Person of Interest: Prophets
October 21, 2014 10:34 PM - Season 4, Episode 5 - Subscribe

In which a golden boy political pollster discovers the harsh realities of campaigning in a digital dystopia, Harold reminisces about the Machine's formative years, Reese goes to anger management, and Root finally meets her adversary's avatar.
posted by homunculus (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Things certainly seem like they're about to fly apart, don't they?
Very happy Root survived.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:35 AM on October 22, 2014


Best episode of the season so far, I think - great character stuff, Machine history, philosophy and ethics, wonderful action section. That scene of Root and Samaritan's avatar shooting at each other through the floor was fantastic.

I also really liked the parallel of Finch's actions with the Young Machine and the NOTW. He had to take things away from the Machine in order to make it something that could be useful and survive; he also had to take the NOTW's understanding of the truth and self-confidence in order to ensure survival. And yet he doubts himself and his actions always - it's that compassion and self doubt that makes Finch the heart of this show and, as Root notes, what the Machine needs if it is to grow and learn how to work with humanity rather than view humans as numbers and objectives.

Loved the Finch/Root moments - my wife, who isnt a fan of the show - she's missed S2 and S3, and now just sort of tolerates it being on if she happens to be home while I'm watching and so really doesn't understand what is going on anymore - commented on the almost flirtatious dynamic between the two at times (she hasn't been in the room for any Shaw/Root stuff yet). But the two have a great dynamic and it's great to see them both work together and challenge each other's larger understanding of the situation. (It felt to me like having Root do a costume change in the background was a little too fan servicey - let's see Root in her undies but that's a minor complaint in an otherwise great ep).

It's taken them a little while to get the momentum going this season - which is only fair - but last night was great, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the war with Samaritan goes as Samaritan becomes more overt and the group continues to need to hide. But Finch and the Machine coming to an understanding - creator and super child working together could be another fascinating dynamic on this show. Finch has no power over the Machine anymore, but if the Machine chooses to listen and continue learning from him then we could see something tremendously powerful being created.
posted by nubs at 6:49 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I binge watched the first three seasons last month, so waiting every week for an episode is killing me!!
posted by Pendragon at 11:07 AM on October 22, 2014


Just popping in to say that we are on episode 10 of season 1, watching about one a night, and really looking forward to catching up with you guys. This is quite an enjoyable show.
posted by michaelh at 2:35 PM on October 22, 2014


Is the opening credits the view from Samaritan now? The hard triangles, the new imagery.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:02 PM on October 22, 2014


I believe so.
posted by homunculus at 8:37 PM on October 22, 2014




Is it just me or was this the episode with the most obvious indication of the feelings Root and Shaw have for each other ?
posted by Pendragon at 1:22 AM on October 23, 2014


I think it was pretty blatant Pendragon - Root's comments to Finch, the look on Shaw's face when Finch said that he didn't know where Root was and that there might be sacrifices in this war.

Now we all miss Carter; but the fact that she died means that no character is safe (with the possible exception of Finch who might have some plot armor for the near future) - so they can give us moments like that and they have some impact. Root's comments to Finch about not making it back and how the war woIth Samaritan is going to go are great foreshadowing, I think - we might lose a character or two along the way this year.
posted by nubs at 7:07 AM on October 23, 2014


Heh. And I just noticed the episode title - Prophets. Which could apply to a lot of things said and done this week.
posted by nubs at 7:11 AM on October 23, 2014


was this the episode with the most obvious indication of the feelings Root and Shaw have for each other ?

Yep.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:22 AM on October 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Root's comments to Finch about not making it back and how the war woIth Samaritan is going to go are great foreshadowing, I think - we might lose a character or two along the way this year.

I will be very pissed if they kill off Bear, Finch, Root or Shaw. I wouldn't mind at all if they killed off Reese, though, as I'm bored to death with his character.
posted by homunculus at 9:33 AM on October 23, 2014


I was reminded of the Tenth Doctor and Rose: "Tell her...oh, never mind, she KNOWS...." I suppose it's nice to see that Root's not only machine-sexual?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 AM on October 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


Does it bother anyone else that Finch's NYC subway car is obviously from Chicago? Look at those padded blue seats. Anyone who has ever ridden the CTA would know those on sight.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:21 PM on October 23, 2014


They're gonna kill off Fusco this season, I'm sure of that. In the opening credits, Samaritan has everyone marked as "Irrelevant", except Fusco. He's going to step in Samaritans path and get pasted.

I loved the flashbacks to Finch building the Machine variants. How many computer programmers haven't wanted to take an axe to their computer?
posted by WhackyparseThis at 7:13 PM on October 26, 2014 [2 favorites]


In retrospect from knowing what happens at the end, Finch's line about how The Machine will simply discard and replace Root in an instant if she dies is ... well, let's say, very interesting.
posted by kyrademon at 1:06 PM on May 30, 2019


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