@avclub-c92c6f38d2d1c9e379969ee3407d0ec2:disqus I think the breakneck pace in the middle of the season made me a bit thankful for a little breather - some nice, lighter fare, especially after the Reese jailed / virus unleashed thing. The poison thing is a bit of a filler, but it leads directly into the season finale…

@percysowner:disqus Glad to hear that he's getting work. It's just a little weird when the main cast has 4 people but 1 is conspicuously missing for extended stretches.

It'll only get banned if he nails a kid with a frying pan. Tossing watery risotto in their face is acceptable - even encouraged…..by Fox.

So basically, it's going to be Ramsay screaming and swearing at 8-13 year old kids?
This is going to be Titanic - by which I mean, either a massive disaster (i.e. the shipwreck) or cash-cow (i.e. the movie).

@avclub-f58c9b865d50d42710c791a720274808:disqus Well, I think that they look at all possible leaks as threats and deal with them in the same way. Obviously, you could blackmail or kidnap / deport, but TV shows typically use the same idea of just getting rid of people. Remember that the point of the program was to…

@avclub-cb10f554d73e40f723febf42a006a887:disqus  @avclub-ffc3460c431f41282064dc7acdd70797:disqus  I would definitely watch that if only to get my Fusco  + Leon + Bear fix.

Remember mid-way through the season when they killed off a good guy every week and put the wraps on Stanton after a few episodes? I was like, that's a whole year worth of plot lines you just blew away in 3 episodes! But it led to something greater (the virus, Decima, Machine sentience), so if they can take that model…

HR has always been an organized crime syndicate composed of corrupt officials and cops. Initially, they were allied with Elias as their muscle, eyes and ears - something which Finch and Reese broke apart when it was revealed that HR was keeping tabs on HR's families. I think it doesn't seem that way because Simmons…

I always thought that standalone episode was because of Hurricane Sandy, and they couldn't film in Manhattan for a while.

Thanks - I learned something new today!

@avclub-d72f705337e5adcf7e33ec0381c5f5b2:disqus  I would think that the thought of the Machine being "alive" would be terrifying to Finch, especially ones that were autonomous. But when you're facing a scenario where "everyone who worked on this had a mysterious accident", it might be time to reconsider.

There's definitely multiple ways to interpret Finch's character. Everything which you've pointed out certainly fits - Finch is a flawed human being, and his motivations could very well be selfish. I tend to look at him from the other side since I do feel that he believed he did everything he could based on his "code…

We didn't get any disclaimer up here - it just opened with Finch in the past going to the Machine "Did you know about this?", then cut to present. I'm glad they kept it in - it was really central to the Finch / Nathan relationship.

I'll throw in Breaking Bad's "Shut the f*** up. Let me die in peace", but that only works if your killer is pontificating.

@avclub-d72f705337e5adcf7e33ec0381c5f5b2:disqus ooooh….competing Machines! There's more than one and they're going to fight for control. There's one that's still doing Northern Lights, one that give irrelevant numbers, and maybe one more that's scheming for world domination. That would be a very cool twist, but it…

@avclub-d72f705337e5adcf7e33ec0381c5f5b2:disqus I'd say he's akin to those decision makers at intelligence agencies which balances the cost of lives with the greater good (i.e. keeping the state intact and under control). Some are self-aggrandizing cowards who fear for their own lives and will sacrifice others to keep…

Even the government was too pre-occupied with the virus and Decima to deal with Lawrence and Root at the time. I thought that the van bomb was Hirsch's idea after the interrogation.

@avclub-d72f705337e5adcf7e33ec0381c5f5b2:disqus Maybe even more than a partner - it's the boss now. It decides what it wants dealt with, and who gets to deal with it. Maybe toss a few Northern Light assignments to Finch and Reese for kicks, or send some highly trained government operatives to track an irrelevant…

Without seeing Terminator 3, it's hard to understand why it would be a copout - the cloud (or at least highly distributed computing) would be a natural evolution from a software perspective. The Machine is learning to defend itself, and that is an effective way to prevent it from being targeted in one place; of…

@avclub-b7345a96d3fbcd3746d624805f429852:disqus  Yep - the type of love which involves calling at 3 am and scratching things into their cars to send a message. Technically, the Machine didn't send them to the wrong location - Finch brought them there, and even he wasn't sure if it was still there (he hoped not).