Person Of Interest

The thing is, though, the dichotomy is built into the way Samaritan and the Machine are designed. The Machine was built to monitor and advise; Samaritan was built to rule. It may not be inherently evil per se, but that dichotomy of purpose is going to create a fundamental conflict that is going to be quite difficult to resolve.

edited 2nd Oct '14 6:13:07 PM by Specialist290

The Machine was taught not to interfere by Finch but also had it's brain wiped repeatedly to prevent it from developing past it's programming. Has Samaritian ? It might not be limited by it's programming anymore.

Again, take pre-Machine Root against the Root who last episode lectured FINCH on the value of human life. Reece was trained with a very lethal skill-set and instead is devoted to helping people. The show does take the view the whatever you were "built" for, you can change.

edited 3rd Oct '14 1:48:27 AM by Anteres

Finch seemed to have spent a tremendous amount of energy in order to avoid having The Machine turn into a dictator. Greer did not care about that, on the contrary.

It would be nice to have, for once, something evil turning good by imitation, but I doubt it, it would be too optimistic for a Nolan production.

edited 3rd Oct '14 4:58:41 AM by Julep

I don't see the Machine as ever being dictatorial. Finch had trouble teaching it that everyone was equally important, that Finch wasn't more special but I don't remember it ever trying to take over anything.

And Root was evil and has become... better. Fusco was corrupt and is now a straight arrow. Endemic corruption in the NYPD has been weeded out. Shaw was amoral and... well, she's now inclined good anyway. Finch was scared of what the Machine would do if it got it's freedom. It protected itself, but stayed trying to keep people safe.

The show is actually pretty optimistic when you think about it.

Pretending-To-Be-Badass Finch is awesome. That is all. Almost as much as the Machine's gambit.

If all the "number of the week" episodes are as good as this one, I am sold.

edited 8th Oct '14 6:45:25 AM by Julep

He has two modes - calm, and furious. It's a rare person that sees the latter and lives to tell the tale.

Oh come on, if you told Michael Emerson to do that voice for some purpose, he could be genuinely terrifying.

That, and I'm very curious about what they're going to do with that Latvian collection of Noodle Implements. Aside from making the Ominous Multiple Screens even more ominous with a couple more plasmas.

That happy little grin Reese made when the chief talked giving him an award for kneecapping was great.

Love the whole concept of Reece being forced to be more Lawful & it showing some of the trouble he has adjusting to that!

I hadn't even thought about that coming up this season, but it makes complete sense and sets up for another interesting limiter/obstacle to deal with.

I also gotta say: Reese "showboating" in that very first scene was absolutely worth it just to see Fusco's reaction

Been a while since they joked about the kneecapping. Root's knee cap shooting skills are impressive.

I wonder if next week will be a straightforward number of the week episode, or if we'll get another instance of the machine using a mission to boost its team's resources? I'm really digging this season.

Eh, currently they have more cash and firepower than they can actually use without drawing attention, secure coms, and a HQ. More resources? Like.. what, more manpower? That might be why Shaw is currently a criminal.

You know what I wonder...once Samaritan finds then again (and it'll probably happen), will he send Godmode.supported troops for them, ala Root and Reese a few seasons ago?

Maybe Claire, but few people would be ready to be plugged in live with a computer. And Claire has not shown any proficiency with firearms so far, unlike Root who already had a mild bodycount when she got her permanent liaison with the Machine.

OR maybe Samaritan will do this and then feed them with misinformation so they end up eliminating each other to cover its tracks, Dark Knight-style.

Considering Finch mentions several similar competitions happening all over the world once every two weeks or so, and assuming every competition ended with a recruit, I'd think Samaritan will send an entire army of prodigies up against Team Machine.

Whoa.

In 2012~2013 season, Person of Interest was the fifth most watched show in America, according to this site.

Bloody damn impressive, I'd say.

So, how do you think Dominic's reveal stacks up against Elias, Root, or Control? Certainly threw me for a loop, at least.

edited 14th Oct '14 9:30:29 PM by Blueeyedrat

Elias' reveal is still the best one for me. Dominic turned out to be pretty fricking badarse though. Smart, too. They're still nowhere near touching Samaritan as the Big Bad of season four, but they'll be worthy adversaries for Team Machine.

Root had the best reveal. That was the first really WHAM! moment of the series, I think. Dominic's reveal was great, though. Loved how they used the obvious DEA mole reveal as a "red herring" to distract us from the true twist, though in retrospect it was pretty obvious that Shaw wasn't speaking to any ordinary "goon". Also, Elias seems to be getting close to learning about the machine. Hm...

edited 15th Oct '14 1:37:01 AM by reconguista

I'm really not sure how getting outmaneuvered repeatedly makes you badass.

I think it's more that he was hiding in plain sight. Also, surviving a couple of run-ins with Team Machine automatically makes his organization more formidable than most villains-of-the-week, right?

Team Machine who is working with a handicap. Still, he only survived because Shaw had no motivation to actually kill him. I will say it's nice way to play things & thumbs up from a writer's perspective, but I'm not impressed by fact that his most impressive feat was that Shaw didn't kill him every single time she ran into him because she had other objectives. All the other hidden villains were way more impressive.

edited 15th Oct '14 11:47:38 AM by Prime_of_Perfection

I'm.. not really buying that the brotherhood caught the crooked DEA agent. I mean... what? How? If anyone should know how to pull a vanishing act... just couldn't leave that plot thread hanging loose? oh well.

edited 15th Oct '14 12:43:21 PM by izeintime

Really ? The guy started from a position that was even more precarious than Elias' - since he was injured AND on a crime scene from the beginning of the episode - and he started without any sympathy from Team Machine whatsoever. I'd say that coming out alive and being able to get a glimpse of who you are facing is pretty badass.

Plus, eight people in a shooting, one survivor.

My guess is that they were monitoring her, one way or another. Remember, the plan in ep1 was for Dominic to get his own communication system, he looks a bit like a Control Freak.

edited 15th Oct '14 12:47:19 PM by Julep

Nah, I started suspecting he was the big boss when Shaw handcuffed him to a pipe. He seemed oddly specific about how the gang was run. Also, his nickname was oddly specific too. "Mini"? That was quite suspicious too.

And I just realized he was a Mini in need of a doc.

edited 15th Oct '14 3:09:11 PM by NotSoBadassLongcoat