Ick, I wasn't satisfied with TSCC or BSg tonight. Anders heading off to the sun in Galactica was about the best moment though ;)

I'm glad the BSG obligation is over and I hope next's week's TSCC is a hell of a lot better.

I need to watch it again but my initial reaction was not good at all.

What I really didn't like was the retcon of John having been onto Riley. Uh, what? The way they attempted to pretend it had been there all along was so very un-TSCC. The sad thing is I actually liked most of the stuff between him and Jesse, but it just screamed fake to me. A show that spends so much time dropping bits and pieces of character and story movement should not be falling back on lengthy exposition to tell us what happened off camera over the course of several episodes.

Also, Jesse lost a pregnancy? Come on. That felt cheesy and cliche and it wasn't at all necessary. The sub story alone was plenty good enough to give her motivation and make us feel something for her.

The last scene with John crying on his mom was beautiful, though. I loved that, especially as a contrast to the usual John being a prick to Sarah (like his first scene with her was). He's worn me down so much with that coldness, but I think we've *finally* turned a corner with him. He hugged Sarah when she had her emotional breakdown in Mr Ferguson and she comforted him when he had his emotional breakdown last night. Mother and son are now going to be together again for real :)

It is nice for John to be on the ball, but I just can't buy that he was so on the ball when he wasn't. Things can certainly happen off camera, but not *that* much. And not when it contradicts what they actually show us on camera. I never saw anything to indicate over the course of this season that John ever had a clue about Riley until he saw her body in the morgue. So I can not cheer the arrival of a new John Connor. The character didn't develop, he skipped ahead.

Maybe I'll feel differently when I rewatch this whole season after it ends. It's possible there were hints dropped that I missed, but the way I watch this show, I would be very surprised if I missed stuff like that.

If you read my reply up there to indiefic's comment then you know why I didn't like this one. It wasn't John being smart that I didn't like, it was the show pretending he was smart before when we know he wasn't. That's the kind of thing I can't ignore and it ruined this episode for me. I'm hoping on a rewatch maybe it won't bother me so much since I'll already be expecting that John retcon.

Actually I'm also really disappointed that this was Jesse's end. Looking back now, she and Riley were pretty much pointless except for John and Derek to get some magical character growth in the conclusion of their story (sorry, I'm trying not to be bitter, but I'm doing a poor job of it). I think I just want to wipe this fan-favorite 2-parter from my mind forever.

At least the masses enjoyed it because God knows we need the ratings. I'll try to make peace with it for that fact alone. :P

And I really need to catch up my comicals so I can express myself in a more fulfilling way :P

It wasn't that I didn't want that from John, it was just that it didn't feel real in any way. It was just fake and came out of nowhere.

Yes. That's it exactly. With as closely as I watch this show and as many times as I watch each episode, I can't imagine I would have missed clues that John was really onto Riley being future!girl. I never saw anything until Ourselves Alone to indicate John might be getting a clue that something was up.

When Jesse asked John when he figured it out, he said "it doesn't matter" but mentioned it was a really bad day. I think I need someone to tell me which really bad day it was so I can look for signs that I may have missed from that point. Right now, though, I can think of any point where he seemed to have any idea Riley before Ourselves Alone.

I have that same fear as you — that this big John moment was done to appease the loudmouth complaining "fans". The show is normally so well-written that this just screamed shortcut.

Agreed on Jesse's miscarriage. That was lame and so not needed for her story.

At first I didn't think Derek killed Jesse because the close up on the start of the trigger pull seemed like it was meant to contrast the close-up on Sarah's trigger pull when she iced Winston. But Jesse being dead seems to fit perfectly with spoilers from Thomas Dekker and Josh Friedman. So now I don't know. If he did kill her, it makes a mess of his character since he just had his big (*cough* out of the blue *cough*) revelation last week that human life is valuable. So I tell ya, I think this 2-parter made a total mess of John and Derek's characters.

Either that or someone needs to write me some Idiot's Guides to John and Derek's transformations :P