Lenny
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Reese & Finch team up with surprising allies in a race to save The Machine from Root and the mysterious international organization Decima, who have both re-emerged with dangerous agendas. As the POI team faces off against enemies old and new, the nature of Finch's relationship with former partner Nathan Ingram is revealed along with his original motivation for wanting to save The Machine's irrelevant numbers. Meanwhile, in her mission to bring Cal Beecher's murderer to justice, Detective Carter finds herself up against the criminal organization known as HR.
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It's been a while since I commented on a PoI episode. Despite the calibre of the show I find it incredibly frustrating, as the number of the week episodes tend to be pretty generic, yet the story arc episodes are compelling in a way that few other shows manage. It strikes me that this is how people who watched Lost as it aired felt (as opposed to those late to the party, like me, who had the opportunity to watch the entire run back-to-back over a month -- with gaps of a week between each episode, you don't get as invested in the characters as you do when you watch it all at once).
Thankfully, this episode, the series two finale, was the latter kind: we had important backstory, we had mythology, we had story arcs tied up, and we had new threads begin their weaving.
From the moment the Machine gave Reese control, you could actually feel its power and gain an appreciation for the sheer amount of data it can process. In short, the Machine's "God Mode" really was a God mode. It even made helping the non-relevant numbers a far easier task than Finch makes it (how much different would PoI be if every week Reese just rolled up in his car and shot through the window to save someone?). Though I can't help but wonder why none of the attackers in the library approached from "about seven a half, well maybe a bit closer to eight, no wait he's ducking and weaving".
We finally know how Finch got his limp! I theorised a while back that it was probably because he told the Machine to stop saving him (I think it was in the episode where the backstory showed Finch training the Machine at a Blackjack table), but I didn't think that he'd be injured meeting a non-relevant number after he told the Machine to forget the non-relevant numbers. It's a far better story, though. We also now know that Nathan Ingram is probably dead.
Although we know how Finch got his limp, we probably know even less about him now. I always assumed "Harold Finch" was his real name, but Nathan ruined that last week. Having not been given any answers this week, I think it's safe to say that this is our next big Finch Mystery. I'm also wondering how long it will be until Grace learns that he's still alive.
Talking about mysteries, we now know the power requirements of the Machine, its size, and the fact that it seems to be a distributed system that can work over multiple sites as well as multiple servers - the room it was in looked like it was set up to hold a large number of server banks, which is understandable, given the amount of data it will have to process. Although the fact that it was dismantled over a number of weeks, part by part, and still managed to function suggests that it can operate on limited hardware (possibly up to half of the servers are redundant systems just in case of failure or error, or run unimportant functions), I like to think that it means the algorithms that make up the Machine can communicate with, and operate on, hardware that isn't local to the rest of its servers (it would make for a better progression to its story: we've found where the Machine was, but it has learnt to protect itself by scattering its systems around the country, meaning it can never be taken offline unless subjected to a co-ordinated account in multiple locations).
So what do we have to look forward to in the third series (and I am looking forward to the third series, even though I know it will have only a few islands of greatness hidden in seas of mediocrity)?
Starting small: Carter saved Elias. He's had a much reduced role this series, and I've started to wonder why he's been kept around. Maybe we'll see a sub-plot involving Carter and Elias (Fusco too?) taking down HR?
Slightly bigger: Root is still active. The question is whether the phone call was real, or whether she imagined it. If it is real, then what does the Machine want her for? Is she to become its agent, or does it want her for her computing skills? I want to see more Amy Acker.
Similarly: is Shaw going to return as part of Finch's team? I don't like her, but it will be interesting to see how she and Reese will handle numbers. Multiple numbers at a time, perhaps? Or could she be an agent who takes on assignments that will take a while to accomplish?
The big'un: there is someone above "Special Counsel" (the guy who Root was pretending to work for. When he realised Hersh was going to kill him, said: "Fair enough") called Ma'am. The obvious questions are "Who is she?", and "What is her goal?". I also think that she has the RFID tag Hersh took from Corwin, which we don't know much about.
What about: Decima Technologies. Greer, the old man who pops up every now and then, has been given a red box by the Machine (he's a threat), and he is still active. Now that the virus set loose by Stanton has run its course, how are Decima going to fit into the new story? Could they be working with Ma'am?
---
It's been a while since I commented on a PoI episode. Despite the calibre of the show I find it incredibly frustrating, as the number of the week episodes tend to be pretty generic, yet the story arc episodes are compelling in a way that few other shows manage. It strikes me that this is how people who watched Lost as it aired felt (as opposed to those late to the party, like me, who had the opportunity to watch the entire run back-to-back over a month -- with gaps of a week between each episode, you don't get as invested in the characters as you do when you watch it all at once).
Thankfully, this episode, the series two finale, was the latter kind: we had important backstory, we had mythology, we had story arcs tied up, and we had new threads begin their weaving.
From the moment the Machine gave Reese control, you could actually feel its power and gain an appreciation for the sheer amount of data it can process. In short, the Machine's "God Mode" really was a God mode. It even made helping the non-relevant numbers a far easier task than Finch makes it (how much different would PoI be if every week Reese just rolled up in his car and shot through the window to save someone?). Though I can't help but wonder why none of the attackers in the library approached from "about seven a half, well maybe a bit closer to eight, no wait he's ducking and weaving".
We finally know how Finch got his limp! I theorised a while back that it was probably because he told the Machine to stop saving him (I think it was in the episode where the backstory showed Finch training the Machine at a Blackjack table), but I didn't think that he'd be injured meeting a non-relevant number after he told the Machine to forget the non-relevant numbers. It's a far better story, though. We also now know that Nathan Ingram is probably dead.
Although we know how Finch got his limp, we probably know even less about him now. I always assumed "Harold Finch" was his real name, but Nathan ruined that last week. Having not been given any answers this week, I think it's safe to say that this is our next big Finch Mystery. I'm also wondering how long it will be until Grace learns that he's still alive.
Talking about mysteries, we now know the power requirements of the Machine, its size, and the fact that it seems to be a distributed system that can work over multiple sites as well as multiple servers - the room it was in looked like it was set up to hold a large number of server banks, which is understandable, given the amount of data it will have to process. Although the fact that it was dismantled over a number of weeks, part by part, and still managed to function suggests that it can operate on limited hardware (possibly up to half of the servers are redundant systems just in case of failure or error, or run unimportant functions), I like to think that it means the algorithms that make up the Machine can communicate with, and operate on, hardware that isn't local to the rest of its servers (it would make for a better progression to its story: we've found where the Machine was, but it has learnt to protect itself by scattering its systems around the country, meaning it can never be taken offline unless subjected to a co-ordinated account in multiple locations).
So what do we have to look forward to in the third series (and I am looking forward to the third series, even though I know it will have only a few islands of greatness hidden in seas of mediocrity)?
Starting small: Carter saved Elias. He's had a much reduced role this series, and I've started to wonder why he's been kept around. Maybe we'll see a sub-plot involving Carter and Elias (Fusco too?) taking down HR?
Slightly bigger: Root is still active. The question is whether the phone call was real, or whether she imagined it. If it is real, then what does the Machine want her for? Is she to become its agent, or does it want her for her computing skills? I want to see more Amy Acker.
Similarly: is Shaw going to return as part of Finch's team? I don't like her, but it will be interesting to see how she and Reese will handle numbers. Multiple numbers at a time, perhaps? Or could she be an agent who takes on assignments that will take a while to accomplish?
The big'un: there is someone above "Special Counsel" (the guy who Root was pretending to work for. When he realised Hersh was going to kill him, said: "Fair enough") called Ma'am. The obvious questions are "Who is she?", and "What is her goal?". I also think that she has the RFID tag Hersh took from Corwin, which we don't know much about.
What about: Decima Technologies. Greer, the old man who pops up every now and then, has been given a red box by the Machine (he's a threat), and he is still active. Now that the virus set loose by Stanton has run its course, how are Decima going to fit into the new story? Could they be working with Ma'am?
