This week in the world of Sarah Connor is one part excitement, one part memories of the future that might be, and one part sadness. A new terminator is on the hunt, but surprisingly not for John. This particular Terminator is hunting for Martin Bedell (a future aide-de-camp to John) – every Martin Bedell in the area in fact, just to be thorough. One has died already, so the gang decides to split up and protect the other two, while planning to stop the Terminator along the way.
Sarah and Cameron’s Martin turns out to be a young boy. They arrive just in time to save him from the Terminator, but saving him also means kidnapping him. While they’re trying to decide what to do about little Marty and the Terminator, the boy’s parents are desperate for his return. Marty himself is desperate, but not to go home. Instead he’s worried about his unfinished book report, and loses no time angrily telling Sarah it will be her fault if he fails. It seems little Marty Bedell is this week’s sassy character. Marty’s attitude has a charming effect on Sarah as he brings out her mothering instincts. She gives him The Wizard of Oz (John’s favorite book), and they read it together in a tender bonding moment.
John and Derek, meanwhile, head to a nearby military academy. As it turns out, this is where the real Martin Bedell is – or at least the one who ends up as John’s friend. Derek arranges for John to look over the school (posing as a prospective student), while at the same time conveniently snagging a substitute teaching job there. During his time with Martin Bedell at the academy John is once again troubled at the thought of his future role and the responsibility for the lives of the men who will follow him. He is nothing if not a reluctant hero.
Derek, meanwhile, is also thinking of the men he has fought for and with. He has a series of flashbacks centering on the very same Martin Bedell who is the star of this episode. Future Martin proves to be the kind of soldier Derek is now, while Derek was more rule-bound and disapproving. It’s an interesting reversal when combined with the shots of current time where it’s Bedell who is appalled at Derek’s continuing display of casual obedience to rules and a distinct dislike for the role of a soldier. Perhaps this is another of the time paradoxes this story is so fond of: Derek learned to be more flexible about following orders from the Martin Bedell of the future, while Martin himself learned the same attitude from the Derek who came back in time.
In the end, to the accompaniment of Sarah and Marty reading a description of the Wicked Witch’s attack against Dorothy Gale, John and Derek use a student exercise as a convenient excuse to lead the military students against the Terminator, who has found his way to the school. Derek arranges for most of the students to be safe, but Bedell stumbles in the machine’s path and witnesses John’s bravery and Derek’s trickery as they lure the Terminator to its end. He is so horrified at the future they describe, and at the same time impressed by their courage, that he agrees to stay the course, finishing his military training so that he can be truly useful to John when he is needed.
After it’s all over, Sarah returns Marty to his parents (with the understanding that he won’t lead the police to her). John and Derek are driving home, and Derek reveals the end of his flashback series: that Martin Bedell sacrifices himself to save John’s life. He tells John, “He died for you. We’d all die for you,” as John silently weeps for the future he can’t seem to avoid.
Susan Kearl is a university student with too much time on her hands who loves to watch TV. She’s happy to contribute her opinions to the world of television viewers like you.
