Relevance
The machine is having issues. Shaw a special ops type yaps and shows off her proprioceptive skills as she takes out people according to numbers she and her partner Cole are given. She doesn’t ooze menace no matter how hard TPTB try. Cole doubts the inherent rightness of their cause. Shaw is a moron and so their boss Wilson turns on them. Wilson works for the Special Council who Root (the annoying Amy Acker) is working for as a ‘secretary’. Root menaces Shaw with a hotel iron. Shaw is seething and disreputable. Team Machine including Leon (Ken Leung) has to save her. This was good.
Best Lines:
“Research is never wrong.”
“Ever had a staring contest with a fish?”
“Dying can make you thirsty.”
~
Proteus
A storm warning is issued. Carter befriends FBI Agent Moss. Finch and Reese get the numbers of six missing men which leads to FBI Agent Fahey and a possible serial killing identity thief. Didn’t ‘The Sentinel’ do this plotline back in the 90s? Finch has a pilot’s licence. Carter shuns her boyfriend Cal. Finch and Reese end up with suspects while trapped by a storm. Who is the killer? Finch pretends to be a storm chaser whilst Reese whispers. I actually saw Finch/Reese subtext in this ep. There is a murder and the killer’s identity is somewhat obvious. This was good and the machine is glitched.
Best Lines:
“Don’t say anything. Just bleed if I’m right.”
“I just think his blood alcohol level could start a lawn mower.”
“Mr Reese is out on an island looking for a man violent enough to pull out another man’s teeth.”
“Living their lives, until he gets bored.”
“You’ll never get off this island.”
“A drug smuggler shot at me with a spear gun last night.”
“Is that a first for you?”
“Wish I could say yes.”
~
All In
Leon is in peril, again. Plus Lou an elderly baccarat player is also in peril. Reese walks around being menacing looking. Lou is disgruntled. Carter gets reattached to her boyfriend Cal. Finch is an autodidact. A casino owner is nasty. Reese and Finch soon figure out why Lou is engaging in increasing destructive behaviour. Carter’s co-worker Szymanski is inconveniently in peril as HR try to impose their will. This was soporific as the duo halt a money laundering plan, Carter is unsentimental, a plan goes askew and there is a rather unexpected twist.
Best Lines:
“You plan to kill me?”
“Probably.”
“I was an international spy, Finch. I know how to play baccarat.”
“He deposited my keys in a tank full of crustaceans.”
~
Trojan Horse
Where is the Julian Sands baddie? Elias the rubbish gangster wonders about the deepening HR plot. Finch goes undercover as an IT guy. Carter looks into the murders of the ADA and Szymanski. Shaw resurfaces. Finch and Reese uncover corporate espionage which turns out to be so much more. There is an unexpected connection between the HR boss and Cal. Shaw finds the library. Chinese spies blow up a laptop. Stanton’s boss shows up and is the head of something ominously known as Decima. Someone is murdered by HR. The machine is being hunted and the plot thickens. Sadly this was incontrovertibly dull.
Best Lines:
“Who are these people?”
“Render him irrelevant.”
“You, your poorly socialized guard dog and Bear here?”
~
In Extremis
Fusco is menaced by IA as flashbacks to 2011, 2004 and 2005 show the evolution of his dirty cop/emotional carcass past. Reese is undercover as a waiter, a surgeon is poisoned, Carter snots and the surgeon’s snotty daughter Molly (Allison Scagliotti of ‘Warehouse 13’) is an inappropriate intransigent brat. Carter’s annoyingness grows as Fusco’s past is revealed. The machine is busted. Carter’s harsh and then she isn’t. This was dull and how did the killer get polonium?
Best Lines:
“How is it everyone around you winds up getting killed? Starting to look suspicious.”
“Who was murdered?”
“Me!”
“Who else are we missing?”