Summary: Finch smuggles the virus closer towards Samaritan with The Machine's help. Finch infiltrates the NSA and plugs in the virus, but before he can activate the password, he is captured by Samaritan men. Reese and Shaw are guided by The Machine where they steal a modem and activate it. Finch is met by Greer and they argue about the existence of both AIs. It's revealed that the virus will kill The Machine too. During the argument, Finch accidentally reveals that The Machine doesn't know the password. Greer activates poison gas to try to kill himself and Finch. Greer dies but Finch escapes when The Machine contacts him via the modem Reese and Shaw set up. Finch goes to save Reese and Shaw and they escape. Finch activates the virus. Fusco is captured by Agent LeRoux. Fusco is able to turn the tables on LeRoux.
The Good: Finch's mission is a lot of fun to watch. It's satisfying to see him finally working at full force with The Machine to infiltrate the NSA. There are lots of clever moments showing The Machine's capabilities, and it made me buy into the idea of Finch actually succeeding in uploading the virus. That added to the tension, and the scenes in the latter half of the episode were a lot of fun because I was unsure if the virus would actually get installed or not. The subject of the virus led to the return of the phenomenal philosophical talks between Finch and Greer which was excellent. I thought the revelation that the virus will kill The Machine as well as Samaritan added to the stakes and the discussion both, and it also led to some wonderful exploration of the relationship between Finch and The Machine. I liked that Greer put Finch in a position where he was forced to reveal his feelings about why he was willing to sacrifice The Machine to take out Samaritan, and the emphasis on human will in this episode worked as an overall theme. What furthered the exploration into the theme of free will were those simulations that The Machine showed Finch of what would become of everyone had they not been involved with The Machine. These tied in with Finch's idea of free will and where each of the characters would end up whether there was an AI around or not. The resulting world being a mixture of good and bad was perfect, and it really highlighted how the world will simply go on no matter what happens. It added extra weight to Finch's big decision at the end of the episode, because at that point he knew that the world wouldn't necessarily be a better place without The Machine, yet he decided to pull the plug anyways. The ending itself is huge. Samaritan has already started to glitch out and it's only a matter of time until both AIs are dead. It's an exciting cliffhanger that promises a huge episode up next to close out the show. This episode was a perfect set-up episode in this regard. The Bad: Greer's death was wholly unsatisfying. It made sense to have him die believing in Samaritan continuing his legacy, but I felt that his death was so unnecessary and ultimately meaningless, almost as if the writers couldn't come up with a logical way to kill him. The fact that he died in the chamber but Finch somehow survived made little sense to me and it felt like too convenient of a way to write Greer out of the story. Furthermore, the motivation behind him killing himself made no sense. Surely he needs to stay alive to ensure that people listen to Samaritan and to ensure that there is a human in charge of everyone else. An AI can't exactly interact with the human world, there needs to be a man in charge to do that for it. Why was it so simple for Finch to get to Samaritan? Surely there should have been a much better defense system in place in case Finch got through. After dealing with Samaritan as a villain for 2 full seasons, it shouldn't have been this easy to get to it. The Unknown: Did Fusco kill LeRoux? Can The Machine or Samaritan somehow survive the virus? Can the virus be removed somehow? What will be everyone's fate? If The Machine is destroyed, what purpose would all of the characters have? What will be their ending? Best Moment: Finch and Greer's lengthy debate about if the world would be better off without a godly AI in charge. These two had me glued to my seat. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a great set-up episode that got me really excited for the series finale. There was one major misstep with Greer's anticlimactic death, but other than that this was great. Score: 68
2 Comments
Ben
8/9/2019 03:24:40 pm
Agreed, the dialogue between Finch and Greer is amazing (one of my favourite scenes in the show), but there's something unsatisfying about Greer's death.
Reply
Joe Y
8/14/2020 10:37:45 am
Samaritan killed Greer because he was the man who knew too much. At the end of the day, he was the only one who could have pulled the plug on it. And Greer was all too willing to comply--by this point, he was practically a religious zealot.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|