‘Nautilus’ was certainly an interesting episode. What began as a simple number-of-the-week quickly became yet another serialised outing of the show. While I’m not opposed to serialised episodes – in fact, I quite enjoy them – I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that this became a serialised episode once again.
However, my disappointment was erased completely when it was revealed that this was how Samaritan is recruiting new ‘employees’. I suspected long before we were told that Samaritan was behind the ‘game’. Regardless, it was fantastic. Episodes that feature one of the AIs making their own moves without the help of a human user – yes, I know Samaritan needed Claire to get those files, but the ‘game’ was all from Samaritan – are ones that speak to the origins of the show. Nolan and Plageman love the idea of AIs becoming independent, and these episodes are perfect examples of that progression.
‘Nautilus’ also tackled another interesting subject – what is the meaning of things? After all, it was Claire’s search for meaning that led her to the game in the first place. There’s definitely something to be said for how we tend to blindly follow things we are told. In that respect, we’re like sheep. Certainly since the internet has become more prominent in everyday life, we as people generally believe whatever we read, and this really opens us up to manipulation. Person of Interest discussed the issue brilliantly in this episode.
Anyway, back to Samaritan. It’s recruiting people every 27 days, and Claire was the third person to take the puzzle. That means it’s already recruited a total of three people that are effectively Root’s antithesis, just less double-gun firing. However, it’s interesting to look at the way this episode played out. Claire, on multiple occasions, was in danger of death and Team Machine saved her.
Take her ‘road walk’, for example. Reese jumped into the road and saved her. If he had not done that, Samaritan is not going to save her. Samaritan only saved her when she reached the end of the puzzle, because it knew that she was worthy of working for it. Before that, Samaritan was willing to let her die because she wouldn’t have been a useful ‘employee’. In essence, because the Machine gave Reese Claire’s number, Samaritan now has another person working for it.
That opens up a whole plethora of questions. Most importantly, however, is this: Why did the Machine give Claire’s number if it knew that by doing so, she would end up working for Samaritan? We’ve already seen that the Machine is willing to ask Team Machine to kill someone to prevent Samaritan from coming online, so now that it is, why is the Machine not willing to let someone die in order to hinder Samaritan? We know that it can’t be giving the team the number of everyone involved in a violent crime, because otherwise they would have gotten numbers between ‘Deus Ex Machina’ and ‘Panopticon’ – which given Reese and Shaw’s reaction last week, I’m guessing didn’t happen. So again I ask, why did the Machine give Claire’s number? There has to be some motive that I’m not seeing here. The only other explanation is that the Machine has been taken over by Samaritan (since ‘Panopticon’, that is), and as Finch stated at the end of the episode, “no one will even notice it until it's far too late.” There are so many different routes that the show could take this, and I’m eager to find out what the heck is going on.
Odds and ends:
- Some hilarious scenes in this episode. Some of my favourites: Fusco’s chuckle after giving Reese all the paperwork; Reese arresting Finch; Root with the pilot in the trunk and Reese asking “does this (the payphone) work?” before hitting the guy in the face. Person of Interest delivers so many of these great scenes.
I’ll admit that from the pieces of the puzzle that were shown, I couldn’t solve it. I liked that Fusco solved the ‘New York. New York’ bit though.- I was wrong about the subway station being where the Machine is located, but that new base looks really cool.
- That new intro was awesome. I loved how Finch changed it to “We are being watched” as opposed to the previous “You are being watched”. If you didn’t catch it, I put it on my YouTube channel here.
- “If we lose and Samaritan wins, the world as we know it will vanish, and no one will even notice it until it’s far too late.” Chilling.
What did you think of the episode? Why did the Machine spit out Claire’s number? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and check out the promo for next week’s seemingly Fusco-centric ‘Wingman’ below.
Time got away from me a little this week. I am aiming to get these up every Wednesday, and hopefully I'll be able to do that from now on.
ReplyDeleteThe machine gave Claire's number to team because as Harold told her that she has a choice and she went the way Samaritan wanted her to go.
ReplyDeleteMachine is giving them the option of having a choice through team machine , whether thy chose machine's side or the other its their choice.
Thanks for the review. About the "why the number" question... well, that's a good question. Did the Machine know exactly how it would turn out? Or did it think that Team Machine would persuade her to not pursue the puzzles anymore?
ReplyDeleteI honstely don't know. Maybe the Machine wanted to find out more about Samaritan, how it thinks, how it reacts. Maybe Claire is an asset to the Machine and doesn't know it yet - not in a direct way, but maybe if one day she's tasked to go after Team Machine, she'll hesitate?
Or was it "simply" the Machine manipulating Finch into working again? We know the Machine seems to be capable of doing so => Reese in 4C. Or maybe it's just about giving Claire the choice (as talkingmoviez said earlier in the comments)
Let's see if next episode is a pure "number of the week" episode or a mix. Maybe it's time to let the team return to usual buisness for 1 or 2 episodes and then to go after the plot? Things have been very tense for the team, a lighter episode might be good for all of us. :)
Thanks for the review. It was an interesting read :-)
ReplyDeleteI am still laughing over Root with the pilot in the trunk. And how funny was it that Fusco solved the puzzle before the former international spymaster John. And the new Team headquarters is amazing( it made the loss of the great library less painful)and beautiful. You brought up some very good questions on the machine's intentions in bringing Claire's number up. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteWhy The Machine gave them the number is not clear. I do think it was hoping that Claire could be convinced to be Team Machine, but The Machine does know that people have free will. I think it may want Claire to know there is another option, when or if she becomes uncomfortable with what she is doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if the important point of this episode is that because of Harold, The Machine knows people have free will, but Samaritan may not. If that's the case, Samaritan and The Machine are playing with different mindsets for people and that may give an advantage to The Machine.
Another awesome episode.
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always Bradley!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, back to Samaritan. It’s recruiting people every 27 days, and Claire was the third person to take the puzzle. That means it’s already recruited a total of three people that are effectively Root’s antithesis, just less double-gun firing. However, it’s interesting to look at the way this episode played out. Claire, on multiple occasions, was in danger of death and Team Machine saved her.
Didn't think of that! Excellent point!!! Very interesting indeed! :)
Yeah, they made that point in the episode. I just wonder if that still is the reasoning behind it though. Is the Machine willing to risk everyone's life based on Finch's decision? The point of it, after all, is to protect people.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know. So many theories... my brain hurts.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd like to see number of the week episodes for the next 2 or 3 episodes. Just to bring it back to the show's main premise.
Yep, that's certainly a valid theory.
ReplyDeleteGreat review Bradley! I knew the place Finch found would be a base of operation "the new library" I am glad we found out how Samaritan recruits these people , I wonder in a future episode if we will ever see Claire again.
ReplyDeleteI too was off on predicting that when we saw a panoramic view of the subway station, we might see a new location for the Machine. I did pick up on the "We are being watched," and that jarred me.
ReplyDeleteThis whole AI thing is a little scary to me, given that I feel like our government is getting more and more out of control. And the next step would logically be to turn over more and more functions to AI entities.
Bradley, I wondered the same about Claire, but I think that she may back out of Samaritan at some point as Reese and Shaw did from Northern Lights. If so, Harold would be a person she might turn to, and ultimately become allied with the Machine, rather than Samaritan. That would then make it sensible for the Machine to save her. Remember our tech guys that the Machine had Root and the team rescue. We still don't know how all of their involvement will play out in the future. Samaritan may have taken the temporary battle, but the Machine may win the war if that happens enough.
The second Claire tries to escape Samaritan, she gets killed, so that's not really an option.
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree. I think you have too high a view of the inevitability of Samaritan. The Machine is very good at helping people she wants, to disappear, as are Harold and Root pretty good at this. If enough chaos is created at the time, it could be a possibility. There always has to be hope of something better. You're giving up too easily, I think.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. :) I love mythology / serialized episodes but PoI does great standalones, so I'm looking forward to those as well. If they can dedicate 95% of an episode to the number, they usually get a lot of depth :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah I guess it even makes sense to let the team regroup and get back to work
Yeah, but with Claire under the control of Samaritan, I reckon that she'd die if she tried to leave.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by the last bit?
Yep, totally agree.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, those other players were in different countries.
ReplyDeleteI think she probably can become quite corrupted, mostly due to her search for meaning. If Samaritan continues to give her meaning, she'll continue to follow it.
And thanks!
At least one other was competing with Claire, and Reese strong-armed him to quit, but there seemed to be an implication that more than one other person was competing there in NYC.
ReplyDeleteI'm not writing Claire off yet. I'm the eternal optimist. ;o)
Yeah, there was someone else competing. But obviously the Machine knew that they wouldn't be good enough to figure it out/Claire would get there first.
ReplyDeleteHa, fair enough.
Needs more Root!
ReplyDeleteOk
ReplyDeleteI really like puzzles in fiction - read Poe, Doyle, Carroll... but,
please make sure the continuity guy, photographer, graphic artist,
writer, and director all know what the puzzle is! The nautilus
motorcycle patch puzzle was a good idea but:
1. photo of patch blacks out first letter - give the audience the whole clue please.
2. yellow pad shows 'F E F D C E' but detective sings (assuming key of 'C') 'F F E F D F F E F D' - close but, not a match.
3. F E F D C is the melody matching 'Start spread-ing the news' (not the
intro hook exactly) - the next note should be F not E ('I'm ... (leaving
today)) - in any universe of puzzle solving this would then certainly
not be a match; it must be something else.