The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "The Demon Hand," the latest episode of Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

Is it just me, or is the cyborg becoming the most ... "human" ... character (with apologies to William Shatner) on the show?

Cameron starts out the episode dressed in a police uniform. (If she shows up in a cheerleader's outfit next week, I'm going to wonder if one of the writers has some kinky thing for Summer Glau.)

Hot on the trail of the missing Terminator hand (see last week's episode), Cameron turns off the local power station, then enters the Central LA Police Department only to get no hand at all.

Derek, the soldier from the future, is recovering from Charlie's medical treatment. He doesn't trust Cameron, the good girl Terminator ... at least, not yet.

Sarah sends Cameron after Dmitri Shipkov, the chess-playing partner of Andy Goode (who taught "the Turk" how to play the game).

Terminator Girl goes to a ballet class conducted by Shipkov's sister, Maria. Although cyborgs are supposed to only focus on the mission, Cameron finds the dancing somewhat alluring. Since she's a robot, she can mimic any movements she sees and impresses Maria with her ability.

Sarah finds out that Agent Ellison apparently has the missing hand, so she breaks into his home. She doesn't locate the hand, but instead finds tapes of interrogations Sarah went through while she was in a mental institution. She picks one particular tape up, then takes it with her as she leaves.

Back at the Terminator Trio's home, Derek cleans weapons as he expresses his unhappiness with Charlie (Sarah's ex) knowing about them and Cameron being part of the team.

While Sarah is scolding Derek, John finds the tape, watches it, and apparently cries at what he sees.

Not much later, Sarah finds the tape where John has watched it. She puts it back in the machine, then looks at it with the same reaction John did.

On the tape, Sarah signs away custody for John.

Cameron has given Sarah the address for Dr. Silberman (one of the folks who worked with Sarah while she was at the mental hospital), and Sarah leaves.

Meanwhile, Agent Ellison has taken the hand to Silberman, who we see has become something of a hermit since his encounter with Sarah. Silberman offers Ellison some tea, and he actually drinks it. Next thing he knows, Ellison is flat on the floot, then tied up and being interrogated by Silberman.

It's "Beat Up Ellison" time again, so Silberman sticks a knife into the FBI agent to discover if he is a cyborg or not. Since Ellision bleeds all over the floor, Silberman seems convinced (although the agent might be a more advanced model that can actually bleed).

When Ellison says he has proof that Sarah was right about the future, Silberman checks it out, then decides to take the hand himself and leave Ellison to die in Silberman's home, now a blazing inferno.

As he leaves, Silberman is intercepted by Sarah, who takes the hand and knocks Silberman out (which was richly deserved, I think). As she starts to leave, she hears Ellison's cries for help from the fire, and she rescues him.

By contrast, cold-hearted Cameron has tracked Shipkov down by convincing his sister that she can help them.

However, when Cameron learns all she can from Shipkov (that someone actually bought the Turk computer), she walks out on them, leaving the brother and sister to the tender mercies of a hit squad that trailed them there.

The cyborg hand gets destroyed, Sarah says her experience of signing John's custody away made her realize she could never really go through with that. She tells herself that its good that John sees that she's human and can make mistakes. Silberman gets locked away at the mental institution he used to work for, Ellison seems to have found religion (Wouldn't you after all this?) and Derek watches Cameron dance with an all-too-human grace, which disturbs him.

What Worked

Less action and more drama this time, which I'm sure some will enjoy more.

I was also glad they broke up the 45-minute rule they had developed. You know, Cameron fought another Terminator with only 15 minutes left to go? That one.

I have to say that I was kind of non-plussed about Derek's character when he first showed up. But he's added some nice conflict to the group. That he and Cameron stare at each other glaringly and accusingly was a nice touch.

Cameron again gets the good stuff to do. She coldly walks out on two humans she could very easily have saved, Very chilling. She also gets to dress up in different uniforms and pound things ten times her size into the dust. Hey, even I'd like to do that!

What Didn't Work

I still have a problem with the Ellison character. I mean, it's something of a "gotcha" thing to see a government agent get pounded for once instead of doing the beating up, but religion? I hope they talk more about that in next week's two-hour finale.

And I also thought the title of this episode wasn't as inspired as others have been. I know the hand was what caused a lot to happen, but I just thought we'd see more of it in an episode with this name.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"The Demon Hand" was written by Toni Graphia and was directed by Charles Beeson.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" stars Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, pouty-yet-cold Summer Glau and Richard T. Jones. The series airs Mondays on Fox.