Plot
We find out where Cameron goes at night when she doesn't sleep. She goes to a library and educates herself on various random subjects, and has befriended the graduate student who oversees it at night. A chance picture in an old newspaper puts her and her friend Eric on the trail of a Terminator who appears to have been up to mysterious activities in LA during the Roaring Twenties.
Meanwhile, Riley manipulates John into going to a teenage party with her.
Tropes
- Affably Evil: Stark was known in 1920s LA for being very honest and generous to his employees, and lacking any kind of ethnic bigotry or snobbery.
- Celebrity Paradox: Averted, the Governor of California who is Stark's target is specifically not Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Cameron.
- Death Glare: Cameron is surprised when Sarah orders her to do laundry, however when John gets out of it by having her do it she is pissed.
- Disproportionate Retribution: John savagely beats the host of the party when he tries to search Riley for his missing lighter.
- Doom Magnet: John expresses his reluctance to start a relationship with Riley given the bad things that happen to people who associate with him, specifically Michelle Dixon's death.
- Driven to Suicide : Discussed. Cameron asks Eric if he ever considers killing himself, because there's something "wrong" with him. He's understandably furious, and says he would never hurt his family and friends that way. Later, when Cameron tells him his cancer has returned, he's not at the library the next time she goes. It's implied that he might have killed himself. Another interpretation is that he took some time off to get his cancer treated.
- Food as Bribe: Cameron gets into the library overnight when it's meant to be closed by bringing donuts for the staff.
- Frat Bro: The party is thrown by an obnoxious one.
- Historical Domain Character: Rudolph Valentino makes a brief cameo appearance.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Cameron tracks down and kills Stark seemingly just for the sake of it, since he was no threat to John. She killed Stark because any trace of the Terminators left behind can alter future technology, and has to be destroyed.
- Stark was supposed to show up December 31, 2010, to assassinate the Governor of California (see Celebrity Paradox above), but he showed up on the wrong night. He accidentally killed the person who was supposed to build Pico Tower, and instead had to build it himself. It's implied that the assassination of the governor would be one of the things that sets off Judgment Day a few months later.
- Lift of Doom: Cameron crushes Stark between an elevator and its landing, before cutting his chip out.
- Make-Out Point: After the party, John and Riley go to one and make out.
- Mandatory Line: Sarah only appears in the very first scene.
- Mundane Utility: Sarah puts Cameron to work doing laundry. Needless to say the latter is not pleased.
- No Social Skills: Eric finally gets infuriated with Cameron seemingly using him without showing any real warmth to him. She tries to make it up to him by telling him that his cancer has returned, but does so in such a brutal way that it infuriates him even more.
- John is also really uncomfortable at the party, and doesn't relate at all to his peers.
- The Roaring '20s : Stark arrived in this period.
- Shout-Out:
- To Schwarzenegger. A Terminator arrived in California and went to work in the construction business...Just like Ah-nold himself.
- John and Riley play the computer game Gears of War at the party.
- Sticky Fingers: Riley steals the party host's lighter because, as she says, she likes shiny things.
- Tricked Out Time: It turns out that Stark, the Terminator, arrived in 1920 due to a time-travel error, and a fire that the discharge from his time-bubble started accidentally killed the man who would have built the tower where he planned to assassinate the Governor of California in 2010. His later activities were designed to make sure that the tower was actually built.
- Trauma Button : A combination of feeling uncomfortable at a party where Riley is flirting with another boy (who's also a dick), a violent video game, and a confrontation with the boy when Riley steals his lighter leads John to attack the boy (see Disproportionate Retribution). By this time, it's revealed that John killed Sarkissian and his fight with the boy recalls that one.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Riley lures John to the party by pretending to need rescuing from a non-existent creepy dude.
