I don't call that easily pleased. I call that invested in the show and interested in its interests.

Must get on with the in-laws.

John called it "he" once or twice too, a long while ago.

I continue to believe the Machine does not actually have a preferred gender and is happy to let whoever is interacting with it gender it however they want. But Harold switching to Root's "she" in this episode was a major moment for him, admitting that not only is the Machine a kind of person even if not exactly human,…

Oh, interesting. My slightly different prediction was that the Machine had to be reborn somehow—possibly as @avclub-669e3876ba6dab37e11e5237f2c8017e:disqus suggested by combining with Samaritan—but in the process would again lose its memory. The episode had so much to say about how crucial memory is to identity and to…

Michael Emerson tweeted something about this being Bear #3. Not sure when 1 became 2, though.

"Looks like our number's getting coal in his stocking after all!"

If only Fusco had used "verkakte" correctly!

I got obsessed sometime last season with tracking how they use tech that's overlooked for not being up-to-the-minute. It's a major motif. Pay phones, obviously. In an early season, Finch remarks on how a number's safecracking skill is a lost art (he does it by ear). We see in flashbacks Finch was into phone phreaking.…

It did used to print out all its memories and feed them back to itself every day, yes. Getting around the restriction again. But that's obviously terribly inefficient.

Sigh. As frequently happens, I disagree strongly with the review. I felt this episode offered some really touching and lovely reflections on the role of memory in both identity and relationships, and how intimately connected all three are. It was a different angle on, yes, questions the show has been concerned with…

I think the point is there will always be room for shows that are less serialized; not everyone wants everything they watch to be Dostoevsky. Look at the success of Brooklyn Nine Nine or Bob's Burgers. Not to mention the CSIs of the world are still going strong. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that the…

I like to imagine John retiring to a spin-off as Zoe's house-husband/bang-maid. Periodically he gets dragged into some sort of fight due to his past and has to be sure to get the apartment straightened up before she gets home from some delicious sting.

It's already gained a new following since the first 4 seasons got onto Netflix. I'm going to spend the next decade tearing my hair out as I watch the retrospective opinions go up, and up, and up, after it's too late.

With time and perspective I've come to see it not as a simple shoehorned-in romance but a kind of pure moment of closeness and benediction. But I certainly understand your problem, and used to share it.

I was writing my recap of the s5 premiere and talking about how a consistent theme is the potential of community bonds to redeem even the most lost of us, and wrote then deleted this sentence:

Having recently done a binge-rewatch, I'd give Elias's #1 to Harold. In s2 when they start having their regular chess matches, their conversations do so much to illuminate how intelligent and perceptive Elias really is. It's a lovely meeting of the minds that brings out Elias's formidable qualities and the side of…

"Yeah, Root. I'm saying maybe someday."

That poker game!

One of the braver steps that PoI took, which Ex Machina didn't, was to present an AI that was fundamentally different in its outlook, thought processes and basic structure than a human being. It's fine to imagine robots that look like us, and which want the same things as us, and which perceive the world through more…