It's hard to do both - usually most show runners hedge their bets and do a  "It could serve as both a season finale but also a series finale." Almost everyone thinks season 6 is a lock given the state of NBC, but we've been dumbfounded before, so…

Who better to emulate than the #5 network out of the four major networks? But at least you could argue NBC has basically nothing that does good ratings anymore on Thursday - ABC has Modern Family and they've failed to build anything there. They get stuff that works ok, then they move it to another time slot where it…

@avclub-4802630177809fcf861411501a443abb:disqus Yeah, that was back in "Super", where Nathan made a remark about the machine being alive and Finch warned him that it could hear everything. It said "Possible Threat Detected" but it was in white which means just a PoI. Based on the context, I thought it meant the…

The idea of Nathan being broken feels a little new - we know his family life is not good and that he does enjoy a drink more than frequently. His engineering skills were never as good as Finch's - that's why he was the corporate beard. But his human empathy is far greater than Finch's initially - Finch only exhibits…

Did not catch that. By online, you mean full re-initialization of its memory buffers? That felt like it took longer than 2 seconds.

If I recall correctly, ABC just added a DOA to their Wednesday comedy block, a block which Happy Endings used to occupy and pull much better ratings. "Good job, ABC!" ….he said sarcastically.

That's a pretty good twist, although it's hard to come up with a feasible explanation of why Nathan thinks that attacking Finch would achieve anything. Would it be to gain admin access? Is it a demonstration of the importance of the work he is doing?

I'd love it if Amy Acker could find regular work on a good series.

@avclub-c20d80be8816d38362a75bd62f11ddf0:disqus Ah that makes more sense. I don't think it was so much a forced suicide as much as Reese waffling on whether or not to kill him.

I thought the machine restarted at midnight.

I would imagine the flashbacks are about a year behind. After Nathan dies and Finch is injured, I assume nothing of real significance (in terms of flashbacks) happens until Reese confronts his ex's husband in New Rochelle.

The editing makes it confusing. It looks like Root's call happens before Reese picks up, but it's possible those things occurred simultaneously but are shown separately. Root's first word on the phone is "Absolutely" - assuming the machine said "Can you hear me", that would make sense as a response. If it happened…

I think that owes a lot to the backstory of the machine - if you did a vote, it would probably be the most popular character.

@avclub-9cd818ea56273170b63f339aa6f34bca:disqus With Stanton, it was clear who was the alpha in that partnership and I think it says a lot about Reese. Extremely capable and strong convictions, but shows deference. I think Reese unhinged is probably more dangerous than Root and Finch as he'd be like a force of nature.

Emerson was the main reason I started watching - I think the situations which they have put him in this year allowed them to make better use of his range.

Evil investor - I'd say he was complicit in his death (if it actually did happen), but it was the only way to "save" the poisoned doctor.

I'm surprised that the show has lasted this long with it's heavy serialization. I read the AV Club review of Elementary this week, with an episode called "A Landmark Story", but Myles said that it's really a standalone episode which fits the procedural mode. That was interesting when I thought about Zero Day since it…

The smart money is on guilt. We don't know much about his background, but he was definitely driven solely by money before. I notice that they don't make a big deal over his limp / injury any more - feel like that's pretty key too. His split with Grace was only to protect her - she thinks he died.

It could be an act though - as Finch said, she hacks people as easily as she hacks systems. But I think her disgust and anger when they discovered the true nature of the Thornhill company was genuine and lends credibility in how she sees the machine. Given her background, it makes sense since she seemed pretty…

@avclub-9cd818ea56273170b63f339aa6f34bca:disqus And let's face it, Reese doesn't even go that far off the reservation. He usually tries to shoot to wound, not kill. But saying that Finch could be Root under the right circumstance is compelling. That and we all know that Michael Emerson can do a great villain.