"I don't swim."

[timstuff]

Is it just me, or when Cameron said this line in 203, was there more to it than her simply telling John she couldn't jump in and help him out of the water? The way John had been treating her earlier in the episode had been downright mean and immature, and I think that Cameron may have, in her own way, had her feelings hurt. I got the feeling that she was mad at John, and saying "I don't swim" was her way of saying "This time, you can get yourself out of this mess."

I know, I might be reading too deeply into it, but I thought it was kind of interesting and wanted to share. Perhaps the old adage "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" holds true even for cyborgs.

[Deep Art Frummy]

Actually, you're not the only one who thought it was more than just words.

As you said, the way she expressed it came off as if she was really irratated with him.

[richardstevenhack]

Well, she has a need to protect him, and he screwed that up. Plus the fact that he was able to means that Sarah will be mean to her as well for letting him out of her sight.

So she had good reason to be as "irritated" as a Terminator can get.

It's kind of a problem for her. She's programmed to (and according to my theory has a "personal interest" in) protect him. Yet she can't because he runs away. That would produce a "negative feedback loop" in any machine, leaving her confused and "disgruntled".

What I thought was really stupid was his trying to run away from her at all. She's a Terminator! Tracking people is what they do! I never did figure out how she managed to get in front of their car in episode one after they turned a couple corners, then as a result of a block in the road managed to go down into the storm drains! How the hell did she limp directly in front of them when even THEY didn't know where they were going? That was damn good tracking, girl!

[traitorsgate]

Sept 28, 2008 4:32:48 GMT -5 @richardstevenhack said:

Well, she has a need to protect him, and he screwed that up.

Does she have a need? Certainly it's part of her programing but what would have happened if Cromartie hadn't been so hopelessly inept, and been able to drag that scrawny little kid to the bottom? I suspect the experience would have been akin to an epiphany for Cameron as she would have realised that being free of the shackles of wet nursing the Connors, John in particular didn't mean the end of her own existence. The more time she spends being self-aware the more obvious it will become to her that she doesn't need the Connors.

[aceplace57]

Cameron could have jumped into the water and walked out just like Cromartie. But, she choose not to. I agree it could have been irritation with John.

We don't know how long it took Cromartie to walk out. It looked much later that day when he was on the beach. Cameron may have thought that she'd be more effective waiting for John to come out of the water.

[rossbondreturns]

And something tells me that Cromartie was doing more than just watching the fishes.

Water may seem safe...but I have a feeling something is being set up.

[traitorsgate]

Sept 28, 2008 14:23:13 GMT -5 rossbondreturns said:

And something tells me that Cromartie was doing more than just watching the fishes.

Water may seem safe...but I have a feeling something is being set up.

Err what? Surely their not going to try and show us yet another way of easily stopping a bot it it's tracks by dousing it with water. It's bad enough that the show has already implied that all you need is a tazer and a pair of pliers to stop a bot dead in it's tracks. Keep heading down this path and we'll have Derek threatening Cameron with a bottle of shampoo - "It's Bath time Cameron".

[rossbondreturns]

No I'm saying that Water is NO IMPEDIMENT to Terminators.

I'm saying that water is NOT SAFE as a place to escape to,

[richardstevenhack]

The reason she didn't jump into the water is that she would have sunk like Cromartie. That wouldn't allow her to help John at all. SHE would just drag him down. That's why he said, "I just figured that out!".

On top of that. she then probably would have had to fight Cromartie underwater!

Not a good idea.

I don't think Cameron is programmed to protect the Connors at all. She's protecting them because she needs John to protect HER in present time until she can learn to hide more effectively among humans and also to deal with derailing the future where she has no future except eventual deactivation when the humans beat Skynet. This need may translate into some Terminator equivalent of an "emotional bond". Humans bond for exactly the same reasons - evolution has selected for species that bond. It's a survival advantage. Cameron is in exactly the same boat. Humans hate her in the future and would destroy her in the present if they knew about her. But not all humans - some, especially John, would not. So she came back to be with John because as far as she knows, he and he alone would be both willing and able to protect her and also to assist her in assimilating into past human society.

Also, if stopping Skynet fails, having been John's protector in the past will assist her in surviving human hatred in the new future time line.

Now, if someone else - another human - came along who had an equal knowledge of her existence and an equal or greater ability to protect and train her to survive in present time, I think she might be persuaded to dump the Connors.

But until that happens, she's stuck with them - which, given Sarah's emotional state, Reese's hatred of her, and John's ambivalence, must be really "irritating" in the sense of consuming a considerable amount of her CPU processing.

That's probably what she meant when she told Sarah in the nuclear plant, "I'm thinking about what I should do."

[richardstevenhack]

"It's Bath Time, Cameron"!

That was funny.

Do Terminators shower? ;D ;D ;D

If Kyle was right about sweat, they'd better. In the future, it wouldn't matter because it looks like nobody showers then except maybe at Resistance HQ. In the past, trust me - it matters! ;D ;D ;D

[timstuff]

Sept 28, 2008 20:44:27 GMT -5 @richardstevenhack said:

"It's Bath Time, Cameron"

Do Terminators shower? ;D ;D ;D

If Kyle was right about sweat, they'd better. In the future, it wouldn't matter because it looks like nobody showers then except maybe at Resistance HQ. In the past, trust me - it matters! ;D ;D ;D

"A Cameron Phillips shower scene is inevitable."

[driftlight23]

Does anyone see the parallels between Cameron and the Turk both slowing down and 'thinking what to do ' - ie more processing, less immediate output, and also their nascent attempts at humour?

I'm also intrigued by Cameron's increased use of her bare feet to sense things.

Now, if someone else - another human - came along who had an equal knowledge of her existence and an equal or greater ability to protect and train her to survive in present time, I think she might be persuaded to dump the Connors.

Kind of like the way cats go with whoever feeds them?

[timstuff]

Oct 22, 2008 7:22:08 GMT -5 driftlight23 said:

I'm also intrigued by Cameron's increased use of her bare feet to sense things.

I certainly won't complain about the presence of Cameron foot fanservice. And I'm not even a foot guy. ;D

[tom]

Oct 22, 2008 7:52:23 GMT -5 timstuff said:

Oct 22, 2008 7:22:08 GMT -5 driftlight23 said:

I'm also intrigued by Cameron's increased use of her bare feet to sense things.

I certainly won't complain about the presence of Cameron foot fanservice. And I'm not even a foot guy. ;D

Maybe she was bored and wanted to show off her mad measuring skills.

And about the Bath Time- How do you imagine a terminator smells like?
(Dogs can distinguish apparently.)

[timstuff]

Oct 28, 2008 13:40:13 GMT -5 tom said:

Oct 22, 2008 7:52:23 GMT -5 timstuff said:

I certainly won't complain about the presence of Cameron foot fanservice. And I'm not even a foot guy. ;D

Maybe she was bored and wanted to show off her mad measuring skills.

And about the Bath Time- How do you imagine a terminator smells like?
(Dogs can distinguish apparently.)

I imagine that Cameron smells like either roses, strawberries, or lavender.

Err... That is to say, I don't think dogs identify Terminators by smell, but by sound. All of the movements of their motors and such may not be audible to the human ear, but they probably drive dogs crazy. If it's a 1000 unit, they probably have no smell at all, which would also be confusing / frustrating to a dog.