This episode makes a nice change from the recent run of slow-burning weak episodes and jumps straight into the action with Sarah stuck in a cabin deep in the woods trying to protect a family from being eliminated by a T888.

The writers opted to utilize the shows strengths by using different points in the timeline to reveal which family member the T888 was after and why they needed to be saved.  This worked well and lead to a thoroughly engaging story leading to the realization by Derek that the unborn child (Sydney) of the dying mother in the present, held the cure for a deadly disease in the future. A nice emotional twist leads to Lauren, the unborn baby's sister, making the transition from a nobody to the doctor who actually injects Derek in the future with the cure after he saves Sydney yet again.

Whilst this episode was stronger than recent offerings, it wasn't without it's downside. The father, played by Carlos Jacott was badly portrayed. Whether this was bad writing or acting it is hard to tell, but either way I felt nothing towards this character and wanted the T888 to put him out of his misery. I also felt we could have seen more of the Terminator threat. We knew he was in the woods, but what took him so long to find the cabin even after Cameron was thrown through its roof? A little alteration and the pay-off would have been far greater. As it was there was very little tension, apart from a brief sequence in the car when the gang try to escape giving the excellent Summer Glau a chance to shine.  

The best thing about the episode is the lack of the awful Thomas Dekker, the poorly cast Shirley Manson and the almost pointless Richard T. Jones. The writers need to address the teenage whiny aspect to John soon as I find it unfathomable that anyone would want to follow this guy into battle. If I were Sarah, I'd contemplate taking the brat out myself! With regard to the Weaver/Ellison story, this just isn't working for me. Shirley is supremely awful leading to most of her scenes being cringe-worthy. Ellison worked better on his own and was a much stronger character last season.                                                           

All in all, a good fast-paced, emotionally driven episode showing just what this program can do when the writers try. 

Goddess of SCIFI verdict - 7.5/10