Terminator: Heavy Metal

"If you're going to be hero, then you're gonna have to learn to drive a stick." - Sarah Connor to her son, John Connor, after he spends about a minute trying to figure a Jeep out.

Maybe it was all the vast, empty generic warehouses, but did this episode feel like 24? All the action scenes, the loosely-connected plotlines, it felt like Jack Bauer would be right at home. Let's get right to the episode:

Recap: John is still upset he didn't save the girl from suicide last episode. Cameron figures out that Cromartie is alive and traveled to 2007 with them, and is after a shipment of Coltran, a heat-resistant metal that the Terminators use. John follows a shipment, leaving Sarah and Cameron to work together to figure out how else to help John. And that something involved leaving a man inside a minefield?, but those scenes were too boring for me to pay attention. They have a fight with a Terminator before they can lock him away forever (presumably) and escape with the Coltron, which Cameron promptly drowns in a lake. Meanwhile, the FBI thinks that Agent Ellison is a little bit crazy for pursuing the Cromartie-related murders, because they see no real link between them. Also, the evil Terminators are really creepy, but, you knew that already.

What worked: Good acting and great production values for this episode, I thought. Cromartie, in his disguised state, continued to be the creepiest creep who ever creeped. Cromartie and Sylar from Heroes are two TV villains I would never, EVER want to meet in public. Having John try to be a hero, but still get scared, worked very well. He knows who he needs to be, but it will not be an easy road for him to get there.

What didn't work: Sarah's voice-overs are pretentious and tend to make me lose focus on the show. Lots of the episode moved slowly, and was just a tinge boring. Even though I laughed at the time, I'm pretty sure a Terminator from the future that knows time travel could figure out video inputs to work a DVD player. (Cute scene, still.)

Next week: Based on the preview, I have no clue. Something about Sarah recognizing someone, maybe it's a Terminator, maybe not, car chase, Cameron in action, Monday at 9pmET! I had to look at a press release to figure out what the episode was about, FOX Promotions Department. Please edit your commercials more clearly! For the curious, the guy with the chess computer is back, and Sarah discovers someone with a similar past to hers. And Ellison finds remnants of a Terminator battle.