- Cameron learns that a terminator was accidentally sent back to 1920s Los Angeles, and she tries to find out what happened to him. Meanwhile, John has a run-in with a group of punks while taking Riley home from a party.
- Cameron goes to the Los Angeles County library of records for information to repair her damaged brain system when she spots a T-888 Terminator in an old photograph dating back to 1920 and teams up with the paraplegic librarian to uncover the mystery to why this Terminator was sent back, what its mission was, and where he is now. Meanwhile, John sneaks out of the house also to meet with Riley to attend a house party in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood where he does not bond well with her circle of wild friends, and continues to have disturbing flashbacks to the time he killed Sarkeasian.—matt-282
- While conducting research at the public library, Cameron spots a cyborg, called Byron Stark, in an old 1920 photograph taken during an infamous New Year's eve fire in a Prohibition speakeasy. She learns that Stark robbed banks, bought large parcels of land around Los Angeles and built housing developments. He was also killing those associated with his business rival. Cameron determines Stark may have been sent to the wrong date in time. Meanwhile, John goes to a party thrown by one of Riley's friends but things don't well when he starts to have flashbacks and he gets into a fight.—garykmcd
- The show begins with a fire breaking out during a Prohibition era New Year's Eve party.
We cut to Sarah, John and Cameron at home, with John looking up possible three dot design companies for Sarah online. Nothing seems to jump out and the scene ends with John pawning the laundry off on Cameron because "you never sleep."
Cut to Cameron buzzing the door at a library that same evening to meet a young wheelchair-bound man. The man asks Cameron about recent events in her life and Cameron talks about literature she has read on his advice; this is clearly a friendship of some length. The pair goes to another room where Cameron spots a black and white photo which looks to be of the aftermath of the events from our opening scene. Cameron recognizes a T-888 in the shot and the man tells Cameron the picture is of a speakeasy fire on December 31, 1920 which killed 43 people and was thought to be set by a rival establishment. "I need to know what happened to him," Cameron says of the other terminator.
John is awoken by Riley needing a ride from some place.
Cut back to Cameron in the library where the man, seemingly a student and the library's night watchman, and Cameron have found our terminator, a Myron Stark, in a photo with silent film superstar Rudolph Valentino.
Flashback to the premier of Valentino's "The Sheik" where Stark awkwardly interacts with Valentino as they leave the film. Cameron see Stark look over Valentino's shoulder, at a man tells us from the photo's caption is Rupert Chandler.
John shows up at a party hosted by some jerk-off. Though he initially blows up when Riley says she wants to stay, John relaxes and agrees to hang out.
Cameron's friend gets angry with her after she breaks the lock of another room looking for more information about Chandler. He is worried about losing his job and falls out his wheelchair in the commotion. Cameron seems fascinated that he waves off her help and struggles to put himself back in the chair.
Cameron finds her buddy in another room and apologizes, telling him he is her only friend. She tells him there is no record of Stark before the fire. Using audio police records they discover that Stark robbed thousands from several banks using a machine gun and killed at least eight people in the process. They read that Stark bought land throughout California in order to build houses. A news reel shows them that Stark battled Chandler for control of construction in the San Fernando Valley and that in 1925 Chandler's top foreman went missing. Cameron's friend finds her gun, and after explaining that she "protects" her brother, Cameron allows him how to fire it to his extreme delight.
John seems to be upset by a violent video game he plays at the party. As he tries to leave with Riley there is a misunderstanding over a lighter which results in John beating up the host.
Through a combination of news footage and a flashback we are shown that Stark indeed killed Chandler's foreman. Additionally, Chandler's son died in the speakeasy fire which Stark attended.
Parked in the car John and Riley discuss the incident and bond over the fact both are considered strange by mainstream society. They talk about their foster background, with Riley saying her parents were killed in a fire when she was young. John tells her his mother had been in a mental hospital and that the man she was engaged to left after an accident killed his new wife. The two start to kiss as the scene ends.
In classical terminator fashion, Cameron follows her friend into the bathroom to tell him she found that 400 people attended the funeral of Chandler's son and that she thinks Stark was responsible. She also asks him whether he ever thinks of dying or suicide, given his medical condition. He tells her he does not, that his bone cancer is in remission.
Cameron and her friend go up to the film room in the attic and watch an interview with a woman who was at the speakeasy the night of the fire. A combination of the interview and another flashback shows us that the fire was an accident: The electrical flash caused by the terminator's arrival ignited the illegal hooch. Cameron also realizes that the reason Stark was staring up into the sky in the original picture was that he was using the stars to determine the date and he must have realized he arrived in the wrong location at the time.
Reading Chandler's eulogy for his son Cameron and her friend discover that the son killed in the fire was a budding architect who had planned to build a structure called Pico Tower. Chandler stated in the eulogy that the land would instead become a garden in his son's memory. Cameron's friend tells her the tower was built, that it is an architectural landmark he visited while in high school. Cameron concludes that since Stark accidentally killed the future designer of the tower (Chandler's son), but still needed the structure to be constructed. This is confirmed when they find Stark's initials on Pico Tower's blueprints. Stark, who disappeared completely in 1927, destroyed Chandler's business so that he could gain access to the Pico site. Cameron's friend tells her the tower is closed now, that it was retrofitted after the last earthquake.
Cameron goes to the empty tower and we see that on New Year's 2010 the governor will be assassinated there. Her terminator view finds the optimal attack point and she quickly find Stark behind a wall with 20s era clothes and a machine gun. Cameron quickly pins Stark in an elevator shaft before going after his chip with a knife.
When Cameron returns to the library she tells her friend, identified as Eric, that she has noticed his cancer has returned. Eric is understandably weirded out by a friend giving such an impossible diagnosis. "No wonder you don't have any friends," Eric tells her. When Eric tells her she can't relate to having something damaged inside your body Cameron responds ominously that "it's like a bomb."
John arrives home the same time as Cameron, who notes that he has been with Riley as the two glare at one another.
When Cameron returns to the library the next night she finds a new, female night watchman on duty.
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