2.16: Relevance

[J-Sun]

It's like I'm in charge of casting: Paige Turco, Amy Acker, and now Sarah Shahi. Wow.

And this has the best opener of any PoI I've seen yet - co-written by Jonathan Nolan.

It's only five minutes in - if you're not tuned it, tune in now.

 

[J-Sun]

Best. ep. ever.

I mean, yeah, she's implausibly small (weight of 9 mil slug notwithstanding) and it's a weird bullet that goes about a 1/4 inch in and heals immediately upon being removed and all but... who cares? That was complicated, action-packed, she "makes quite an impression", and it was fun!

I've missed the first half of both the last two episodes and I'm sure glad I didn't miss any of this one.

 

[Lenny]

We finally got a look at the other side of the Machine (it's actual purpose - counter-terrorism), and it was interesting. It looks like it operates exactly the same way - gives you a number, nothing more. I did like how operatives on the counter-terrorism side have blue squares, as opposed to the yellow squares John and Finch have (but apparently not Fusco, Carter, or Leon).

Talking about yellow squares, Finch is amassing himself quite a team! He and John do the work, Fusco and Carter provide backup, and Leon looks to be the odd-job guy. In addition, Zoe pops up every now and then to lend John a hand, and it looks like Shaw may very well become a recurring character who can operate exactly like John (it will be interesting to see, if she does return, if she's used as the leader of a second team, allowing Finch to tackle two numbers at a time).

In terms of the "bad guys", it's not as black and white as it may have appeared at the start of the second series, but nor is everything scattered:

* Stanton and Snow are gone for good, so we don't need to worry about them. But do we need to worry about the guy who gave Stanton Finch's name?
* Elias has only been seen a couple of times, and appears to be an ally when it suits him. He may be controlling things in the city still, but he is not posing an explicit threat.

* 'Pennsylvania Two' (a name that comes from the press release for the series one episode No Good Deed) describes himself as "as close to control as you'll get", and seems to be in charge of the operatives who act on the numbers the Machine deems relevant and dangerous. I think he's also one of the original eight people who know about the Machine, and he acts to keep it secret. I don't think he's "bad", he just doesn't know that Finch is still involved with the Machine.
* Hersh. The fixer for Penn. Two who was sent after Alicia Corwin and John. Seems like a bad egg, but one that is only following orders.

* Root. Clever girl, infiltrating the organisation that protects the Machine! I'm not sure about others, but at the end of in last weeks episode I was wondering if she was playing Root on orders... until Penn. Two mentioned she'd only been there a couple of months. She's obviously there to get information on how to find the Machine.

I'm worried about the Machine, as it's started to glitch. Nothing major yet (apart from the anomaly detected in the opening credits), but CCTV footage isn't as smooth as it usually is, and there's the odd flash to a blue screen covered in binary. Is this going to get worse until the day the payload from Stanton's malware is activated?

 

[ctg]

The Machine is not glitching. I don't believe in that. The virus might be sophisticated, but its not capable of taking down an AI. No way.

 

[Connavar]

Best. ep. ever.

I mean, yeah, she's implausibly small (weight of 9 mil slug notwithstanding) and it's a weird bullet that goes about a 1/4 inch in and heals immediately upon being removed and all but... who cares? That was complicated, action-packed, she "makes quite an impression", and it was fun!

I've missed the first half of both the last two episodes and I'm sure glad I didn't miss any of this one.

I think its the best ep that didnt focus on Reese,Finch. Best solo story about a character that wasnt the leads.

She isnt implausibly small because she was shooting,killing and didnt go beating people much bigger than her. The healing was the only hard to believe thing for me, it healed too fast and easy.

The shows strength is it grows the whole time and they are great using every new character for the main storyline. Nolan should write more eps!

 

[J-Sun]

She isnt implausibly small because she was shooting,killing and didnt go beating people much bigger than her. The healing was the only hard to believe thing for me, it healed too fast and easy.

Well, there was the one guy in the first gassing scene who either wasn't knocked out or recovered and had the advantage of her, yet she was able to fight him off. (Though maybe he was still a little gassed - and nobody's fighting after the one blow she got in.) But, otherwise, yeah, what was depicted was just shooting. But I mean more in the sense of her having that role generally in that the person having that role would need to be able to take out large guys like Reese does and even Reese isn't big enough - despite his skill - for certain neo-Nazi giants.

And, thinking back on it, there's another implausibility, of course: I thought about it when she was walking down the street and thinking one of the enemy (who was actually Reese) had ID'ed her: she's conspicuously good looking and someone in that role might be better served to be a little plainer. Who wouldn't notice her? But it's TV. And, then again, a huge guy is going to be conspicuous, too.

I dunno - it's no big deal - we've already had Stanton on, for instance, and she may be taller than Shaw but isn't exactly an ugly hulking brute, either.

The shows strength is it grows the whole time and they are great using every new character for the main storyline. Nolan should write more eps!

Agreed! Although, amazingly, this was co-written by Amanda Segel who wrote that (IMO) awful marriage counseling episode. But I looked back through the rest of her work on the show and it seems she's generally pretty good and that one was the bad exception to a decent rule. But this definitely had an almost Christopher Nolan cinematic feel (not to mention how it - as you say - added a character and grew the show) that makes me think Jonathan Nolan had a big hand in this.

 

[Connavar]

Reese got his ass kicked when he met that trained operator in the ep before this. When he met a trained assassin like himself he couldnt just use his hand to hand training. Neo-Nazis are not trained fighters. Sure its unrealistic he wins every hand to hand but the whole point of martial arts is to take down someone much bigger than you.

Its the same with her, a trained military fighter who becomes black ops killer is better fighter than just an average criminal who happens to be a bigger man. There would be no history of hand to hand training for military if you couldnt take down someone. If she fought Reese, a male version of her he would be too much for her.

Her look is tv thing for sure but i saw news about female CIA agent that had worked in middle east and i thought how could someone with her looks work undercover.

 

[J-Sun]

Reese got his ass kicked when he met that trained operator in the ep before this. When he met a trained assassin like himself he couldnt just use his hand to hand training. Neo-Nazis are not trained fighters. Sure its unrealistic he wins every hand to hand but the whole point of martial arts is to take down someone much bigger than you.

Well, if we're talking about the same scene, I wouldn't say he got his ass kicked but that he definitely was on the short end for awhile before finally getting the upper hand. Either way, I'm not disputing that a small woman could kick some ass but just saying that every advantage helps.

Her look is tv thing for sure but i saw news about female CIA agent that had worked in middle east and i thought how could someone with her looks work undercover.

Excellent point - and then there was the Russian spy who looked like a Russian spy. So, yeah, they don't even need the TV card for that one, though they have it as well.

 

[Dave]

It was a very different opener, seeing things through a mirror as it were. And that is a great summing up Lenny.

I also loved the end. Just when you thought it was over. She did take the telephone number that time and I'm sure she will be back again.