Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today

Season 2, Episode 8, Aired
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Episode Summary

John and Riley face some fatal aftermath on their trip to Mexico. Sarah and Ellison finally meet up.
9.3
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EPISODE RATING: Superb
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Fan Episode Reviews (15)

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  • An episode of stories.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By BrushYourTeeth, Jul 02, 2010 Report Abuse
    I don't have any clue as to what the title had to do with the show at all...

    This episode pulled something off that can be done horribly wrong and get extremely repetitive: telling what's happening only from a certain characters point of view. It gave some extra suspense to certain scenes because you weren't getting the whole view like we normally do in every episode. And it didn't get too repetitive.

    This week John plans a get away to Mexico with Riley, while Cromartie is hot on their trail and kidnaps Sarah. The final showdown in Mexico was well planned by the characters in the show, but the music over the scene felt a little off. Maybe if I had taken Spanish for more than 3 years I might have understood the song.

    There was a few interesting scenes this week and two of them involved John dealing with the ladies. Cameron's tactics to convince John to stop seeing Riley were extremely interesting and very suggestive (I might have caved) and I wonder what exactly him and Cameron do in the future.

    The scenes with Riley and John in Mexico seemed a little sudden. Here Riley is all into him and she suddenly bursts out she doesn't want to get involved with anyone seriously.

    And when Sarah breaks down at the end...it was interesting to see her tough side loose out for once. Overall, decently good episode and makes me want more and more.moreless

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    13 2

  • Sarah and Jon finally working stuff out?

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Nikkles, Jul 02, 2010 Report Abuse
    Another great episode! Good pacing of the story, which ties up some loose ends (Cromartie) and begins to unwrap some others. I feel Sarah may like Riley a bit better after this episode, though probably not. Cromartie went out a bit weekly and their was not a lot of suspense or zip to the scene, caused once again by rather strange editing choices. Cameron continues to show odd human like traits, which I think are starting to creep everyone out. The writers don't seem to know what to do with Derek this season. This is very sad for me as I really like the character and the banter he used to have with Sarah. He also seems to be very harsh on John lately, which is both out of the blue and a bit strange. Those minor bits aside, it was another strong episode that definitely moved the plot forward.moreless

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    5 6

  • Very Cool Episode

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Killer1One, Jul 02, 2010 Report Abuse
    It was a very nice episode, that's why I gave a 9. The episode doesn't get the 10 for simple, little, but very disturbing mistakes. We all love the show, so I am going to start with the bad stuff. For example: That music they played when Cromartie was getting shot. OMG! I was laughing, LAUGHING, it was absolutely ridiculous, and I speak Spanish, so yeah, that was an awful song. Another thing that disturbed me a little bit was the fact that Cromartie got killed with very little weapons. We have seen terminators kicking butt before and little guns. well you get the point.
    Now let's talk about the gooooooood stuff: The way the showed us the history, very J.J. Abrams style and very good. I like one thing in particular in this episode and it was the fact that Cameron showed us some human feeling understanding, in the old terminator movies (like Terminator 2 and 3) especially on Terminator 2 James Cameron showed us they can understand feelings (When Arnold said: "Now I know why you cry but is something I could never do", which by the way is a loose end on the terminator TV series). Cromartie is not SKYNET but he deserved a 10 star death sequence (Because he has been with us since the beginning), he got a 9 Star death but that's good enough. The episode was completely action packed, and had a few surprises. It was RELEVANT to the plot line (SKYNET Remember). Overall, a very good job this week from Josh Friedman and company.

    I am little bit tough with this show because i like it.moreless

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    12 2

  • Fantastic writing and great directing

    10
    "Perfect"
    By hopper_mbp, Jul 02, 2010 Report Abuse
    This show just keeps getting better and better. The writing and direction is consistent and solid. It's great seeing John take more and more control of his own life. They're building towards a defining moment where he'll be forced to accept his destiny and his role in everything.
    More is revealed about John's future self and Cameron's relationship with John. Riley is introduced to the real John Baum. We see how desperate and frustrated Sarah is. Even Ellis is staying engaged in the story in a believable and compelling way. Just another excellent installment of a show that is quickly becoming my favorite.moreless

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    10 2

  • Wow, this was a wicked cool episode.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By benner82, Jul 02, 2010 Report Abuse
    Wow, this was a wicked cool episode. Sure, I've seen it done before, but it's very hard to pull off. They did a really good job pulling it off. I especially liked the scene with Sarah in the trunk of the car. I loved how every different story overlapped some what, but each time it's told from a completely different point of view. It was very ambitious of Daniel T. Thomsen (writer) and Michael Nankin (director) to approach the episode the way they did. Everyone did a fantastic job acting wise, although the scene at the very end when Sarah loses control and ends up crying in John's arms. It seemed very forced and lost the emotional impact it should have.

    Another reason I really liked this episode it because it is a turning point for two story lines. One is Ellison's, who is starting to figure out how deep this all goes and what his role is in what is to come. Another is Riley's story line. John now has no choice than to explain everything and hope she doesn't freak out, or make up some lie that she will see right through. It's also the end of a character arc as well, leaving the door open for a new villain.moreless

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    4 1
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Goof: After everyone has escaped from Cromartie, when Sarah is talking with Ellison, she is cradling her injured hand. Just after she drops her arms to her sides, the camera view switches to John and Riley and suddenly Sarah's arms are held in front of her again. Edit
    • Goof: When John sneaks out of the house he leaves his bedroom door wide open, but it is closed in the morning when the terminator comes. If it had been open all night, Sarah and Cameron would have known he was gone in the morning. Edit
    • While eating in a small cantina in the Mexican town, John and Riley are approached by a man with a camera who is hustling tourists for snapshots. He asks them for "five bucks" for him to e-mail the picture to them, since it is digital. This is a reference to the end of the original film, The Terminator when Sarah Connor, pregnant with John stops for gas on the edge of a small Mexican village and a young boy takes a Polaroid snapshot of her and tries to hustle her for "five dollars" for the picture. She negotiates with him and buys it, and the same picture is the one which Kyle Reese later carries around as a good-luck charm in the future before coming back in time to save Sarah and become John's father. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Original International Air Dates: New Zealand: November 26th, 2008 on TV2 United Kingdom: December 11th, 2008 on Virgin 1 Denmark: January 9th, 2009 on TV3 Brazil: February 3rd, 2009 on Warner Channel Sweden: March 26th, 2009 on TV6 Australia: May 1st, 2009 on FOX8 Norway: August 8th, 2009 on TVNorge Germany: September 28th, 2009 on Sky Cinema Hits Czech Republic: October 22nd, 2009 on Prima COOL Finland: October 18th, 2009 on Sub Slovakia: September 2nd, 2010 on Markiza Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Sarah: You want answers. Ellison: I just want to know my role in all of this. What happens after this? Sarah: This is it. There's nothing else behind the curtain. This is what I do. It's all I do. You already know why I do it. I'm sorry for what you lost. But I can't help you get any of it back. Edit
    • John: (to Riley, about the helmet) It's supposed to stop cars from playing ping-pong with your head. Edit
    • Sarah: (Responding to Cromartie's statement that she should have killed the boy in the bowling ally in an earlier episode.) I'm not a murderer! Cromartie: Who is? Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Quentin Tarantino Allusions: There are many allusions to Director Quentin Tarantino in this episode. First, the episode progresses through different character points of view, a Tarantino signature as seen in his films Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown. Second, the death/destruction of Cromartie and the shot lookup up at his killers/destroyers is an allusion to Tarantino's "Massacre at Two Pines" in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 when Uma Thurman's character "The Bride" is nearly killed by Bill and "The Vipers Assassination Squad". Edit
    • Title: The title "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today" refers to how Cromartie introduced himself in his first scene during the pilot. He used this sentence as the reason for appearing as a substitute teacher in John's class. Edit

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