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.