MYOS

Wrt the John/Sarah pairing: the lack of chemistry would be historically appropriate. People generally married for social reasons and for Sarah it'd be a good way to be recognized in her social circles while being allowed by her husband to continue the police work she loves (she wouldn't find any other husband willing to let her work). As for John, he likes and respects her, which is more than what most men felt about their wives. There's a painting that summarizes the perfect relationship for the times and it's called "Woman: man's best companion". I'm not kidding. In high society women were supposed to be, first, decorative, second, about as smart and willfull as pets, third, baby-machines. So, it'd be a great pairing since both are looking for unconventiional companions. Did you notice how Sarah grows assertive? At the end, she leaves the tower and the police officers move to let her pass as if she were an officer. The next limited series would include the whole gang again and another strange mystery that requires or Roosevelt to call his the alienist team. :) It's not like NYC in the late 19th century was lacking in crimes.

Can somebody explain why the Dionne quintuplets would be "judging" anyone? (There's another reference in episode 7 or 8 to Myriam having a picture or article about them on her wall).

I too thought "Why didn't they make an appointment to meet at the stones for Mid Summer's holiday or Next Christmas...? Why did they not agree on a code to communicate she was ok and well? Poor Brianna, if she was to never ever meet her mother again! (I assume they'll see each other again but they wouldn't know). I loved the preparations for time travel. I'd have taken more than a few scalpels and penicilin. Painkillers and small books about useful stuff like using plants, and more than one top, an extra bra, and insulated underclothes, plus very good, comfortable boots... didn't she get through the stones with her blanket before? Surely she could get through the stones with a bit more than her clothes. But I LOVED the Batman music as Claire was sewing her cape :D And the many secret pockets were a great idea, too. The last scene was good, too. I thought they'd stop as she looks at the sign!

Does anyone have any idea at what college this was shot?

I think too much was cut, it really should have been 3 episodes. The ending, where Robin is more streamlined than the one in the book. I wish they'd been able to keep the initial red herring, the park, etc.

My understanding is that the old lady got confused, since her brain was addled with morphine. It's not made clear in the show but Charley and Strike were both attending an independent (private) school. At least I don't think the series states she was a model rather than a "super groupie" who was drug addicted and died of an oversose. Another difference is that Robin set this up as per Cormoran's instructions, to attract the killer, and she returns and saves him in a better way than what they showed and Cormoran is more wounded than is shows (she takes him to the emergency room and Matthew comes to pick her up, pretty upset, not because she was in danger but because she prioritized Strike). I really like the two leads, although Strike should have bad hair and be bigger. :)

The narrative is too compressed at times, a lot of subtlety and character psychology disappears in this one compared to the book. We learn Robin had to drop out of university as she was about to get a First in Psychology, hoping to join the police, and to distract her from what had happened she took the advanced driving course. The scene in the book is much more striking (Robin saves both their lives with her skills) and highlights to Cormoran his prejudice that women can't be good drivers, hence his reluctance to be driven by Robin, as well as his trauma over being driven (because he was blown up in a car). Any idea why Michael Fancourt ends up called Andrew Fancourt in the series? (Is there a "real" Michael Fancourt somewhere so they had to switch it?) I feared the way they'd depict the body, but they managed to keep it grisly without making it as awful as my imagination had started to make it.

With Brexit, I've been catching up on Power Monkeys, a parody/send up of the Brexit political campaign that was broadcast very close to the events described (+ Donald Trump since he's seen as a mix betwen Johnson and Farage) and Archie Panjabi has a role as the Tory Unity Leader. :) She's VERY funny.

Root is dead, and isn't - she lives in the machine, and as the machine. But remember that chilling first sequence in the first episode this season? "The sound of my voice is the only thing left"?

it's possible hey had to cut the part where Fusco is escavated from the tunnel etc, due to 1° short season and 2°final season

Oh, I totally believe that Greer'minion lied when he said that they'd tried to alter the scientist's research before and she always returns to it.... to make the act of killing more "justifiable": he ways saying, in essence, that they'd tried everything, so killing was the last resort. It was a test to see if Shaw would see their point and kill someone if provided with a "greater good" justification in addition to a "last resort" justification. In the previous simulations we saw, she resisted the "greater good" only reasoning (she didn't want to kill the traders in her last "field trip"). Now, she's moved to the point where she does their bidding to "get rid of the simulation". Of course, there's also the fact they messed up with her head and let her know she'd killed someone for real. - therefore hoping to control her by making her doubt what's real and what's not. But that doesn't work (or not as well as it should have) because 1° they don't know that she got a "real" message (4AF) to help her see not everything is simulation. 2° she didn't care all that much about the dead scientist because it was a good brownie point to win and for them to feel good about, while she was planning her escape... her escape plan clearly wasn't born and executed in a minute, it must have taken a while for her to get through the wall. The DJ hadn't discussed the transmissions publicly, and it's possible it hadn't registered with Samaritan since it was on a notebook?

Second that. Apparently it "skewed too female" for CBS execs. Hence a tweet from the "QSO" people (on the 5.08 thread). I was really looking forward to seeing Shahi again. I'll miss these characters, but I'll also miss the cast and their interactions. <sigh!>

I don't think Samaritan wants to create a Master Race in the usual sense. Samaritan sees humans as either irrelevant or obstacles to be eliminated. Samaritan would thus want a race without obstacles, only irrelevans that can be turned into assets and irrelevants that won't become obstacles. How can Blackwell not be creeped out by the knowledge he was chosen for his DNA? Finch has time and again been shown to go to great lengths in following his intellectual model (such as when he "killed" the machines' memories. Except we know the machine found a way to "save itself", right?) He's also already certain he's going to die. "doing what it takes at all costs" + ready to die is a powerful, scary combination.

Samaritan doesn't look for solutions the way the Machine does. Its "solution" to a problem is "kill the human", vs. solve the problem (ie., if 10 years from now there'll be an environmental catastrophe due to this animal, skew the research or make sure the scientist includes the environmental risks in the reinsertion program, etc.) The new intro speech makes that clear: to Samaritan, we are all either irrelevant or obstacles to be eliminated. The Machine is keeping its team in the dark the way the team is keeping Fusco in the dark. Root and FUsco threatened to quit, and the machine was smart enough to provide the needed accomodation for Root, when Finch was too inflexible to do that for Lionel.

Also, Sameen said *within the simulation* (I think) "this is simulation 7,xxx", which would add to 2 weeks after episode 4 in "real time" (within the show and for us) but also indicates she is aware of the simulations, which means she may be able to control parts of them. Root is Harry's Twisted Sister :) so, obvious idea. And he was singing to Team Machine, to the Machine, and to Samaritan. It made sense to hear these words within the story's context. Fusco knows something about the cameras: he wouldn't randomly use a "no cam zone" that Samaritan can't see to stash his board of missing persons. Right now, the Machine has forgotten to play chess, and can't think ahead/plan, but can only be on defense?

I can't believe Alicia won and that made me realize how much I wanted her to lose and be back at Agos&Lockhart. So now it's going to be Alicia the SA with Geneva vs. Kalinda, Cary, and Diane? I so wished Prady won and became SA, and butted heads with Alicia/Cary/Diane... that would have been interesting. I wanted Alicia to fight for a cause she believed in (an actual issue, like Kurt with anti-gun-control, or Diane and liberal causes*...) but this, this "victory" she doesn't deserve and doesn't want? Seriously? Glad to see some snow in Chicago in the Winter!! There's a country (perhaps more) in Europe where it's forbidden for politicians to speak to the media for 48h before the results are given, and no polls can be published, so that "people can think it through in peace" and/or read the little pamphlets that are handed out or put into mailboxes a week before the vote. It always seemed overkill to me but after the stunt Peter pulled - blocking access to polling stations by making a political speech downtown - I realize the intent of that law isn't so far-fetched. I was disgusted and I hope it comes back to bite both of them in the (backside). Anything that impedes democracy or goes against values like the American Dream and all that crap I believe in, makes me incredibly ..angry. Gosh, I'm actually angry :s because of this show, at this show, and at Alicia. I liked Finn's present though. And I liked how Alicia admitted to herself she didn't really deserve to win. I did think Peter would tamper with the ballots again to make her win. Finn is a good friend; I guess he got tired of waiting around for Alicia to figure out she might have feelings for him, or not. Too bad though, I thought Finn would have "redeemed" Alicia. Loved all the Diane stuff, SAVE FOR the discussion about abortion. There were quite a few retorts she should have given - the writers were clearly not very cognizant about the issue. *I mean, RD is absolutely entitled to his view, but why should everyone be forced to conform to his vision? Including Jews, Muslims, and Atheists, who are a not insignificant group in the US, and whose conscience would be violated by following RD's religious beliefs about fetuses over mothers or conception of what life is? (Not to mention the million Christians who may or may not agree with RD, but don't want to make their belief into law to be followed by others. I was once explained that "pro choice" only means that you, personally, may not have an abortion, but don't believe you can choose for others. I did notice they consistently said "anti-choice" in the episode.) It's so strange that some parts of the US still think abortion is a big deal, this discussion reminded me of that, but at the same time how widespread is it among the real 1%? I know the Pizza Hut Boss is like that. I also wonder why the religious communities whose beliefs are opposite of those expressed by RD aren't ever given a voice in these mini-"debates". That red meat was left very "blue" bloody and seemed to be less cooked in each scene. By the time Diane returned to eat, it'd have been cold to boot... Glad Diane didn't have to try and court that radical/conservative antisemitic tech guy, although I was under the impression Austin was the liberal part of Texas (to the point it's mocked in an MTV show, although parts of what they describe could be real-life in many college towns, not just Austin - LGBTQ tolerance in high school, vegetarian dishes in the cafeteria, Hindu holidays mentioned...) Did they say "No deer was harmed in the making of this episode"? (jk) Anyone bet that there never was a deer anywhere :D and it was just random footage?

Unfortunately, the democratic process means election results give legitimacy... ;-) Imagine voters' face if someone were to just "transfer" the election results to someone else! She could forget getting elected for *anything* and being respected in the courtroom, too! If she resigned, she'd be a laughingstock and in any case Prady would not win "by default"...(Wouldn't it be some kind of fraud, too? Genuinely curious). If Alicia gets elected, she has to sit. Considering how much she enjoys the lawyer stuff and how little inspired she seems to be about Cook County SA, I hope both for our sake and hers that she loses. I wouldn't mind her finding a real issue - overtesting in schools/education reform, corruption, marijuana legalization, NCP income screwing kids' college admissions, whatever... and then fighting for it and climbing the ranks in a political party to get national exposure about it, but she's too lukewarm about the SA job (beside the fact that she "wants it" but last week in her head we saw that what she really enjoyed was the lawyer stuff).

Where I'm from, "I'm a Jesuit" means "Im very good at spinning theology to make it fit my lifestyle". The Jesuit order had a reputation for excellent schools and a certain elasticity theology-wise. DIdn't Calvin rail at them and their "hypocrisy" or ability to bend the Bible to their will? "I attended Jesuit schools" would have made more sense, or, even better, "I take my Catholic vpws seriously." When Prady said that I thought he was going to say he was a hypocrite and it clashed with everything we'd learned about him. In that scene, though, the writers really let it be known they don't want Alicia to win. wrt to Johnny the impulsive kisser: when Alicia learned he was leaving and asked him "it's not because of this, of us?" I told my TV "there's no 'us' except in your head, Alicia". And it's crowded up there. I still like FInn better, keeps her honest or trying to be good, whereas Johnny is all like "lie to the editorial board". But if there's to be a triangle, I like Alicia/Johnny/Finn better than Peter/Will. It's like Alicia's on this slippery slope turning her into Peter, with Johnny pushing and Finn keeping her from slipping too much. I thought the kiss (shown in the promo) took place when he came over the first time, so when nothing happened I thought it was a promo fake out (and it'd turn out to have been a fantasy sequence). So I was actually surprised when it happened. Loved Alicia's glee when she was "permitted" to go after Peter :) We're on the 6th season and apparently the Kings have repeated they'd stop after the 7th.

I actually liked this episode. It was nice (at times hilarious) to see Alicia the way she sees herself and the way she sees others. Not a fan of her having an affair with Johnny. The closer she gets to him, the closer to Peter she becomes. That may well be the point, but I don't like it. At this point, I really want her to lose the race, wake up, and realize that she needs to win differently, not be a copy of Peter. She sees Kalinda as more threatening than Ramona, indicating that she really has no clue and doesn't understand much about Peter. She REALLY doesn't get her kids, something we always had a clue about from their interactions but here we saw it for real: she thinks all that's keeping her daughter from sniffing glue and getting pregnant is her faith group (way to trust your kid Alicia) and Zach has become homeless (loved it when he said I'm at Georgetown", the voice of reason.) It was also funny to me because my being homeless was one of my parents' fears. I imagine only his mom and his dad would have the landline number. I hope she "wakes up" before she morphs into Peter. It seems to me that Johnny pulls her to the "dark side", the "Peter-side", whereas FInn pushed her to a better side. Johnny is too shady. Loved how in her head, the only person who's on her side is Marissa. I want Prady to win.

We're supposed to hope Alicia loses, right? "New" Alicia won't drop out of the race, but clearly the show portrays Frank Prady as the better man. And he'd be such a fantastic opponent to Florrick, Agos, and Lockhart! I think it'd be awesome to have them on opposite sides of the bench. But I don't know whether CBS will "let" Alicia lose. When she was a lawyer she wasn't "allowed" to lose cases. BTW, in this episode, we saw she's really become a good lawyer and would be better off doing that job than running in a campaign. (And perhaps she'll learn from that campaign to run a better campaign... that'd be awesome for 2016.) I think Bishop will get Kalinda killed, but not because he wants to kill her - because she's at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think that Ollie's boss and Jocelyn have a history, and that Ollie's boss is the person Jocelyn never made her feelings clear to (as per discussion with Alec, Jocelyn never ever used "he", which is a telltale sign.) Jocelyn coming clean about her sight was good, but I hope it's not going to resurface and be used against her. As for the mom, I think it's not about her per se, but since this is about the people's personal lives, well, Jocelyn would be affected, obviously - would she be able to do a good job anyway? The defense's underling sleeping with Ollie... was it taking a chance on a casual hook up, or hoping to get to Ollie's house? I bet she found out that Ollie's mom drinks and likely didn't see anyone, or couldn't have identified anyone, because she was drunk (she was known to us in Season 1, I think, but the defense doesn't know it, right?) I am ambivalent about Tom. He's a little creepy. I hope it doesn't turn out he's got something to do with Danny's death. Then again, I also find the young vicar a potential suspect, even though I know he's got nothing to do with Danny's death, so maybe I'm overly suspicious. Joe Miller is totally unrepentant, he's focused on "winning"!! At no point does he say he didn't do it, nor does anyone say that. It's not about finding out Joe Miller is innocent, then, right - this way, it's not a story about "finding the real truth that isn't what you thought from Season 1". Yet I keep thinking, are there hidden suspects? Things we don't know about Danny's murder? I love Olivia Coleman. One reason I couldn't watch the American version is that the American actress just wasn't "right". She wasn't bad, but she was too un-ordinary, too pretty, too something. Ellie "works" because she looks like a real mom, a seaside small town cop, and she doesn't try to be a superhero who knows everything and does everything right. Loved the bit of dialogue between her and Alec, at the hospital, and Alec's smile.

What do you mean by "uncovered areas"? I'm interested in hearing your ideas! Mine are: We're indeed beginning to see that Samaritan has weaknesses, but we don't know which ones exactly... that's why I'm speculating :) I think Samaritan's clear weakness is that it doesn't understand humans - it sees them as pawns in a chess game, sort of. This is likely to lead to mistakes, underestimating some factors, not planning for others - it was clear The Machine understands its humans very well (ie., the jokes, et dialogue... in the simulations) but even she can't predict everything. Samaritan has a god-complex and thinks it can. In addition, I'm not sure Samaritan understands human power - it understands yielding it and crushing people with it, it understands fear and intimidation, and even "motivational factors", but it doesn't seem to understand its symbolic factors (ie., sending a kid to see the president - even if the kid can "predict" stock exchange rates, that's unlikely to be sufficient to give the kid legitimacy.) But I'm not sure how that can be exploited as a weakness...

I think Control will become more important in upcoming epsiodes but I'm not sure how... Killing the poor CS student was proof enough of loyalty for Samaritan, I think - Samaritan doesn't "get" humans, since s/he/it sees them as panws only. I don't think "double agent" would occur to him/her/it.

Do you think Control will slowly become a double agent? Do you think Control will slowly become a double agent?

I like Finn because he is a good friend to Alicia and he's clearly a good guy. I miss Will, but Finn is so different from Will he's not just "not Will", so I think it's good. He's a bit young-ish looking though. I also liked Ramona and Peter, more chemistry and more actual relationship than with Alicia. Alicia shouting sexism at Diane was... far out. I hope she returns to her firm, because right now it's Agos-Lockhart...!