On paper Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles 2x12 Alpine Fields is built on a good model following in the footsteps of great TSCC episodes like Dungeons and Dragons, and Goodbye to all That, moving back and forth between Derek’s experiences in the future and the need to protect Terminator targets in the present. But that’s on paper, on television Alpine Fields suffers from a lack of tension and suspense, and having to endure too much time with a ridiculously annoying family.

As the episode cuts back and forth between the present and six months in the past, or six months in the future, and the present; it’s never too clear where this episode lies, and Derek’s own flashbacks or flashforwards, you can already see part of the problem. Not only do we have flashbacks, we have two sets of flashbacks, which takes a certain deftness to pull off.

Derek with the dying pregnant mother of the girl he will one day save, who will in turn save the human resistance plays too flat, but it has nothing to give it any real punch. The ball and chain here though are the extended flashbacks to the family’s past, that feature an annoying couple whom Sarah must help escape, and by helping them escape, I mean spending 6 to 8 hours sitting around and arguing while a Terminator wanders around somewhere outside.

Piled on the frosting is a future storyline that relies on the dubious idea that the last remnants of humanity fighting for their lives can produce a cure to Skynet biological weapon in a matter of hours based only on the blood of an immune girl, something even we couldn’t do given a decade. Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles 2x12 Alpine Fields isn’t a bad episode, but it is an episode that is more weak and diluted than anything else.