Of the four episodes CBS issued prior to the fifth season premiere, Truth Be Told was the weakestt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the episode was bad. In fact, it was pretty entertaining, and while it didn’t do huge amounts in terms of progressing the serialised arc of the final season, it did enough with both that and Reese’s flashbacks to prevent it feeling entirely like filler. It was a useful breather from the intensity of the opening two, with a sense of normality from most of the previous 92 episodes returning. And while the dangerous environment and new-world order that Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman have developed in the past season or so is arguably much more fascinating than the world of the early seasons, temporarily revisiting that world is a fun reminder of the way the show once was.
And it makes sense in terms of the story, too. Across the first two instalments of this final season, Reese has been adamant that Finch and Root need to get the Machine back up and running so that they can begin working the numbers again. While the larger war against Samaritan is much more important to both the team and the world’s survival, Reese’s enlistment in this entire crusade is based on Finch offering him the chance to be there in time to save lives. So for him, getting back out there to save some ‘irrelevant’ lives and shoot some kneecaps is the biggest appeal, certainly when you consider that much of what’s going on with Samaritan requires more technical knowledge on the very nature of AI. As Reese said back in the premiere, he doesn’t speak nerd, so, aside from giving the Machine a lobotomy, his particular set of skills aren’t especially useful in that regard.
Did Reese’s flashbacks add much to his character that we didn’t know already? Not especially. The only new information Truth Be Told provided was who hired him for the job working the relevant numbers with Stanton; everything that took place in Afghanistan only reminded us that Reese was a ruthless killer who took action based on the odd assumption surmised as Kara reminded him - and us - that he was only hired because he had no one to go back to, so he was perfect for the job.
What could be taken from the present day scenes was that Reese was no longer that person - a fact that while not necessary after four full seasons of seeing him saving as many people as he can, does parallel last night’s shot of the Machine telling Finch that Reese was directly responsible for 62 deaths and disappearances - which was a nice comparison to take. Meanwhile, Beale was the man behind Alex Duncan’s number being given to Team Machine, in a twist that could be seen coming so far off that the show’s attempt to make it seem like a noteworthy reveal frustrated me more than anything else. Beale’s later decision to leave the man in the suit out of his report was, again, pretty obvious, since we were never going to end up with the CIA as an additional threat along with Samaritan, but a good scene nonetheless.
Elsewhere in the hour, and on a much higher note for Truth Be Told, Root went undercover as a delivery driver and investigated a bunch of deliveries being sent to an odd address. As expected, Samaritan was responsible, but the episode did a good job of establishing her and Finch’s dilemma surrounding how they should handle the problem. After a quick look from Finch revealed that the deliveries were in fact malware - an entertaining scene which included Root knocking out her training driver - Root decided that the best course of action was to run it on an isolated device. "It's no risk, no reward, Harry,” she says. The code was overriding the existing code on the laptop, working towards something. What that something will be is yet to be specified, but I’m looking forward to finding out what it is.
After two excellent episodes to kick off the season, Truth Be Told took a step back with a mostly standard number-of-the-week episode. But that’s fine by me, because the chaos to come will almost certainly make up for any disappointment felt from this.
Notes:
- The opening flashback takes place on September 1st 2010, which would put it around three months before Reese and Kara’s presumed death in Ordos.
- Finch told Root that she needed to lift with her legs about two seconds after I did. Just saying.
- The Machine sent Finch a poem about change; metamorphosis. “Change what? The Machine? Us?”
- Reese met with Iris’ parents and, after thinking about Kara’s quote from 2010 about how people like them don’t get normal lives, decided to break up with her in a set of scenes that provoked little more than a basic shrug from me. The Reese-Iris stuff has never been terrible, but it’s not exactly near the top tier of storylines explored in season four, so I'm not particularly sad to see it go.
- "I think it's good that you're attempting to have a more normal life. That is, when you're not risking your life saving people." "Or trying to stay a step ahead of an artificial superintelligence hell bent on world domination." "Or that."
- Another pilot callback as Reese told the perpetrator in the pirate-themed restaurant restroom to “have a nice day.” Sadly, it wasn’t accompanied by the score of the same name.
- New title sequence! Featuring Greer filling in the gaps between some of Finch’s standard lines. Very, very cool.
- “What I need is a bigger gun."
- Slightly shorter than usual review tonight given my busy recent week or so, and because I had little to say about the episode. Lots to say about Monday’s episode, so look out for that next week.
What did everyone think of Truth Be Told? Leave your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below.
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