Having Cobie Smulders on SHIELD at the same time as HIMYM is the exact opposite problem of having Betsy Brandt on The MJF Show at he same time as Breaking Bad…tonal-whiplash in the opposite direction.

The Machine in Person of Interest wasn't stolen - it moved itself!  …this is going to be a long year of slogging through it at 10 pm. Thanks CBS, I said sarcastically.

Is it worth sacrificing the lead-in for Elementary though? I think PoI did better numbers in season 2 than season 1- this is probably going to break that momentum. Worse case is that it adversely impacts PoI if the audience doesn't follow, and I have a feeling that 10pm on Tuesdays isn't when the PoI crowd is going to…

I certainly hope it works out like that. I enjoyed the Reese / Shaw partnership in the finale - her deadpan is a fun foil to Reese's deadpan.

My biggest worry is if they drop him completely from main cast and turn him into recurring. We've seen more of the recurring cast this season than we have of Fusco.

I'm not sure if PoI is going to grow its audience on Tuesdays nights - I mean, what's the Venn diagram on NCIS:LA and PoI viewers?

Or call it that Whedon show. That makes it more obvious that it's a ripe target for a network cancellation, given its pedigree.

But is the Machine on the side of the heroes, or will is it actively pursuing its own agenda which would be contrary to Finch and Reese's mission? Root will definitely have a role in that. The idea of parallel machines each working with a different group and against each other could also change the boundaries of what…

@avclub-465f9232025978f8fd01ce1a0156be61:disqus By that point, her admin access had been cut off (why it wasn't talking to her), but I think that smile and the "Absolutely" when she answers the phone at the end pretty much validates the emotional connection theory.

Was that based on the newspaper clipping you saw about Nathan (I freeze-framed it. You can actually read the copy in the newspaper and it just repeats. Gotta be careful of the nerds in an HD world!)? I don't think it really implied that he took his own life. They always left it as "something happened that drives…

Surprisingly moving for such an action-packed episode. All of the past-Finch scenes were very well done - and most without any dialogue too.

Lots of great advice here. The only think I can think of adding is that the more you've seen, the more appreciation you will have about little moments here and there, as well as how the big picture connects together. PoI rewards you for paying attention, if that's your thing. The show really pushed its serialization…

@avclub-c92c6f38d2d1c9e379969ee3407d0ec2:disqus I heard there's an interview with Nolan about how this marks the "end of part 1" for PoI. I haven't had a chance to track it down, but I think it is akin to Fringe's transitions in the later seasons. It's not as jarring as a rebooted timeline or a time jump (well, we…

It's definitely communicated with Finch via cell phone before (season 2 premiere while he's at the casino cleaning up at the blackjack table), but that was text message.

But it might not really need to - given how much money is actually virtual nowadays, it could just create the illusion that everything is fine while moving money behind the scenes. Sure, your bank account says that you have $xx.xx, but is it actually there? The computer says it is!…wait, that's just the Machine…

The ABC thing to do would be to move it to Tuesday next year and see if they can build a comedy block out of it. I mean, it obviously worked well for Cougar Town and Happy Endings, right?

Ambitious comedies are usually the first ones that go, unless they're run by maverick showrunners that are usually turfed after 3 seasons.

For Happy Endings: USA! USA! USA!

I've heard that he's actually a decent guy and that it's a character like Stephen Colbert. It's just that American audiences enjoy that sensational, almost-scandalous type of behaviour on these sorts of programs.

@avclub-c92c6f38d2d1c9e379969ee3407d0ec2:disqus I just checked under my cushion, but all I found were some old Cheetos which underwent a compression algorithm….by me.