Plot
The episode starts with a young woman racing through the rubble. Cut to John dropping Cameron off at the grocery store. In a series of flashbacks, we see a young woman with Cameron's appearance giving the name "Allison Young" to a faceless interrogator.
Sarah takes Casey to the hospital when the latter is having pain and bleeding.
Cameron has a fit in the store and the police take her to a holding cell, where she meets a young street urchin named Jody. John arrives too late and has to track Cameron down in the neighborhood.
Ellison meets with Catherine Weaver, whose job offer is still on the table. Weaver reveals her husband was a helicopter pilot. He died in a crash two years ago on a flight to a microchip plant in Barstow. It's left open-ended whether the real Weaver also died in the crash and was replaced.
Tropes
- Arc Words: "I got it at this awesome thrift store in Echo Park."
- Becoming the Mask : Cameron's short circuit brings out the Allison Young persona.
- Blatant Lies : Sarah's story about John's birth in the jungle.
- Break the Cutie : Allison's torture.
- Broken Bird: Jody, despite her tough facade.
- A Day in the Limelight : Cameron's back story as "Allison."
- Disappeared Dad : Sarah and Casey's baby daddies are both absent, although we do get to meet Trevor. Savannah's father died in a helicopter crash.
- Do Androids Dream? : One of the meta-themes is a contemplation on this question.
- Heroic BSoD : Cameron gets a couple.
- Identity Amnesia: Cameron suffers this due to the breakdown of her chip. She shifts over the episode from believing herself to actually be her assumed identity of "Allison Young", to her initial "kill John Connor" programming, to finally returning to her normal self after nearly killing Jody.
- I'm Not Hungry : Allison's moment of defiance when she throws a plate of food against the wall, despite being hungry.
- Neck Lift/Neck Snap: Cameron killing Allison when she realises that Allison lied about a crucial security test.
- Now I Know What to Name Him : When "Allison" calls her parents' phone number, she gives her mother the idea for her unborn daughter's name.
- Origins Episode: For Cameron.
- Scannable Man : Allison gets a bar code burnt into her skin.
- Shout-Out : Cameron's gingham dress and the baskets of fruit she knocks over in the grocery store are nods to The Wizard of Oz, according to Word of God on the DVD commentary.
- Title Drop : Under duress.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic? : The Balinese tiger metaphor is a little heavy-handed.
