Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles proved yet again this week why I think it is the best show on television right now. After seeing the first season, I wasn’t sure the show would really develop the way I would like, but I was wrong. Not only does the show never lack in action, but it also has developed a compelling overarching plot that weaves its way through each episode. At the same time, each episode is also its own contained story.

This week’s episode, “Goodby to All That” was an excellent example of how the show has continued to evolve emotionally. The characters, that seemed somewhat wooden in the first season, have shown a wide range of emotional states leading to some rather compelling episodes like tonight’s. Each Cameron, John Conner’s personal Terminator bodyguard, has shown evidence of emotional development and, as much as it is completely counterintuitive, I really like it.

The fifth episode of the seaosn focused primarily on John, Sarah and Reese. Early on, the guys learn that a Terminator has been sent back to kill a teenager that will become one of John’s cohorts in the future. Like the orginal Terminator movie, the machine uses the phone book to systematically kill off all of the males in Los Angeles with same name as John’s friend Martin. The Terminator has already killed one of the three, so John and Reese set off the protect the real Martin, while Sarah and Cameron rescue the other Martin, who is just a child.

Sarah’s time with the child gives her a chance to reflect on her role as a mother. Meanwhile, Reese is forced to relive Martin’s actual death in the future as they ensare and destroy the Terminator at Martin’s military academy. The events of the episode force all of the characters to work through difficult situations and question their destinies.

One thing that I really liked was how they combined the scene of Sarah reading The Wizard of Oz and the battle with the Terminator. It worked really well and poetically symbolized their fight to save mankind. I also thought it was pretty cool that Agent Ellison finally, though inadvertently, discovered that Sarah is alive while investigating the events that went down at the power plant from a couple episodes ago. However, I can’t help but think that the writer’s have set Ellison up for a fall by putting him in the employment of a Terminator.

Overall, the fifth episode was fantastic. It has helped to prove what an original and compelling drama the show can be. But we need your help! The show has not received stellar ratings and is in danger of being pulled from Fox’s lineup. If you are a fan, now is the time to get your friends watching too.

The third episode of Heroes, entitled “One of Us, One of Them” aired yesterday on NBC and I thought it was fantastic. The two part season premiere that aired last week was very fast paced with very short scenes and incorporated almost all of the major characters. The episodes were both exciting and enjoyable, but weren’t amazing. I thought this week’s episode was a considerable improvement.

The finale of season two left a lot of loose ends and I think the writers tried to tie them all up as quickly as possible in the premiere. The writers are obviously ready to take the show in a new direction and they started pushing those changes immediately last week. So between wrapping up the loose ends and pushing the new ideas at such as fast pace, the episodes suffered. Many of the characters seemed to change drastically or were immediately thrown into new situations. Mohinder and Maya was just weird and disconcerting.

I had started to worry that things were going amiss, but yesterday’s episode has quelled my fears significantly. The first week left me reeling a little, but I am beginning to think it actually did a pretty good job to set the stage for this season’s plot line. The third episode slowed things down and gave more time to individual characters. Other characters were ignored completely. I think this approach is crucial, because when the writers try to factor in every character, the episodes are just insane.

The episode started back in Sylar’s cell in Level 5 with Angela Petrelli revealing that she is his mother. I thought this scene came off a lot better with extended dialog. It had already been speculated that Angela was Sylar’s mother, so the revelation at the end of the premiere didn’t end up being much of a cliffhanger for me. In fact, I thought it was just kind of lame, but I like how the third episode began to play things out. Angela starts by leaving Sylar some “food” and we see just how nasty she can be. I mean, what a bitch!

Sylar is assigned to be Mr. Bennet’s partner as they attempt to track down the escaped prisoners from Level 5. Obviously this works out for Sylar, because he’ll have the chance to steal powers from some of the most dangerous villains in the world. I really liked how Bennet baited Sylar into helping bring them down, but it was not surprise that Sylar stole one of their powers. What was surprising was that he was willing to go back to Level 5 when they were down.

During the confrontation, future Peter shows up and removes present Peter from the body he is trapped inside and promptly whisks him away to the future. To be honest I’m getting a little tired of all the time travel. Does there always have to be some impending disaster that the heroes are trying to stop? We did that for the first two seasons and I’m ready for something different. It will probably work well enough, but I think the writers might try to be a little more creative next time around.

We also saw Hiro and Ando continue to track down the speedster Daphne. This plotline is nice because it brings some fun and humor to an otherwise somber show. It look forward to seeing more of this plot line.

And thankfully, we saw the whole Nikki/Tracy situation laid to rest. Literally. Tracy actually shows up at Nikki’s funeral and bumps into Micah. Seriously awkward. Through Micah, Tracy finds out that she is Nikki’s sister and track’s down the doctor that birthed them, or in his words “created them.”

Overall, I thought the third episode was the strongest of this season. It was very dramatic and enjoyable. I really like seeing expanded segments for each character, so the slightly slower pace seemed to work a lot better. I’m really looking forward to next week.

The fourth episode of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles was entitled “Allison from Palmdale” and was centered around Cameron. In this episode, Cameron randomly forgot her identity and began to remember her life before she was a Terminator, or maybe it’s more accurate to say, the life of the woman that was used to create her model. This was a really powerful and dramatic episode and I thought it was great.

As Cameron began to relive these memories, she also began to take on the personality and emotions of Allison, the girl who was captured by the machines in the future and was used to create Cameron’s model. I found it very compelling to see Cameron convey these powerful emotions.

On the other hand, it was also somewhat confusing, because it was difficult to comprehend how Cameron was able to have these memories that belonged to Allison. It became even more strange, but no less dramatic, when Cameron’s memories of Allison crossed paths with her own memories and switched back. At some point she stop reliving these memories of Allison’s imprisonment through the eyes of Allison and, instead, began reliving them through her own.

Meanwhile, Sarah has had to take the pregnant neighbor girl to the hospital and we are subjected with a number of symbolic, yet typical, allegories between her hopes and fears as a mother and Sarah’s. The scenes helped reinforce Sarah’s character, but didn’t bring much else to the table.

By the end of the episode, Cameron has become fully engulfed in the memory and nearly kills an innocent girl as she relives killing Allison. John storms in just too late to stop Cameron, but luckily the girl survived. At that moment, Cameron seems to come back into her own and flees the scene with John.

To sum up my thoughts, this episode was awesome. I really liked how the story alternated between the present day and the future. It created a really cohesive parallel story arch that I thought worked perfectly. I’ve been intrigued by Cameron’s character since the start of the show and I really like when the plot allows for her to show emotion. It makes her character more than just a Terminator, more than a killing machine, and think that is a crucial piece in the evolution of the series.