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Person of Interest Season 4

^wasn't he? I loved the "conversation" between them. It was cool to see that the humans "see" when the machines want to communicate.
 
I am soooo glad I gave the show another shot. Last night's episode was awesome.
The conversation between The Machine and Samaritan was great. I didn't realize they were actually so aware and sentient.
 
I was actually a little disappointed by the one-on-one conversation. It kind of demystified the ASIs to hear them speaking to one another in such basic, human terms. I guess they couldn't help that because they were limited to communicating through human intermediaries and had to dumb their communication down a great deal, but it felt oversimplified.

Also, I had trouble understanding the kid's speech. I had to rewind and turn on my TV's closed captions to understand some of his lines.

It is kind of reassuring, though, to hear that the Machine really does have a moral code and a regard for humanity's place in the world. Finch gives Her too little credit. I kinda wish he could've heard the conversation.


The conversation between The Machine and Samaritan was great. I didn't realize they were actually so aware and sentient.

Isn't that the whole point of the series? Finch did call them artificial superintelligences, after all. This is a show about the Singularity, about the emergence of AIs that are beyond human intelligence.
 
I actually didn't even realize that was the point of the show until recently. I had originally written it off as just another guy with a mysterious past helps random people kind of show.
I guess I didn't really think about what they meant said "artificial intelligent'". I was just thinking of them as just really powerful computers running their programs, which just happened to give the character the information they were looking for.
 
^Yeah, PoI is sort of a "stealth" science fiction show, easy to mistake for just a crime drama if you aren't paying close attention. But it's quietly, subtly developed the most compelling and thought-provoking hard science fiction narrative on network television today.
 
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBOulRthVSs[/yt]

Longer preview for the next episode.
 
"Will Anyone Get Out Alive?"

Well, yeah, since they're not ending the show and it's not True Detective where you start over with a new cast each season. I have a bad feeling about Shaw or Root, though. They've been setting up a tragic demise for one or the other of them for a while.

Not sure exactly how Root is supposed to escape the 40 people shooting her in the back in that scene with the axe, unless that's two separate scenes they juxtaposed for the trailer to make things look even more hopeless (like John sacrificing himself by holding onto the grenade to go out Miles Bennett Dyson style in the Cyberdyne lab to take down SkyNet, even though he'll clearly throw it away). But since Thelma and Louise and Butch and Sundance (and we'll call Fusco Custer since he had a lion's mane of hair like Lionel's namesake) are all gathered around Little Big Desk riddled with bullet holes, I guess she made it.

Looks epic either way.
 
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I presume in that trailer we are seeing multiple scenarios play out as The Machine attempts to figure out a way for our heroes to survive but I am betting we will lose one :(
 
I was thinking the same thing. There is no way they are ending up in those situations. And still surviving, that is.
 
I presume in that trailer we are seeing multiple scenarios play out as The Machine attempts to figure out a way for our heroes to survive but I am betting we will lose one :(

I thinking this, as well. I'm pretty sure Reese and Finch are safe but Shaw, Root and Fusco are all possibilities.
 
I don't know. The fact that they're not saying outright that someone will die makes me think everyone will make it out in the end.
I could definitely see this being Jax's theory.
I could maybe see Fusco dying. I really think as the Machine/Samaritan conflict grows, he's pretty much either going to learn about it, or they're going to kill him off.
 
I think Fusco is safe from a writing standpoint because Reese's detective identity has always been a temporary position, and they'll still need an asset in the NYPD once this storyline is over and they're able to return to some degree of normalcy without being constantly hunted by Samaritan. Also, they already had a big dramatic moment by killing off the team's NYPD liaison when they killed off Carter, so it would feel like sort of a rehash of that.

Root is a fan-favorite, so if you want to have maximum shock value in killing someone off, she would be the way to go. It would also be the most direct blow to the Machine, not just in killing someone it cares about and feels responsible for, but in essentially cutting off one of its senses and the way it interacts with the human world in a more personal way than through the numbers, which are limiting.

Also, while Samaritan grabbed her up, it's strange that there's been no follow-up on the girl from the second episode of the season -- Nautilus. They were clearly setting her up to be Samaritan's version of Root, and yet when it came time for Root to speak to Samaritan's avatar, it was this young boy instead. Perhaps they couldn't get the same actress back for some reason, or perhaps they're saving her for something else. Maybe she didn't work out the way Samaritan hoped and she escaped with the Machine's help, only to resurface later as a potential replacement for Root?

Finally, Shaw, while I love her sardonic personality and think she's way more charismatic than Jesus Christ, Kneecapper, is sort of in a redundant character role to Reese. While he's exploring the challenges of having the damp down his dark side tendencies while serving as a cop, she's exploring the challenges of having to stay above board while enjoying the life of a criminal just a little too much. It's flip-sides of the same coin. Also, they're essentially from the same backgrounds: Morally gray ex-government assassin anti-heroes obsessively driven to redeem themselves through saving people. So she's the most "replaceable" character from a writing standpoint, IMO.

They've also been heavily playing up Root's love of Shaw and Shaw's fatalistic need to be part of the plan even if it means exposing her to Samaritan and risking her life. They're setting up a tragic fall for her, I think. All of the characters were shot in that teaser (except maybe Fusco), but her potential death seemed to receive less focus than the others, which could be a misdirect.

So my bet is that if they're going to kill someone, and it seems likely they will to show the stakes involved in fighting/taking down Samaritan (unless this is all a huge misdirect to ramp up the drama), the most likely order of who's most at risk is:

1) Shaw
2) Root

Way after that...

3) Fusco

No way in Hell...

4) Reese
5) Finch
 
Finally, Shaw, while I love her sardonic personality and think she's way more charismatic than Jesus Christ, Kneecapper, is sort of in a redundant character role to Reese. While he's exploring the challenges of having the damp down his dark side tendencies while serving as a cop, she's exploring the challenges of having to stay above board while enjoying the life of a criminal just a little too much. It's flip-sides of the same coin. Also, they're essentially from the same backgrounds: Morally gray ex-government assassin anti-heroes obsessively driven to redeem themselves through saving people. So she's the most "replaceable" character from a writing standpoint, IMO.

But those same factors make Reese equally redundant and replaceable. If anything, Reese is more replaceable, because his character's already been pretty thoroughly mined, so there might be more potential for new material with Shaw. It's not unheard of for a series to drop its original lead actor in favor of a new one. And surely we've outgrown the attitude that an action series has to have a male lead.
 
Finally, Shaw, while I love her sardonic personality and think she's way more charismatic than Jesus Christ, Kneecapper, is sort of in a redundant character role to Reese. While he's exploring the challenges of having the damp down his dark side tendencies while serving as a cop, she's exploring the challenges of having to stay above board while enjoying the life of a criminal just a little too much. It's flip-sides of the same coin. Also, they're essentially from the same backgrounds: Morally gray ex-government assassin anti-heroes obsessively driven to redeem themselves through saving people. So she's the most "replaceable" character from a writing standpoint, IMO.

But those same factors make Reese equally redundant and replaceable. If anything, Reese is more replaceable, because his character's already been pretty thoroughly mined, so there might be more potential for new material with Shaw. It's not unheard of for a series to drop its original lead actor in favor of a new one.

"Not unheard of" is pretty much the polar opposite of "most likely to happen," which is clearly what I was describing in my list of scenarios above. I don't see CBS and the showrunners switching out a relatively well known film and TV actor whose been with the show from the beginning and is still enthusiastic about it as being a very likely scenario at this point.

And surely we've outgrown the attitude that an action series has to have a male lead.
I have no such attitude. In fact, I explicitly said I find Shaw to be a more charismatic and enjoyable character than Reese. Doesn't mean I think it's likely for Shahi to take the lead role over from Caviezel when he's shown no indication of wanting to leave the show.
 
Nice showdown and I look forward to the outcome next year.

It might be a coincidence, but I believe Greer's flashbacks take place in the same year as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, although the flashbacks aren't nearly as sophisticated as the novel.

Finally, Shaw, while I love her sardonic personality and think she's way more charismatic than Jesus Christ, Kneecapper, is sort of in a redundant character role to Reese. While he's exploring the challenges of having the damp down his dark side tendencies while serving as a cop, she's exploring the challenges of having to stay above board while enjoying the life of a criminal just a little too much. It's flip-sides of the same coin. Also, they're essentially from the same backgrounds: Morally gray ex-government assassin anti-heroes obsessively driven to redeem themselves through saving people. So she's the most "replaceable" character from a writing standpoint, IMO.
But those same factors make Reese equally redundant and replaceable. If anything, Reese is more replaceable, because his character's already been pretty thoroughly mined, so there might be more potential for new material with Shaw. It's not unheard of for a series to drop its original lead actor in favor of a new one.
"Not unheard of" is pretty much the polar opposite of "most likely to happen," which is clearly what I was describing in my list of scenarios above. I don't see CBS and the showrunners switching out a relatively well known film and TV actor whose been with the show from the beginning and is still enthusiastic about it as being a very likely scenario at this point.
At this point, now that we know his full history and motivations, Reece bores me (aside from his interactions with Elias). I'm all for dumping him and focusing more on Finch, Shaw, and Root.
 
I think that a lot of us would take a Shaw-led PoI over the Reese-led version we have now, if given the choice. But (for all of the reasons that Locutus pointed out) I agree that Reese biting it is pretty unlikely.

Ratings-wise, PoI is slipping to new series lows, so its chances of seeing another season after the present one will be resting in the charitable graces of CBS. Based on CBS' other shows, the network seems to favor dispatching male lead characters only if a) another male actor with similar status is available to step in as the new lead (CSI: Peterson to Fishburne to Danson, Criminal Minds, etc.) or b) another male character is already waiting in the wings to fulfill the function of the departing lead (the Good Wife: Will Gardner to Finn). In the case of CSI, Marg Helgenberger could have easily stepped up and filled the void left by Peterson but they went another route. In the case of the Good Wife, Alicia Florrick doesn't require a fellow lawyer to flirt with and the show would still be brilliant without the extraneous character of Finn.

Both of the casting choices I cited *feel* like the hand of CBS working and not the the decisions or desires of the producers. I'm not privy to the inner workings of these programs, obviously, so I can't say for certain but CBS' history in this regard seems to bear out this conclusion.

Soooo, Caviezel leaving the show would be a deal-breaker when renewal season comes around. No Caviezel, no more seasons of PoI. The producers have probably been told this expressly by CBS in unambiguous language. Repeatedly.

Unless they can sign Kyle Chandler or Dylan McDermott to replace him.
 
Guess what's back tonight?

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