1X07 The Demon Hand

[Erika]

Talk about The Demon Hand here!

[Erika]

So tonight's episode was great. I really loved how they portrayed Sarah's character. In John's eyes - he saw her fall from grace when she signed away her parental rights and we had a flip side of things, we saw Silberman, the man who spent years calling Sarah loony turn into a madman himself and proclaim Sarah to be a prophet. Ellison who believed Sarah to be dead saved him from burning to death in the flames of hell.

I think we know how the myth of Sarah Connor begins... the woman who will become a legend.

I loved Ellison in this episode - he held the proof in his hand but still couldn't 100% reconcile with what it meant, what his vision in the fire meant. However that pause as Silberman was screaming his head off definitely showed that he's starting to believe.

Derek. Ok I don't like that he's still bleeding. I hope that Sarah gets a chance to show him where Kyle's buried to give him some sense of closure.

His antagonism w/ Cameron was great and I just LOVED the last scene w/ him watching Cameron as she gracefully danced. All of the actors on this show, even the guest stars do such an amazing job of emoting with their eyes and through their faces. Tonight I just thought Brian Austin hit the ball out of the park w/ that final parting shot. This certainly is a man who deserves a comeback career. He's more than proven that he's got real acting chops.

Summer is still just perfect as the robot. We'll see if her learning dance will make her a bit less robotic or not. Her impassiveness as she marched out of the building when Dmetri and his sister were being slaughtered...man that was just chilling. Such a sweet little girl sauntering away as she completed her mission.

Excellent episode. I thought it felt very balanced and was very well written.

I can't believe that we're at the end next week

[ReeseDN38416]

I thought the episode was only so so. I don't do well with really nostalgic episodes that give a lot of shout outs to T2. So this episode... well, Ellison's part of the episode seemed very recycled.

I loved all of Cameron and Derek's parts of the story. I enjoyed Sarah's also. I liked hearing John reminisce about going in and out of foster homes.

Silverman going crazy seems like poetic justice.

I'm sorry to see this season end.

[rossbondreturns]

Made it in finally!!!

Anyhoo.

Another very solid episode.

Thought everything was golden.

And am looking forward to the final 2 hours of Season One next week.

And if what Zack (theturk) said to me is true...it's gonna totally blow us away.

Also I'm getting a very positve vibe concerning the possiblity for renewal from the things I've read today.

[Big Brother]

Awesome ep. Loved seeing Cameron rockin' the mirrorshades in a cop uniform and channelling Robert Patrick. Loved seeing her dance.

Poor Agent Ellison. As the man with the most dignity and gravitas in this series, he is probably gonna get tied to a chair and tortured a lot, sadly.

One big technobabble goof, though. Wrecking a turbine at a power plant is the worst way to shut off power to the police station. That's exactly the sort of problem that automated switching systems will re-route around in less than a second. The lights at the cop station would barely flicker. She should have taking out the switching substation, not the generator. Or better yet, the power lines very near the station itself, give the power company nothing to reroute around.

Oh, and a minor one. Sticking her hand into the rotor would subject it to forces at least an order of magnitude more powerful than the ones that ripped off Vick's T-888 hand during the truck chase. Unless Cameron's model has far more structual strength than a T-888, she should have lost her hand too. Even then, kiss all the flesh on that hand goodbye, plus the glove she was wearing.

[Derek Reese]

These last two episodes have been really defining.

Wasn't so much into Cameron's arc, but in the case of Derek and John's talk, it's really getting to the cores of the characters.

With the doctor. I can honestly say I prefer this approach as opposed to what they did in T3. A much better move on the writer's part and so very foreshadowing.

[ReeseDN38416]

OK… last night I watched the show at 11pm after I got home. I was a tad disappointed and very tired. Now I want to give a more detailed account how I experienced “Demon Hand.” It was so-so. It felt very recycled at times. There was another episode earlier in the season that made me feel that way but then redeemed itself at the end. I think it was the second half of the Pilot episode. John’s issue with Sarah seemed a little contrived. I can see him being hurt by it BEFORE the events of Terminator 2 but after the Hell she’s been thorough for him since then? I don’t see it being such a big issue. It seems like John would just ask Sarah about it.

I loved Cameron-as-Cop. It reminded me a bit of Robert Patrick’s Terminator, a bit of Kristianna Loken’s Terminator. It was fabulous. I love the costume design in general for this show. Yum. Anyway… Cameron’s part of the plot was the strongest of this episode. Her mannerisms, the way she’d watch the humans. It was just a delight to see her on a mission. Summer Glau got to showcase her beautiful dancing skills. So lovely. It seemed that there wasn’t a lot of dialogue in the episode but a LOT of behavior. So much fun to watch.

The power shift between the dance instructor and Cameron was wonderful. I thought it was hilarious that the instructor called Cameron’s dancing, “mechanical.” LOL! It was chilling when Cameron left them to die. It reminded me of when Arnold in T2 said that 65 was the vehicle’s top speed near the end.

I enjoyed her confrontation with Derek. Cameron eats. She ate a piece of pancake. I never understood the people who said she didn’t eat the chip. What is the point of “pretending” to eat? The Derek/Cameron dynamic is so intriguing. That moment at the end with Derek watching her dance, combined with the voice over of the machines becoming human… that was wonderful. It was one of the most poignant moments of the series.

It’s interesting… that Derek is so hung up on how NOT human Cameron is. At the end of Queen’s Gambit Sarah says the classic Termintor lines over Derek shooting Andy “he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.” Derek was behaving like a killing machine. And here we have Cameron behaving like a human. I’m sure, like Kyle, Derek hasn’t seen much beauty in his life. Fantastic moment. I’m not impatient to find out what’s between them. I’m content to let the story unfold. However… I’m not content to wait until Season 2 so…

“Bury me in the earth.”

When Sarah said that I thought about how she was buried in the mausoleum in T3. But then I realized that she wasn’t really buried there. The guns were there. Sorry if that spoils anyone. Anyway…

John Connor is just beautiful. While watching I was struck by the beauty of his hair and eyelashes. *zones out*

I loved Ellison rethinking Sarah Connor’s sanity. I felt a chill when Sarah called the police station and Ellison lied. It reminded me of T2 how the computer company covered up the hand and the chip.

I hated the scenes from Sarah’s video tapes. I kept seeing Linda Hamilton and… it just wasn’t the same. It didn’t have the same intensity. This is the first time I’ve been discontent with Lena’s Sarah.

Thinking back on Silberman, it sounded like there is a group of Sarah Connor believers lying low somewhere.

I felt really sad when Sarah broke into Ellison’s house. I thought that was going to be the heart breaking part of the episode, Sarah having to see herself as she was during T2. I was on the edge of my seat to see how she’d react.

Derek had a lot of wonderful character moments. When Derek was bullying John I really wanted Sarah to kick his butt. And that hint that he might hurt Charley. He’s very lucky Sarah didn’t hear that conversation. LOL!

“Go into my bedroom again I’ll bust your head.” I cheered.

I really enjoyed Sarah and Derek’s conversation later in the episode. He reassures her about John and she reassures him about Kyle. Later Derek and John have a bonding scene. I enjoyed it. John needs a strong man in his life. It was nice to see more human sides of Derek rather than just his hard, disconnected soldier side. I enjoyed hearing John talk about being a foster kid and Todd and Janelle. He really cared about them.

When I first saw John crying about the mystery video I figured Sarah was getting beaten up or having a fit and he was crying about the horrors of a mental institution. Then when I saw what the video actually was, I was expecting Sarah to go into a fury… but she didn’t. She seemed very sane when she signed John away. Sarah’s explanation that she broke out that day was odd. I thought she broke out because she found out for sure that the Terminator was back. Also, she’d tried to escape several times… whatever… great scene. Again John being so upset was a little contrived IMO. The way they resolved the issue was great. Sarah and John burning the hand together. It was another one of those scenes where nothing is said but… it’s says everything.


Gasp! Silberman drugged Ellison! I was so surprised. Then Silberman stabbed Ellison. Wow. I was only half listening to Silberman’s dogma though. I thought it was odd that Ellison would open up about the hand while still tied to a chair and at Silberman’s mercy. I was SO excited when Sarah arrived. I thought Ellison and Sarah would FINALLY meet! Making Silberman crazy… I agree with others that this was a much cooler choice than T3 (having Silberman in denial). Having Sarah punch and forgive Silberman was funny but it would have been even better if we’d seen this Silberman being really nasty to her. I was so disappointed when Sarah and Ellison didn’t meet. The shot at the end through the fire was cool… “Come with me if you want to live” but… *sigh*

The last scene of the episode was beautiful. So beautiful. I expected Derek to go into a flashback. Because of some fan speculation I thought flashback whenever the piano music played. I wonder if that moment will mellow Derek out some.

Well, there were so many wonderful moments in the episode. It wasn’t BAD. But it wasn’t GREAT. It was alright. Visually it was amazing. I loved how without words so many of the scenes said so much. I loved a lot of the character moments: Cameron and the Russians, Sarah/John/Derek, Cameron/Derek… they were great.

However, the build up of the tape was disappointing. John’s issue with Sarah seemed contrived. Some of the footage of Sarah in the state facility seemed recycled and left me wishing for Linda Hamilton. I don’t know. What was the “A” story? A bit underwhelming. *shrug*

[rossbondreturns]

I know this might be goofy as hell-

But I've been waiting to see that SWAT guy fall into the pool for what seems like forever lol

Gonna be meaty business come Monday

[Big Brother]

reesedn38416 said:

OK… last night I watched the show at 11pm after I got home. I was a tad disappointed and very tired. Now I want to give a more detailed account how I experienced “Demon Hand.” It was so-so. It felt very recycled at times. There was another episode earlier in the season that made me feel that way but then redeemed itself at the end. I think it was the second half of the Pilot episode. John’s issue with Sarah seemed a little contrived. I can see him being hurt by it BEFORE the events of Terminator 2 but after the Hell she’s been thorough for him since then? I don’t see it being such a big issue. It seems like John would just ask Sarah about it.

Recall that teenaged boys go through a lot of problems caused by the hormones and instinctual responses evolved to make them finally leave their parents.

reesedn38416 said:

I enjoyed her confrontation with Derek. Cameron eats. She ate a piece of pancake. I never understood the people who said she
didn’t eat the chip. What is the point of “pretending” to eat?

I have been wondering about that.

On the one hand, her living tissue should need some sort of food to stay actually living. Some sort of abbreviated digestive and circulatory system would seem to be likely.

On the other, a simple holding pouch for a couple of hastily chewed bites (to be regurgitated later) to "prove" that one is a living bein g and not a robot would seem an easily-engineered feature for robots that, after all, are designed to infiltrate and disguise themselves as humans.

reesedn38416 said:

“Bury me in the earth.”

When Sarah said that I thought about how she was buried in the mausoleum in T3. But then I realized that she wasn’t really buried there. The guns were there. Sorry if that spoils anyone. Anyway…

Yeah, I noticed that too. Recall that in T3, Ahnuld claimed that Sarah had been cremated in Mexico and her ashes scattered at sea, and the guns buried in her place in the mausoleum, "in accordance with her wishes".

Of course, T3 never happened in the TSCC timeline, so it's not really that big a goof.

reesedn38416 said:

Thinking back on Silberman, it sounded like there is a group of Sarah Connor believers lying low somewhere.

Called the Lone Gunmen? No, wait, that was Bruce Harwood, not Bruce Davison. I just kept giggling and thinking of Bruce Davison's character from the new Knight Rider series.

reesedn38416 said:

I was so disappointed when Sarah and Ellison didn’t meet. The shot at the end through the fire was cool… “Come with me if you want to live” but… *sigh*

I'm confused...DID she go in and save him, or not? If she did, neat parallel to Cameron NOT saving Dmitri and the Dance Teacher. If she didn't, is Ellison hallucinating Sarah?

reesedn38416 said:

The last scene of the episode was beautiful. So beautiful. I expected Derek to go into a flashback. Because of some fan speculation I thought flashback whenever the piano music played. I wonder if that moment will mellow Derek out some.

Lots of fans speculate that it was Cameron in the basement room with the piano playing. Everyone seems to assume it was either our Cameron pre-reprogramming, or another of her model. I suddenly think it is our Cameron...having survived Judgment Day and rejoined Skynet. Or, perhaps, having BECOME Skynet. A robotic AI with the ability to truly appreciate music and art...and still be a cold, ruthless killing machine. Very scary robot indeed.

[Derek Reese]

rossbondreturns said:

I know this might be goofy as hell-

But I've been waiting to see that SWAT guy fall into the pool for what seems like forever lol

Gonna be meaty business come Monday

Yeah, you and me both. Seems like forever getting to that point since we've seen it advertised time and time and time again.

[Big Brother]

A couple of other thoughts...

When the local FOX affiliate here in Chicago broadcast the ep, they also put up one of those overlay weather alerts at a inopportune time. The crawl about which counties in the local area were going to have snow covered up the English subtitles for the first exchange in Russian between the Dance instructor and the mobster. I actually thought for a moment that they couldn't be possibly stupid enough to cover up subtitles, so there must be no subtitles, as if the filmmakers wanted us to not know, but rather have to guess, what was being said. Or perhaps they assumed the audience was smart enough to speak fluent Russian. Luckily the ep is now up on HULU and I got to see the subtitles after all.

Sigh. Due to being outvoted by those in my household who wanted to watch and tape "A Raisin in the Sun" starring Puff Daddy or P.Diddy or whatever he's calling himself this week, I wasn't able to tape the ep on VHS (although I was able to watch it on a secondary TV, my secondary VCR is dead). One more reason to love Hulu. But the eps won't be on Hulu forever, and the first three are apparently already gone. Anyone know if they plan to rerun the eps on FX or USA or something?

When Sarah and Derek are having that nice chat about where Kyle is buried, anyone else find it odd that Sarah casually mentions that John isn't answering his cellphone, but seems utterly unconcerned about the future savior of mankind, who is known to be targeted for death by multiple robotic assassins from the future, and whose protection is her main purpose in life, is suddenly missing and out of communication? Why didn't the scene go like this?

SARAH: John isn't answering his cellphone.
DEREK: What?!?!? I'll get the guns.
SARAH: I'll call Cameron and tell her to drop the ballerina stakeout and meet us at John's last known location.
They head off to find out what happened to John. They find him safe and sound and moping at the mall.
JOHN: Um, Mom? Why are you running up to me at the mall with a shotgun in your hands?
SARAH: John, I don't care how mad at me you are or how carbonated your teenage hormones get, you can NEVER, EVER, not answer your cellphone unless you are in mortal danger.
Derek slaps him upside the head.
DEREK: Listen to your mother, kid....

[ReeseDN38416]

bigbrother said:

Recall that teenaged boys go through a lot of problems caused by the hormones and instinctual responses evolved to make them finally leave their parents.

True... lol.

About Cameron eating, I like the idea of nourishing the living tissue. I always thought of T1 and how Sarah thought the Terminator was not a robot because she could see him breathing. Eating just takes it a step further.

I forgot that they had Sarah cremated. LOL! True it's on a different timeline... She could change her mind by the time she dies I suppose.

bigbrother said:

Called the Lone Gunmen?

LOL!

bigbrother said:

I'm confused...DID she go in and save him, or not? If she did, neat parallel to Cameron NOT saving Dmitri and the Dance Teacher. If she didn't, is Ellison hallucinating Sarah?

She did go in. But I suppose Ellison was losing consciousness when she did.

bigbrother said:

When Sarah and Derek are having that nice chat about where Kyle is buried, anyone else find it odd that Sarah casually mentions that John isn't answering his cellphone, but seems utterly unconcerned about the future savior of mankind, who is known to be targeted for death by multiple robotic assassins from the future, and whose protection is her main purpose in life, is suddenly missing and out of communication? Why didn't the scene go like this?

SARAH: John isn't answering his cellphone.
DEREK: What?!?!? I'll get the guns.
SARAH: I'll call Cameron and tell her to drop the ballerina stakeout and meet us at John's last known location.
They head off to find out what happened to John. They find him safe and sound and moping at the mall.
JOHN: Um, Mom? Why are you running up to me at the mall with a shotgun in your hands?
SARAH: John, I don't care how mad at me you are or how carbonated your teenage hormones get, you can NEVER, EVER, not answer your cellphone unless you are in mortal danger.
Derek slaps him upside the head.
DEREK: Listen to your mother, kid....

Ha! Karma for that.

[Erika]

Sarah was definitely there - because Ellison was close to passing out and he was still convinced that Sarah was dead he didn't believe that she was really alive. It was that pause in the hallway when he was leaving Silberman locked up though that you can tell he was starting to believe.

She was the hand of god reaching down to pull him out of the fiery pit of hell. How the hell does a man who believes in the teachings of God reconcile with the idea that the woman who he has pursued as a criminal might in fact be a living messiah or saint?

[Big Brother]

admin said:

Sarah was definitely there - because Ellison was close to passing out and he was still convinced that Sarah was dead he didn't believe that she was really alive. It was that pause in the hallway when he was leaving Silberman locked up though that you can tell he was starting to believe.

About he robots, or about Sarah being alive?

admin said:

She was the hand of god reaching down to pull him out of the fiery pit of hell. How the hell does a man who believes in the teachings of God reconcile with the idea that the woman who he has pursued as a criminal might in fact be a living messiah or saint?

If he had any respect for logic or consistency, he wouldn't believe in God in the first place.

Being a bit more charitable to those who still believe in Santa For Grownups^tm, I could almost buy (in this fictional universe at least) the idea that she will eventually be recognized as a saint. I can name several saints who did worse stuff than her murder, arson, theft, and fraud. A few who were even sainted FOR doing worse. But Messiah? Not even John really qualifies.

[rossbondreturns]

I think he was starting to believe all of the above.

Sarah being alive...and the Robots being real.

Or as Charlie puts it- "Scary Robots."