S05.E09: Sotto Voce

[bros402]

23 hours ago, ppl said:

Weakest episode of the season by far, maybe even the worst episode of the series. Everything was so predictable and the dialogue was flat. The Shaw and Root dialogue scene should have been more epic with a little bit more screentime devoted to it. Sabir Pirzada, managed to turn a menacing adversary into a kitten. Nothing about the POI's plan screamed 'smartest criminal ever'. Any smart cop would have figured it out within 10 minutes.

I'm sad that some of the most would-be epic scenes were delivered in the clunkiest way possible. Thank goodness I never have to sit through another Pirzada written episode again.

The worst episode of the series is Wolf and Cub.

 

If we are excluding Season 1 episodes, then Reasonable Doubt from Season 3 - such a BLAND episode.

[ppl]

1 hour ago, bros402 said:

The worst episode of the series is Wolf and Cub.

 

If we are excluding Season 1 episodes, then Reasonable Doubt from Season 3 - such a BLAND episode.

Wolf and Cub had great flashback scenes. Reasonable Doubt is fluff but it was kinda funny. The only thing that I liked about this episode was the parting scene and maybe the Breaking Bad-themed Shaw scene at the beginning. Everything else was heavy handed and painfully boring.

[Kendall]

While the Last Call episode wasn't the greatest, I am one of the few people that hoped The Voice would become a recurring enemy. I really did just enjoy hearing him speak!

I totally missed the Keyser Soze rip off because for a while, I thought the show was going to break everyone's hearts and reveal Elias as The Voice. When he was standing behind Harold and said, "I owe you and John and I'm going to repay it fully" or something to that effect, I was like "oh no!"

They could've at least explain why the man behind The Voice was the architect of so many crimes, but they had other things to tend to.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Kendall

[elle]

5 hours ago, Kendall said:

They could've at least explain why the man behind The Voice was the architect of so many crimes, but they had other things to tend to.

Speaking of which, were we, the audience, supposed to infer from the list of Amir's crimes and his confession that he was "cleaning up" the Voice's past accomplices; that he was responsible for the missing persons that Fusco found?  There was an explosion involved with the destruction of the tunnel.  It kinda fits, and if this is the case, I wish they spelled it out for us!

[Syme]

22 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Quote

So how did Shaw escape and how did she manage to keep track of Samaritan agents?

She's Shaw; what more do you need to say?

 

Edited June 1, 2016 by Syme
spealing maters hear

[Camera One]

I do remember The Voice very vaguely, and I think I did like that episode.  But he wasn't big enough to warrant a shortened final season appearance.  I agree with those above that his plan was so ridiculously convoluted.  There was no way he could have predicted a lot of what John or Fusco did in this episode.  Turning out to be the perpetrator in the end made John look a little too gullible.

It was definitely the ending that made this episode.  Finally, I'm so glad Fusco knows, though I would have liked to see info parsed out bit by bit throughout the episode as he and John were on a case or something.  I felt a little g***** not seeing his reaction with the fade-out.

So glad Shaw connected back with the team as well.  I thought the Root and Shaw scene was fine... the actresses played it well.  

Elias working with the team was enjoyable to watch as well.  I did think it was unrealistic that they would just let The Voice go at the end, so the exploding car did fix that problem.  Though it would have been even more satisfying if The Voice realized he was getting his comeuppance.

I do not want to see Shaw betray the team, so they better not do a "will she or won't she" next episode.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Camera One

[jhlipton]

On 5/30/2016 at 8:01 PM, TigerLynx said:

I wish Shaw had killed those human smugglers.

Those "Coyotes" were not the most fit people on the planet and had to walk 10 miles (assuming they could figure out exactly which way to go) without hats or water.  I think she did kill them, just slowly and painfully.

[johntfs]

On 5/31/2016 at 10:28 PM, Rumsy4 said:

I had to wikipedia the Voice to remind myself who it was. Odd choice to bring back. I liked the episode, mainly becasue of the Root/Shaw reunion, and Fusco finally finally being clued in. I loved that it was John who made the decision. 

So glad Elias was in on the action. 

I too found it odd that Shaw was able to track the Samaritan agents by herself. Didn't make sense. 

The reunion of Team Machine was rather subdued, but perhaps understandable considering the grim nature of events. I'm so afraid to watch tonight's episode...

As I recall, there really aren't many potential repeat offenders.  Aside from Green and company, most of the baddies end up dead or in jail (or joining Team Machine as in Root and Elias).  The only other bad guy who walked away that I recall is Julian Sands' character from the second season (he threatened the wife of a lesbian doctor unless she killed her patient).  Sands also seemed fairly nonchalant and fine with letting bygones be bygones.  The Voice seemed more inclined toward eventual revenge.

I liked Elias' "That's some stinkin' thinkin'"  I read Harold's expression more as disapproval and acceptance.  Note that when The Voice offered a "truce" neither Elias nor Harold verbally accepted it.  They just let him get in his car.  Harold even told the voice "You can't be allowed to continue."  I think Harold pretty much recognized that there would be one of two outcomes: The Voice would surrender himself and be taken into custody by the police or Elias would kill him.

[elle]

If they were going to bring back someone who gave Finch a "run for his money", why didn't they bring back Julian Sands character?  Or did Greer take care of him?

Even if we did not already know that this was a poorly written episode, watching reruns and specifically the episode "Booked Solid" would put any questions to rest.  The assassin in that episode almost succeeds in killing the POI in a room full of cops.  So simple, pretend  you are a tourist who got mugged and wait for the opportunity for your mark to be alone.  A few more seconds and he would have choked Mira.

[yellowfred]

I feel like this episode missed an opportunity by not having Root at least a little bit involved in the case of the week.  I mean, she was the original shadowy mastermind who had all her bases covered.  I get that she was busy with the Shaw plot, but I still would have liked to see at least a passing reference to her first hand knowledge of how someone like that operates.

Then again, I do always love getting to see Elias and Finch working together, so I'm not exactly complaining.

[LvHmBirth]

On 5/31/2016 at 0:55 PM, Trey said:

I wish we could have seen the expressions on Lionel's face as John explained the situation to him - I'm sure we would have seen him mouthing "No Shit!" frequently until finally it would be "Holy Crap!".

I just re-watched "No Good Deed" - the S1 episode where the NSA Analyst figures out the Machine's existence while talking to Fusco about the amount of intelligence data that would have to be sorted through. He finishes, looks warily at the camera in the interrogation room; Fusco looks at the camera also and says, "You want a soda or something?" A few moments later, he tells Carter that her suspect is wearing a tin-foil hat.

I had forgotten that Fusco had received such a good description of the Machine in the first season! I wish there had been a non-cheesy way to refer back to that moment, too, now, when he was read-in for real.

[mahree]

On 5/31/2016 at 0:21 PM, elle said:

On 5/31/2016 at 3:30 AM, Bobbin said:

How perfect can Samaritan be that after 7000+ simulations, it still didn't conclude that Shaw was never going to kill Root under any circumstances? Joshua would have reached that conclusion long ago.

 

I <3 you for that reference! ;0)

 

 

 

The only way to win is not to play....