A Few More Wild Speculations on TTSCC’s Cameron and Allison

There are so many aspects of Allison (or Alison, for consistency I’ll go with the former) that seem a part of Cameron that it’s hard not to wonder about it. I had a fair amount to say right after the episode “Allison From Palmdale” aired, but I’m not sure I covered it to my satisfaction.

It seemed like Cameron had more knowledge of Allison than she could have had first-hand knowledge about. When Cameron thought she was Allison during her little breakdown, she wasn’t reacting like a mimic…she was Allison until the realization that she was a machine robbed her of that. How?

Perhaps there is more to that mimicry process than we know. Perhaps the interviews are just the icing on the cake. Remember back to the mysterious basement room in “Dungeons and Dragons”? What if there is some sort of scanning going on that attempts to imprint a human’s personality onto an infiltration unit? But that’s something totally out of science fiction.

Another more mundane possibility is that Cameron did A LOT of observation of Allison. It’s clear that Allison wasn’t aware of the purpose until Cameron arrived as a “skin job”, but that doesn’t mean that Cameron in her endoskeletal spendor wasn’t always there. Before Cameron assumed Allison’s voice, there was a consistency there when Ally was being interrogated. And let’s not forget that the interrogation was more than the questions: it was the reactions. It was those sorts of things that would be wanted.

And then there’s another theory that I haven’t seen anyone write about yet: that Cameron has made it all up. In an attempt to understand herself, she’s concocting an entire history of not only herself pre-John, but of some imagined woman that was strong and loyal to future-John…just as Cameron is trying to be. Being controlled solely by the terminate directive shook her up plenty. Having a past to hold onto, to give her a moral compass, might be what she feels she needs to prevent the “machine” from taking over again.

But let’s say that Allison Young actually is about to be born in our time and will survive the initial attack to become a resistance fighter. What, exactly, does she become to John? Is she like a surrogate daughter? Given her age at the time of Allison’s capture, that means that it happens about 18-to-20 years from now (assuming that Judgment Day happens on schedule). That means that John would be pushing 40, Derek would be about the same (maybe a little younger), and Kyle somewhere around 30. Since Kyle only has/had eyes for Sarah, and Derek only seems to love his brother, that mean that Allison’s importance has to be to John specifically.

What sort of attachment would Allison have to have with John for John to be willing to risk so that Cameron could not only survive, but thrive? Again, I have to go back to the idea of surrogate daughter. Someone that John loves fiercely. Or maybe an adoptive sister….but that seems more likely for Kyle, if Derek took her in. So, surrogate daughter it is. I don’t think it’s too far out there to suppose that John had this need to care for someone in order to continue the fight during the darkest days…you have to have something tangible to fight for. For him, perhaps it was Allison.

So…Cameron shows up to the camp, immediately setting off the dog alarms, but because she looks like Allison, and even acts like her a little, she’s allowed in. John either believes her story about an anti-Skynet faction or else reprograms her, but I sense the first is more likely. John has a history of taking out-there risks.

Derek knew Allison. I’d been wondering how he spotted Cameron as “metal” as soon as he saw her. I never thought she was the one he dealt with in the basement. But…if he KNEW Allison was dead, then spotting the dopplegänger would be a piece of cake. It also would help to make more relevant this exchange from “Demon Hand”: Derek Reese: You might have fooled them, but not me. I know you. Cameron Phillips: I know you, too.

If we go with the idea that Cameron’s memories were true, then I want to see an episode where we find out about Allison.

And speaking of Allison…why is Cameron named Cameron? Why not start from the beginning as Allison Young? Would it inject a(nother) paradox into the temporal mix? Why would she need a secret identity when the real Allison isn’t yet born and no one alive knows who she is?

You’d think that because of the interrogation, the terminators would know both her name and her looks…and yet none have identified her as “Allison” or something similar to indicate that they have any clue as to her model. Cameron certainly can differentiate terminator models based on build, or specific terminators she’s experienced: Cromartie, for example, even though his meat covering had changed since the first time she saw him. Again, this makes me think that Cameron (and maybe some of her fluffy terminator buddies) aren’t of Skynet.

I will concede the idea that perhaps Cameron *is* Skynet. There’s a theory with some popularity that Cameron is simply ensuring that all the events come to a nexus so that Skynet does get built: and part of the requirement for that to happen is John Connor must survive.

But now I’m straying from the original thought of how much of Allison is Cameron? It looked like a lot. Cameron, without the machine getting in the way, was for all intents and purposes, Allison. She laughed, she cried, she kissed the Connors good-bye. I want to know more. Who/what is Cameron? If there is any true mystery to this series, that’s got to be it.