mad_typist

I would watch it, with a few caveats. I'm a big fan of Jimmi Simpson, so I'd definitely be down to see him continuing in the role. Joey is more "meh" for me, though I suspect him being Amy Acker's real life husband was more about why they brought him in for the one shot episode here. Harper is fine, could take or leave her. Wouldn't mind seeing Gen come back (say, if the series were set a few years in the future). Having said that, if they brought it back like it was in S1 and a chunk of S2, where it was just a POI of the week format, I'd probably pass. I almost gave up on the show, before they switched to the serialized plot. Edited to add: I would watch the crap out of a spinoff show featuring Zoe being a fixer.

I assumed she swerved inward for two reasons: one, to move Finch out of the line of fire, obviously. Two, in order to line up her own return shot at the sniper. She narrowly misses him.

This episode apparently everyone was struck with a case of Stormtrooper-itis, because neither Team Machine nor the Samaritan agents could hit the broad side of a barn. This is twice now that Amy Acker has been on a show that miraculously made it to 100 episodes (POI/Angel), where her super nerd character (Root/Fred) tragically died towards the end of the final season, returning as a literal god (The Machine/Illyria), but also spurring the soft bespectacled tweed wearing guy on the team (Harold/Wesley) to embrace his inner dark side.

I choose to believe that Shaw and Root spent the week mostly doing crazy sex stuff, so they at least had that time together. Me, at the beginning of the season: "Oh, there's Root's voice. I know this season is supposed to be a bloodbath, but at least she makes it." Me, watching this episode and hearing Root tell Harold that The Machine will pick Her own voice: "Uh oh."

Great episode, really loved how it all came together. It also answered the question of why Root could have so many disposable personalities, while the rest of the POI gang was locked into one. Because Root is the only member of the group willing to obey the Machine instantly without question (for 99.9% of the time), she's the only one capable of staying out of danger - as we saw, the risk factor escalated on her personalities so rapidly, that only her ability to transition into new identities without needing spin up time/explanation saved her. The rest of the group need personalities they can learn and settle into - I can't see Reese (or even Shaw) blindly accepting having to be a ballerina one minute and a butter churning colonial person the next. I also had a good laugh at the Russian guy's "Marry me" line - felt like he was the audience surrogate there. :)

Ironic, given that dealing with social media usually makes one feel more murderous, not less. Loved the finale myself. I might be in the minority though - this is the first season I've been able to get all the way through, and I also loved Gaga's performance, so I may not be a trustworthy opinion :) Liz Taylor, Rey from Star Wars - this really is the year of the secret female lead protagonist.

I'm on the fence after the first episode. I will definitely give it a few more episodes to win me over, because there's a lot of promise here. Having said that, it's telling that during the first true speaking scene with the Mexican actor, I had a brief moment where I couldn't tell if he was in a telenovela type movie, or if it was just another example of over-wrought dialogue. For example, even though overall I like the transgender character a lot, the scene where she tells her girlfriend, "I'm crying because no one's ever defended me befooooooore" was... not great. Felt lazy - exposition dropped into the place of us just learning that about their relationship organically, even if it takes more episodes. I did love the soundtrack. Tom Twyker also did Run Lola Run, which is still a favorite soundtrack of mine.

I suspect Control will help flip a crucial MacGuffin switch or whatever when Team Machine is executing their end game against Samaritan. Going a step further, I imagine the outcome will be one that nerfs, but does not completely destroy Samaritan - just cripple it enough that Control and her allies actually regain control over the program.

Great topic. I'll toss in the two-parter episodes Lethe + Aletheia. I remember watching it at the time and thinking, "Wow, this show has taken it to the next level". And in retrospect, it's significant for both introducing Samaritan and Control into the mix. It was also one of the first times I actually felt afraid for Root.

I would watch the crap out of that.

I do think long term Fusco may be problematic - he's not a super hero type like the rest of the crew, and he still has ties to normal people that make him way more vulnerable than the rest of the crew. How long can they explain away why Samaritan's crew doesn't just ID Lionel and have him killed (or threaten his son, or whatever)?

Wow, Camryn Manheim just killed it this episode. Love Control, and love the way they're approaching it - clearly she's being positioned as a key ally for the endgame, but it's in a way that makes sense. She's not going to have a total change of character overnight, but there are seeds planted that I hope we get to see more of. She's so stone-cold, I love it. Would love to see more Grice - he's an obvious choice to join Team Machine next. And I agree with the poster above - can't wait to see Root get her hands on Martine. Lastly, Amy Acker broke my heart at the end when she almost broke down crying in the car. So so good... the downside of losing Shaw for now is that it's giving Amy Acker some excellent material to work with. Does anyone else wonder why The Machine isn't doing it's own secret recruiting contests, like Samaritan is?

I'm sort of torn on the Tara question. On one hand, I didn't think Amber Benson had great chemistry with Alyson Hannigan, and probably wasn't the strongest actress in the bunch. On the other hand, Tara's character was central to some of my favorite episodes/moments in the series, so when the chips were really down, Amber Benson actually did a decent job. See: every moment Tara gets in "The Body" both with Willow and Buffy, the look of defiance in Tara's eyes right before Glory lobotimizes her, and the one moment of true heat she ever had with Willow when they all lost their memories in "Tabula Rasa" and were about to kiss in the tunnels.

At this point, it kind of feels like Root loves Shaw on some weird level. I mean... look at this face: Having said that, I think her ultimate loyalty is to The Machine. Which, of course, leads me to think that the obvious conflict Root will have to face is choosing between the two of them.

I honestly think that the hacked laptop that Finch tinkered with in Hong Kong is going to be the secret weapon they'll trot out when things look bleakest to turn the tables. Things I'd like to see: A quick resolution to the Brotherhood storyline, since I find that plot boring. Elias continuing to be awesome, but hopefully in a compressed 2 episode arc so we can move on More Root/Shaw, because I love them. No major team deaths, because I had enough of that with Carter Samaritan weakened, but not totally eliminated as a threat. I like the idea of dueling AIs, but I agree with people that right now Samartian feels so overpowered that I don't see a way for our heroes to possibly win.