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The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "Samson & Delilah," the Season 2 opener for Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

It's back to action, action and more action on Monday nights on Fox!

Picking up from the first season finale, this week we discover that the explosion in the Jeep has changed Cameron's programming back to that of a regular Terminator, and she proceeds to hunt down John and Sarah (as Terminators are supposed to do). In the way of her mission are the men sent to kill the Connors, so Cameron eliminates them before trying to gun John down.

As Sarah and John run, they realize that Cameron now knows all their contingency plans for hiding, and that they will have to destroy her to survive.

Meanwhile, the unlikely pair of Derek and Charlie aren't too far behind as they race in an ambulance to catch up.

A Terminator is nothing if not persistent, so Cameron finally catches up to the Connors. Sarah tells John to run, and Cameron pursues him to a warehouse where trucks are stored. John struggles to get a truck engine to turn over as Cameron gets closer and closer, but his mother is also a persistent one, and she traps Cameron between a truck she's commandeered and the one John is in. While John tries to remove the chip from Cameron's head, the Terminator begs John not to destroy her, saying that she's now "perfect" and that she "loves" him. John still pulls the chip.

Sarah and Derek insist that Cameron cannot be trusted, so they begin to try to give her the Viking funeral (burning the body up entirely) that Cameron has said previously would eliminate the mechanized monsters.

John is just about to set Cameron's body on fire when he leaps to her side and inserts her computer chip, much to the horror of everyone else. He tells them he has to know if Cameron is back to her previously programmed self. Again, John's capacity to trust in the good in others wins out, and Cameron is indeed back on the side of the angels.

Later on, however, Cameron tells Sarah that if she goes bad again, they must not try to revive her again. Sarah of course agrees.

Agent Ellison meanwhile has cooked up a story that will cover the multiple Cromartie murders he came across, and has to face an Internal Affairs review. He survives, again locates Cromartie -- who still won't kill him even as he tells the Terminator that he will never give up the Connors.

We also begin to follow the movements of Catherine Weaver (played by Shirley Manson of the musical group "Garbage"). Weaver obtains the "Turk," the intelligent computer from the first season, then proceeds to set up a "Babylon" division in her company to work on it. She's raiding the A.I. division in particular, which doesn't sit well with the head of that area. He goes to the rest room and complains, using the urinal. How surprised he is when that urinal turns into Catherine Weaver, who is in reality a T-1000 shapeshifting Terminator. She apologizes for the fact that he's unhappy with her, then turns her arm into a long spike and pokes it through the disgruntled employee's eye, killing him.

What Worked

There were several references to the known "Terminator" mythology, including Cameron reverting to the programming of the "old" Terminator model (as seen in "Terminator 3") and, of course, the eye-poking that was memorable in "Terminator 2."

You can feel the division building between Sarah and John. John continues to believe in the best in others while Sarah wants none of that. She only wants to protect her son and his future.

I liked Ms. Manson's debut on the show. I just wonder how long it will be before she and Sarah have it out.

Did I also mention that there were lots and lots of action sequences, including car chases, Terminator chases, explosions and pregnant pauses as we wait on the edge of our seats to see what happens next? And the "slow" parts were very dramatic, so they didn't feel "slow" to me at all. Yeah, this show is back, baby, with a vengeance!

What Didn't Work

There are certain violent things I can't watch on television or in the movies, and for some reason, the eye-poking just makes me look away. I know others will love it, and I understand that it now is a part of "Terminator" lore, but I have to fast forward through that sequence. Now, grinding another Terminator's head into the ground, that I can take.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" stars Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau and Brian Austin Green. "Samson & Delilah" was written by Josh Friedman, and was directed by David Nutter.

Wayne Hall is the news editor of Airlock Alpha, writing out of the Washington, D.C. area. He can be reached at whall@airlockalpha.com.

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