler in this episode. Derek off on some vague mission that seems like it was thrown in at the last minute, and serves almost no purpose. Of course now Derek is going to get REALLY suspicious of Jesse now, since she blew off an operation like that for no reason. My guess is that in the end, Derek is going to be the one who convinces everybody else that Cameron is not the problem here, it's Jesse. Only he knows enough of the truth. Both Sarah and John have too many suspicions based on Cameron's past history to believe that she wouldn't do this. Clearly, since this episode ended with John finding the dead bird, John is not going to believe Cameron.

    I really didn't find this episode to be much of an improvement from last week. If anything last week might have been slightly better because of the twists and turns. Watching last week's episode didn't make me want to do something else, which this week's one did. Unfortunately not even the Jesse/Riley death struggle at the end was enough to save this. It does stop it from becoming below average, but that's all.

    I also thought that line from John about 'you're not designed to fight other machines' to Cameron was odd. Isn't that what she has been doing the entire series? She seems to have held up pretty well until now. I think that was a big mistake on the writer's part.
     
  12. Tim

    Tim Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Not really. When it comes to strict hand-to-hand combat, she's barely escaped getting the tar beaten out of her. She's generally had to rely on strategy to win as opposed to brute strength. Think of "Alpine Fields," in which she and the other terminator are at it in the woods for hours.
     
  13. Roshi

    Roshi Admiral Admiral

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    So Riley is finally dead! That alone deserves an "Excellent"!
    Voted "Above Average" though.
     
  14. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    I don't think the writers bothered to even check the laws when they wrote that scene. Nobody needs a carry permit to keep a gun in their own home.
     
  15. dru

    dru Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The question Jesse posed to Sarah was about a "concealed carry" permit and not just gun ownership. Try to pay attention before dissing the writers. :p
     
  16. witchie

    witchie Commodore Commodore

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    Seriously. I was so happy to see her go, and she went out fighting. Hooray! I wanted her to kill that Jesse bitch, though. Oh, well. One down, one to go. :devil:
     
  17. cb31

    cb31 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I agree with you, I don't care for Jesse and am keeping my fingers crossed that she bites it in the next couple episodes! I also thought it was rather slow so I gave it and average.
     
  18. hyzmarca

    hyzmarca Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    John, Sarah, and Cameron all come out like total idiots in this one. Reilly knows about Judgement Day and is violently emotional about it. Sarah thinks John told her. John knows he didn't tell her. Neither thinks that she could be from the future? Reilly is extremely afraid of Cameron, who isn't particularly large or muscular. Reilly could probably take her in an actual fight, except for the fact that she's a terminator. Neither John nor Cameron suspects that she knows what a terminator is because she comes from the future. And Cameron suspects that Reilly saw her arm, but Reilly isn't particularly freeked out about it and doesn't ask about it, which again points to Reilly knowing what a terminator is. Yet Cameron doesn't put two and two together. And, of course, Sarah meets with the fakest guidence counceller in the history of fake guidence councillers and isn't even slightly suspisious. The entire cover is so week that Big Bird could tear it to shreds. What school guidence counceller meets with a kid who isn't even going to that school and the parent of a kid who isn't going to that school? She was even using an obviously fake accent to hide her Australian accent. Come on Sarah, you can't be that daft.
     
  19. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    ^^ That is a good point. As I watched the ep I was just thinking they were assuming that she overheard them talking about the future at some point (which is very plausible), but you're absolutely right about being afraid of Cameron. Unless they overheard them talking about Cameron's true nature... I dunno...
     
  20. Wouter2

    Wouter2 Captain Captain

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    Not at all. Cameron has been pressed into service for a mission she wasn't designed for - fighting other Terminators. Which is why she quite often gets her ass handed to her by Terminators like Carter, the nuclear plant T and the one from Alpine Fields. Cameron often wins in the end, because she receives help from the Connors and/or because she is getting experienced in this and often uses her surroundings to her advantage.

    It's quite clear what Cameron was designed for: infiltration and then assassination (of humans). She's probably smarter, and more able to integrate in human society, than your average T888. But designed to fight other Terminators? The T1000 and T-X, those are designed to wipe the floor with T8xx models and such. But Cameron? She can be happy if she can reach a draw against a T888.

    It's Riley, not Reilly (that's the last name of a FOX executive who asked Riley to be introduced earlier).
    Sarah didn't believe John. Cameron very likely wasn't told, as John would not want her to kill Riley. And John - I think he knows, pretty much. Maybe not that she is from the future, but that she knows about Judgment Day. He was asking Riley to confess, waiting for her to say what was up, but a pity she didn't want to. Contrary to most apparently, I came to like Riley from the moment she fended Cromartie off and the scenes where she arrived in the present were beautiful. I would have liked her to stay in the series a while longer. Attacking Jesse was brave, but stupid.

    Cameron had already freaked her out at other times, though. She was also making direct threats to Riley. And she's armed - Cameron knows Riley is aware of the guns used by the Connors, and she usually has a Glock 9mm with her. To anyone who doesn't know about Terminators, Cameron is also acting like a freak and lunatic at times, someone who might do anything. And Cameron herself can't always predict how people behave, as she is still awkward in human interactions.

    This episode may have been rather slow, but what is wrong with that? I liked it very much. No explosions were involved, but surely things really came to a head in this episode - and now Jesse will attempt to blame Cameron for Riley's death. I don't think John was an ass in this one - he was trying to help both Riley and Cameron. Nor was Sarah - she was just trying to find out what was the deal with Riley, and John's hypothesis on her foster dad was a reasonable path to follow.

    The description for this episode promised more glitches for Cameron, but she only seemed to have mechanical difficulties this time (though the second bird was disturbing - and John realised she clearly is not "fixed"). I got the impression the other "glitch" was that she didn't kill Riley when she normally would have done so without hesitation (like Enrique) - which was not a bad thing at all. Is Cameron developping a sort of conscience?
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2009