The episode begins with a flashback to when Sarah and John lived in the jungles of Central America, and John learned to play chess. Sarah receives a phone call from Andy Goode, who is entering a computer chess tournament.
Cromartie in its new disguise (George Laszlo) shows up at the house of Charley Dixon, Sarah's former fiancee. He is impersonating an FBI agent and asks questions about Sarah. Charley is told that both Sarah and John survived the bank explosion from eight years ago. Cromartie speculates that Charley might be hiding Sarah, but Charley denies it.
Sarah goes to see Andy at the tournament and he shows her the replacement computer system he made after the Turk was destroyed in the fire. He has partnered with Dmitri Shipkov, a chess expert. Andy reveals that the winner of the tournament will be awarded a contract from the military.
The high school is offering grief counseling in the wake of the suicide. Cameron is confused by the human rituals surrounding death and John tries to explain it to her. John meets a new girl, Cheri, who stops by the memorial to pay her respects. Later in the auto shop class, John meets Morris, who warns him about Cheri, saying something is not right about her.
At the chess tournament, Andy's computer has reached the finals against a Japanese entry. Sarah observes a shadowy figure observing the action from the sidelines. John joins her in the audience and she updates him on the situation, and speculates that if Andy wins, Cameron will probably kill him.
At Charley's house, Charley and Michelle are discussing the FBI visit. Michelle accuses Charley of lying, saying that he has a “tell”. She tells him that he shouldn't lie to her if he has seen Sarah. He confirms that he saw John in their house. She wants to know what he is going to do about it, saying that they are dangerous fugitives and that Sarah killed a man. Charley refuses to believe that.
The Japanese team defeats Andy's computer system with a tricky move that the computer didn't see coming and win the military contract. John believes that no one will want Andy's software after this performance. Sarah states that they don't need to do anything about the winners since their names were not on the list they found at the safe house. Cameron still thinks Andy is a threat, and Sarah considers telling him the whole story.
On her way backstage to see Andy, Sarah is bumped into by the shadowy figure who is in a hurry to leave. When she reaches Andy's room, she finds him dead on the floor. She quickly rushes after the shadowy man, ambushing him in the alley. They fight and he escapes, only to be caught by the police.
John hacks into the police computer and they discover that the shadowy figure is the sole survivor from the safe house where the team from the future was staying. Cameron comments that killing Andy was not their mission, that they were sent back to this time to await John and Sarah and assist them.
Another Terminator sees the shadowy figure's mugshot and assaults a police officer in order to be arrested and placed with the mystery man. In the jail, Agent Ellison arrives to see the mystery man, being called John Doe. He tells him his prints were found at the safe house crime scene, and that someone came back after the killings and opened the safe with the combination. John Doe was also seen fleeing the scene of Andy's murder. Ellison tells him there are other killings connected to those, all by some type of synthetic blood. As Ellison leaves, he makes arrangements to have John Doe transferred from the local police to the FBI. He unknowingly passes by Sarah, who is in disguise and requesting to visit John Doe.
At school, Cameron is summoned to see a grief counselor since she was the last person to see the girl before she jumped. Her attitude and responses to the questions leave the counselor somewhat baffled. The counselor calls Sarah and mentions his concerns about Cameron. Sarah tells a lie about a tornado, to provide a motive for her odd behavior.
Sarah visits John Doe who claims he did not kill Andy, saying he was after the computer system. When he arrived, Andy was dead and the computer was missing. He thought Sarah was responsible, but now he knows otherwise. He urges Sarah to leave and pursue the chess expert as a lead, saying that he has a Terminator T888 following him. Sarah wants to help get him out, but he insists she leave. John Doe reveals his identity as Derek Reese, brother of Kyle Reese, the man originally sent back to protect Sarah Connor. That makes him John's uncle.
The Terminator T888 escapes it's holding cell and goes looking for Derek Reese, but he is already being transferred to federal custody. In the transport truck, Derek removes his handcuffs just as Sarah, John and Cameron arrive and stop the truck. Sarah and Cameron overpower the crew and they free Derek just as the T888 arrives on the run. Cameron shoots at it to no effect. It climbs inside the truck and starts hand to hand combat with Cameron. Sarah finally stops the truck and the T888 pounds Cameron seemingly into submission. It stands up and targets Derek, ignoring Sarah and John since they are not it's mission. At the last moment, Cameron spoils it's aim, but it still wounds Derek before Cameron regains control over it. She calls for John to bring her a toolbox. She removes the control chip from it's head, rendering it harmless.
Derek is taken to the the Connor home where Cameron evaluates him, over Derek's objection. She admits that his injuries are beyond her capabilities. Sarah proposes to kidnap a doctor from a local emergency room, but John objects until Sarah tells him the man is his uncle.
Ellison arrives at the scene of the transport truck escape and puzzles over how two women overpowered the guards and made off with his prisoner. He notices some torn flesh off to the side of the scene and ponders it's significance.
At the Connor house, Sarah is with Derek, trying to stem the blood loss. Cameron is writing something on paper. John arrives with help, he has brought Charley.
Written by pentar on Jan 31, 2016