How to Escape from the Police 101.

• Step 1: Be a Terminator
• Step 2: Walk Casually into a Hail of SWAT Automatic Rifle Fire
• Step 3: Shoot - But Do NOT Kill! - aforementioned SWAT Team
• Step 4: Appropriate Tear Gas Canister Launcher
• Step 5: Use it to Incapacitate Every Other Cop at Scene
• Step 6: Borrow SWAT Vehicle
• Step 7: Retrieve Co-Conspirators
• Step 8: Extricate Self & Others from Scene Hastily

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I had not seen the first “Terminator” film before I saw “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” - but that’s because I saw T2 when I was 7 years old, and the first film likely would have terrified me… 

(Yes, I saw T2 when I was 7.  My dad was awesome.  For some reason, myself and a bunch of other kids at school where obsessed with Terminator despite the fact none of us had seen it.  So when it was out on VHS for rental, my dad rented it and “The Adams Family” movie.  Whole family watched that first, then my mom and sister went upstairs [my sister lived in her room; we used to call it her cave] and me and Dad stayed up until 1 in the morning [latest I had ever been allowed to stay up at the time] and watched T2.  My mom said later if she had known how violent and what language T2 had in it, she never would have let me watch it.  LOL.)

…Back to my original observation, I had not seen the original film when I saw T2.  So Sarah Connor’s reaction of outright terror to the sight of Arnold stepping out of the elevator made not one iota of sense to me.  Having seen such since many times?  It makes perfect brilliant sense to me.

This is Sarah Connor’s absolute worst nightmare coming back from the dead to get her.  This is an unstoppable killing machine that murdered her best friend, her mother, and 17 police officers in their own station in the pursuit of her.  The killing machine that claimed the life of the soldier from the future turned man she loved.  That even after having seemingly been blown to bits in a massive gasoline tanker explosion rose from the fire like a demon from hell to continue it’s pursuit of her.  That clawed it’s way after her and tried desperately to strangle her as it’s last act before she crushed it in a hydraulic press.

Which explains perfectly why she would fall to the ground in sheer terror and run screaming in the other direction.  And why the absolute only thing that could break her from her spell of total terror was the presence of her son, safe and sound in the company of the machine.

Another thing I love about this scene?  Dr. Silberman’s reaction to the sight of the T-1000 morphing through the bars.  Silberman had been there that night, when Sarah went to the police station.  Had interviewed Kyle Reese and ruled him a complete lunatic.  Had spent a decade firmly believing such.  Spent months or years listening to Sarah rant and rave about Skynet, the Terminators, Judgment Day and refused to believe a word of it.  And in that moment as the T-1000 morphs through the bars and the syringe cap falls out of his mouth, it all comes crashing down upon him that Sarah was right. 

I always think the same thing when that moment comes in this film: “Yeah, Fuck You Silberman!”

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