Beware of SPOILERS for the Season Two premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in the review below!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a mid-season replacement last year, and in a year marred and shortened by the 3-month writer’s strike it was a shining jewel. A show based on the venerable movie franchise could have gone wrong in oh-so-many ways. Instead it proved that it could do thoughtful stories with heart that are well-acted, with great visual effects and a solid blend of the real and the fantastical.

The first, 9-episode season was good — not great, but certainly on the right track with its characterizations, and serialized story. Tonight kicks off Terminator’s second season, and the premiere episode “Samson and Delilah” pays off those nine episodes in spades.

Read our full review after the jump!
This episode worked on so many levels. The story is driven by the fact that Cameron (the stunningly beautiful and talented Summer Glau) got blowed up real good by a couple of thugs, who of course had no idea that she’s a nearly indestructible robot from the future. But the blast caused her Future John Connor homebrew software to fail, and she rebooted with her original mission restored: TERMINATE John Connor. Whereas the films took Arnold’s evil Terminator and reprogrammed him to be a protector, this episode turns that on its head. Sarah and John’s super-powered ally is hunting them, and she knows all their plans, back-ups, safe houses, and Social Security numbers, ATM pins, and supermarket checkout accounts.

The television series is doing a great job of expanding the mythology of the Terminators, Skynet, Judgment Day, and the Connor and Reese families. But, of course, it is always at its core when John Connor is trying to stay one step ahead from a murderous robot that is flipping over cars and taking gunshot blasts to get at him. That’s what this episode is, and the fact that it’s Cameron — young (-looking), beautiful, a valued ally, and someone about whom John obviously cares a great deal — makes it all the more compelling.

The result is what Terminator does best: mix high-adrenaline action and explosions with heart-aching character drama.

The emotion is not only between John and Cameron, and Sarah and John, but also Reese and Charlie … even Agent Ellison and Cromartie, in a weird way. But John and Cameron is the heart of the matter. Was she lying to him when she told him she was “better,” and in love with him, to stop him from deactivating her? The love comment seemed to make her pleas disingenuous — John might have believed her, had she not gone so far. But then he trusted her (without a repair or reprogramming job — only Future John knows that trick, for now), and she proved that his trust is well-placed.

Did the fact that her head’s-up display turned from “TERMINATE” to “Terminate Overridden” indicate that she herself chose to override her directive, consciously, after she rebooted? Or that she had been telling the truth about correcting the error before she was deactivated? If that’s the case, was she honest about believing that she is in love with John?

These character developments make the season premiere infinitely more than an action hour. John Connor is coming into his own, becoming a man, and now he’s making important decisions himself. And he is trusting his gut and his heart — something that perhaps his mother will have to start doing, as well.

Add to this the new technology corporation and its driven CEO, who has just acquired the Turk and appears to be a vital connection in bringing about the rise of Skynet in less than four years, and we have a terrific new season ahead of us.

Oh, and did you notice that this new high-powered exec is … a T-1000?! If Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles adds end-of-episode twists like this to its repertoire, it just might become great.

RATING: * * * *