It is interesting that this episode revolves around
Finch, but also at the same time does an incredible job with sending off what
are essentially two vital pillars of the show. These were two characters who were
on a bad path until they intersected with Finch, and found themselves entangled
in his cause. The past, present, and presumptive future all collide in the 100th
episode of the show, both as a plot device and as ways to stir character and
emotional development. The show never fully relies on the parallel narratives
employed in shows like Lost and Once Upon a Time fully, choosing to employ it
sporadically, but treats it with much care when they do. But they also have
five seasons of character development and history to fall back on and loyal
viewers know every thread running underneath every interaction.
For Elias, he spent most of his time in the criminal underworld. But after the events of The Correction, his new outlook in life has been to watch over Finch as best he can, when given the opportunity. After all, the in the greater scheme of things, it was Finch and Reese, back in season one, who came to the rescue of “Charlie Burton”, history teacher, the alias of Carl Elias in hiding. In a sense, Finch made Elias blossom into who he truly was, and now Elias repays the favour in kind, at the cost of his life. The housing projects that Reese and Elias fought and escaped through make their return five seasons later, but now with Elias and Finch on the run from Samaritan agents.
Root on the other hand, was always much more directly linked
with Finch and the Machine. In season five, the two of them act as the
proverbial mother and father to the reborn/reconstituted Machine. Again in
this episode, they debate the merits of closing off the Machine from their access,
and whether the Machine has a decision in anything, especially involving their
survival. Root worries that the Machine, if left the way it is, will be
discarded and forgotten, along with the last few that know of her existence. Root is bold to Harold’s meekness; she demands action,
a way for the Machine to defend herself. She makes additions, but tells Finch
that only he can ask that of the Machine, if it ever comes down to it.
Throughout the episode, Root seems to come to terms with her
life, how Finch and the Machine have made her a better person. She also
reflects on her time with Shaw, and everyone else, and puts her faith
completely in the Machine. The theme of simulacrum comes up again this season.
Root theorizes that the Machine has been taught so well by Harold in how to
observe people that she knows exactly how to predict people with a complete
high degree of accuracy. “Better than we know ourselves”, she states. We’ve
seen this in If-Then-Else, and the level of care and detail the creators (and by extension, the Machine) placed
in the simulations at the stock exchange. Then compare this to Samaritan’s
attempts to trick Shaw, and we quickly notice the flaws and indifference that
make its simulacrum of the world feel off, wrong, never completely real.
And at the very end, with all these losses accumulating with
Finch witnessing them, he wonders if he could’ve done more to prevent them. Finch
has always been viewed as the least physically imposing of the team, but he
seems to imply these were his impositions, rules he placed on himself. Maybe
Elias was right, maybe Finch truly is the darkest of them all. Perhaps
shackling the Machine’s capabilities was nothing more than again a reflection
of her creator. He thought it wise to do so in order to work within limited
confines in order to stay morally and ethically superior; and I suppose when
applied to a superintelligent entity, it would be the prudent thing to do. But
perhaps Finch doesn’t seem like these self-imposed restrictions do much to
optimize for the best outcome. Maybe that’s when he decides he needs to cast
away those restrictions, because this is war, and war demands sacrifices. Not
just the physical kind, but maybe also of the moral kind. If basic
survival is at risk, all is fair, is it not? With just a few words, Finch
readies his child to war. He’s not going to pull punches anymore.
My one apprehension of the season lies with Blackwell. At
the moment, he seems set towards one path at
the behest of “God Mode” with Samaritan whispering in his ear. He likely doesn’t
even know his targets were Finch and Root. We’ve followed him throughout the
season so there’s likely some point in the story where he fully and truly
intersects or comes to his own realization of what he’s been doing and it reaches a turn in character, but at the
moment he feels more like a perspective that is interesting but I’m not sure if
entirely worth it, especially for a show winding down in its final season. At least with how it is paced. Hopefully it will pay off as the finale continues rolling
along. There is no likely reason to show a simple perspective of a Samaritan
goon without it going in interesting directions.
Miscellaneous observations:
- Fusco finally has his yellow box! Though I fear now that it is finale season, this was likely the very last proper title sequence. Along with Root being dead, why even bother with the intro unless it’s voiced by the Machine as Root?
- Extremely interesting choice to have the last act of the episode start with a fade in from black rather than start from surveillance POV.
- The FBI agent who interrogates Finch has his own beliefs on digitization, completely opposite of what Root believed. He prefers the good old hard copy. “Little bits in a hard drive, whose to say they when they disappear, they’re just gone?”
- I know everyone has a given Michael Emerson a ton of love for his monologue in the interrogation room, but the last scene when the Machine tells Harold she’s chosen Root’s voice, that look and expression on his face and what it all implies – brilliant.
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