Summary: Reese, Fusco, and Shaw briefly mourn Root but they have to move on as the next POI is the president. Reese attends a gala where the president is going to be and encounters Logan. Shaw is there too and together they prevent a placed bomb from killing anyone. A warning appears stating that the president will die tomorrow because of illegal government surveillance. Shaw captures a suspect and she interrogates him. She releases him and follows him to his group. Fusco is her back-up. They discover a group of normal people who want to make a change. Together, everyone saves the president from the threat on his life. Logan is revealed to be part of a group consisting of himself, Joey and Harper who now work for The Machine to save lives. They secure a safe exit for Reese, Fusco and Shaw and give Reese a lead on Finch. Meanwhile, Finch is on the run and makes it to a Samaritan facility where he installs a virus. He escapes with the help of The Machine.
The Good: This episode felt like the definitive, final number-of-the-week case. There was some extra effort put in, making this case feel more important and enjoyable than usual, and the four main characters each got to have their moments to shine throughout the episode. Furthermore, having the team save the president felt like a great final mission, and having it be a total success gave the number-of-the-week cases a feel-good ending despite teasing us more than usual that something might go wrong. I really liked the reveal of Logan, Joey and Harper being another team hired by The Machine. It makes perfect sense since there are obviously other places outside New York where crime takes place. Of course there have to be multiple teams to stop crime elsewhere in America. It's an interesting way to have the show address a plot hole that has existed since the very beginning of the show. Additionally, it serves as a passing of the torch as it seems like the original crew have been replaced and their legacy lives on through the lives of the people they have saved that decided to do good. It's a really uplifting story and it provides a beautiful conclusion for the POI cases regardless of what happens in the final two episodes. The most interesting parts of this episode were the small character moments. Shaw was a stand-out as we got to see her mourning Root by falling further into her emotionless shell than usual. The scene where she tortured Charlie was borderline uncomfortable and it nicely demonstrated Shaw falling back into brutality to avoid facing her emotions. I do wonder if she was subconsciously reminiscing of her first meeting with Root where she got tortured, which is a nice touch. Finch's side story was a lot of fun too. There were some good moments where he got to reveal how he is dealing with Root's death which felt very organic since having to listen to her voice constantly would force him to face these emotions. Additionally, watching The Machine operate at full potential is as joyful as ever, and I really enjoyed the sequence where Finch escaped from the Samaritan location using many of The Machine's loopholes. Technically this episode isn't entirely accurate as a summation of POI cases because majority of the usual tropes and cliches weren't used in this episode. Though that definitely isn't a bad thing, and I'm glad that the show avoided falling into its biggest pitfalls in this episode. Hell we even got a scene where Reese and Shaw intentionally let a captive go instead of them randomly becoming sloppy and letting him escape. I liked that a lot. The Bad: This episode wasn't perfect. The villains were boring and I never really felt any fear for the life of the president or the main characters. The attempt to escalate the stakes by having the president be a number didn't really work at all because of this episode's placement. The last episode was the most intense episode of the entire show, so no matter what the next episode was always going to feel like a step down. I also wasn't a fan of Reese and Shaw escaping so easily, even if they did have Joey's help. They took shots at the president, surely the secret service would have locked down the whole building. Logan having a lead on Finch which popped out of nowhere was a bit too convenient for my liking. The writers didn't even try to hide how convenient it was. The Unknown: Are there more teams working for The Machine? Will we ever see more teams? Will these three help out Team Machine in the next two episodes? The tone of their conversation with Reese didn't really seem to suggest that though. Were Logan, Joey and Harper originally supposed to have more significant roles in the story? I wonder how much was lost when the show got cancelled. I am happy with them showing up as brief cameos, but I do feel like there is potential for more story. Where was that virus from? Was it the one that Finch obtained earlier in the season? Or is it a new one? I'm not entirely sure. Best Moment: Probably the final conversation between Reese and Fusco, and Logan, Joey and Harper. It felt like a passing of the torch moment. Character of the Episode: Shaw. Conclusion: This was a fun episode with a sense of finality. It neatly celebrated the show's run and made me feel the emotion of the show reaching its end. Even though the story was nothing special, I appreciated this episode. Score: 65
2 Comments
Ben
8/5/2019 04:02:15 pm
Just to clear up a bit of confusion: Finch didn't install a virus, but stole one from an army base (with the intention of using it against Samaritan later).
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Aaronic
8/5/2019 05:41:39 pm
Ah, thanks for clearing that up, I must have totally missed that in the episode. I also agree that Finch's darker side has been really great so far. I do wish we had more time to see him like this.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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