I'm not talking about the characters' priorities, I'm talking about the writers' priorities. After all, the writers are the ones who actually exist.
I suppose the characters were written to behave like they thought were saving irrelevant numbers by a thousand monkeys working on typewriters then? Or to have multiple conversations in the last two episodes about the importance of saving the people who are considered irrelevant? It's been John and Root's entire focus of bringing Harold back into the fold. Did that script spontaneously burst forth from the aether or did the show's writers write it?
What I'm saying is that I'd like to see more episodes where the numbers are just numbers without also being moves in the chess match against Samaritan. Reese and Finch may still care about the little guy, but the Machine seems to be selecting "little guys" on the basis of whether they can serve the Machine's larger agenda. Last week, the Machine was trying to get the team a new secure communications network. This week, it was trying to prevent Samaritan from recruiting an operative. How many people in need did the Machine ignore in order to select numbers that were useful for it? The Machine seems to have given up its "everyone is equally relevant" mentality in favor of an "only people who can help us are relevant" mentality, and that's what disturbs me. I can't remember the last time they did an episode where the number of the week wasn't useful to the Machine's agenda in some way. So while the characters may still be dedicated to the principle of individual worth, the larger storytelling isn't anymore. It's just talk, so long as every single episode ends up being about the larger intrigue arc.
While Finch managed to teach her (i just love it when Root refers to the Machine like that ) that all people are relevant its ressources are finite given that only the small team know about her and she can't risk broadening the operation. I'm pretty sure that there are hundreds of potential numbers happening each week in NYC but they can't handle them all so the Machine makes a decision. Now that the whole game has changed with Samaritan the Machine needs to fight back and so it may try to combine both goals which it did in the season opener.. save the engineers family while aquiring a secure comm network. I doubt the entire season will have mythology connections so you will get your episode of the week stories soon but every once in a while there will be a mythhology episode to keep the meta plot running (besides Root who's neck deep in the mythology all the time). As to the episode.. another brilliant one with a cool albeit chilling twist. Once we knew Samaritan was involved and is testing possible real world assets i got a little sad when she entered the Octagon and the music started to play (also one of the thing i love about the show.. they always manage to pick appropriate songs). There was a small glimmer of hope when the mercs were shot and i thought it was either Shaw or Reese with the sniper rifle he took from the goon earlier on but it turned out to be Samaritan watching over her Episodes like these are also a big part of why i like it so much.. the team doesn't always win which is more than realistic. Really looking forward to next week.
I enjoyed the second episode Nautilus and how the number-of-the-week intersected with the Samaritan storyline. I have a feeling we'll see Claire again in the future, likely at some point later this season. Maybe then she'll reconsider the decision she made to join Samaritan. I'm glad Finch is ready to do more than survive Samaritan. The new base of operations doesn't look bad. It's no library but things have changed since then and it's better for the show to keep moving forward instead of backwards.
I understand that some want more stand alone episodes, but her (yes, I'm going with Root here) agenda is everyone. So if defeating Samaritan will equally help everyone and save more people - including the little guys - then the chess game is on and that takes priority. It fits into the overall mythology flawlessly.
After revealing the new lair, I'm guessing the show's writers must've seen Amazing Spider-Man 2 this summer. I love the show for all of the reasons that everyone has already mentioned: well-disguised hard sci-fi, full-throttle narrative, nuanced character moments, pulpy action, genuine humor. But what always astounds me is the presumption of the Machine's divinity via the Root character and how much I can empathize with her point of view. Root is aware (as are we all) that the Machine was created by Harold and is an artificial intelligence, yet she views it as a deity because it does what a god does. It sees all. It knows all. Through its agents, it gives providence and salvation, punishes the wicked, and even intercedes in matters of the heart, as it did with Finch's love life. Now Samaritan is inspiring that sort of devotion in its agents, as we've seen in the latest episode. If I was the girl on the rooftop, at the end of a super-complicated quest, bullets whizzing by to strike down my enemies and save me -- the assumption of divine intervention would not be entirely out of the question. I love that this show can explore the spiritual aspect of the Singularity on people (something I would've never imagined or considered) in such a thoughtful way, yet never let this exploration obstruct the pacing of the larger story or hinder the street-level story of the irrelevant numbers of the week. When Root described the conflict between the Machine and Samaritan last season as "gods going to war," I wrote that statement off as over-zealous hyperbole but now, it's getting harder and harder to disagree with her assessment. I blame Amy Acker for giving Root such a subtle charisma that I actually find myself nodding my head at some of the outlandish things she says. This show is so clever and sneaky; slipping new ideas and thoughts into my head while I'm marveling at a fight scene or trying to puzzle out if the number is a victim or a perpetrator.
But the thing is, that's the same mentality as the Northern Lights people: That the important thing is tackling the massive threats that endanger the populace as a whole, so that they can't spare the effort to help individuals deal with their small-scale problems. The whole reason Harold began this operation was to protect the people who fell through the cracks. But now the Machine Gang is increasingly being guided by the same mentality they were originally working against, that only the big picture matters. And that concerns me. It's losing sight of the show's original values. Actually I was reminded more of the Ninja Turtles' subway lair from TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze. There have been plenty of subway lairs in fiction, because subway lairs are always cool.
I was thinking that as well! I liked the whole 'game' aspect. I wonder if Claire's competitor will ever be seen again, since he was keeping pace with her. That 'I will protect you now' was so creepy.
They have a new Bear! I call shenanigans! I liked this episode...Finch trying to act all badass reminded me of Benjamin Linus for a minute there. I really liked the peak into Fusco's life---wow, he really needed a new wardrobe!
Another good episode. No surprise. The five main leads all had some fun stuff to play this week, the focus on Fusco (long overdue) and Harold (Emerson always delivers!) as a badass being the high points. An interesting case-of-the-week lets us see the new MO for the team, which includes a focus on preserving the legends that the Machine provided them. Fusco's line about their "superhero secret identities" seems pretty accurate with how they're going to juggle the numbers and their covers. I'm going to enjoy seeing this new aspect play out this season. New source of Machine funding aside, I like that our heroes now have to face the mundane problems of everyday life (which, as Fusco points out, he's had to deal with all along). This new wrinkle in the show's already complex concept and characters should be fun to explore. A fine example of how this show is head and shoulders above most procedurals is the introduction of the new captain. As soon as Fusco mentions his concern over the new captain at the start of the show, I imagined we'd get some ball-busting or by-the-book figure that would just serve as an obstruction in the path of the protagonists, since this is what we've come to expect from too many shows to mention. Instead, we get a reasonable and authentic character that actually wants (and even helps) the heroes to succeed. Add in her self-deprecating sense of humor ("Even I'm thinking they should get rid of me.") and she becomes such a welcome breath of fresh air, not only to this show, but to the current crop of TV shows in general.
Now, this is more like it. As I've complained before, I can't remember the last time we had a number-of-the-week that wasn't connected to the overarching Samaritan plot. It's good to see that the Machine and the writers still do care about the original mission statement to help people in need even when they aren't "relevant" to the bigger, more global threats. And not just in the whole "wingman" PoI plot, either. We see here that Reese's new identity as a cop allows him to help even more people in need than he did before -- and it was the Machine that set him up with that identity, probably recognizing that it would be a good use of his abilities. So I'm reassured now about the Machine's -- and the writers' -- commitment to the ordinary person in need. I just hope it keeps up. Let the Samaritan stuff continue as a subplot, as it did here. What I don't get is the bit where Harold and Root walked out of the missile buy and then the police showed up 20 seconds later and left them totally alone. If the cops were there to raid the place, wouldn't they have had it under surveillance and seen those two leave with the missile? All I can think of is that Root's cover is an FBI agent, so maybe they were told she was part of the sting. But it would've made the scene more plausible if we'd been told as much. I kinda like the new captain, but it's a bit obvious that she's being set up as a romantic interest for Reese, and that seems a little inappropriate so soon after Carter's death (since she was a cop at the same precinct). Even aside from the ethical problems with a boss-employee romance. I'm hoping I'm misreading the banter between the two.
Not good news on the ratings front... Thats a series low and a fall of 0.2 in the demo from last week. This erosion can be traced to last year when CBS thought it would be good to move the show to the later 10pm slot . The only silver lining is POI is not the only CBS show facing a ratings challenge this season (especially in the demo) and Tuesday in particular is a challenge for the networks. Still numbers like this have me worried already that season 4 will be the last unless CBS moves the show.
Looking at the other shows for the night Selfie (ABC) Manhattan Love Story (ABC) Agents of Shield (ABC) Forever (ABC) New Girl (FOX) Mindy Project (FOX) All bring in lower numbers than POI, no one is watching Network TV. CBS lead in shows skew older too, which doesn't help the 10pm problem & Chicago Fire has discovered an audience all of a sudden.
Loved that. The wingman storyline gave me a strong Crazy, Stupid Love vibe. Finch being badass was awesome. My favourite part though was the tease with the missile. Can't wait to see what they use that for.
It looks like Brotherhood can be a very dangerous organization. Interesting parallel between Dominic and Elias, but I'm sure that many thought that Dominic could be an alias of Samaritan. Perhaps that would have been a bit predictable, but I think there could be something more behind the scenes in the same vein as with Vigilance. How can a group like Brotherhood rise out of nowhere in this new age of surveillance by Samaritan? And once again a cool song at the end.
Because they're not relevant to national security. The whole premise of the show is that the government is willing to ignore street-level threats to innocent lives because they're only concerned with fighting terrorism and threats to the country as a whole. As long as the Brotherhood is just engaged in organized crime and doesn't escalate to domestic terrorism, Samaritan considers them irrelevant.
I wonder if/when they're going to bring back that Moriarty-esque figure. I was looking forward to seeing that storyline develop.