All the Connor family—Sarah (Lena Headey), John (Thomas Dekker), Cameron (Summer Glau), and Derek (Brian Austin Green)—return to the small desert town of Charm Acres to crash the funeral of the many townspeople killed when Catherine Weaver (Shirley Manson) blew up the factory they all worked for. Sarah is determined to ferret out SkyNet’s responsibility for it all, despite the fact that most of her family thinks she’s crazy. Slowly, everyone comes to believe she’s onto something.
The episode follows the structure of a funeral, which it is—vigil, service, processional, burial, and recessional—unfolding like the five acts of a play. The whole town seems complicit in the cover-up at first, looking for the generous insurance payouts if they do not ask too many questions. Sarah accuses Zoe (Alanna Masterson) and her mother Stella (Susan Floyd) of ignoring what unfolds about them and John and Derek begin to realize that their husband and father is not dead. Diane Winston (Cyd Strittmatter) is just beginning to ask questions. Cameron moves through the funeral like a zombie, the whole matter of human death beyond her understanding. John becomes more aggressive and starts to act like John Connor.
At the same time, Ellison (Richard T. Jones) continues to puzzle out Terminator Catherine Weaver and her fascinating daughter Savannah (McKenzie Smith). Sarah finds a secret passage and a security bunker with monitors showing scenes all over town. The mysterious drone air-cars that she saw at the explosion turn up at the end, pretty much the only action scene in the episode.
Some were bored by the leisurely pace and the lack of action, but others found the human drama interesting. I think most of us will be glad that Sarah is proved to be less crazy than everyone thinks.