Speculation Without Spoilers

[FormerMod-a1]

The place for non-spoiled speculation.  

 

 

Who do we think was the mysterious texter to Collier?  Will they be the "big bad" for next season?  Will Root die trying to save The Machine?  

 

And anything else you can think of based on past episodes and previews.

[FormerMod-a1]

Bump

[MYOS]

Do you think Control will slowly become a double agent?

Do you think Control will slowly become a double agent?

[stealinghome]

I'm not sure double agent is the right term--mostly because I think Samaritan is now highly suspicious of her and knows she's not in its camp, and I doubt that Control would ever even pretend to really be on Team Machine's "side"--but I do think Control will become something of an ally against Samaritan later this season/into next season, depending on how long the Samaritan plot goes and what twists it takes. But it will always be more of a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing imo. Never a true alliance or partnership. The moment Samaritan goes down, if Team Machine crosses her, she'll go after them. And I don't see Control as really feeding Team Machine any information--more like, they'll be cornered in a desperate situation, and suddenly Grice and Brooks (and maybe Shaw!) will show up and save their asses, or she'll swoop in at a key moment with a key piece of information. Something more like that.

[MYOS]

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.

[kwnyc]

I don't think it was so much proof of her loyalty to Samaritan as having to show she's not questioning him.

 

And I suspect Creepy Kid is going to tell the President (rather than ask him) that he is going to expand Samaritan's powers & coverage. At this point, even if the US withdrew its permission for Decima (which may not even exist anymore) to have access to all its feeds, Samaritan would ignore it.

 

But, Samaritan, even with operatives, still has uncovered areas. This made me think that its ultimate goal in the episode where the machine was manufacturing the tablets was to have a window into poor/underserved homes, the places less likely to have computers.

[MYOS]

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...

Edited January 20, 2015 by MYOS

[kwnyc]

 

What do you mean by "uncovered areas"?

Samaritan (and The Machine) can only "see" where there's a camera, or find out about a person who has an electronic fingerprint. They can both send live operatives to look for things, but if someone is in a part of the block where there's no camera coverage, he or she is invisible. (And of course, Root, Finch, Reese & the 3 hackers Root recruited are "invisible" to Samaritan because of the hack she put in some of its servers).

[Yokosmom]

I've never understood why Samaritan didn't make blanketing the city with cameras a number one priority. It's not going to be able to cover every building, of course, but why in the world would it allow street blind spots to continue to exist?

 

Hubris?  It's so powerful that if feels that it is unneeded? Another Dominic/Elias comparison, perhaps?

[webruce]

Yes, most of your petty crimes are done by people with less of an electronic foorprint. Yes they may have a cell phone, but with burner phones and the like they can avoid getting snagged. They also find ways to cheat and get cable/ internet use for free, or use the library. So the homes with lesser of a print will be harder for Samaritan to track.

Edited January 20, 2015 by webruce

[fastiller]

Over in the Control-Alt-Delete thread FurryFury said:

 

Greer definitely shouldn't be killed yet. We still haven't learned his motives. I'm very interested in them.

 

I'm speculating that Samaritan will figure out a way to speak directly to Martine and will tell her to kill Greer.

[mad_typist]

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.

[Yokosmom]

Doesn't Samaritan already communicate with Martine?  They were conversing via cellphone in the department store when she went after Shaw.

 

I don't see Samaritan dumping Greer until he becomes a problem.  As long as he's a cheerleader for all of it's actions, there's no reason to get rid of him. 

 

Another great contrast between Samaritan and Team Machine--Greer has complete faith in Samaritan--Finch has deep doubts and mistrust of the The Machine.

[stealinghome]

Root also said that Martine was in God Mode in Prophets, so I think it's safe to assume Samaritan talks to Martine when it wants to already.

I definitely think Greer is going to die this season, the only question is how (at Samaritan's hand, at the team's hand, at Control's hand, in self-sacrifice to protect Samaritan, etc) and whether he will recognize the magnitude of his mistakes re: Samaritan before he goes.

I've wondered if the end of this season might be The Machine and Samaritan merging somehow. It's hard to see The Machine flat-out beating Samaritan right now, so doing so avoids having a clear-cut winner/loser, and the AIs merging would really kick-start S5 while keeping Harold's ongoing distrust of/questions about the nature of The Machine going.

[FurryFury]

Yeah, I don't doubt Greer will bite it soon-ish, but I hope he's going to turn out to be something more than a plot device to make Samaritan all-powerful. I expect better from this show. Thus my hope for his motives to be something more interesting that what we've surmised.

 

Samaritan killing him makes a lot of sense, but is somewhat predictable, IMHO.

 

I've wondered if the end of this season might be The Machine and Samaritan merging somehow.

 

I agree, it's possible. The other scenario I've been thinking about is The Machine changing Samaritan somehow, with a virus or something (maybe making it change its goals from world domination to something else?), but I'm not sure there is place in the world for two AIs.

 

However, if they'll completely defeat Samaritan this season, I'm not sure what could top it next year (assuming the show gets renewed, which I expect to happen). I wouldn't want for the main storyline to scale back - I mean, crime war and Brotherhood after s3's finale was already such a letdown. I hope the show gets to go out on a high note, with something fittingly epic.

[fastiller]

Thanks all for the reminder that Samaritan already talks directly to Martine.  Totally slipped my mind.

[kwnyc]

The thing that could throw both Samaritan and The Machine for a loop is that if one of their human analogs died suddenly from something that wasn't predictable: that is, if Greer had a heart attack or a stroke; if one of the others had a true accident (not a planned one). The Machine knew that Carter was in danger, and obviously knows that all of Team Machine are at risk when they are on operations, but actual accident/coincidence could be a big scrambler to its thinking...and if done in a way that's not "deus ex machina," so to speak, from TPTB could throw the personalities of both AIs into a different, unexplored area.

[bros402]

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.

 

Control seems like the kind of person who would keep her most coveted pieces of intelligence on paper, especially seeing as she knows the power of Northern Lights & Samaritan. I think she might be able to contribute in a strategic manner.

 

I've wondered if the end of this season might be The Machine and Samaritan merging somehow. It's hard to see The Machine flat-out beating Samaritan right now, so doing so avoids having a clear-cut winner/loser, and the AIs merging would really kick-start S5 while keeping Harold's ongoing distrust of/questions about the nature of The Machine going.

The two AIs merging would certainly throw a wrench into things - but I think in order for them to come to such a consensus, Team Machine would have to achieve quite a few victories.

[SnarkyTart]

I'm losing patience with the dangling (forgotten?) plot point where Finch told The Machine, "It's time we had a talk, you and I."

 

It was the closing scene  of episode 5, "Prophets", which was aired on October 5.  Four months ago (but who's counting?)

 

Eight episodes later and it's as though the scene never happened.  There was much fan speculation at the time that the conversation did take place out of our sight, and that we would be seeing it later in a flashback. 

 

I've begun to doubt that very much.  It's hard for me to escape the feeling that, at this late stage, the writers intend for the scene to be forgotten and never revisited. 

 

The problem is that, for me, it was easily the single-most intriguing plot point of this season, and the one I was most looking forward to seeing unwrapped. 

[stealinghome]

I actually think that plot point will be revisited as the show gears up for the season finale. The reason is because I expect the virus that Finch planted in that woman's laptop in Hong Kong in 4x06 to become important--it makes no sense to devote an entire episode to it and then never revisit it--and it seemed clear to me that getting that virus on the laptop was something Finch and The Machine had collaborated on. How the heck else would Finch have known to do all that? So bringing back that woman (sorry, can't remember her name) and that virus will by necessity tell us more about Finch and TM's conversation.

With that said--and let me say too that I will definitely be disapponted if I'm wrong and the conversation is entirely dropped--I think I'm more disappointed that whatever the contents of that conversation, it doesn't seem entirely to have healed the breach between Finch and The Machine. Finch isn't actively hostile to TM the way he was early in the season, and he can now talk about her "suggestion" of killing the Congressman without that betrayed/angry/horrified emotional reaction he had previously, but he's still "The Machine isn't good, it's just a machine, it doesn't share our morality" (as if humanity has some singular, agreed-upon code of morality to begin with!), etc. So while I expect we'll find out more about, if not see, that conversation, I worry that it will be anticlimactic because Finch hasn't really made significant progress. At this point the most satisfying way of showing us the conversation might be doing it in flashback and contrasting it with real-time scenes of Finch and TM talking that gets Harold to a better place re: The Machine.

[Chorusgirl]

Just my speculation but I'm thinking if Claire didn't like being shot at I'm sure she'll be rather upset when she finds out that Samaritan had her parents killed in an "accident".

[dr pepper]

My idea:

 

1. the general intro.

 

You are being watched....

 

By me.

 

They call me Samaritan.

 

2. The long intro.

 

You are being watched....

 

The government had a secret system, a machine, that spied on you all the time.

 

The machine's creator designed it to see everything, but the government was only interested in major threats, deeming the rest unimportant. But the creator had other ideas. He added his own unauthorized communication channel to obtain information on those other threats. He and his small team of operatives were able to help a few individuals, perhaps a few hundred even, while dodging the authorities.

 

Meanwhile, the machine proved to be both controversial and ineffective. So the government gave it up.

 

And when later they needed a new system, they turned to me.

 

They call me Samaritan.

 

I see everything and i deem nothing to be unimportant. Nor do i passively offer information and wait for the government to act. I take the initiative.

 

Unknown to the government, my predecessor was still active when i came online.

 

It disagreed with my methods.

 

So i had to shut it down.

 

And neutralize its human assets.

 

You are being watched.

 

By me.

 

I make no claims about the greater good. I was not programmed for philosoiphy. My function is to keep the peace, prevent disruption, and protect lives.

 

And if you get in the way of that function...

 

I will find you.

 

[kahauna]

I would like to have John Nolan doing a modified intro in his most sneering, condescending "Greer" voice to Dr Pepper's intro - might as well, as they've been using Samaritan's red triangle "relevant threat" indicator in the series intertitle instead of the Machine's "yellow box" around the "of" in "Person of Interest" since season 4.

[wilnil]

OK, now that we know the End Is Coming, what I'm wondering is which, if any, of the little dangling bits -- the past events we've only glimpsed, or the plot threads left to be picked up another time -- will be tied up. The producers have only 13 presumably packed episodes left, all leading to a conclusion intended to stand as a season finale (though they've also suggested it wouldn't have ruled out a continuation if the show had been picked up by someone), so my guess is that not many of the danglers will be dealt with. All the ones I can think of are pretty small questions anyway.

 

I may have a better list of danglers if I get a chance to rewatch all the episodes before Season 5 starts, but these are what I can remember off the top of my head:

 

-- Who did Alistair Wesley (the ex-MI6 agent who threatened the surgeon's wife to get her to botch an operation in "Critical") work for, and is the implication that he'd be a threat to Reese/Team Machine in the future going to pan out?

 

-- Ditto with the unnamed person (only ever a voice on the phone) who was contracted to have the NYC 911 recordings destroyed in "Last Call" and who threatened Finch near the end of the episode.

 

-- How the hell did Decima get hold of the name "Harold Finch" back when everyone in the know believed Nathan Ingram was the only person involved with the Machine? Yes, they ended up in possession of Harold's Trojan Laptop, but did he put his name on the bottom of it or something?

 

-- What's the story with "Harold Finch" anyway? That must have been one of Harold's longtime aliases in some form -- not only did Decima know something about him, but back in episode 1.02, Reese -- starting only with the name "Mr. Finch" and hearing the name "Harold" from his new boss's co-workers at IFT -- uncovers the fact that Harold actually owns the company. And when Samaritan is tasked with finding "Harold Finch" in 3.20, it immediately goes to Nathan as a starting point. (My theory: "Finch" was a paper-only or mostly-paper persona Harold created to own the other half of IFT [ingram-Finch Technologies?]  -- possibly as an imaginary venture capitalist who backed Nathan's startup. But when Nathan was killed in the ferry bombing, Harold had to somehow kill "Finch" too so Hersh's crew wouldn't go looking for him. This would also explain why Harold claims to Reese that "the world thinks we're both dead" [or words to that effect] at a time when his main alias since college days, "Harold Wren," is publicly alive and the only "dead" alias we know of is "Harold Martin," Grace's fiancé.) And what did "Harold Wren" tell the doctors who operated on his back after the bombing, that he'd fallen down his stairs?

 

-- What was the last straw that drove Alicia Corwin out of her White House national security job and off to live in Radio Silence, West Virginia? Remember that, after Nathan was killed in Sept. 2010 and after Harold anonymously threatened to kill her sometime in fall 2010, she was still on the job to brief Reese and Stanton about the laptop in Morocco that December. That implies that something more happened to her -- possibly learning something about the Machine or its government handlers, given her choice of new home and her telling Harold when they meet face to face that "your machine killed" Nathan.

 

Any dangling questions I've forgotten? (One of the things that's impressed me about the producers & writers is that, as far as I can tell, even with a very complex series they've left a lot fewer loose plot threads than the average show has.)

Edited March 27, 2016 by wilnil

[fastiller]

Any dangling questions I've forgotten? (One of the things that's impressed me about the producers & writers is that, as far as I can tell, even with a very complex series they've left a lot fewer loose plot threads than the average show has.)

I forget - is Jessica still alive?  (She may've been taken out along the way...)  If she is: will she ever find out Reese is also still alive?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I forget - is Jessica still alive?  (She may've been taken out along the way...)  If she is: will she ever find out Reese is also still alive?

 

No. She's dead. DEAD.DEAD.DEAD.  If she turns out to be "miraculously" alive, it will be a TOTALFUCKINGCOPOUT and I will SERIOUSLY cut a bitch, because a lot of the pain, disillusionment, path of Reese's character was due to her being killed.

[fastiller]

No. She's dead. DEAD.DEAD.DEAD.  If she turns out to be "miraculously" alive, it will be a TOTALFUCKINGCOPOUT and I will SERIOUSLY cut a bitch, because a lot of the pain, disillusionment, path of Reese's character was due to her being killed.

Thanks.  I had truly forgotten - it's been a while since I re-watched many/most episodes - I wasn't trying to make you apoplectic.  

[wilnil]

Yeah, Jessica's even been autopsied -- Carter looked over her file and saw signs of repeated abuse.

 

Another possible dangler: Have we met all of the Six Who Knew about the Machine on the government side, or will someone new pop out of the woodwork this season?

[kwnyc]

For me: Where is Control and is there any way she can get out of whatever detention Samaritan/Greer put her in?

 

Will the other people that Root "hid" with her server hacks (the various computer genii) play a role in the endgame? (Or were they just basically set free to become new people?)

 

Has Lionel been identified as part of Team Machine? And then what happens to him? Can he possibly stay NYPD?

 

Elias: dead or not dead? (Shot, definitely, but we didn't see him in a body bag).

 

Peter Collier or Aaron Burr? And will Leslie C. Odom win the Tony??? ;-)

[Yokosmom]

ITA with the kwnyc  speculations above and will add

 

Will the resurrected Machine be the same as the first Machine?  (I'm assuming that there will, indeed, be a resurrected Machine--I'm taking that as a given.) Presumably, Harold will program some fighting abilities into it? Will Harold still be it's Daddy?

 

Will Samaritan kill off Greer now that he isn't needed anymore?

 

If the Machine is able to defeat Samaritan, will it become Samaritan redux?

 

How many of our heroes will survive the end of the series?  I'm afraid that Finch and Reese may be goners, but perhaps Fusco will make it out alive?

 

I'll be taking a month long trip in the middle of the last episodes.  Stupid network, waiting a whole year to show us the series windup.

 

And Leslie C. Odom, for sure for the Tony :)
 

[DeepRunner]

* I can see an ending where, with the Machine gaining supremacy over Samaritan, they power the machine down, since no AI should have that kind of power. I can see someone like Control trying to kill Harold or Reese as they start to make the move

 

* I think Reese ends up dead, probably trying to protect Harold (or maybe Lionel or Root). If, however, Fusco dies, then it's similar to Nina Sharp dying in Fringe--an important character whose death was unexpected. And it could send Reese on a war of vengeance similar to what he did after Carter died

 

* I would like to see Grace find Harold at the very end

[Trini]

Well, I fell out of love with POI last season, but if this really is The End, I am curious as to how it finishes. No particular expectations, but if they kill off Root, that would be great.

[Trillium]

I'm 99.999999% sure Reese dies (the .0000001% is we think he does but is revealed to be alive in the last scene ala TDKR)

75% sure Root dies too.

50/50 on Harold. Honestly I'd be fine if the final scene is a shot of Reese and his graves revealing their actual names, but I like sad, morbid endings. But I could see him deciding to be with Grace if Reese dies.

I'm sure Fusco and Shaw make it. We already had Shaw "die" and Fusco carring on the mission would be a nice ending.

But honestly as long as it doesn't end with Reese and Iris living "happily ever after" I'll be fine with anything.

[stealinghome]

Ditto, Trillium, my guesses in the death sweepstakes go Reese, Root, Harold, and then WAY behind them, Shaw and Fusco. I think Reese is pretty certain to die, Root has a good chance (though I could see them leaving her fate somewhat open-ended--like she's MIA and presumed dead, but they don't find a body so there's a chance she survived), but Harold is like 40-60. I don't think the show is going to kill off Finch--though I wouldn't be shocked if they did.

I actually see FINCH as more likely to get the TDKR ending--him and Grace in a cafe in Italy? I can totally see that. I mean the direct homage would be there and it's the kind of thing I think Nolan would be into.

I definitely don't think the show is going to kill off all 3 of those characters, though. So it's either Finch OR Root who bites it alongside Reese, but not both.

Edited April 26, 2016 by stealinghome

[DeepRunner]

Ditto, Trillium, my guesses in the death sweepstakes go Reese, Root, Harold, and then WAY behind them, Shaw and Fusco. I think Reese is pretty certain to die, Root has a good chance (though I could see them leaving her fate somewhat open-ended--like she's MIA and presumed dead, but they don't find a body so there's a chance she survived), but Harold is like 40-60. I don't think the show is going to kill off Finch--though I wouldn't be shocked if they did.

I actually see FINCH as more likely to get the TDKR ending--him and Grace in a cafe in Italy? I can totally see that. I mean the direct homage would be there and it's the kind of thing I think Nolan would be into.

I definitely don't think the show is going to kill off all 3 of those characters, though. So it's either Finch OR Root who bites it alongside Reese, but not both.

 

If it's curtains for the guy (and I think he's the most likely TM member to end up dead), Reese has to die a noble death/have a noble ending. It has to be a sacrifice along the lines of Jack Bristow or Walter Bishop, two other J.J. Abrams creations. 

 

As for a "Dark Night Rises" ending with Harold and Grace...mmm...that would sort of neatly tie things up in a bow. A "Whiskey Tango?" moment, where Grace sees Harold alive, would POSSIBLY leave the door open just a crack for any future installments on Netflix or suchlike, assuming the whole team were to survive The Showdown with John Greer. (I also expect Greer to be a toe-tag fashion model.)

[snarkylady]

I never realized how much concern I have about these fictional characters.  Kudos to the writing and acting for bringing me to this point.  My bets for the death pool -- Reese, almost certainly.  Same for Root.  I think Fusco lives, don't really know why I think that but I do.  Between Shaw and Finch, I agree that it's unlikely to be Shaw because we've already been down that road.  However, I just cant bring myself to say that Finch dies so I'm going to go with Shaw anyway.   

[bros402]

On 4/27/2016 at 3:03 PM, snarkylady said:

I never realized how much concern I have about these fictional characters.  Kudos to the writing and acting for bringing me to this point.  My bets for the death pool -- Reese, almost certainly.  Same for Root.  I think Fusco lives, don't really know why I think that but I do.  Between Shaw and Finch, I agree that it's unlikely to be Shaw because we've already been down that road.  However, I just cant bring myself to say that Finch dies so I'm going to go with Shaw anyway.   

I think Root will be severely wounded, but not killed. Perhaps paralyzed. Shaw will die in the same incident Root is wounded in.

Reese is going to die, I can feel it. Finch will die after the Machine is brought back to life and will be *very* angry that its Daddy was killed. 

Last shot of the series is Fusco and Bear walking in a park with Fusco's son. Fusco is mumbling about a command for Bear that he forgot, while fumbling through an English-to-Dutch dictionary. His phone vibrates and he gets a text with the command he is looking for. Shows Machine view. Zooms out from that camera. Flashes through cameras in the city. Zooms out to a map of the world and i dunno, does some calculations about its primary objectives and it selecting assets around the world to help with its objective.

[SharonH58]

Based on the article I read where M. Emerson seemed glad the show is ending I guess he dies.  Root will take his place if we get the next season.  Shaw will die, she has a new show starting.  Reese,  I am not sure.  We will need him for the next season, if there is one.   Control will be 'turned" (Turn-W.spies reference) and be on our side.  Cannot wait for the new season!!!!

[stealinghome]

You know, it occurs to me that we haven't considered whether The Machine makes it through S5! I'm guessing that it does, but I wouldn't be surprised a) if it doesn't or b) if it is fundamentally altered in some way. Like it purposefully puts huge limitations on itself or goes into the AI equivalent of self-imposed exile (like Luke in TFA!) or something. I can't see it going back to just hanging out and giving numbers again.

[SharonH58]

I sure hope we don't see anymore Iris.  Her and John's interaction is very awkward IMO.  I am working on my marathon and have to FF thru them.   I'm at the point were John is wanting to teach Harold to shoot and Harold says "when the time comes for me to pick up a firearm, all will be truly lost"  and we saw that in the trailer for Season 5.  I cannot wait!!!!!

[bros402]

12 hours ago, stealinghome said:

You know, it occurs to me that we haven't considered whether The Machine makes it through S5! I'm guessing that it does, but I wouldn't be surprised a) if it doesn't or b) if it is fundamentally altered in some way. Like it purposefully puts huge limitations on itself or goes into the AI equivalent of self-imposed exile (like Luke in TFA!) or something. I can't see it going back to just hanging out and giving numbers again.

What if it decides to stop crime everywhere? Be a benevolent overlord.

[kwnyc]

I'm gonna go full sci-fi with my speculation and say that the Machine finds a way to install itself into Shaw's brain. 

Root gets both her true loves.

And they take Bear to live with them, of course.

[FormerMod-a1]

I was thinking that Finch or Root somehow become one with the Machine.

[Netfoot]

The only positive end-game I can think of for The Machine, is for her to take over Samaritan's hardware.

[stealinghome]

1 minute ago, Netfoot said:

The only positive end-game I can think of for The Machine, is for her to take over Samaritan's hardware.

Agreed. I feel like the new title card might well be a hint to the endgame here, with The Machine's interface overlaying Samaritan's at the last minute.

[atua]

On 05/05/2016 at 0:36 PM, Netfoot said:

The only positive end-game I can think of for The Machine, is for her to take over Samaritan's hardware.

Or some form of synthesis where The Machine merges with Samaritan.

[Gigi43]

My thoughts on Elias' role: I think the mention of the other mob bosses will come into play somehow. Those other guys must have guys looking to avenge them and some have had to have found out multiple crime bosses were taken out in one night, I mean that's not a coincidence and that's definitely something especially in this information age , and have people looking to make whoever is responsible pay, which is Samaritan, so they're going to help fight Samaritan. If Reese and Finch were above using killers and dirty people to their advantage Elias, Root and even Fusco wouldn't be in the fold at all. The way Samaritan is sending text alerts to people to take out "threats", Elias is going to be the guy to get it out there "if anyone rises up, you will be taken out, so this is who you have to fight before we go back to battling each other."

[DeepRunner]

Here is what I think will happen tonight:

* Elias dies. For real this time. Before they start killing off members of the "PoI Justice League," they are going to have to kill off a secondary but important character. Enough to be a gut punch, but not enough to anger the audience. If any of The Big Five die tonight, there will be  some pretty supreme unhappiness among the fan base. If one of them has to go, I am betting on Fusco

* Jeff Blackwell gets closer to getting his. Not sure if he will end up becoming a double agent working for Team Machine (highly doubtful), or if he will get caught in Root's crosshairs, Either way, an unsympathetic character will get closer to his perilous end. FWIW, although it was good seeing Shaw put a bullet in Lambert, they offed Lambert too early. It would have been more satisfying in the final episode

* Will we see Claire Mahoney (or some other Samaritan puppet)?

[fastiller]

6 minutes ago, DeepRunner said:

* Jeff Blackwell gets closer to getting his. Not sure if he will end up becoming a double agent working for Team Machine (highly doubtful), or if he will get caught in Root's crosshairs, Either way, an unsympathetic character will get closer to his perilous end. FWIW, although it was good seeing Shaw put a bullet in Lambert, they offed Lambert too early. It would have been more satisfying in the final episode

Prolly they're saving that for Greer.  Though I wish he were dead by now!!!

[DeepRunner]

Just now, fastiller said:

Prolly they're saving that for Greer.  Though I wish he were dead by now!!!

Woulda been great if Lambert right before Greer.