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The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the "Allison From Palmdale" episode of Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

With rumors flying that "Sarah Connor" might be cancelled soon, I hope this isn't my last review of this show. Last year had a lot more action, but I don't think this season has been as bad as some have said. Yes, it's been more oriented to drama, but I think variety is a good thing in a genre show. I love watching Cameron grind another Terminator's head into the dust, but every time?

This week, we get more drama and some action. Summer Glau gets to play two roles, Cameron the Terminator and Allison Young the human. I think she does a good job of changing characters, good enough for me to be able to follow what was going on. It sure seems that Cameron still is having problems related to the explosion at the end of Season 1.

In the future, a girl who appears to be Cameron is running from someone or something chasing her. She gets outside of the building she's in, then jumps into what seems to be a lake or a stream only to be caught in a net and returned to her captors.

Back to the present, where John and Cameron are going to the store. John tells her that he's headed to Radio World (love those close-to-reality store chain names), then asks her to pick up food for him at the grocery store.

While shopping, Cameron starts to flashback to scenes she remembers from the future, then goes catatonic. The police are called, and they take her to the local jail's holding cell. When John returns, he hears people in the store talk about Cameron's apparent seizure, and goes to the prison to find her.

Cameron meets Jodie, another girl in the same cell. As they talk, Cameron remembers that her name is Allison. She recalls that a Terminator burned a bar code into her forearm, but doesn't say anything about that. The two are released after no charges are filed, and Jodie sees that Cameron is carrying a wad of bills, so she becomes Cameron/Allison's new best friend. Jodie takes her new buddy to a restaurant along "The Boulevard."

John, a step behind, finds out Cameron left with Jodie, and begins asking everyone he sees if he or she knows where Jodie is. The girls register in a halfway house after being confronted by an acquaintance of Jodie's. Cameron gives him all her money just to make him go away since he's threatening Jodie to return his laptop. Jodie gives Cameron a necklace she says she found at a thrift store.

Meanwhile, Sarah returns home to find Casey, her landlord, bleeding and apparently ready to give birth. Sarah agrees to take her to the hospital where doctors say that if the blood is from the baby, they'll need to perform an emergency C-Section procedure. As they wait for test results, Sarah talks about John's birth, saying it took place in the hills of Central America and that John's father was there. The father of Casey's baby, an L.A. cop, appears, making both Sarah and Casey nervous.

Sarah calls John, who is having trouble finding Cameron, but won't tell his mother about that.

Cameron keeps experiencing being Allison in a jail cell, being interrogated. Finally, we see that Allison was the person Cameron was patterned after since John liked her. Cameron wanted to infiltrate the human compound, but Allison left out that she needed to wear a specific bracelet to get in. Cameron kills Allison, takes her bracelet, then heads off to attack John.

In the present, John finally tracks down Cameron playing foosball in the halfway house. She doesn't recognize him and tells him to go away. A security guard makes John leave, but he sits in the truck outside the building waiting for Cameron.

Back in the hospital, the tests come back, and the baby is okay. However, Casey needs to stay in the hospital overnight. Sarah stays with her, and she confesses to Casey that John's father actually wasn't at the birth, but she wishes he could have been.

At the halfway house, Cameron talks with a counselor, and finally her Terminator programming begins to show. She says she has to hunt down John Connor and kill him. The therapist calls the cops, but Cameron and Jodie have left, seeking a place to get money.

They go to a fancy house in the burbs, which turns out to be the home of Jodie's parents. Jodie also confesses that the necklace actually belonged to her mother. By this time, Cameron, who remembers how she tortured Allison, begins to lose patience with Jodie's lies about the house. She grabs Jodie by the throat. John busts in through the door to find Jodie on the floor. She's not dead, though, and Cameron has apparently gone full circle back to her "current" personality. The two leave and drive back home in the truck.

Former-agent Ellison continues meeting with Catherine Weaver, a Terminator who continues to spread a web of lies to draw him in. She even has what appears to be a young daughter (maybe a baby Terminator?) in the office as they talk. Ellison has done research on Weaver, and he has determined that she has lied to him. But Ellison, good guy and all, tells her he would do something like that to protect his child, should he have one. He asks when he can start work.

What Worked

I've read several posts around the Internet from folks who found this episode confusing. I didn't. I thought that Summer Glau's acting and the direction made it pretty clear what was going on, but I do like complex storylines. Just watch "Charlie Jade" if you want to see what I enjoy.

I also like it better when John is not in danger, as I mentioned last week. From the start, Cameron has been my favorite character in the show.

As I mentioned, there was more drama, and I didn't mind Sarah's being supportive as a change of pace to the rest of the episode, which had people getting beaten up, chased and the like. Am I mellowing in my old age?

What Didn't Work

As much as I like Cameron's changes of personality, at some point, they need to resolve all these malfunctions.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" airs on Fox each Monday at 8 p.m., and stars Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau and Brian Austin Green. "Allison From Palmdale" was written by Toni Graphia, and was directed by Charles Beeson.

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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