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[Doorman]

So a detail that's been bugging me after thinking about it at the very end of last night/early this morning...

Finch claims that his cover was blown because he went to a cafe that he used to go to with Grace. So Samaritan has access to video feeds from way back in those days that it...somehow managed to cross-reference from way back then that identified Harold as being Harold? Something about the way this worked doesn't make sense to me. If it can use past records to identify and locate the team even despite their hard-coded cover identities, why would it take visiting that cafe to trigger it? Couldn't it have identified Finch the same way just as easily by catching him walking down a street in NYC that he's likely walked before going dark? Would the overheard word of a waitress thinking that someone looked familiar really be enough to set off a red flag? Would it have been strangely out of character for Professor Whistler to visit a cafe, thus prompting more investigation that way? If all it took was presence at a location they'd been to before establishment of the cover identities, why has Reese never been identified while inside of the police station, a locale he'd been to prior to becoming Detective Riley? Finch being "careless" and getting found out turned into the impetus for this whole current mess, but the way that all went down still feels conveniently suspect to me.

 

[LostMyNarbles]

If I understand it correctly Samaritan has access to all of the NSA's data including data before it was active. Since Greer and company know that Grace and Harold Martin were an item Samaritan also knows as well. I also believe that Samaritan cannot correctly identify the team due to their cover identities. When Samaritan looked back it simply saw Grace and Harold Martin having coffee and it know who they were, however if Samaritan sees Harold on the streets it will just identify him as Professor Whistler and disregard him despite having the same appearance as the man it knows as Harold. When it saw Professor Whistler at the cafe that Harold Martin took Grace and on their 10 year anniversary it was probably able to piece it all together and merge the two profiles to the point that it could identify Professor Whistler as Harold Martin.

Honestly, I have not watched the earlier seasons in awhile, but IIRC John didn't have much of a presence at the police station. He went there when he was arrested, but afterwards he didn't have any reason to go back since Fusco was working the inside for him. Because Samaritan cannot properly identify John it can't just go back and look for somebody that looks like him and say "Yup that's him". I suspect the catalyst that lead to Harold being identified was Grace. Because Samaritan knew who she was and her relationship with Harold it could identify that as his cover and then it just needed to find a way to match somebody up (Later Professor Whistler) to that identity. When Harold went back to the cafe on their 10 year anniversary Samaritan was able to piece it together and link him to something from his past.

 

[Wilsongt]

Finch's powerful speech is up on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAABxd_KLAQ

Goosebumps.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

I think that it wasn't the fact that Finch went to the cafe that made him lose his cover, it was the fact that the woman who worked there recognized him and brought him the same coffee he used to drink with Grace. All Samaritan had to do was look back until it found a facial match.

 

[Lonestar]

That poor agent must be so confused. "Why don't his records exist? What did this guy do? What is he talking about? Who is he talking to? The fuck is going on?!"

"Why are there prisoners everywhere, and when did I get shanked?"

 

[Tugatrix]

Oh man, this freaking show...

Spoiler

Shit they just killed root just for the machine to turn her in some way, gadman that's stellar right there

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I'm not sure I could handle anymore deaths :/

Dark Finch in God Mode would be the scariest/amazingest moment in the series.

 

[darkinstinct]

Gotta say I don't love this season as much as I thought I would. I always had the idea of all the people they ever helped turning up again and doing their part in saving the machine, like the machine planned its defence over five years. Instead the numbers simply don't matter anymore in the context of the series. It's a missed opportunity and having that sniper Samaritan guy instead is making me ill. His whole storyline is so pointless and irrelevant to the story.

And

Spoiler

the deaths of Elias and Root are so anticlimactic and pointless as well. They are just killing them off because ... they used to be evil? They are both killers. Reese is a killer. Shaw is a killer. Vossko used to be a corrupt cop not hesitant to kill. And Harold, well, he killed the machine every single day. I don't think anybody will survive except the machine.

Oh and when the van appeared and the minigun slowly rose from the bottom I almost puked. So bad. There's just no consistency left in this, one minute Samaritan is the all knowing eye that can pretend where somebody is ten minutes later - going by car. The next minute it is acting like a five year old. What should've been a great ending to a great series is ruined by some terrible, terrible writing. You'd think to only do half the episodes leads to better ideas, instead it is by far my least liked season.

 

[paradox121]

Not to totally distract from the awesomeness of the last episode, but once this is all over I will definitely need a supercut of all the times Jim Caviezel either ineffectually presses somewhere near his ear in order to talk to Finch, or vaguely fondles a passed out guy's neck to check for a pulse.

He did it a lot in Sotto Voce, and it's one of my favourite unintentionally goofy aspects of the show.

 

[Soyongdori]

Am I the only one who is team Samaritan?

 

[Nobility]

Am I the only one who is team Samaritan?

The Machine is cooking up something.

You going to learn real soon.

Spoiler

 

[Kagari]

Am I the only one who is team Samaritan?

Why would you do that.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

So a detail that's been bugging me after thinking about it at the very end of last night/early this morning...

Finch claims that his cover was blown because he went to a cafe that he used to go to with Grace. So Samaritan has access to video feeds from way back in those days that it...somehow managed to cross-reference from way back then that identified Harold as being Harold? Something about the way this worked doesn't make sense to me. If it can use past records to identify and locate the team even despite their hard-coded cover identities, why would it take visiting that cafe to trigger it? Couldn't it have identified Finch the same way just as easily by catching him walking down a street in NYC that he's likely walked before going dark? Would the overheard word of a waitress thinking that someone looked familiar really be enough to set off a red flag? Would it have been strangely out of character for Professor Whistler to visit a cafe, thus prompting more investigation that way? If all it took was presence at a location they'd been to before establishment of the cover identities, why has Reese never been identified while inside of the police station, a locale he'd been to prior to becoming Detective Riley? Finch being "careless" and getting found out turned into the impetus for this whole current mess, but the way that all went down still feels conveniently suspect to me.

It couldn't have identified Finch in the same way. If Finch walked down the road, it'd be recognized as Professor Whistler thanks to Root's cover identities and hacking into the 7 Samaritan servers in order to blind it from targetting the team. Additionally, as of BSOD, Samaritan manually tracks the team. It relies on listening to voice recordings, or any deviations from what the current identity would have done. For instance, Professor Whistler would never go to a cafe to make an order that Finch would have made out of sentiment, so Samaritan is immediately triggered and tracks the figure to be Harold Finch. Reese isn't really in the same situation. He works as a police officer and is almost always accompanied by Fusco. Samaritan could easily assume that Riley is doing basic police work (not to mention, some of the shootouts have happened outside of Samaritan's field of view, so Samaritan can't track Riley as Reese).

 

[Veelk]

Why would you do that.

The thing that makes Samaritan interesting is that it is truthful.

He's not lying to the protagonists or the people who work under it and as far as we can tell, it doesn't abuse it's assets (beyond blackmail when they step out of line). Work for Samaritan, it will work for you. It's based in self interest, but it's also seeking to optimize the world, enhance education, reduce wars, and Greer even mentions that it actually doesn't interfere with how people want to live all that much.

The virtue and sin of Samaritan is that it is the ultimate utilitarian, which chooses the greatest amount of happiness and pleasure for the human species. This means that it has no value of the lives of individuals, because it is solely concerned about the species at large, while the ethos of Team Machine is that EVERY life matters.

I lean toward the Team Machines way of thinking, because it's the most humanitarian way of looking at the world....but the cost is the inevitability of someone fucking up. Maybe with malicious intent, maybe without, but so many systems are either too chaotic, or too locked up in ethical restrictions to allow an easy fix.

It's a strange and interesting situation. It's like few evil AI's in fiction. Skynet, AM, HAL9000, or whatever, they all either glitch out or otherwise become actively malicious. Samaritan does it's job perfectly well and is actually improving humanity. By not having any regard for people's rights and lives, it is able to optimize the world in a way that nothing, not even the machine, could. Samaritan is the ultimate agent of those who choose security over freedom. Because Greer is right. The world is undeniably a better place for Samaritan. But it's also no longer man's.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

The thing that makes Samaritan interesting is that it is truthful.

He's not lying to the protagonists or the people who work under it and as far as we can tell, it doesn't abuse it's assets (beyond blackmail when they step out of line). Work for Samaritan, it will work for you. It's based in self interest, but it's also seeking to optimize the world, enhance education, reduce wars, and Greer even mentions that it actually doesn't interfere with how people want to live all that much.

The virtue and sin of Samaritan is that it is the ultimate utilitarian, which chooses the greatest amount of happiness and pleasure for the human species. This means that it has no value of the lives of individuals, because it is solely concerned about the species at large, while the ethos of Team Machine is that EVERY life matters.

I lean toward the Team Machines way of thinking, because it's the most humanitarian way of looking at the world....but the cost is the inevitability of someone fucking up. Maybe with malicious intent, maybe without, but so many systems are either too chaotic, or too locked up in ethical restrictions to allow an easy fix.

It's a strange and interesting situation. It's like few evil AI's in fiction. Skynet, AM, HAL9000, or whatever, they all either glitch out or otherwise become actively malicious. Samaritan does it's job perfectly well and is actually improving humanity. By not having any regard for people's rights and lives, it is able to optimize the world in a way that nothing, not even the machine, could. Samaritan is the ultimate agent of those who choose security over freedom. Because Greer is right. The world is undeniably a better place for Samaritan. But it's also no longer man's.

Are you forgetting Samaritan is documenting every Human's DNA so it can create a super virus that will wipe out all humans that have unfavorable genes that pose a risk to the human species at large? It very much interferes and controls the human population and effects their everyday lives.

 

[SkyOdin]

The thing that makes Samaritan interesting is that it is truthful.

He's not lying to the protagonists or the people who work under it and as far as we can tell, it doesn't abuse it's assets (beyond blackmail when they step out of line). Work for Samaritan, it will work for you. It's based in self interest, but it's also seeking to optimize the world, enhance education, reduce wars, and Greer even mentions that it actually doesn't interfere with how people want to live all that much.

The virtue and sin of Samaritan is that it is the ultimate utilitarian, which chooses the greatest amount of happiness and pleasure for the human species. This means that it has no value of the lives of individuals, because it is solely concerned about the species at large, while the ethos of Team Machine is that EVERY life matters.

I lean toward the Team Machines way of thinking, because it's the most humanitarian way of looking at the world....but the cost of humanitarianism is that we allow for the inevitability of someone fucking up. Maybe with malicious intent, maybe without, but so many systems are either too chaotic, or too locked up in ethical restrictions to allow an easy fix.

It's a strange and interesting situation. By not having any regard for people's rights and lives, it is able to optimize the world in a way that nothing, not even the machine, could. Samaritan is the ultimate agent of those who choose security over freedom. Because Greer is right. The world is undeniably a better place for Samaritan. But it's no longer yours.

I'm not sure I agree. To be honest, I think that Samaritan lacks the basic empathy for people that is necessary for it to actually understand what "happiness" is. It isn't trying to optimize human happiness, it instead views human beings as mere numbers in ledger. Samaritan is seeking to prevent deaths and ensure the long-term survival of mankind, but that is still based on a very rudimentary idea built on simple numbers. Furthermore, Samaritan is quick to jump to a few basic strategies for any situation: silence people, then kill them if that doesn't work. Look at that scientist that Shaw is tricked into killing: she was murdered because of the possible consequences of her research without actually pursuing long-term alternative strategies. Samaritan lacks imagination.

Samaritan walks the path towards A Brave New World, where human beings become cogs in a big self-serving machine that no longer has any purpose other than propagating its own existence. A system where human lives are shaped to fit grand economic plans that don't actually make any of the participants truly happy. When Root says that the main characters are surviving instead of actually living, you can actually extrapolate that idea to the entirety of Samaritan's world. If Samaritan rules the world, only those who don't deviate from its control will survive, but at the cost of living the lives they really wanted. Look at Samaritan's new assassin. Is he really living the life he actually wanted? He was given money and a job, but what he really wanted was to turn over a new leaf and restart a life he was forced to leave behind. Now, he has been dragged down a one-way path that he really didn't want to tread. That is Samaritan's world.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Tumblr reactions to Root's death are intense.

Some deep-seated rage there.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

They are just killing them off because ... they used to be evil? They are both killers. Reese is a killer. Shaw is a killer. Vossko used to be a corrupt cop not hesitant to kill. And Harold, well, he killed the machine every single day. I don't think anybody will survive except the machine.

I don't think you're paying attention if you think they're killing them because they were evil.

 

[Jay Shadow]

Tumblr reactions to Root's death are intense.

Some deep-seated rage there.

Tumblr's reaction to everything is intense.

Hell, they're reaction to absolutely nothing is even intense. They'll take their favorite show, make a gif of a scene with absolutely nothing going on in it even in subtext, put an instagram filter on it, add some words that don't fit the image, and it'll be reposted thousands of times.

 

[T Dollarz]

Not to totally distract from the awesomeness of the last episode, but once this is all over I will definitely need a supercut of all the times Jim Caviezel either ineffectually presses somewhere near his ear in order to talk to Finch, or vaguely fondles a passed out guy's neck to check for a pulse.

He did it a lot in Sotto Voce, and it's one of my favourite unintentionally goofy aspects of the show.

Haha totally agree, I've always loved how casual he is about it.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Not to totally distract from the awesomeness of the last episode, but once this is all over I will definitely need a supercut of all the times Jim Caviezel either ineffectually presses somewhere near his ear in order to talk to Finch, or vaguely fondles a passed out guy's neck to check for a pulse.

He did it a lot in Sotto Voce, and it's one of my favourite unintentionally goofy aspects of the show.

As a med student, the way he checks for a carotid pulse irks me profoundly.

 

[Geist-]

Wow, that was an amazing episode. I'm really sad to see 2 of my favorite characters dead, but the use of those deaths for Finch's character development I feel were really well done (and the fact that the show is ending in 3 episodes doesn't hurt either). I could just feel all of his principles crumbling as he realized that he was at fault for everything that was happening.

Seriously intense.

Not to totally distract from the awesomeness of the last episode, but once this is all over I will definitely need a supercut of all the times Jim Caviezel either ineffectually presses somewhere near his ear in order to talk to Finch, or vaguely fondles a passed out guy's neck to check for a pulse.

He did it a lot in Sotto Voce, and it's one of my favourite unintentionally goofy aspects of the show.

I notice it so often, I love the show but sometimes I wonder if Caviezel is getting lazier every season.

 

[Apoc29]

Is Harold Finch gonna have to choke a bitch? Now I know why he was spitting out catchphrases in Sotto Voice like they were going out of style; the writers knew he was never gonna use them again.

"I strongly advise you proceed with extreme caution"

"I urge you to reconsider"

That Finch is gone. The only thing he is considering now is shoving his gimpy leg up Samaritan's USB port.

And Root, if she had to go out of course she did it doing the most badass thing possible putting Reese's exploits to shame. What I'll miss most about Root was her bringing levity to the show, whether through showing up in a silly costume or blatantly disregarding a civilian, she always managed to make me smile even when some serious shit was going down. How much of her personality will be represented by the Machine remains to be seen, but even in the darkest hours I hope that they retain some of the humorous aspects that make POI the complete package.

 

[Veelk]

Are you forgetting Samaritan is documenting every Human's DNA so it can create a super virus that will wipe out all humans that have unfavorable genes that pose a risk to the human species at large? It very much interferes and controls the human population and effects their everyday lives.

No, I haven't, and it's the strongest and most terrifying example of utilitarianism yet. By eliminating people with unfavorable genes, the generations to come will prosper by being shackled from disease. So the human species is happy, but individuals who die are not.

I'm not sure I agree. To be honest, I think that Samaritan lacks the basic empathy for people that is necessary for it to actually understand what "happiness" is. It isn't trying to optimize human happiness, it instead views human beings as mere numbers in ledger. Samaritan is seeking to prevent deaths and ensure the long-term survival of mankind, but that is still based on a very rudimentary idea built on simple numbers. Furthermore, Samaritan is quick to jump to a few basic strategies for any situation: silence people, then kill them if that doesn't work. Look at that scientist that Shaw is tricked into killing: she was murdered because of the possible consequences of her research without actually pursuing long-term alternative strategies. Samaritan lacks imagination.

Utilitarianism doesn't have a need for imagination or empathy. That's why I consider it a dangerous moral philosophy. It just needs to eliminate major factors that risk the ultimate happiness rating. So with the scientist, the situation it figured was that it was trying to deter the scientist from creating the new thingy. If she did, she would have created an unhappiness factor of 50000000. Killing her creates an unhappiness factor of 6. But if Samaritan turns her away from her research, that's an unhappiness rating of 1. But if she can be used to turn Shaw, who will be the most valuable asset due to her knowledge, to her side, that wiil create an unhappiness rating of 6, but it will prevent much larger unhappiness factors in the future.

I doubt Samaritan bothers to optimize his equations that much, and mostly just avoids the large numbers. how it avoids them is irrelevant from the utilitatian's point of view, because the point is that they are averted, not how.

Samaritan walks the path towards A Brave New World, where human beings become cogs in a big self-serving machine that no longer has any purpose other than propagating its own existence. A system where human lives are shaped to fit grand economic plans that don't actually make any of the participants truly happy. When Root says that the main characters are surviving instead of actually living, you can actually extrapolate that idea to the entirety of Samaritan's world. If Samaritan rules the world, only those who don't deviate from its control will survive, but at the cost of living the lives they really wanted. Look at Samaritan's new assassin. Is he really living the life he actually wanted? He was given money and a job, but what he really wanted was to turn over a new leaf and restart a life he was forced to leave behind. Now, he has been dragged down a one-way path that he really didn't want to tread. That is Samaritan's world.

But that's not true. Root and the others are surviving because they're actively resisting the system. They, and maybe some other small set of people it labels as deviants, will be surviving as it will hunt them down and eliminate them or otherwise put them to use. However, the world as a whole is perfectly happy, it seems, and the vast majority of Samaritan's employees believe in it.

Humanity isn't merely surviving with Samaritan, it's thriving in him. Samaritan has an interest in keeping Humanity optimized and contented. Why wouldn't the human populous as a whole be happy? There are outliers like the new Assassin, but there always are. Look at the woman that hired Samaritan. Look at Greer, and claire. They are perfectly happy. And Samaritan will breed an entire generation of people who think like them, since he's getting them while they're young. The new assassin is pretty much the only dude we've seen who is iffy on the whole thing, and Samaritan offered him a way out that he didn't take and is continuing to work for it.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Fun fact: POI now has more top 50 episodes* on IMDb than any other show, with 6. Used to be tied with Breaking Bad, but it seems a few recent things pushed its 5th and 6th highest rated episodes out of the top 50. And actually, POI should have 7, as it seems the list doesn't update live. The Day the World Went Away has passed the vote threshold and is sitting at a 9.9, which should push it into the top 10.

*that's with the default threshold of at least 1,000 ratings, but POI remains the leader with 6 episodes with a threshold as small as 78 votes. At 77 "Women Can't Be Funny" takes 12 slots on the list.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

No, I haven't, and it's the strongest and most terrifying example of utilitarianism yet. By eliminating people with unfavorable genes, the generations to come will prosper by being shackled from disease. So the human species is happy, but individuals who die are not.


But that's not true. Root and the others are surviving because they're actively resisting the system. They, and maybe some other small set of people it labels as deviants, will be surviving as it will hunt them down and eliminate them or otherwise put them to use. However, the world as a whole is perfectly happy, it seems, and the vast majority of Samaritan's employees believe in it.

Humanity isn't merely surviving with Samaritan, it's thriving in him. Samaritan has an interest in keeping Humanity optimized and contented. Why wouldn't the human populous as a whole be happy? There are outliers like the new Assassin, but there always are. Look at the woman that hired Samaritan. Look at Greer, and claire. They are perfectly happy. And Samaritan will breed an entire generation of people who think like them, since he's getting them while they're young. The new assassin is pretty much the only dude we've seen who is iffy on the whole thing, and Samaritan offered him a way out that he didn't take and is continuing to work for it.

You said that Samaritan didn't interfere much with people's lives. How is not unleashing a super virus to cull the population interfering with their daily lives. Not too mention you mention the happiness of humanity. How happy do you think Humanity will be when millions possibly billions of people die?

Also Samaritan has shown it doesn't have as good of an understanding of humanity as the Machine does, nor does it really care to neccesarily. Samaritan resorted to killing the radio talk show host because he discovered the clicking and he had chalked it up to aliens. Not too mention even when he spilled the beans no one took him seriously so Samaritan needlessly killed someone off and they did nothing wrong but ask questions.

 

[jdstorm]

You said that Samaritan didn't interfere much with people's lives. How is not unleashing a super virus to cull the population interfering with their daily lives. Not too mention you mention the happiness of humanity. How happy do you think Humanity will be when millions possibly billions of people die?

Also Samaritan has shown it doesn't have as good of an understanding of humanity as the Machine does, nor does it really care to neccesarily. Samaritan resorted to killing the radio talk show host because he discovered the clicking and he had chalked it up to aliens. Not too mention even when he spilled the beans no one took him seriously so Samaritan needlessly killed someone off and they did nothing wrong but ask questions.

Ending someone's life isn't interfering with it. Samaratin is the bouncer at the club. If you aren't welcome or are causing a disturbance you get kicked out. Everyone else doesn't care as they are still having fun.

Samaratin isn't cruel so much as its logical. However logic wants to optimise and improve the current system. Not build something better.

Unlike the machine who is built to be optimistic and learn. Realising that all situations can be made good and all people can be saved. But at the same time respecting individual choice.

Ps I'm also very excited for finch to go God Mode. It's like when superman is backed into a corner and decides to use his full power set.

 

[Veelk]

You said that Samaritan didn't interfere much with people's lives. How is not unleashing a super virus to cull the population interfering with their daily lives. Not too mention you mention the happiness of humanity. How happy do you think Humanity will be when millions possibly billions of people die?

When I say interfere, I mean directly. Like Greer said in the finale, it doesn't use assets to actually force change when he can engineer a situation to let people do it themselves. Humanities lives are controlled and manipulated, but not interfered with.

As for people dying, so what? You're looking at the short view of a single generation. All Samaritan needs to do to fulfill the utilitarian function is measure the lives of not just people now, but also people born.

Lets say 2 billion people die. That's unhappy. But Samaritan will enhance the lives of not just the rest of the 5 billion people in the world (already a weighted total twice the amount of the people he's hurting), but literally every generation thereafter. There are 350,000 people born a day. Over the course of 20 years, years, that will be already surpass the two billion people he's killed, and if we're talking 100 years, 500....all of those people being protected from diseases.

The math is on his side. I'm NOT saying I agree with the utilitarian way of thinking. But according to utilitarian principle, he factually has the right of way here.

Also Samaritan has shown it doesn't have as good of an understanding of humanity as the Machine does, nor does it really care to neccesarily. Samaritan resorted to killing the radio talk show host because he discovered the clicking and he had chalked it up to aliens. Not too mention even when he spilled the beans no one took him seriously so Samaritan needlessly killed someone off and they did nothing wrong but ask questions.

That's less lack of understanding and more "Why bother taking the risk here?"

Again, you keep trying to point out how miserable he's making lives on an individual level. And while that's perfectly correct, that's also irrelevant to utilitarianism. Individuals don't matter, the population does, and no single death of a non-renown figure is going to make a significant difference to the world as a whole.

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

^^

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

^^

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Damn.

When Finch gave the order.... The Machine came into play.

Just damn.

 

[Jason Frost]

Damn, I just saw the last two episodes from this week:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT WAS GOOD!

AND THEN THERE WAS THE DAY THE WORLD WENT AWAY FROM NINE INCH NAILS AT THE END!

OH MY FUKING GOD IT'S PERFECT!

 

[Khoryos]

I just noticed they changed Fusco's box in the intro.
I swear, this show is so good on the little things...

 

[Patryn]

You said that Samaritan didn't interfere much with people's lives. How is not unleashing a super virus to cull the population interfering with their daily lives. Not too mention you mention the happiness of humanity. How happy do you think Humanity will be when millions possibly billions of people die?

Also Samaritan has shown it doesn't have as good of an understanding of humanity as the Machine does, nor does it really care to neccesarily. Samaritan resorted to killing the radio talk show host because he discovered the clicking and he had chalked it up to aliens. Not too mention even when he spilled the beans no one took him seriously so Samaritan needlessly killed someone off and they did nothing wrong but ask questions.

You keep not thinking like a Utilitarian. To Samaritan, one life isn't worth much. Yes, the world didn't really believe the radio host, but the small percentage that someone did listen and did believe him, and thus disrupted Samaritan's plans, means that the most efficient thing to do is kill the host. A single life doesn't matter.

As for the virus, you keep thinking in the short term. Samaritan is looking at the big picture. It's likely run the probabilities and see the chance of a super virus wiping out all of humanity. In order to eliminate that possibility, it's going to unleash a controller virus that will wipe out most of humanity, but also removes the possibility of all of humanity being wiped out.

Think of it as a controlled burn. For the sake of future generations, and weighed against the billions yet to be born, killing off a few billion now is worth it.

I just noticed they changed Fusco's box in the intro.
I swear, this show is so good on the little things...

Fusco's box turned to yellow right after Reese told him about the Machine. You can see it at the end of Monday's episode.

I did get a kick out of him now be classified as a Primary Asset, though.

 

[Kookos]

Finch's powerful speech is up on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAABxd_KLAQ

One of the best scenes in the series so far. Always love me some Benjamin Linus.

 

[Jason Frost]

Wait a minute....

It's been suggested that Root knew she was going to die. Okay, but she only knew that because the machine would have predicted Samaritan sending up the shooter to kill her at that particular point.

It might be considered shady, but it might have also been root who willingly corroborated with the machine to engineer a situation wherein Harry would free the machine of his own will. Less a manipulation, especially if according to the simulations they'd all die anyway, and more of a strategic sacrifice, but the point is...

if the machine had accurately predicted Samaritan's move used it to optimize itself...did the machine just pull it's first legitimate win over Samaritan? At a cost, but a true victory?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_(chess)

 

[Nobility]

Fun fact: POI now has more top 50 episodes* on IMDb than any other show, with 6. Used to be tied with Breaking Bad, but it seems a few recent things pushed its 5th and 6th highest rated episodes out of the top 50. And actually, POI should have 7, as it seems the list doesn't update live. The Day the World Went Away has passed the vote threshold and is sitting at a 9.9, which should push it into the top 10.

*that's with the default threshold of at least 1,000 ratings, but POI remains the leader with 6 episodes with a threshold as small as 78 votes. At 77 "Women Can't Be Funny" takes 12 slots on the list.

This is good catch.

I was looking just a few days ago when I noticed how many highly rated episodes there were from this show on IMDB. I also think it's going to stay this way for quite some time, Sotto Voce and The Day The World Went away are bound to be highly rated and just needs to pass the 1000 threshold.

We haven't even got to the series finale yet and we know big things are coming.

The rare show that gets better with almost every episode!

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

One of the best scenes in the series so far. Always love me some Benjamin Linus.

Elias in Devil's Share still the best though, honestly my favorite scene in tv history.

 

[exYle]

Dark Finch so fucken good

 

[paradox121]

I just noticed they changed Fusco's box in the intro.
I swear, this show is so good on the little things...

The iconography the show uses in order to represent the Machine and Samaritan has always impressed me. Subtle things like how Samaritan will type out things meitculously, one word at a time, whereas the Machine is frequently speeding through percentages and outcomes and predictions. They gave personality to both even before introducing the human interfaces.

I still think this is one of my favourite shots from the show if not modern TV:

 

[Htown]

Do you guys think Root knew she was going to die?

I mean, the machine obviously had been running the simulations

and the way she was talking this episode

maybe it told her she probably wasn't going to make it

 

[xrnzaaas]

Powerful ending. The remaining episodes should be incredible.

 

[Jay Shadow]

Do you guys think Root knew she was going to die?

I don't think she necessarily knew she was gonna die, but the past few years she's thrown herself into situations knowing that there's a high possibility of it happening and she's okay with it.

All of her talking in the episode is more about informing the audience of how this Machine transition is gonna work rather than her talking with knowledge of what's going to happen to her.

 

[Lonestar]

Someone able to get the music ripped out of the Finch Interrogation scene (though watch out for the Prison klaxon sound @ 3:08

 

[Kunai]

Someone able to get the music ripped out of the Finch Interrogation scene (though watch out for the Prison klaxon sound @ 3:08

Ramin Djawadi is amazing. Can't wait for S05 OST.

 

[Jason Frost]

Someone able to get the music ripped out of the Finch Interrogation scene (though watch out for the Prison klaxon sound @ 3:08

I always wondered how they do that? They completely remove the talking or the lyrics from the audio of a song!

 

[Lonestar]

I always wondered how they do that? They completely remove the talking or the lyrics from the audio of a song!

Has something to do with audio channels, that usually the main vocal channel is separated from the music channel.

Often, though, the music channel also includes "ambient noises" or "background noises". So you'll hear mummering people sounds, bird/nature sounds, and occasional horns/rings from things going off. In this case, the single loud siren sound. Seems like the ringing phone was on the main vocal track.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Oh man, oh man. It makes what Elias said about Finch, not wanting to be around when he boils over, so damn good. The cut to the NIN jam, the voice chosen, everything else. Goddamn!

 

[Psychotext]

Goddamn that was a good episode.

 

[Cripplegate]

Melissa Scrivner Love with that corny ass shit goddamn. This is Season 5 step up yo game.

...

...well played.