Speculation on Detective O'Brien's Larger Role in TERMINATOR GENISYS
So, for those of you who haven't seen the new Terminator Genisys movie, turn back now because spoilers are littered through this post. Have you seen it? It's great! This whole year has been a year of surprisingly good sequels and this one doesn't disappoint. If you saw it, or you're OK with spoilers, then let's continue with the article.
So, OH MY GOSH SO COOL RIGHT? I WAS LIKE NO WAY! That being said, this movie did a lot of things right. What with making it relevant with everything being connected and people all buying into it, and having a new Terminator/human hybrid that makes everything seem like it's moving forward, but a big question that is asked in the new Terminator movie is this:
WHO sent Pops back to Young Sarah Connor?
After I finished watching the movie, my friend kept asking this question over and over again. He loved the movie, but was noticeably upset that the movie gave no hints about who this mysterious character was. All that was known was that Pops said it was wiped from his memory so that Skynet wouldn't go after that person, so they wouldn't be put on the list of people who needed to be hunted down. Basically you could say the character was never introduced. Just a big ol' gaping plot hole that they figured we didn't need to know. But what if there was a character who fit the bill? One that might make sense of it all.
One thing that should be established with the Terminator time travel universe is that things often happen that affect the future they live in. Kyle Reese knew John Connor before he knew he was his father. He was meant to go back in time before he did. Meaning, his future was the one that existed.
So what is my theory? Let's go back to the '80s, where young Kyle Reese arrived only to find the past had been changed. There, he met a young police officer with the last name O'Brien who was spared by the Terminator to go after a more dangerous target. Flash forward to the future. O'Brien has a knowledge of time travel, Terminators, Sarah Connor, and looks exactly like JK Simmons. Now, do people think he's a washed-up nut job alcoholic officer? YES. But that's not the point. I have small pieces of evidence that point to the fact that he is in fact the man responsible for sending Pops back in time.
- O'Brien disconnects himself from the main group when they go to blow up Skynet. Now this could be a huge oversight, but my first fact is essential. The man responsible for sending Pops back to Sarah Connor wiped the Terminator's mind from knowing who he was so that others wouldn't hunt him down. If he included himself in blowing up Genisys, Skynet would surely want to target him, but by being a bystander in the hospital who assists without really being connected, O'Brien makes sure to remain on the Skynet's most unwanted list.
- He seems oddly familiar with the Terminator and would know what version to send back in our time. Moreover, he seems very calm and normal with the Terminator when he smashes through the door. He doesn't recognize him from his younger days as a cop. When he is saved in the past, it is by Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. He never even sees Pops back then. Pops is in the back of the truck. So, how come when Pops bursts through the door to meet with Kyle and Sarah, Detective O'Brien seems fine with this as well? So much so that he makes a joke about it the next minute. Unless...he is already aware of the Terminator, perhaps going as far as having previously met him.
- Terminator tells him to run. Why does this matter? Maybe it doesn't, but Pops' prime objective certainly isn't Detective O'Brien. When John Connor is attacking the helicopter, O'Brien leaves them, yet they specifically give him a chance to get away. More specifically, Pops gives him a chance to get away, telling him to run to safety while they distract John Connor. Terminator doesn't often do things unless he is emotionally connected or it is his mission, so why bother with saying anything at all? He'd be just another casualty on the list of people who have died along the road. Unless he wasn't.
So what's my theory? When the timeline changed, it created a rift where O'Brien meets Pops and is informed of the knowledge of Terminators, time travel, robots, John Connor, and Sarah Connor. He is a detective who spends his life working on this, so much that people think he's a crackpot alcoholic. But what if that's part of his plan? Avoid suspicion by acting useless. He has thirty years to find info on these people and similar incidents. How do we know he didn't find the Terminator waiting around for thirty years and got in touch? How do we know the Terminator didn't make him aware of the situation and tell him to send Pops back in time in the future? Thirty years is a long time and he can make a lot of forward movement, and completely avoid Skynet. This is apparent: if there is one thing he is good at, it's avoiding Skynet. They don't care about him at all. They don't consider him necessary to kill, although they have multiple chances to do so. He is the perfect person to be involved. He was part of the plan to begin with. Pops knew young Kyle needed to know how to make Sarah trust him with the thing she did with his hand, and who brought young Kyle and his family to the station the day that they needed to meet? DETECTIVE O'BRIEN! He was an important piece in so many ways. But was it coincidence? Or has O'Brien been involved from the beginning, avoiding being too connected, but just connected enough that he can make sure things happen the way they need them to? Pops has a connection to O'Brien, he tells him to run, he just can't remember why he cares, because it would endanger O'Brien. O'Brien is essential, because he sent Pops back.
Share your own theories on who you think sent Pops back. And also, share your opinion on the movie below. This is just my own opinion based on certain moments of the movie and love of JK Simmons' character and a desire that he returns.