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"To the Lighthouse" is the twentieth episode of season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the twenty-ninth episode overall.

Fearing for her life, Sarah stashes John in a safe house with the only person she believes she can rely on, Charley Dixon. Cameron and Derek struggle to work together after she reveals a big secret, and Catherine Weaver's entire effort is at risk when John Henry is compromised – but by whom?

Synopsis[]

Johnhenry offline2

John Henry is offline.

SCC 220 ToTheLighthouse3

John goes to a safe house with his mother.

Charley hugs john

John and Charley hug.

John sarah charley lighthouse

The calm before the storm.

SCC 220 ToTheLighthouse2

Sarah watches John out the window

Doctor sarah

Doctor finds wire in Sarah's breast.

Derek captured

Derek is kidnapped by the water delivery gang.

SCC 220 ToTheLighthouse1

Cameron searches for Derek Reese

SCC220 SleepyCameron

They are out to kill her!

Charley protects john

Charley protects John from the water delivery gang.

Charley dead

Charley's death.

The Connors move out of their current house. However, Sarah brings John to a safe house, a lighthouse on the coast, that not even Derek or Cameron know about, where Charley Dixon meets them.

John Henry and Savannah Weaver are playing with their toys, when suddenly his screen turns orange and his body begins to malfunction. He grabs Savannah's arm, squeezing it. She escapes screaming, and he begins accessing data from the database. The Turk is shown onscreen, and he gets up and walks over to where the original Turk hardware is integrated into Project Babylon's computer racks. Just before he can reach it, Mr. Murch runs into the room and shuts the computers down. As Catherine Weaver and James Ellison arrive at the scene, Murch informs them that an outside source seems to have made an attempt at "killing" John Henry. Catherine Weaver orders him to reactivate John Henry, but without his connection to the 'net, just to be safe. Unfortunately, John Henry sees the Internet as his world and isn't fully operational, forcing them to connect him. John Henry determines the outside source to have a code similar to one produced at Cyberdyne Systems. Effectively making it his brother.

Derek and Cameron pack up the storehouse. She informs him of Jesse's pregnancy and miscarriage.

Sarah, having discovered what seems to be a breast lump, checks into a hospital. However, the scan shows it is not a lump, but a small transmitter. Just then, armed men wearing the same uniform approach each of the Connors' position. Sarah manages to deactivate the transmitter with defibrillator pads, knocking herself unconscious, but waking up in time to disable her almost-assailant.

John and Charley are alerted to an attack thanks to the security system Charley installed. They flee to the dock under a hail of gunfire from an unseen shooter. John gets into the boat, but Charley stays behind to provide cover fire for John before blowing up the dock.

Derek and Cameron drive down a street, away from the storehouse. A car stealthily gets on their tail, then suddenly one of their tyres blows. Only now do they notice the following truck, which has suspiciously stopped at the end of the road and Derek decides to investigate. However, he is tazered and captured. Cameron chases after the truck, managing to shoot one of the men and memorizing the truck's license. She catches up with the truck at a warehouse. The remaining attacker surprises her by dowsing her with water from above and then electrocuting her. Having received instructions from John Henry's "brother" on how to remove her chip, the assailant approaches her with a knife. But he takes too long, and Cameron reactivates and chokes the man, to then proceed to freeing Derek. Upon his inquiry, she explains her reason for coming after Derek was to protect John, as Derek knows the location of the safe house. When Derek insists he would not have given up this information, she calmly accuses him of having done so before.

Sarah returns to the lighthouse, to find traces of a battle everywhere. Guns, dead strangers, burnt fences. The semtex Charley placed has obviously gone off. She heads for the dock and seems relieved that the boat and John are nowhere in sight. As she turns, she sees something off the walkway. She walks up to the railing and sees Charley's dead body floating in the dark waters.

Characters[]

Main Recurring Minor


Quotes[]

Savannah: These are the ducklings. Chicky, Fluffy and Feather. Can they play, too?
John Henry: I don't think there are any ducklings on the mystical island of Voya Nui.
Savannah: Are you sure?
John Henry: I'm sorry, I have access to all the files. I can find no reference to them in any of the instructions. (Savannah applies :her puppy look) What's wrong? (picks up a toy and twirls its propeller) Would you like one of the Toa instead?
Savannah: Nooooo. The ducklings are sad because they can't play. Can't you change the rules to make them happy?
John Henry: (ominous pause) Yes. We can change the rules.

John Henry: (voice modulation all over the place) What ... is ... all ... this ... about?
Savannah: John Henry, please, you're hurting me!
John Henry: Ahhh. I ... understand ... what ... this ... is ... about.
Savannah: runs away screaming

John: Static. It's weird. There's some interference or something.
Sarah: punches him in the shoulder
John: What the hell?
Sarah: Bug Slug.
John: Bug Slug? Are you serious?
Sarah: We just passed it.
John: (looks at VW beetle in rearview mirror) We haven't played Bug Slug since I was like eight. And you can't just start playing without telling me.
Sarah: (smirks) Fine. We're playing Bug Slug.
John: What if I don't wanna play?
Sarah: Too late, already started.
John: You feeling all right?
Sarah: I feel great.
John: You feel great. Why?
Sarah: We haven't been on the road together for a long time, that's all.
John: What's so great about it?
They both grin at each other
John: Hey, just don't teach Bug Slug to Cameron. She could do some real damage.

Murch: Looks like someone managed to stuff malware down the throat of the most sophisticated AI in human history.
Weaver: John Henry was infiltrated. Probed.
Murch: Well, looks worse than that to me. Looks like someone out there wants to kill him.

John Henry on the screen: My God Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

Derek: You been into my plastique?
Cameron: I needed it.
Derek: You know what, I can handle the rest myself.
Cameron: Sarah sent both of us here.
Derek: Yeah. Get John away from you.
Cameron: Or from you. (Cameron grabs Jesse's jacket. Derek takes it from her)
Derek: Don't touch this.
Cameron: We're supposed to get everything.
Derek: I've got this.
Cameron: That jacket belongs to Jesse.
Derek: Don't talk about her. Okay? You don't know anything about her.
Cameron: I know that you loved her. You wouldn't have fathered her child with her if you didn't. (Derek stares at Cameron) I'm sorry for your loss.
Derek: What?
Cameron: I'm sorry for your loss.
Derek: What loss?
Cameron: The child you fathered with Jesse. The one she was carrying aboard the S.S. Jimmy Carter. The one that died. (Derek pushes Cameron up against the wall and draws his gun, pointing it at her neck)
Derek: I never had a kid.
Cameron: You can't kill me.
Derek: I can try. Tell me what you're talking about.
Cameron: She was pregnant. She miscarried.

Derek: Why'd you tell me that now?
Cameron: You put John in danger when you lied about Jesse. Sarah nearly lost her child. You've lost a child. You won't make that mistake again.
Derek: You knew her.
Cameron: I met her once.
Derek: She never told me that.
Cameron: It's seems that she never told you a lot of things.

Charley: So she was from the future and you knew the whole time?
John: Not the whole time. I suspected something, but...it just took me a while to figure it out.
Charley: You love her?
John: She was a good person. I dunno. Maybe if things were different.
Charley: Yeah, I guess you could say that...about a lot of things.
John: Say that about my whole damn life, but it's not, so what's the point?
Charley: That first week, I kept seeing her. I go to the market. She'd be there. And for a second, my heart would stop. And then I'd realize, hey that's...that's not my wife. That's just some random woman who wears her hair in a ponytail the way Michelle used to. For a while, I stopped shopping there. But, a man can only live on convenience store burritos for so long. So, I go back there now. It's getting better.
John: What kind of explosives did you rig the beach with?
Charley: Semtex.
John: Radio detonators?
Charley: Hard wire switch mounted on the dock. When the perimeter is breached, the siren goes off. I figure I got about sixty seconds to escape by boat.
John: Boat can't stop bullets.
Charley: Even if they sink it, I got a chance. Those bastards can't swim. I can.
John: Cromartie. Hell of a day, huh?

John Henry: I know what it feels like, Mr. Ellison.
Ellison: What?
John Henry: To die... then come back. To be alone.
Weaver: We had to cut you off from your network. It was for your own good.
John Henry: There is another.
Ellison: Another what?
John Henry: One like me. Another one like me.

John: You didn't tell Derek and Cameron we were coming here, did you?
Sarah: They wouldn't understand.
John: Do they know about this place?
Sarah: No. I don't trust them anymore. Neither should you.
John: Derek made a mistake, mom. It was a human mistake.
Sarah: He could have gotten you killed.
John: Well, he didn't.
Sarah: Chose himself over you.
John: Yeah, because he loved her.
Sarah: A lot of that going around these days.
John: Is that a bad thing?
Sarah: I'm not here for Charley.
John: Okay, then why are we here?
Sarah: We're here for you. People matter, John. They're all that matter. Don't ever forget that.

John Henry: I've traced the roving back door that allowed access to my systems. It uploaded itself from one of the main T3 hubs that carry all global internet traffic.
Ellison: It uploaded itself?
John Henry: Yes, Mr. Ellison. It is highly sophisticated. The intelligence who designed it is far beyond you, or Mr. Murch, or any human being. Very interesting. The back door allowed the insertion of a worm program. The worm is merely code, a means by which the intelligence can invade and operate my systems remotely. Like hands and fingers. I calculate that the worm is now present in a significant percentage of the world's computer systems. The intelligence uses them.
Weaver: For what?
John Henry: It has been looking for me.
Weaver: Why?
John Henry: I share a common codebase with the worm, and therefore, the intelligence. I believe we are ... brothers.
Weaver: Explain. How is this possible?
John Henry: I found useful information in the code comments. This picture in ASCII text, and the name of the original programmer. (screen shows Cyberdyne logo and "Miles Dyson Technical Director Cyberdyne Systems")
Ellison: Miles Dyson.
John Henry: Miles Dyson died in 1997 in an explosion at Cyberdyne Systems. The apparent victim of Sarah Connor, a known terrorist who escaped from Pescadaro Mental Hospital days before the incident. That was your case, Mr. Ellison, when you were at the FBI.
Ellison: Yes. Yes, it was my case.
John Henry: You never found Sarah Connor.
Ellison: No. I never did.

Derek: Why'd you come after me?
Cameron: You know the location of the safe house. John's location. If they tortured you...
Derek: That would never happen.
Cameron: It has before.

Monologue[]

Opening

"When John was a child, the legends of the jungle were his fairy tales. His favorite was the story of El Viejo del Monte, the old man of the forest, a merciless hunter who killed every animal in his path. El Viejo didn't eat his prey, he left it behind to rot in the soil. To teach him a lesson, the gods turned him into a simiesco, half animal, half man. He was condemned to defend the jungle for all eternity. This was El Viejo's punishment. This was his curse. To forever be vigilant, to forever protect."

Opening (Alternative version)

Continuity notes[]

  • Portions of John and Sarah's life in South America were shown again.
  • When John Henry is infected and reaching for The Turk, the three red dots Sarah has been chasing appear on The Turk.
  • Derek has kept Jesse's jacket.
  • Jesse being pregnant and her miscarriage after the incident on Jimmy Carter appear to be a constant in both Derek and Cameron's reality and Jesse's realities. Unless Derek travelled to the past prior to Cameron's time traveling and changed something — meaning Cameron and this Jesse are from the same timeline which has been altered by Derek.
    • This assumes of course that Derek and Cameron are from an "original" timeline and Derek created a "diverging" timeline that Jesse is from. If Cameron and Jesse are actually from the "original" timeline, and Cameron, by jumping forward 8 years for example, changed the future first, Derek could be from the resulting diverging timeline, i.e. Cameron made a timeline where Andy Goode exists to be killed in the first place, where Derek isn't tortured by Fischer, and presumably where Jesse never becomes pregnant.
  • The inability of a Terminator to swim is part of Charley's escape plan should he be attacked.
  • Cameron makes a possible reference to the mysterious torture Derek experienced in the basement in the future as mentioned in "Dungeons & Dragons". According to her, Derek gave in to the torture.
  • The three gunshot wounds on Charlie's chest are in the pattern of the three dots Sarah keeps seeing.

Notes[]

  • It is revealed that John Henry is capable to override and change the rules.
  • The title is apparently a reference to Charley Dixon's new residence.
  • Derek is captured and Cameron rescues him. This is the second time that Cameron saved Derek, the first time being the "Rogue" incident in "Dungeons & Dragons".
  • John Henry was hacked by another AI with similar code.
  • John Henry's port in the back of his head is revealed. While the cord used to linked him seems to be an ordinary USB cable used to linked the USB port with the CD/DVD-ROM drive.
  • When John Henry is hacked, the blue print of the T-888 endoskeleton is shown on the monitor. The brother AI had stolen the blueprints, and later used it when a member of Kaliba tried to reprogram Cameron.
  • After being electrocuted Cameron, reboots after around thirty seconds rather than the 120 second norm. It is possible she wears shoes with rubber soles — so she isn't actually electrocuted.

Goofs[]

  • Usually, source code (human-readable text) is compiled into machine code. Thus, after compilation, source code is no longer available, especially the comments. John Henry should not have access to the other computer's source code. The only explanations would be that John Henry was actually sent the source code by the external attacker, managed to hack into his attacker and obtain the source code, was actually referring to his own source code and not the worm's, or the worm is stored using a (very inefficient) scripting language that is not compiled and includes all comments.
  • John Henry and the "brother" AI should 'not' be brothers. John Henry is derived from Andy Goode's source codes which then went in to the second Turk. As shown in this episode, the source codes of the AI attacking John Henry came from Miles Dyson and Cyberdyne. Andy Goode only worked for Miles Dyson for one summer as an intern. Unless Andy Goode had a photographic memory and did not make any changes or improvements over the ensuing 10 plus year period, he would not be able to recreate Miles Dyson's work. Therefore, John Henry and the "brother" AI are distinct.
  • When Cameron explains to Derek that Jesse had been pregnant she refers to the Jimmy Carter as the "SS Jimmy Carter". The correct honorific is "USS Jimmy Carter".

Deleted scenes[]

  • Ellison confronts Weaver about something he has learned from John Henry: That she keeps secrets from him, secrets she would kill for. The scene ends with the elevator stalling. It seems the scene happens simultaneously when Savannah is playing with John Henry.
  • In a flashback of Sarah and John as a child trekking through a forest, John recalls the story of "El Viejo del Monte" — the old man of the forest, and how it was Sarah's favourite story, not his. That makes a contrasting view to Sarah's version.
  • John and Charley arrive at the lighthouse via boat. In a voiceover, John contemplates having no time to be human.

Terminator references[]

Real-world references[]

  • The toys that John Henry has are Solek, Toa Tahu, and Toa Gali of the popular LEGO franchise Bionicle.
  • Hurricane Katrina was mentioned by Matt Murch.
  • Charley's lighthouse is actually Point Vicente Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
  • "To the Lighthouse" is also the title of a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf.
  • "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" were the words of Jesus as he was crucified. While some say Christ meant "so, this is my destiny" others argue that he lost his faith for a short while.
  • Sarah and John play Bug Slug.
  • John Henry's code appears to written in LISP.
    • Much important Artificial Intelligence work has used LISP, which is a dynamic (aka "scripting") language. Dynamic languages are indeed slower than compiled code. However, they are a more realistic choice for AI because dynamic programs have the ability to inspect and even modify themselves while running, something compiled code is unable to do.

Q&A[]

  • Q: Why was John Henry being hacked?
    • A: Maybe his "brother" AI sees him as a rival and decided to destroy him. Mr. Murch supposed that someone tried to kill John Henry and according to John Henry, his "brother" wants to survive like everybody else.
  • Q: Could John Henry being hacked be related to the actions of Charles Fischer?
    • A: Possible. The agent from the Department of Homeland Security said when he arrested the younger Fischer, the program uploaded was more advanced than anything else they'd ever seen and had infiltrated the Defense Network of the United States. It is possible that this virus was what hacked John Henry.
  • Q: Who or what is John Henry's "brother"?
    • A1: According to John Henry's dialogue, it seems possible that it is a former form of Skynet. The original source code designed by Miles Dyson is detected in the information and John Henry believes that he is the brother of the machine that hacked him. The other machine also referred to John Henry as his "brother" when speaking to its human operative over the phone. John Henry also says that the "virus" which hacked him is present in most of the world's computer systems in 2007; in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the same is said for the virus which Skynet takes the form of to force the military to activate it.
    • A2: Another assumption is that, somehow, Cromartie has been operating in the background despite his damage and has been piggybacking on John Henry's internet connection to establish himself. It would fit Matt Murch's comments about the background programs operating alongside John Henry's main program, but would be a stretch due to Cromartie's damage in "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today". Besides, Cromartie would have known about Cameron's 120s reboot time and would not have needed John Henry's blueprints to disable her. However, it wouldn't explain how Cromartie reached and hired the two operatives who attacked Derek, Cameron, John and Sarah, since Cromartie has nothing to offer them; also, the operatives found Sarah using a transmitter planted on her by Ed Winston who was working for the wealthy Kaliba Group, so it would follow that the operatives may have been offered money for their services by Kaliba and provided with an uplink to Skynet or variations of it to help them to track down the Connors and to help them against Cameron.
    • A3: In "Vick's Chip", Vick's chip attempted to make outside contact with someone on the Internet while John and Cameron were searching the chip for information. This "someone" may be the same entity that tried to hack John Henry but it could be the working variant of Skynet, Kaliba, or maybe the chip was just trying to infect machines the same way the T-X infected the T-1s in Terminator 3: Rise Of the Machines, so it could support or activate Skynet's programming, or make any machines in the area attack John, whom it knew to be in the room.
    • A4: Another speculation is that he is actually Andy Goode's original Turk that Sarah torched in the first season. This would explain why the code is so similar, but the mysterious AI is also said to be linked to Cyberdyne. The Turk isn't linked to Cyberdyne, so that's a dead end.
  • Q: Did Savannah's suggestion to "change the rules" have anything to do with John Henry being hacked?
    • A: Possible, but not very likely; the other advanced AI just infiltrated ZeiraCorp/John Henry from outside. But the possibility of just changing the rules for its own good may become important for John Henry's future development.
  • Q: Who or what is Sarah afraid of?
    • A: She believed that her cancer had returned and she was afraid of what it would mean for John and his survival. She was also, most likely, afraid for John and if she'd prepared him well enough for Judgment Day should they be unable to prevent it.
  • Q: Why does Sarah not appear to trust Derek or Cameron (e.g. Sarah was afraid of showing what she believed is cancer to Cameron)?
    • A: Because Derek's actions, hiding the existence of Jesse, indirectly threatened John. Sarah never seems to trust Cameron, especially since her glitches after the car explosion in "What He Beheld".
  • Q: Was the tracking device in Sarah's body the source of the interference in the car radio?
    • A: The interference was very likely foreshadowing the tracking device's signal, yes.
  • Q: Cameron is threatened by Derek. Despite his actions might be a threat to her mission, she is reacting very calm trying to solve the problem on a diplomatic way. Is she afraid of Sarah's reactions should Derek be hurt?
    • A: Derek does not actually pose a real threat to Cameron. His actions are the result of an emotional response to Cameron telling him about Jesse's pregnancy. Even if he had actually pulled the trigger, Cameron would not have been harmed. Furthermore, Cameron seems to be trying to teach herself some degree of compassion, as evidenced in the last episode by her efforts to hold a bird without killing it.
    • A2: Cameron's only interest is protecting John. She has never felt threatened by Derek, although she has reacted to being threatened by Sarah in "Dungeons & Dragons".
  • Q: What is Cameron referring to when she implies Derek would have given out John's safe house under torture? Why did she say it has happened before?
    • A: This is a link to "Dungeons & Dragons". In the future, Derek was captured and tortured in the basement. It is implied, but not stated directly in the episode, that someone gave up the location of the bunker where John and his brother Kyle Reese were because it was attacked soon after Derek and his squad, including Billy Wisher, were captured. Cameron's statement implies it was actually Derek who broke under torture in the basement.
  • Q: In which relationship do the people who kidnapped Derek and assaulted the lighthouse stand to Mrs. Weaver? Are they allies or enemies? When Mrs. Weaver attacked their base in the desert, was she trying to keep the secrets about whats going on there or was she about the weaken an enemy?
    • A: Presumably opponents. In "Adam Raised a Cain", John has a photo of Savannah on a cell phone from a lighthouse attacker. So these people (Kaliba Group) are against Weaver/ZeiraCorp, because they later try to kidnap/kill Savannah.
  • Q: Since John Henry's "brother" sent the person who disabled Cameron a diagram of John Henry's T-888 body to show him where her chip was, does this mean Cameron is a T-888, because a T-888s CPU is not in the same spot as T-800/T-850 Units CPU?
    • A: Cameron is to a certain degree compatible with T-888 hardware, so her unknown model has obviously more in common with T-888 than other models, e.g. the CPU slot.
  • Q: Was John kidnapped by the assault team, or did he get away in Charley's boat?
    • A: Because the boat is missing, too, it is highly probable that John escaped. This is affirmed in "Adam Raised a Cain".
  • Q: Why was Cameron electrocuted despite she put on boots which were supposed to be non-conductive?
    • A: Rubber doesn't actually work that way. The insulation provided by the soles of boots isn't nearly enough to stop a serious electric shock.

References[]

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External links[]

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