Immediately following “.Exe”, I was left with two main thoughts/questions: 1) For all that I’ve enjoyed this season, and the Samaritan arc as a whole, is it really going to be that easy for Finch to take down the malevolent AI? And, 2) If this is, in fact, Samaritan’s destruction, what the heck is left to happen in the finale?
That second question somewhat answers itself and the first question along with it. Destroying Samaritan probably isn’t going to be as easy as putting Finch on the wayward path and using a virus that will destroy both supercomputers in the space of two episodes (*), but at the same time, it certainly looks like the end. Television is full of misdirects, of course, and I’m sure there’ll be some twists and turns to come, but right now, I’m intrigued by my not knowing anything about the finale.
(*) That being said, even if Samaritan has somehow survived and is put down for good in the finale, that’s still only a three-episode arc. Since Team Machine have been on the losing side ever since it came online in “Death Benefit” - and let’s not forget the billions of the Machine’s simulations, none of which resulted in anything other than a loss - even spending an additional hour on top of these last two seems a real rush job. The case-of-the-week episodes that were effectively forced on Nolan and co. by CBS have been mostly fine in their own right, but all that time spent on those could have been far better utilised with the serialised story, regardless of what happens on Tuesday.
In its own right, however, “.Exe” was a wonderful episode, punctuated perfectly with flash-sideways of an alternate universe in which the Machine didn’t exist, presenting the way that each character’s life would have gone. Each seemed more tragic than the last: Finch never getting to meet Grace; Fusco not having his life saved by Carter; Henry Peck trying to tell anyone that’ll listen about mass surveillance, only to get killed for it; Shaw never getting to meet Root; Reese escaping the CIA to save Jessica, but pushing her away in the process and ultimately washing up in the East River; and Root working for the very ASI she has worked tirelessly over the past two seasons to stop. Leaning on It’s A Wonderful Life in its penultimate hour was not only a well-executed move, but one that fits with Person of Interest’s fifth season mentality of “It’s the final season, so, f--- it, let’s do anything and everything wacky that we can think of.” That’s certainly made it entertaining, even during the odd lull in quality.But the majority of “.Exe” was spent in the real world, as Finch went about his one man mission to destroy his so-called child’s rival. The closing minutes of the 100th indicated a dark turn for Finch, and last week’s “Synecdoche” began to show it. Here, we saw him carry out his last-resort plan with few qualms. Kidnapping and drugging the NATO Defence Minister of Intelligence before infiltrating Fort Meade to unleash the ICE-9 virus are lengths to which Harold would have never previously gone. Now that his rules are out of the window, there aren’t many lines that he won’t cross… Including killing the Machine along with Samaritan.
It’s been a long road for him and his relationship with the Machine. Despite taking 40 plus attempts to build an intelligence that wouldn’t try to murder or manipulate them, the successful iteration has become a child of sorts to Finch, so his confidence that this is the only option is indicative of how desperate times are. A brief hesitation before he was captured felt more like Finch taking a moment to reflect on the life that his Machine has had than it did Greer’s assumption that he was conflicted in that final step, reinforced by his determination to go through with it by the end of the hour. The simulations presented to him only helped to solidify his choice, particularly when told that Samaritan would have come to exist regardless (much as Nathan predicted in his earlier cameo).
In between all of this came a superb set of scenes between Finch and Greer, who went about telling Harold how an ASI - Samaritan or the Machine; or, in the preferred eyes of the former, with both ASIs together - will take humanity to a higher plane. Michael Emerson and John Nolan have shared far too few scenes over the years, but whenever they were placed into a room together, wonderful things happened on screen. This was no different, and Greer’s insistence that the supercomputer he doesn’t control is the one to save the world was conveyed with gravitas only he could give. Once again, in Finch’s darker moments, Emerson shines, blunt and representative of a man who has truly lost all hope. Greer’s sacrifice to allow Samaritan to prosper is a fitting end for a villain who, from the moment that it came fully online at the end of season three, has been Samaritan’s servant rather than its master. This intelligence cares not for individual human lives, but the greater survival of humanity. Its very existence enables humanity to be provided a better chance, so there is no hesitation in letting Greer asphyxiate along with Finch to save itself. Much like Finch’s assumption with his Machine, Greer had made peace with “the Queen sacrifice”.With the Machine to not be immune to the ICE-9 virus, Samaritan’s last-ditch imploration for Harold to reconsider what he is about to do is somewhat tragic, yet nicely parallels the closing moments of last season’s finale. There, the Machine was happy to die for having broken the rules; here, it was happy to die in the effort to save the world. On both occasions, Finch was virtually encouraged to go through with it. Here, the decision was a no brainer, regardless of the affection he has for the Machine. It’s an awful sacrifice, but a necessary one.
And so I circle back to one of my earlier questions: If Samaritan and the Machine are truly killed by the virus, what will the final 43 minutes of Person of Interest entail? Whatever is left to come, I’m very excited to see what happens.
Notes:
• Fusco encountered LeRoux again, and it was a far more hostile meeting, with the detective getting taken by the Samaritan agent. Some nice loose callbacks to the pilot with Fusco sat in the back of LeRoux’s car and later getting shot in the vest. Interesting cliffhanger too, with him contemplating whether or not to kill his opponent. Given the journey that he has undergone (supported by his flash-sideways scene), I’d be very disappointed if he fired that gun.
• As great as it is to have Amy Acker’s voice remaining on the show - and for Finch and the Machine to have a conversation that resembles human interaction - it still throws me each time I hear it.
• "I'm just like you, Mr. Barnett. A man who sold the world. Only I charged them a dollar."
• Executive Producer Greg Plageman made his directorial debut with “.Exe”, and there were a couple of shots that I particularly enjoyed. When Finch arrives at the airport, having been driven by the Machine, the man that assists him exit the car can be seen at the bottom of the shot looking around the vehicle, puzzled over who drove it. Subtle but clever. The other came when Reese and Shaw walked down the narrow corridor at Fort Meade, the framing evoking memories of similar looking shots in “If-Then-Else”.
• Apologies for the lack of review last week. Unfortunately, real life stuff got in the way, despite my best efforts to get something written. Looking ahead, I’ll hopefully get my piece on the finale up sometime Wednesday afternoon.
What did you all think of “.Exe”? What are you expecting from the finale? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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