POI: 4.18: Skip

[Dave]

Some things didn't work for me this week. Firstly, how many love interests do we really need for these guys?

I'm not sure Harold would ever court a woman again, not after Grace Hendricks. So why is he having coffee and dinners with Beth? Just get on with the secret master plan. He doesn't need to even meet her, only her laptop to activate the Trojan Horse with his gadget.

Reese can't see that Iris Campbell 'has feelings for him' without it being spelled out to him in large font, meanwhile he, at least, twice lets Frankie use her feminine wiles to escape him. He is about as effective as a walking teddy bear when a woman is involved.

And isn't Harold's life in danger every week? The Trojan Horse looked like a good idea to me, and to the Machine. Root has never disobeyed the Machine before, and if it is quite alright for her to go rogue and murder people now, why didn't she murder the Senator last Season - remember, the one, who if they had done, Samaritan would never have been switched on, and none of this would be necessary at all.

 

[J-Sun]

Agreed. This episode was a total mess - the Groves storyline being the worst of it (absolutely abysmal), heroically outdoing the awful Iris line and topping the "Rose"-makes-a-deal scene and so on and on. This is down there with the "I'm sorry I tried to kill you honey" - "Me too" - *kiss* marriage counselor episode as one I really dislike, and at least the marriage counselor ep was trivial. This goes to the heart of the main series plotline and characters.

Liked Frankie, though. (Not her storyline, which was hackneyed beyond tolerability - "you're a criminal and you killed my brother and so I'm out for revenge but I won't actually do it because folks will tell me that that scum is not worth going to jail for blah blah blah" - but the actress made her character work.)

 

[REBerg]

Harold and John passed yet another opportunity to add a promising new member to the team with Frankie. Is it any wonder that The Machine has taken the initiative and begun its own recruitment program? She has made an excellent choice with Harper.

 

[Dave]

Harold and John passed yet another opportunity to add a promising new member to the team with Frankie. Is it any wonder that The Machine has taken the initiative and begun its own recruitment program? She has made an excellent choice with Harper.

Harold should be worried more that he is becoming obsolete. Now that Samaritan can track them, someone who changes identities like her clothes is far more useful to the Machine than a crippled old white guy with sensibilities. Fortunately for him, the Machine and Groves still love him.

 

[REBerg]

This episode was a total mess - the Groves storyline being the worst of it (absolutely abysmal)

Totally. Root's decision to kill Beth to save Harold? Crazy. Harold's decision to poison himself to save Beth, a woman he liked but barely knew and was willing to use? Pure melodrama.

 

[markpud]

I agree this was problematic plotting all round. It's probably highlighted by the show's usual high standards.

I did enjoy the stuff with John and Frankie from an action standpoint, but Root's desire to stop Harold from striking a possibly pivotal blow against Samaritan didn't make sense, even if she has grown to "love" him on some level she's literally "Mrs Bigger Picture".

Harold taking the poison was ridiculous, and his recovery from the poisoning was also hand-waved away far too easily.

 

[REBerg]

"Mrs Bigger Picture"

 

[markpud]

I was trying to place the actor who portrays Frankie all the way through, and it finally clicked, she's on Vikings as Lagertha!

 

[REBerg]

Jaevla! Did not catch that at all.

No wonder Frankie doesn't appear to be joining the regular POI cast. Vikings has some powerful legs, and Lagertha seems a little too central to meet a violent end any time soon.

 

[markpud]

She looks quite different in modern attire! I hope she's not leaving Vikings any time soon...