I never like it when a show resorts to what I call the "Harvey" method of storytelling. Since some of you may not know what I'm referring to, let me explain.

"Harvey" was a movie released in 1950 that starred Jimmy Stewart (the same guy who is in "It's A Wonderful Life"). The actor played Elwood P. Dowd, who apparently could talk with Harvey, a giant rabbit that no one else could see. The question of the film was, is Dowd simply insane or is he actually more perceptive than the rest of the people? (If you want to know the answer to that, watch the film. And no, I didn't see it when it came out in the theater. I'm not that old.)

The "Harvey" in this episode of "Sarah Connor" is Kyle Reese, who fathered John Connor. However, unlike that classic film, there's no question that he's only a manifestation of Sarah's subconscious. And that's where the television version of the "Harvey" method falls flat, in my opinion.

To a "seasoned" viewer like me, "imagined" characters are a very old cliche I've seen used hundreds of times. It also worries me when the only person a character can talk with is an "unreal" one. No one but Sarah can see Kyle, and he talks her into doing things that she probably wouldn't do normally, like let herself get tranquilized during surgery. It would have been much more interesting if there had been some question about if he was actually there. So the whole plot line revolving around Sarah was a bust for me.

Here's what happened: Sarah was shot in the leg last episode, so she ends up unconscious in a hospital. When she wakes, she rips all the tubes and needles out of her, knocks the police guard out, then kidnaps Felicia, one of the doctors who has just shown up for work.

Sarah forces Felicia to take her to a motel and wants her to remove the bullet there. But the doctor cannot do it and convinces Sarah to go back to the hospital. They end up in the morgue, of all places, and after Sarah phones Derek to tell him where she is, Felicia insists that Sarah hand over her gun. Kyle talks Sarah into doing that, then the doctor tranquilizes her and removes the bullet.

During this time, the police are on the lookout for Sarah. When they discover Felicia did not check in for work, they go to her place but are a step behind. They find blood all over the place, but no one is there. When the police get back to their office, Derek blows up Sarah's vehicle there and uses the distraction to remove or take any evidence against Sarah. He then runs to the hospital where he is met by Felicia and a still-out-of-it Sarah. Because she thinks Derek is the person who hurt Sarah, the two end up holding guns on each other until the chief of police shows up and holds a gun at Derek.

The chief, who we discover is Felicia's husband, demands she drop her gun, but instead she shoots him, killing him. When Sarah wakes up, she says to let her take all the blame, but Felicia indicates that she has had a gun put to her head by her husband before and will tell that story. Derek locates the audio recorder on the sheriff's body, and the two leave the hospital.

What's on the audio recorder, you ask? It is a recording of Alan and the therapist's session in the previous episode -- and them being shot. Now we get to the interesting part.

John Henry in the body of the former Cromartie has been a busy boy. He's been accessing the Internet to learn things about himself ... and others.

He tells Ellison that God did a bad job of designing the human body -- his toys were made so much better. He begins to recite the history of the body, which disturbs Ellison.

Later John Henry asks for Catherine to visit. When she does, he blurts out that he knows that she is not human and that she is made from a different metal than his body is. He hasn't told anyone else about this, and Catherine says he shouldn't.

Then John Henry notes that his body is made up primarily of coltan, and that the metal used to make up his body came from the mines in the Eastern Republic of Congo. In the last 26 months, Zeira Corp has amassed seven percent of the world's coltan reserves, John Henry says. Catherine isn't surprised, but she is unhappy when he tells her he detected an audio transmission of a man calling for help in a place that has 16 tons of coltan. Catherine tells John Henry that it was a mistake, and starts to leave. John Henry asks Catherine what she's doing, and she tells him that she can't answer him right now, but everything she does is for him.

Catherine promptly goes to the warehouse and thoroughly exterminates everyone working there, hacking and slashing her way through the place with her arms formed into long blades (as seen previously in the "Terminator" films). When that's done, she blows the place up. A particularly spooky moment happens when Catherine is engulfed in the flames, then just casually walks through them.

Also happening this week is Riley's attempted suicide has also put her in a hospital. John dotes over her until she says she wants to sleep. It isn't long before Jesse, her handler, shows up and spirits her out of the place. Back at Jesse's apartment, Riley asks to stay with her for an hour before she has to go back to her role as John's love interest. Jesse agrees.

The last thing we see is Derek and Sarah driving along a dirt road. Sarah had called him "Kyle" in the hospital, and she said she would explain that, but Derek says no explanation is needed. Then both see the plumes of smoke coming from the warehouse that Catherine destroyed.

What Worked

I liked the action. I also liked the continuity from past episodes and the movies. The pacing was good, and the actors did a good job with what they were given.

I particularly liked the three-gun stand-off at the morgue. And Catherine's devastation of the warehouse. Yikes!

What Didn't Work

As I mentioned earlier, imaginary characters that only one person can see is a very, very old plot device. I'd have rather they used Derek instead even though it was nice to see Kyle Reese again.

I'm really getting annoyed by Riley. I actually liked her better when I thought she was just a whiney teenager. Now that she's a whiney teenager from the future, I can stand her a lot less. I hope that storyline gets resolved soon.

I'm worried about this show because the ratings were down on its first Friday night. I hate that I always am on the edge of my seat, wondering if this program will be back next week. Sigh.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" airs Friday nights at 8 on Fox. It stars Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Brian Austin Green. "The Good Wound" was written by Ashley Edward Mlller and Zack Stentz, and was directed by Jeff Woolnough.