I think they set up the bittersweet happy ending when Root talked about how the Machine's simulations could create a sort of afterlife. I'm calling Shaw, Reese, and Harold getting killed, but then having a sort of simulated peace when it's all over.

"I've chosen a voice."
Damn, I need some Whiskey.

I think Amy Acker mentioned on twitter that she directed that chase scene. Also, her twitter feed is pretty heartbreaking right now. I need Whiskey.

Whiskey. I need Whiskey. Either type will do.

My guess is that the simulations were basically presenting Shaw with a world that reacts in a normal way (based on what she decides to do), but that the flashes/glitches were Samaritan altering how Shaw perceived the world in a way that doesn't match with what she tried to do.

I thought "Welcome to the Machine" was perfect, given the context of the scene. Then again, I also think that it would be a bloody shame not to have Bowie's "Saviour Machine" somewhere in the next few episodes.

I'd imagine it would be easier to slip across the Atlantic into a South or Central American port that has less security than to go straight to the US. Once there, the she could use one of the established human smuggling routes to get back to America.

Yes, but it shows that the showrunners almost certainly know what the Great Filter is, and I don't imagine they'd use that specific terminology unless they meant it. While it is possible they are using the term for something else, it's a very long stretch.

Given that they also referenced the Fermi paradox, I think it's a safe assumption that they're using the phrase on purpose.

No way Meera dies. She vaulted to the top of the Westeros BAMF list when she iced a white walker and didn't even make a big deal about it.

The fact that we don't see life having colonized the universe could have more to do with our ability to see than life's ability to expand. I agree that there is probably a filter (at least one), but just because something is unlikely does not make it impossible. We quite simply do not have sufficient data to make…

The Filter is a filter; most civilizations fail to pass through it because they lack some necessary characteristic, but a few do and are able to do well. We aren't necessarily doomed because it exists, but it does make the odds long.

Hopefully this show will fill the hole in my heart that Person of Interest is about to leave. If not the show itself, then something in it.

HBO is trying out an experimental format where all three shows follow the same relationship at different times.

Solid article; thanks for the links.

There was a Leverage episode like that; pretty solid.

The other plausible explanation is that Samaritan could have seen such a successful de-extinction as legitimizing the de-extinction movement, which could lead to much greater trouble later on (and possibly lead humans to care less about driving species extinct since they could always bring them back).

I think that Samaritan knew who the "Deviant" that was carrying the Machine briefcase was, but it is also sure that Det. Rilley is someone else. Regardless, Greer could probably have set that up the parameters of what the agent should look for, and created a situation that would make the Machine give out a number.

Their bit in QSO about bringing back the Tasmanian wolf would almost certainly not lead to ecological collapse (it only went extinct a century ago, which is too short for most serious evolutionary relationships to decay). However, I'm still not convinced Shaw actually killed the scientist. If she really went out…

Did QSO really air, or did I just watch it in a simulation?