Ep 1. Pilot

Set in the years following Sarah Connor's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles follows Sarah, her son John, and a reprogrammed Terminator who helps John protect the future from Skynet, the artificial intelligence that seeks to eradicate humanity. In the pilot episode, we are introduced to Sarah, John, and their lives on the run.

The episode starts with a dream sequence where Sarah Connor (played by Lena Headey) envisions an all-out battle between humans and cyborgs, including herself taking on one of the robotic monsters. Her nightmare turns out to be a vision of a future she is trying to avoid. She is now on the run with her son John (Thomas Dekker) in a life of constant hiding, taking on various names and fake IDs to avoid detection. They have moved to a new town, where Sarah has landed a job as a waitress at a local diner.

John, a teenager now, is struggling to come to terms with his mother's constant paranoia and the knowledge that he is to be destined as the leader of the resistance against Skynet. He has already learned some basic self-defense skills, as we see in a scene where he takes on a group of bullies at school.

Meanwhile, a new Terminator model appears, a T-888 (Brian Austin Green). He is tasked with a mission to track down John and eliminate him. However, things don't go as Skynet planned when the Terminator has an encounter with resistance fighters and ends up being reprogrammed to protect John instead.

When John gets in trouble at school, he heads to the city football field to blow off some steam. The Terminator, who is tracking John, is hot on his heels and saves John's life during an altercation with some of John's classmates. Thinking that the Terminator is a human with some serious skills, John approaches him and starts a conversation. The Terminator explains he is a protector sent by John's mother.

Later that night, as Sarah and John settle into their new life, they realize that the T-888 has located them. They manage to escape the house just in time, but the Terminator is not giving up. After realizing that they need more firepower to take down the robot, Sarah and John decide to rob a local gun store. What follows is an epic action sequence that sees the T-888 taking on Sarah and her makeshift team of resistance fighters.

In the end, they manage to disable the Terminator, but not before they realize the enormity of their task. The episode ends with John looking down on the disabled robot, realizing that the future is coming, and they need to fight back if they want to survive.

Overall, the pilot episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles does an excellent job of setting up the series' premise. We are introduced to the central characters, their mission, and the threat they face, and we are also given a glimpse of the action and excitement that are to come. The episode manages to stay true to the Terminator franchise's spirit while still offering something new and unique. All in all, a great start to a fantastic series.