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Note: Transcript by TJack, originally published at Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Wiki.

The Tower is Tall but The Fall is Short
(Prod #3T7308)
Written by: Denise Thé
Directed by: Tawnia McKiernan
U.S. Broadcast Premiere: 20-Oct-2008

Sarah (monologue): My father slept with a gun under his pillow. There was no pill for his sickness, no medicine to ease his mind. He left blood, and sweat, and part of his soul in a foreign land. My father never talked to me about the war he fought. He never talked to anyone. Ever vigilant, ever silent.

Dr. Sherman: Anyone here?

Sarah (monologue): I never thought I'd follow in his footsteps.

Sarah: Dr. Boyd Sherman. Child psychologist. Family therapist.

John: Well, what's his link to Skynet, friend or foe?

Sarah: Don't know.

Cameron: Skynet doesn't have friends.

John: Well, it's got foes, and whatever the opposite of foes are, okay?

Cameron: Friends.

Sarah: Look, we don't know anything here. All we know is his name's on the list.

John: Everyone we've found on the list was a Skynet target and needed protecting.

Cameron: Not everyone needs protecting. Some need--

Sarah: We don't know anything yet.

Photographer: Turn your head a 1/4 inch. Perfect. Uh, another 1/2 inch. Perfect. And a smile now. Warmer if you can. Warmer. Warmer. Uh, never mind. Quarter inch to the left. Perfect. Could we get the child in for a few?

Assistant: You wanna be in the pictures with mommy?

Savannah: No.

Assistant: Looks like fun.

Savannah: No, it doesn't.

Catherine: Savannah, sit here with me. Savannah. Sit here with me.

Savannah: No.

Catherine: Savannah--

Assistant: Ma'am.

Catherine: Sit here with me.

Assistant: Ma'am, maybe we shouldn't force it.

Assistant: Thank you.

Photographer: Thank you.

Catherine: You have a child.

Assistant: Yes.

Catherine: What do you do with it?

Assistant: It? Uh, he, Leo. He had some issues during my divorce. Some days I wanted to kill him. But we went to someone. A real miracle worker. I can get you the number.

Dr. Sherman: Who wants to start?

Sarah: I'm not sure therapy is for us, no offense.

Dr. Sherman: None taken.

Sarah: Maybe if you tell us a little about yourself.

Dr. Sherman: Well, I've been a family counselor for 20 years. I started my work up in Northern California.

Sarah: Up north? Silicon Valley?

Dr. Sherman: Livermore. V.A. med center.

Sarah: Military?

Dr. Sherman: Since I've moved down here, I've treated civilians almost exclusively. Iraq's changing that, however. Do you have family in the military? Your dad?

Sarah: He passed away.

Dr. Sherman: Oh, I'm sorry. Is that something you'd all like to discuss?

Sarah: It was a long time ago. We've been on our own for some time.

Dr. Sherman: That must be difficult.

Sarah: You get used to it.

Dr. Sherman: Do you?

Cameron: I'm used to it.

John: It's fine.

Dr. Sherman: Is there anything else I should know?

Sarah: Anything else we should know?

Dr. Sherman: If we choose to go forward, I'd like to meet with each of you individually. Is that something you'd be open to? I could do tomorrow if you're up for it.

John: Tomorrow's good.

Agent Ellison: Can you hold that, please?

Security Guard: Sir, you're gonna have to take another one. That elevator's full.

Murch: Show me a tree. Happy. Funny. Hit the lights, please. It's an unanticipated response in the symbolistic software. The A.I. Keeps giving us random, unsolicited images. We don't know what they mean or why it continues to respond this way.

A.I. Team Member: What we do know is that when we run performance tests on the A.I., its computational time is increasing while the optimality of its outputs is decreasing.

Catherine: It's taking more time to do less.

Murch: Yeah, you could say that. Yes.

Catherine: I just did.

Dr. Sherman: A lot of children come to see me. They all have something that's bothering them. Sometimes they know what it is. Sometimes they don't. It helps if we talk about those things. Hey. Your shoes are untied. Do you know how to tie them? Would you like me to show you?

Dr. Sherman: So... Let's see what we have here. Okay? Dolls. Ooh, coloring books. Look, and we have, oh, a set of cards with faces. Happy. Sad. Scared. Just play with anything you want. I'm gonna talk to your mommy for a second. This will take some time.

Catherine: I can wait outside if it will make things go faster.

Dr. Sherman: More time than just today.

Catherine: I'll wait outside.

Sarah: Where you been?

Derek: On a run.

Cameron: You've been gone six hours.

Derek: I guess I'm slow. I doubled back on Sherman's house. I got nothing. How was he?

Sarah: Curious, smart, annoying.

Derek: So he's good at his job.

Sarah: Better than we were at ours. We bugged the office, but we still need the patient files.

Derek: You're going back?

Sarah: Not my first choice.

[gunshot]

John: I'm fine, okay? I'm fine. I was just cleaning it. I thought-- I thought I cleared it. It's just a burn from the shell casing.

Dr. Sherman: You want to be the girl?

Savannah: Where's her mommy?

Dr. Sherman: I don't know. Where do you think her mommy is?

Savannah: She's working.

Dr. Sherman: Hmm, okay.

Savannah: She doesn't like the way her mommy looks at her.

Dr. Sherman: No? How does she look at her?

Savannah: She wants to tell you a secret.

Dr. Sherman: Okay.

Savannah: I want my old mommy back.

Receptionist: Your daughter is beautiful.

Catherine: Thank you.

Receptionist: She looks just like her mommy.

Catherine: Yes. She does.

Dr. Sherman: I just need a minute with your mom, okay?

Catherine: Wait here.

Dr. Sherman: What are your strongest memories from childhood?

Catherine: My strongest memories?

Dr. Sherman: Yeah, what do you remember most? What's vivid to you?

Catherine: Why do you ask?

Dr. Sherman: Well, the death of Savannah's father is the most vivid memory she has. Hearing the news, the funeral. She's so young, she has no distance from it.

Catherine: Well, we can't make her grow faster, can we?

Dr. Sherman: Look, I'm-- I'm sure you're in a lot of pain, but you need to reassure Savannah that she hasn't lost her mother as well as her father.

John: Hey. You know the squirrel and the tree? See, uh... You make a loop for the tree. The squirrel runs around the tree. Then he dives in the hole and scurries out the other side.

Catherine: Savannah.

Dr. Sherman: John.

Hot Dog Vendor: The usual?

Derek: Yeah. Thanks.

[girls giggling]

Derek: Jesse?

Jesse: Hey, baby.

Derek: What are you doing here? Connor sent you back. What for?

Jesse: Why'd Connor send you back?

Derek: You're here. You must know.

Jesse: No one told me. And you left without saying good-bye.

Derek: My orders were to set up a safe house and wait. For what, I don't know. I wait.

Jesse: At the park. Eating hot dogs.

Derek: What about you? What's Connor got you doing?

Jesse: Connor didn't send me back, Derek.

Derek: He didn't? What do you mean? That's new.

Jesse: Not to me. There's metal everywhere these days. Looking for us. Working for us. Connor's got at least one in every major base. A big one flipped on us, took out half a bunker. Bird. Cullie. That's from the same shrapnel that killed Cullie.

Derek: How'd you get back here?

Jesse: Cullie's brother. He's a bubble tech.

Derek: He's the same one--

Jesse: Who sent you back. I know.

Derek: Are you AWOL? Jesse, did you run from the war?

Jesse: I need a place to rest.

Derek: You're a soldier. You fight.

Jesse: Not anymore. When everything ends, I want to be here with you. Derek, please.

Derek: I don't want everything to end. Jesse, not again.

Dr. Sherman: When I showed you in, you, uh, you assessed the exits. You're talking to a V.A. doc. Every vet does it every day.

John: Well, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not a vet.

Dr. Sherman: No, of course not. Your dad was though, right?

John: Vets are the ones who come back, right? My dad never came back, so...

Dr. Sherman: My mistake. I'm sorry. Hmm. You, uh-- you didn't have that yesterday. What happened?

John: Oh, it's a burn. Just an accident. I was cooking.

Dr. Sherman: What were you cooking?

John: What--what does that matter?

Dr. Sherman: Just curious.

John: I was boiling water for pasta.

Dr. Sherman: Why do you think your mother brought you here?

John: I don't know. She doesn't tell me everything.

Dr. Sherman: Why do you think you're here?

John: I couldn't tell you.

Dr. Sherman: Do you cook for the family much? Is that a role you take on?

John: What?

Dr. Sherman: What is your role in the family? What do you do?

John: Do? Uh, I go to school. I hang out. I'm a kid.

Dr. Sherman: Are you?

John: You think I'm lying? Why don't you check my passport or something?

Dr. Sherman: I simply meant that some children who've lost a parent feel pressure to take the place of the absent parent. They-- well, they grow up quickly. Interesting, you say passport when a lot of kids would say driver's license. You ever... Feel like running, escaping?

John: All the time.

Dr. Sherman: Why? Why do you want to escape? Look, I want you to know everything you say is between us. This is a safe place.

John: No, it's not. Nowhere is.

Cameron: Did you know that 60% of all teen suicides are committed with a gun?

Sarah: He thought it was cleared. It was an accident.

Cameron: Some first attempts may appear to be an accident.

Sarah: What's taking so long in there?

Dr. Sherman: Can we talk? I'd like to see John again, alone.

Sarah: John? Why?

Dr. Sherman: Oh, actually, I'd like to see all of you again. I think your daughter has some sort of social disorder. It's too early to diagnose, but she does exhibit possible Asperger's symptoms.

Sarah: And John?

Dr. Sherman: Yeah, this might sound strange to you, but, uh, he reminds me of veterans I used to treat.

Sarah: War veterans.

Dr. Sherman: Yeah, Vietnam, especially. The way he evaluates a room. His guardedness. The way he carries himself. Do you know of any violence in his past?

Sarah: He's never been abused, if that's what you're suggesting.

Dr. Sherman: Oh, no, no. I'm not suggesting anything like that.

Sarah: Thank you, doctor.

Dr. Sherman: It may not be me, but that boy needs to talk to somebody.

Sarah: We talk.

Dr. Sherman: That's not enough.

Lachlan Weaver: Strangest thing about her? Um, well, for one of the best minds in the tech world, she's practically a Luddite.

Catherine: You liar.

Lachlan Weaver: Bicycle or car?

Catherine: Bicycle.

Lachlan Weaver: Mm-hmm. Electric or acoustic?

Catherine: He thinks he's so smart.

Lachlan Weaver: No, no, no, I just know you, that's all.

Lachlan Weaver: Tell them how you work from home.

Catherine: [sighs]

Lachlan Weaver: Come on. Come on, tell them.

Catherine: My father was a butcher. One of the oldest shops in Edinburgh. We didn't have a lot of money for school supplies.

Lachlan Weaver: She writes on butcher's paper. Like, big rolls of it with grease pencils.

Catherine: I like the way it smells.

Woman over intercom: Miss Weaver, you're needed down in the lab.

Murch: It won't run any of the tests or diagnostics. It just keeps playing these twisted pictures and doing equations. I don't know, maybe we should consider, you know, scrapping it and starting over with a clean platform.

Catherine: Should I consider scrapping my team as well? Or does that seem equally as intemperate?

Lachlan Weaver: Strangest thing about her? Um, well, for one of the best minds in the tech world, she's practically a Luddite.

Savannah: Daddy keeps touching your tummy.

Catherine: Does he?

Savannah: Is he trying to hug me?

Catherine: I don't know.

Savannah: I think he's trying to hug me.

John: When are we going back to Sherman?

Sarah: We're not going back, not now. Patients list was a bust. He's got the names encoded for privacy. Tapes have been useless so far, but we'll keep listening.

John: Well, I can push him more, get something.

Sarah: Like what?

John: I don't know. He's on that wall for a reason though. For all we know, he could have a triple eight on his ass.

Sarah: Or it could be six months from now. There's no timetable on the list.

John: So you just want to give up?

Sarah: We don't know what Skynet wants from him. We can't trust him.

Cameron: Maybe his name's on the list because he helps John.

Sarah: Helps John? What makes you think John needs help?

John: What makes you think I don't?

Sarah: Do you? Because you can talk to me, John. You always have.

John: No, I'm fine.

[driver groans]

Derek: I had this friend once. We dug tunnels together. Roughest son of a bitch I ever knew. One day, he went out to take a leak. And when he was out there, he just decided to blow his head off. just like that. He fought, and fought, and fought for his life, then just couldn't anymore.

Sarah: John is not suicidal.

Derek: No. But what is he? He's not a boy. He's not a man. He's not a soldier. He has changed. Saw his mother kill a man.

[car beeps]

Receptionist: I won't scream.

[horn honks] [woman screams] [elevator dings]

Agent Ellison: Getting off?

Murch: I'm going down. I'm gonna have to ask you to get off on this floor.

Agent Ellison: Of course.

Catherine: We're developing a human interactive A.I. It's like a child. Its neural network needs to be trained to recognize images.

Dr. Sherman: Well, I guess I'm still a little fuzzy as to why you called me here.

Catherine: We were in the process of training the A.I. When it stopped running all its tests. Now... All it plays is this.

Dr. Sherman: [chuckles]

Catherine: Is something funny?

Dr. Sherman: It is if you get the joke. It's asking a question. Look, the question mark equals "why." Equations, that's "math." Books, well, they're books. And these images here, they all represent sadness. If you put it all together, "why is a math book so sad?" It's a riddle, a joke. A third grader told it to me. Around three to four years old, a child starts asking questions. But your A.I. appears to be even more advanced. It recognizes humor. That doesn't happen until--  well, actually some people never get a sense of humor. If this were one of my patients, I would say it was a gifted child who's grown bored. It's amusing itself. But of course, that's impossible. It's just a machine.

Catherine: Yes, impossible. Why is a math book so sad?

Dr. Sherman: Because it has so many problems. [chuckles]

Dr. Sherman (on recording): Why? Why do you want to escape? Look, I want you to know everything you say is between us. This is a safe place.

John: No, it's not. Nowhere is.

Dr. Sherman: Don't you feel safe around your family?

John: My family? Safe? [scoffs]

Dr. Sherman: Well, your mother seems like a strong woman. Doesn't that make you feel safe?

John: It might, if that's what she wanted. Safe is the last thing she wants me to feel.

Dr. Sherman: I find that hard to believe.

John: Oh, I'm sure she's right. She's always right. Fear can be a good thing. On a bad day, it'll keep you alive.

Dr. Sherman: Do you have bad days like that? John?

Derek: I was, uh... Thinking about that time we met. You found me outside the bunker.

Jesse: When you went to take a leak and almost talked yourself into eating your gun?

Derek: I don't think I've ever thanked you for what you said that day.

Jesse: I think the exact words were, "your fly's open."

Derek: Yeah.

Jesse: It was.

Jesse: Is there a word for what we just did?

Derek: A word?

Jesse: For what we just did.

Derek: I can think of a few, yeah.

Jesse: Can you?

Derek: You wanna hear 'em?

Jesse: No. I want a new one.

Derek: Is this your way of getting rid of me?

Jesse: You'll be gone soon enough.

Derek: What do we need a new word for? I'm pretty sure if I use one of the old ones you'll still do it with me.

Jesse: I might choose to misunderstand.

Derek: The old words.

Jesse: I have a new life, Derek. I want new words. Think of one and I might let you stay. I'm thirsty. Can you get me a drink, please?

Agent Ellison: I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

Catherine: It's for my daughter.

Agent Ellison: I'm sure she'll love it.

Catherine: You think so? I don't know what she loves. How goes the robot hunt, Mr. Ellison?

Agent Ellison: Absurd, when you put it like that.

Catherine: If you need any resources, you let me know.

Agent Ellison: I do have a question, if that's all right. The basement. What's happening down there? It seems that there's high security.

Catherine: And for good reason, Mr. Ellison. We're building something. Good luck on your hunt.

Dr. Sherman: Sorry about the confusion. My assistant's out today. The temp agency's sending someone. You all right?

John: You said this was a safe place, right? That I could say anything?

Dr. Sherman: That's right.

[radio static] [elevator dings]

John: You have to understand, my mom doesn't want me coming here. She worries.

Dr. Sherman: About you?

John: About everybody.

Dr. Sherman: Well, what about your sister? Is she worried about her too?

John: My sister's... Stronger than I am.

Dr. Sherman: Someone broke into your house?

John: She forgot my birthday. I thought she did. She sent my sister out for a cake. We were alone, and a man broke in. He wanted computer equipment. He tied us up.

Dr. Sherman: What happened next?

John: Nothing. Nothing happened. The guy got what he wanted and he let us go.

Dr. Sherman: You know, John, sometimes children feel like they need to-- to protect their parents. But that's not your job. You're not one of my vets. You're not a-- you're not a soldier. You get to be a kid.

John: No.

[elevator dings] [elevator dings]

Lady: [whispered] Are you sure?

[elevator dings] [elevator dings]

Cameron: It was here for Dr. Sherman.

John: It was there to kill him.

Sarah: Or to protect him.

Derek: Whatever Sherman is or isn't supposed to do, he's gonna live to do it.

Cameron: For now.

John: Well, I guess we're not gonna get any answers from this. What'd you do to it?

Cameron: Nothing. Once I accessed the CPU, the chip destroyed itself. This model's been redesigned.

Derek: With a self-destruct feature?

John: Skynet must not want me reprogramming in the future.

Cameron: This is one way to stop you.

John: Well, I guess they're getting smarter. We should too.

Dr. Sherman: Oh, time's up, Savannah. See you next week.

Catherine: Could you play for a minute, Savannah? I'd like to speak with the doctor. I'm very impressed with your work.

Dr. Sherman: Oh, well, you've done some good work too, Miss Weaver. Um, Savannah seems happier. I gather you've worked hard to show her the mother she knew before her father's death.

Catherine: I have, yes. But I wasn't speaking of your work with Savannah. I meant the insight you had into my project. I could use someone with your instincts on my team.

Dr. Sherman: I'm-- I'm flattered, but I do have a responsibility to my patients.

Catherine: As a consultant then. You compared the A.I. to a child. Help me raise it.

Dr. Sherman: Well, I-- you realize you're talking to a man who doesn't even know how to run his own lawnmower?

Catherine: Just treat it like one of your patients. You'll do quite well. When I was a child, I did my sums on rolls of butcher paper. My father would bring them home from work. I liked the way the paper smelled. That's my most vivid memory from childhood.

Dr. Sherman: What did the paper smell like?

Catherine: Cow's blood.

Sarah (monologue): In 1678, doctors diagnosed the mental affliction soldiers suffered from as "nostalgia." Homesickness. A longing to return to the past. The cruel reality of war is that there is no return home. No return to innocence. What is lost is lost forever. Like my father, war's wounds have bled me dry. No words of comfort. No words of forgiveness. No words at all.

Dr. Sherman: I have to say, I was surprised when you called. Why don't you start by telling me why you're here.

[groaning]
[snapping sound]

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