There is some evidence against this. 1) Shaw had some sort of external hardware placed right against the spot where the chip was I installed while she was in the sims. 2) The looping simulation started after she had the chip installed. 3) There was a season 4 episode where the team discovered Samaritan was making…

Samaritan took her out of play in the season 4 finale. She realized what Samaritan was up to, tried to shut it down, and was blackbagged as part of the Correction.

I think that was "Aletheia," but yeah, that was a pretty great freaking moment.

I'm hoping to pick up a sweet full series Blu-ray box set when it's all said and done.

“Set out to correct the world’s wrongs, and you’ll certainly end up adding to them.”

Sadly, io9 has been dropping recaps that aren't for Game of Thrones. Its affiliated community site, Observation Deck, has weekly reaction/discussion threads for POI that generally tend to have a similar tone to the comment sections here. No recaps, sadly, but it's another place where most people appreciate talking…

I definitely remember a fair amount of criticism to that. Also, Kingsman had a pretty different tone that POI.

And then missed 18-22.

Perhaps Samaritan is trying to brainwash John, and John is retaliating by trying to bore it to death?

Very good. This review had good writing and solid analysis.

I think it was actually the first episode that we heard the name "Elias."

Yeah; it was like watching "Relevance" without knowing who John or Harold are.
Actually, I think I'm going to do that to the next friend I can convince to watch the show.

The Machine's discussion about what Root meant to her really had me bawling. Hell, just remembering "I loved her. You taught me how." almost brings tears back to my eyes.

It's been a central part of Finch's ideals since the Machine's creation. Nobody is more important than anyone else.

Samaritan has over 100 assets in the Pentagon, IIRC; presumably, some of them would be able to continue feeding it info.
Also, the Machine has been officially cut off since late season 3, and it's still able to access all the data; presumably Samaritan installed similar safeguards.

She definitely had one; it was plugged into the base of her brain, so the experiences she encountered would feel real. I'm not sure if it was removed or not, but she was definitely rubbing the spot where it is/was at the beginning of this episode.

That looked like coffee (which was always Root's drink) to me.

I had been under the impression that the wedding episode would be the numbers episode send-off, which is part of why I was as OK with it as I was. Now I'm wishing they'd have skipped it so we could have had either more endgame plot or an episode between Shaw's return and Root's death.

Yeah, I only vaguely remembered him.
Funny thing: his actor is married to Amy Acker IRL.

Ice-9 is definitely a good analog to AI; created for a simple, beneficial purpose (prevent terror/solidify mud), its possible destructive power is horrifying.