Terminator Zero’ Episode Five Review

Episode five of Netflix’s ‘Terminator Zero’ asks more questions about whether artificial intelligence will be our savior or destroyer, while throwing more action into the mix.

The previous episode ended with Skynet becoming self aware, taking over the world’s computer systems and launching nuclear strikes from Russia and the USA to destroy humanity. Hoping she would help defend them, Malcolm Lee brought his own AI, Kokoro, online. She did stop Skynet’s attack, but there’s no reason to believe that she wants to protect humanity any more than Skynet.

Indeed, one of the first things she does is to take over all computer systems herself, allowing her access to all the world’s knowledge and surveillance systems. She also takes control of the Eno robots, sending them to attack the city, capturing civilians and holding them prisoner. There seems to be a contradiction here, as they don’t attack Eiko because she’s unarmed, yet they are shown massacring the staff in a hospital without mercy, even though they aren’t posing any immediate threat.

When I first saw the Enos, I thought they might be a useful weapon to use against the Terminator, as they are strong and durable, but now they are performing much the same task as Skynet’s creations will in the future. It complicates the idea that humanity can defend against technology simply by creating more technology to do the job for them, something that plays into current fears around AI and its impact on our lives.

Some of the best things happening in this episode are scenes involving Misaki and Malcolm’s two sons. After it was revealed she was a cyborg in the last episode, Kenta has become distrustful of her, thinking she might be a Terminator as well, while Hiro believes she is still the same person. Misaki herself is just as upset by the revelation, as she had no idea until now that she wasn’t human. These are all interesting things that the franchise hasn’t explored as much before, and it provides some of the best character development in the show, as Kenta accepts she’s the same person who always cared for them, and fixes her damaged arm using parts from a scrapped Eno.

Like the rest of this show, this episode provides plenty of action and intrigue, adding more plot twists and asking plenty of new questions that the series needs to answer. Hopefully the answers will be worth the wait.