The only thing bugging me about this season is every single episode with a number so far has Team Machine go half the episode wondering who the perpetrators might be, only to finally suddenly come to an epiphany and realize it's Samaritan.
The series wrapped production a few months ago. They started production alongside all of the fall shows, CBS just took forever to get the season on the air.
The only thing bugging me about this season is every single episode with a number so far has Team Machine go half the episode wondering who the perpetrators might be, only to finally suddenly come to an epiphany and realize it's Samaritan.
I imagine that between the episodes there's non-Samaritan cases happening, they're just not relevant to the fairly short season arc so we're not seeing them.
I'm getting more and more confident about my earlier theory being true: Finch is waiting to find something to abuse in Samaritan's code, and is going to use the Machine as a weapon to destroy it. After the mess in QSD, maybe Finch finally realizes that ASIs are more of a detriment than a saviour to people. Get rid of two ASIs, maybe sacrifice himself to protect his allies to ensure the program executes, and the world will never know what happened.
The Samaritan/Machine fusion is starting to sound more lofty than an actual end result. Samaritan may have the power and technology, but Finch has never wanted his ASI to be more intrusive than simply reading NSA feeds (which is why he abused the Amendment loophole: built the Machine so tightly that no one can know what it's doing except for Admin. You can't charge him for invasion of privacy at a massive level if no one knows what the Machine is doing).
The show has numerous times pointed out that ASI's are an inevitability that people have the knowledge and capability to build ASIs and there were a couple different ASI prototypes developed in the shows history alone.
Perhaps creating another ASI to help the Machine defeat Samaritan.
And after these 2 episodes, you want to tell me there are only 5 more? What the hell, this feels like there need to be at least 10 more episodes in order to close all the gaps.
The only thing bugging me about this season is every single episode with a number so far has Team Machine go half the episode wondering who the perpetrators might be, only to finally suddenly come to an epiphany and realize it's Samaritan.
The show has numerous times pointed out that ASI's are an inevitability that people have the knowledge and capability to build ASIs and there were a couple different ASI prototypes developed in the shows history alone.
Perhaps creating another ASI to help the Machine defeat Samaritan.
Max, and his situation with Samaritan hi-jacking his radio broadcast. Finch was not happy with the fact that it seemed the Machine gave sending a message to Shaw a higher priority than saving Max from Samaritan operatives
. This is why Harold freaks out at the end, it seems the Machine has moral attrition to things that it wouldn't necessarily have had before. Especially if you take the key flashback into account where Finch taught the Machine that people are not means to an end. The key theme to season 5 as a whole is that Finch doesn't seem to think that ASIs are doing what they're supposed to do. Part of that is ASI (particularly Samaritan) thinking that they are better than humankind, another part is human nature with regards to power and corruption.
I think Finch and his Machine will die as a sacrifice in order to kill off Samaritan. If they do go the "ASIs are needed" route I see the mantle getting passed onto Root. She'll try to build a Machine that values morality but is made far more powerful than the old Machine, essentially in her image, just like Harold did with the Machine (though it's debatable whether the Machine is truly in his image, considering how much it had changed from its trials to now). It's just that with the Finch's character arc, it would be strange if he is okay with another ASI. Granted, yes he will lose out on saving people with no more numbers, but in his eyes, ASIs are becoming more detrimental than a help. Considering Finch mentioned that it is up to the Machine to determine if it needs to be weaponized, maybe Finch sees that humanity should find a way to solve their own problems instead of being overreliant on a Machine.
Character 1: So a culprit that can do X-Complicated thing...
Character 2: All within an impossible time-frame...
Character 1: While being completely undetected while doing so... GASP!
Both: This must be the work of Samaritan!
I have to disagree. These episodes are being done to set up not just the resolution for the Samaritan conflict, but also the character archs of the team, which for me, is just as important.
I do. I figure there's going to be one success in the mini Machine va Samaritan showdown and then the team is going to have to recreate the exact circumstances that led to that success just on a wide scale.
I think all the pieces have been introduced and the finale is gonna be a hell of a ride. I can't wait.
Wasn't sure until the radio at the end mentioned the rest of the teams activities. The simulation wouldn't focus in the rest of the team thousands of miles away.
Wasn't sure until the radio at the end mentioned the rest of the teams activities. The simulation wouldn't focus in the rest of the team thousands of miles away.
Max, and his situation with Samaritan hi-jacking his radio broadcast. Finch was not happy with the fact that it seemed the Machine gave sending a message to Shaw a higher priority than saving Max from Samaritan operatives
. This is why Harold freaks out at the end, it seems the Machine has moral attrition to things that it wouldn't necessarily have had before. Especially if you take the key flashback into account where Finch taught the Machine that people are not means to an end. The key theme to season 5 as a whole is that Finch doesn't seem to think that ASIs are doing what they're supposed to do. Part of that is ASI (particularly Samaritan) thinking that they are better than humankind, another part is human nature with regards to power and corruption.
I think Finch and his Machine will die as a sacrifice in order to kill off Samaritan. If they do go the "ASIs are needed" route I see the mantle getting passed onto Root. She'll try to build a Machine that values morality but is made far more powerful than the old Machine, essentially in her image, just like Harold did with the Machine (though it's debatable whether the Machine is truly in his image, considering how much it had changed from its trials to now). It's just that with the Finch's character arc, it would be strange if he is okay with another ASI. Granted, yes he will lose out on saving people with no more numbers, but in his eyes, ASIs are becoming more detrimental than a help. Considering Finch mentioned that it is up to the Machine to determine if it needs to be weaponized, maybe Finch sees that humanity should find a way to solve their own problems instead of being overreliant on a Machine.
I could see that as an ending to the show. However the very first episode this season it was pointed out to Harold that ASI's are an inevitability and that someone building a machine with the moral code that Finch instilled isn't likely. It would be a weird conclusion because a year after the Machine and Samaritan get destroyed someone else could build an ASI sell it to some goverment and take over the world.
I could see Harold altering the mini-machine's code to see how it affects it's odds of beating the mini-Samaritan.
The program has already done that over 7000 times. Besides there's no way that Shaw would have any knowledge about the viral outbreak in NY. There were many things shown that indicated that this is reality. Not too mention from a plot perspective and the limited amount of time we have. There was absolutely nothing new shown or revealled if it was a simulation it would all be a large waste of time. Besides Samaritan succeeded in cracking Shaw. She now can't distinguish between reality and simulation. She thinks she is in a simulation but it's reality this time and I have a feeling that it will be a problem when she reunites with the group.
Character 1: So a culprit that can do X-Complicated thing...
Character 2: All within an impossible time-frame...
Character 1: While being completely undetected while doing so... GASP!
Both: This must be the work of Samaritan!
Character 1: So a culprit that can do X-Complicated thing...
Character 2: All within an impossible time-frame...
Character 1: While being completely undetected while doing so... GASP!
Both: This must be the work of Samaritan!
There was a lot to digest this week. Three episodes, damn. They sort of made a nice trilogy event, as we had two plot threads (with Fusco and Shaw) weaving through them that led to some pivotal moments. The A plots had a compelling downward trajectory as well (saving the number, but only giving her that one night of happiness; saving the number from immediate danger, but then having him die at the hands of Samaritan; losing the number to Samaritan's scheme in the first ten minutes of the episode).
A More Perfect Union was damn silly, with a dull mystery plot, but I did like the ending. Team Machine enjoying a round of bourbon. "Tomorrow their world crashes, but we can give them tonight." Those melancholy close-ups. The master shot of them all staring off in different directions. That kind of felt like the end right there. The show gave them one last peaceful night together, and they reflected on everything they've lost. It's amusing to me that we get a wedding episode more or less half way through the final season. It was like watching the possibility of a happy ending pass our heroes by. Did I say amusing haha I meant kill me my soul can't take this.
QSO was a wild episode. The humor and fan service was more to my liking ("Marry me" and the various Root disguises) and the plot delivered. There were some great revelations about how Samaritan is operating in the world, such as it hiding commands for operatives in radio interference, and I very nearly shit my pants when Samaritan used that technique to "speak" through the speakers with Root (which I also hope means we can just go ahead and ditch Samaritot now; I know the show runners wanted to bring back a lot of old faces for the last season, but who wanted to see that kid again?).
Reassortment goes one step further with what might actually be the most terrifying thing Samaritan has done yet: orchestrating a viral outbreak. I was a little iffy on this at first (we've seen this plot concept in procedurals before) but the payoff is immense. Fusco is out. Shaw is free. Blackwell is an elite controller. And Team Machine realizes it's losing numbers, and even more people whose numbers are not even appearing. They're falling behind, losing the war.
They crammed a lot into these episodes. It does make the season feel a little rushed now, especially the way some things have been handled, e.g. Fusco's investigation resolves quickly, and we don't even get to see Team Machine's reaction to the phone call, just some brief scenes next episode with them sitting outside his hospital room. The presence of Elias is also a little underwhelming so far. As somebody else said, Bruce talking about writing Elias's final chapter feels like material that could have been mined for a lot more than it was. But Bruce's sudden and unceremonious death also contributes to the paranoid atmosphere of Samaritan's brutal and efficient reach. For the most part, things are being handled rather well, and I appreciate how quickly things are moving now, but I also feel a lot of this material deserves more focus than it's getting, with all these other plots being tangled up together in each episode (and at least in the case of 5x06, fighting for room with a far less interesting A plot).
Mostly, though, I'm complaining because of just how crazy interesting this show got with these episodes. I feel like the writers are finally taking the Samaritan storyline where it always needed to go. References to the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter, and the contrast between the scope of Samaritan and the Machine's calculations and interference, the willingness to finally complicate the narrative conflict beyond "good vs. evil" and at least hint at legitimately tough questions (something I feel the previous season often failed at doing)... this is a huge improvement over S4's red herrings and dead ends. I don't even need another season, just a full order to deal with these themes would have been great. They absolutely deserve it. (I don't want to rag on S4 too much, it obviously did a lot of ground work to get us to this point, but I still think it might end up being my least favorite season overall, or least keep the first season company at the bottom of my rankings).
5 more episodes. BRING IT HOME.
RIP Lambert. I did kind of like the flippancy of the moment, given Shaw's potential lack of grip on reality. At any rate, no, at least it wasn't as bad as Martine's death.
But just because the writers decided to take matters into their own hands didnt mean they ran amok. CBS had always wanted the show to keep its case-of-the-week spine rather than chucking it and making it a pure mythology show. Going into Season 5, there was a conversation about the amount of stand-alone versus serialized storytelling that, somewhat to my surprise, remained something of importance to them, Nolan said. And to the degree that there are compromises in this final season, its in that area. I wish wed had a few more episodes to continue telling the bigger story. But Im very, very proud of what we did.
CBS gonna CBS. It seems like they were going to treat the shorter season with just the Samaritan storyline instead of doing procedurals. I certainly got that impression in BSOD.
Haha and here I was just lamenting that very fact. Total confirmation. It's an obvious compromise, as clear as day. But they've still done a pretty damn good job with things so far this season.
I wonder what this show would look like if it actually went to Season 7. Would the Great Filter have been the endgame stuff? Would Samaritan have been the "big bad" going forward or would things have changed? I remember a popular theory way back being that the Machine would be the final big bad. Maybe after they merge, if the show goes the Neuromancer route. Or would Samaritan have taken us to the stars? Would the final season be about aliens?
Okay maybe not.
I feel like this show could have made it that far, though. There is still some steam in this engine. Oh well, at least this way it is going out on its own terms. That was definitely a great article, very insightful. I had no idea Nolan and Plageman announced it was the last season before official cancellation. That had to have been an incredible difficult situation to assess, and a tough call to make. It sounds like they did the right thing.
