I missed this ep, does this mean I don't have to watch it now?

 This episode is still sitting in my DVR unwatched... perhaps that's for the best.

 Yes, you do not have to watch it now. You do not have to ever watch any any episode of this show again because it is just frakking over. Just when you think this show can't get any worse they go and do a "It was all a dream!!!" episode. D plus is far too generous. Any time any show does a dream episode it is an automatic F minus minus. And if this show does it, you can throw on an extra minus because the "plot" was already going nowhere. I'll be generous and mention two good points about this ep. First, none of that shirley manson/religious guy BS. Second, they failed, but at least they tried to use Cameron a bit more like a Terminator. Well, they tried to use her like the Fonze but it's a step in the right direction. 

Also, Dollhouse sucks.  

I've only got into this series halfway and can see the reason for the gripes. What I'm curious about is how can one do a Terminator TV show at all without it being a long boring series of character subplots and mysteries? The alternative is one endless version of the movies where they run and shoot guns constantly, occasionally destroying Skynet and the Terminator only to have to start over from scratch next week despite their thoroughness. See, if it were this way it'd be cool on action but then people would cry for character development. It's a catch-22. 

That said, I am tired of the insomnia bit and wish they -would- move on to some more action.

 Doesn't need to be a catch-22. In a 26 episode television season, you have plenty of opportunities for character development, plot, and action. Look at Lost, BSG, the first season of Heroes... there are plenty of great examples. A few years ago it looked like television writers had finally gotten their $#! together and learned how to write good stuff. Obviously, it's an art form and there's no step by step guide to it but if you look at some of the best series, they all have one thing in common which is that they have a plan for the season and they use each episode to move that plan along. At the beginning of this season of Terminator it looked like we had a solid villain for the season, a T1000. But now, more than half way through the season, the good guys and bad guy, don't even know each other exist. There are two completely separate plotlines going on and both are super boring. 

This season has been full of dumb, dumb stuff from the very beginning starting with John reactivating an evil Cameron because he was sure that rubbing her chip on his shirt sleeve must have fixed it and, miraculously, it did! But it's just gone downhill from there. What was the idiotic episode with the Japanese guy and son who had (maybe) programmed an AI? What was that worthless library episode? What was that "Cameron forgot who she was and is hanging out with some homeless chick"? What was that completely nonsensical "Terminator is after a pregnant woman and the episode spans at least 6 months even though it comes right between two episodes that can't be more than a day or two apart" episode? 

I don't know what happened between the first season of this show and the second but it started out with a bit of promise and now it's good for nothing but an example of how to completely ruin a franchise. 

26 episode season...wow man, you are back in the 80's I think.  Usually seasons are about 20-22 if you are lucky...in Losts case even less than that.  I'm guess the reason it dropped to fewer episodes were costs...as usually the answer to everything in Hollywood.

As I suspected last week this was a yet another episode to nowhere.  Which proves what I was saying when I pointed out that when this show got picked up for the back episodes the writers had no clue what to do with the "filler" episodes so we get shit like this. 

The problem they are having is that you can't do a f'ing weekly show about the Terminator.  There just isn't enough material for it.  I could be proven wrong if some hot shot writer blew us away with something different but that's not happening.

Enjoy it boys and girls cuz this show probably won't be back next season. 

On the bright side.  Its still better than heroes.

The real problem here is everyone is expecting this show to DRIVE you through the terminator universe.  When in fact,  I think its meant to give you a little introspective on the types of things that would trouble someone faced with this task.

Every week cant be better,  or equal,  some will have to be worse.  I think D is harsh,  i would have rated it about a C. 

If it werent so confusing,  I would have rated it higher.  Because it was interesting.  The problem was you were too confused about how they ended up where they were, as compared to the previous week.

But had they spent a whole week setting it up,  everyone would have complained it was a shit filler episode.

The fact of the matter is this series IS filler.  Its not going to take you anywhere new. 

Which incidentally I think is going to be the same argument when the live action star wars TV show comes out. 

My suggestion is appreciate it for what it is,  and dont watch it if your expecting something different.

I mean hay,  do you get pissed off when  you watch sports center at night, and the "SAME GOD DAMN TEAM WON' on sporscenter,  that won when you watched it early afternoon?

A D seems pretty generous, an F would be more appropriate.  This has been 2 weeks in a row with really LAME episodes.  Last week we got a pretentious "screen writers" trick of labeling "chapters" within the story.  "The Memorial", "The Wake", "The Funeral", blah blah blah.  They forgot to start the show with "The boring story".  The whole hour really boiled down to 10 minutes of really important stuff that drove the series narrative forward, and 35 minutes of INANE filler.  The same with this weeks episode.  If the writers want to add gravitas to Sarah and her thoughts and philosophies, DON'T play games with grade school level writing tricks like "presto-chango" the reality is the dream and the dream is the reality. WTF!!!  After commenting to my wife that the episode sucked is that plot trick supposed to make me think the writers are clever??  How about this, write an INTERESTING STORY.  THAT is clever.

     This used to be a good, NO. great show.  There was suspense, action, nice nods to the movies, and most importantly GOOD STORIES.  How about more flash forwards, more back story on Catherine Weaver/Terminator, more James Ellison/Cromartie interplay, more Derek Reese.  The good characters are there, the interesting premise is there and the potential is definately there.  Sadly I think that this season has been inconsistant at best.  Is any one person overseeing the creative and narrative path of this show??  I'm afraid that the Friday nite slot and VERY BAD writing are going to terminate this show.  No pun intended.

I think the show is just on a slow burn with information right now.  The problem is that since the ratings aren't great, I'm worried that the show will get canned without being able to give us the OMG moment that will get people talking and kickstart the ratings. 

I really like the show and want to see what's up with Weaver.  What's she playing at, really?  She's not building Skynet, at least I don't think SHE believes she is.  She's doing something else.  I think maybe she wants to be able to control Skynet.  She wants it to save humanity, not destroy it. 

Agreed that it's way too slow now, though.  I mean, if I was confident that it were sticking around, I wouldn't mind so much, but given its status now....

This series had me hooked for a while, but they're just winging it now. I am interested in how the upcoming film Terminator Salvation will impact the show, or vice versa.