In the future, after the mysterious package is brought aboard the submarine Jimmy Carter, Queeg T-888 (Chad L. Coleman) locks it in the hold and will not disclose its contents. Dietze (Theo Rossi) and Jesse (Stephany Jacobsen) argue about it and finally open the box, revealing a T-1001 that kills Petty Officer Goodnow (Erin Fleming), then takes over her appearance, then turns liquid and flows into a vent.
The crew begin to suspect each other, like the crew in the Thing. One who is beating up another officer to see if she is human is summarily executed by Queeg. When Queeg refuses to explain, Jesse shoots Queeg in the head with a plasma rifle, killing it outright. Jesse sinks the sub and orders an evacuation. The T-1001, now in the form of Goodnow says, “Tell John Connor the answer is no,” and as the sub explodes, the T-1001 swims away.
Back on shore at Serrano Point, Cameron (Summer Glau) questions Jesse, who demands to see John. Cameron resists and they argue, Cameron insisting that speaking to her is the same as speaking to John. She says she is sorry that Jesse had a miscarriage after the submarine mission. And the question that Queeg answered no to was, “Will you join us?”
In the present, when Jesse returns to her apartment, she finds John (Thomas Dekker) holding a gun on her. He says he knows Jesse killed Riley. He tells her about his future self sending a T-888 to protect him in the past. He takes responsibility for Riley’s death, and that he would have let Cameron live even if she had done it. Outside, Derek (Brian Austin Green) confronts Jesse and says she is from a different timeline and is not his Jesse. She runs and he shoots her. In Jesse’s apartment, John and Derek discuss the future. John asks if Derek really killed Jesse and he says John let her go. Later, John, Sarah (Lena Headey), and Cameron contemplate Riley’s death, each in their own way.
I’m not particularly enamored of the 2027 plotline, which was obviously written to promote Terminator Salvation. For me, the future is best inserted in small doses. A few seeker-killers and some treads crushing skulls and we get the point. If Jesse was let go, it was to come back in a later season, which never happened. I miss Riley a hell of a lot more than Jesse, whom I hated from her first appearance. Sarah is a tough babe and Jesse was a tough bitch; there’s a difference.