Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TV Series) Allison from Palmdale (2008) User Reviews

Cameron thinks she is human

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 7 November 2012]

While out shopping on her own something goes wrong; suddenly she freezes and has no idea who she really is. She gives her name as Allison Young; this isn't a random name though; Allison Young is a real person or at least she will be in the future… The story of Cameron's action after her memory failure is intertwined with the story of Allison Young; a member of the resistance who looks just like Cameron; that is obviously not a coincidence. Cameron finds herself with as girl called Jody who befriends her and hears about how she came to be in LA… a story that might not be exactly true. Elsewhere agent Ellison is seriously considering Catherine Weaver's job offer.

This was an enjoyable episode that gave us an insight into Cameron's original mission and how she was to infiltrate the resistance. It was nice to see Summer Glau take centre stage as she does a great job as Cameron; it was interesting to compare this character with Allison. Not much happened in Agent Ellison's story but it is gradually advancing along with the connected story of the mysterious Catherine Weaver. Having Sarah away from John and Cameron while accompanying her neighbour to the hospital initially seemed a distraction but it became clear that these scenes did provide some insight into her character.

Summerfest

[briandecarrun · 8/10 · 23 October 2016]

While I am not sure of why there would be a human memory left, it still made for a cracking episode and tons of the marvelous Summer Glau in this episode who was probably the best thing about this series. Richard T. Jones, Brian Austin Green were both also a strong supporting cast, and Thomas Dekker did fine but thought Lena Headey for the main role, just didn't have the same gravitas to carry this and often overdid the angry moody illogical. This episode is loads of Summer Glau and her past, and really gives her some room to exercise her acting skills against what is normally having to play(very well) the robot role. Nice storyline and one to get you thinking....

Alisonography...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 8 August 2022]

A little insight and biography, of Cameroon's identity, what she was, and what she came to be, and how she might, or might not be, quite free.

She's the best part of it all.

Allison from Palmdale was an excellent change-of-pace episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"

[tavm · 10/10 · 2 October 2008]

In this episode, Cameron has a flashback (or a flashforward, since she's from the future) of being an Allison Young. Allison was actually a resistance fighter for the adult John Connor who encountered her cyborg doppelganger and got killed by her so Cameron could use her bracelet to lead her to John to kill him. As Allison, Cameron encounters a runaway girl named Jody in jail and befriends her though Jody's not so friendly on the inside. Meanwhile, Sarah brings the pregnant Kacy (Busy Phillips) to the hospital where we meet the father, a cop. I'll stop there and say what a nice change of pace from the previous suspenseful and action packed eps of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". Both Ms. Phillips and Summer Glau in her double role come off best here with Glau as future Allison bringing a great deal of emotion in her performance. What a highlight seeing two Summers on the same scene together! This was another excellent I highly recommend.

Art

[robert-jones2582 · 10/10 · 24 June 2010]

It is worth watching all twelve previous episodes of this show just to watch this one. Most of Season 1 was fairly well done, but not brilliant. A couple episodes were bad, and a couple were good. The three episodes of season 2 that precede this one are decent, and not necessarily boring (the premiere being the exception, in that it was better than the others). In any case, this episode is the one I consider to be the best in the whole series. Even if all the other episodes were complete crap, it would be worth watching the whole show just for this one episode.

I don't know what happened to the show for this episode, but whatever they did, it worked. This is what I wish the whole show had been like. Sadly, only a few of the other episodes measured up to the quality of this one.

Past life regression

[GameAndWatch · 7/10 · 2 September 2013]

Cameron's chip goes awry again (probably needs a dusting), but this time she regresses to a past life.

This episode was a nice distraction from the usual game of cat and mouse that has become a little tiresome.

There was barely any character (or plot) development in the first series, so I was glad to get a taste of Cameron's future past. A terminator interrogates Allison to then personify her as a resistance puppet. A little of Allison rubbing off on her in the process. Maybe her good spirit is what keeps Cameron from the dark side.

We can only assume at this point that John catches and re-programs the terminator for his own ends to later send her back as his guardian angel. But perhaps it's Cameron who is actually pulling all the strings.

A Little Confusing

[Littleman95 · 5/10 · 13 January 2021]

Now the attention of the show moved from John to... Allison. The mysterious past of her is very interesting but it quite slip from the main plot, the main mission. And John is a little silly not guessing even a bit about what is maybe happening to her.