<p>OH SNAP. That was one HELL of a premiere. THAT, my friends, is how it's done. Honestly, a lot of the episode, while easy to follow, could be looked at from multiple angles, and provided a lot more food for thought that initially expected. But whether it be a deep dive or a shallow viewing for the sake of entertainment, I think we can all agree that season 4 is gonna kick ass.
</p><p>This review's obviously going to be far different from my 10-year old raging from season 3 - I'm making it a
helpful one, warming up us busy editors with some snippets of info I'll bring up here and there, followed by my ever-so-humble opinions. This episode came across as far more relevant than Liberty, but its potential developments came in these lovely little morsels - it required a little more attention but it was nonetheless easy to follow, perfectly paced, and so damn entertaining that you couldn't help but be engaged every second. That right there is a sign of great work. Hats off to the writers on this one - it was much more compelling.
</p><p>Let's start with a quick breakdown of the story
(as I said, I'll be writing this in a semi-encyclopedic tone to remind readers of some things they could use in editing, as well as the little snippets I enjoyed :D)
</p><p>References galore! Holy crap, the writers must have had one damn blast looking through all the past scripts and packing in as much as they could, as well as actually making fun of themselves a little, turning some of the routine elements we've seen before into something of a running gag.
</p>
- Two Pilot references in one! Reese blasting a concussion grenade into that bar dressed in Pilot gangster uniform, complete with a lecture on how to fire a gun, also from the pilot! Amazing!
- Followed by Shaw mistaking Reese for an actual thug :D I laughed my ass off at that one. This episode seemed to also just revel in its sense of undercover disguise, making our protagonists actually screw off with each other.
- Finch being a professor at a college seemed like Harold Swift 2.0 - I really loved 2 Pi R and his teaching skills, and while his head-crunching paranoia acted as a detriment to his acting skills, Finch's awkwardness was ever the more enjoyable, and seeing him getting scolded by the dean or whoever - oh, the irony!
- Speaking of irony, another instance was Root's conversation with Finch in his office - while this reminded us of the stakes more and was no laughing matter, Root was much more of a good guy than the skeptical Finch - this seems like a switch of roles from Bad Code, where Root was the humanity-lamenting skeptic while Finch played the concerned idealist. Finch was just less of a tie-you-to-a-chair-and-watch-a-guy-get-hanged-and-later-shot type of guy, you know?
- There were probably countless more, but this is all first impression stuff. Just some trivia either way.
<p>Characterization! Some of this was mentioned above but I absolutely loved the developments to the characters here. Deus Ex Machina made our team look totally clusterf***ed but here, what previously seemed like a pathetic joke got turned into the team at its most entertaining. I guess it's what you get when seeing these cloak-and-dagger weirdos act like normal people. In POI, normal is not normal. And speaking of improvements, they were much stronger and far less cheesy than last time. Root was not at all annoying, her lines were well-delivered, Shaw was downright hilarious and never overdid anything, Reese was brilliant as the rugged yet slightly volatile detective, Finch was also perfect as the skeptic (Michael Emerson nailed this so hard it's difficult and strange seeing how the usual Finch is almost the exact opposite of what he was here - the change was seamless), Fusco was amazing, and Carter was... um, uh, um, not mentioned. Well, kinda, actually. More on that later. And BEAR!!! That college dean needs a whooping - "no dogs on campus" does not apply to Bear. Ever.
</p><p>Characterization part 2! The protagonists were so rich I almost forgot our new and returning faces - Elias, my man, so wonderful to have you back. I think it's the second time he's done this, but he's once again their go-to guy in the crime world who can give you a badass narration of an organization's activities five minutes after being briefed. We also saw Scarface in action yet again, and seeing him nod to Reese and seeing them like partners was weird, since I recently rewatched Flesh and Blood. Greer, on the other hand, is someone who comes in now as an example of a very subtle but deeply potent development - one thing was how Samaritan can speak through texts, which was amazing, and also how Greer is already planning on killing Garrison. Of course, their collaboration was far from comfortable, but Greer seems to be moving forward fast!
</p><p>Now... who the hell is Cara Buono's character? We can't call her "Martine", since that was an alias, and we can't call her Megan Watkins the Homeland Security lady either. Users? Any thoughts on naming? I'll help you out by giving you a list Samaritan compiled of this woman's known aliases (add this to her page, thank me later):
</p>
- Megan L. Watkins (Homeland Security)
- Petra Z. Kirillov
- Katarina A. Müller
- Isabella M. Fiore
- Alicia T. Cabrera
- Nataŝa B. Vukoja
- Martine B. Rosseau (From episode's start, with a British accent)
<p>Well, she seems to know what's gonna happen before it does, and Greg Plageman apparently said she wasn't Decima. Who do you think she works for? Wesley? The evil prank caller? Vigilance survivor? Or is Plageman a bad liar?
</p><p>Directing and tone! 4 months ago the stakes were raised alarmingly high, so naturally everyone would expect this episode to have a darker tone. Did it? Not exactly. Is that bad? The way I look at it, not at all! For more reasons than just the entertainment. See, it started off very ominous and quickly reminded us that Samaritan was watching, reinforcing that control all the way to the title card (which looks awesome BTW).
What I loved about this episode was the tonal balance here, where the ominous background was always lingering despite the frequent silliness. The characters were having a ball and speaking sparingly, but their choice of words isn't what was scary - it was how dangerously volatile they were being - Shaw was still the trigger-happy badass, Reese was also the trigger happy badass (Man in a Suit, Woman in a Tank Top), and Root and Finch still directly speaking of the Machine in quiet corners - while it was safe at times, these guys all ran fairly wild in this episode, enough to distract us from the fact that
ONE slip, and they're dead. I realized this only after the episode ended. That's clever. How the sense of paranoia comes in glimpses so we still get it on a direct level, but the subtle presence hits us like a tidal wave afterwards and makes us feel like WE are being watched. Immersing and ingenious.
</p><p>Also, plot! The case was pretty standard though it came with its repercussions - Ali's little phone network is now the team's digital safe zone - thank you Ali! I recognize the actor from The Mentalist's "The Golden Hammer" - he played a man with terrorist ties who Patrick Jane goofily framed as a pickpocket to get him arrested and thus interrogated. I also loved Finch's reaction when seeing the guy's work - pride in his technological expertise - I sense technobabble should they ever be safe and should Ali ever return. And also,
what did Finch find at the end? My god, this episode left so many itching questions! A new library? A new base? A bookshelf with Bear paintings on it? And is Shaw now a heavy for "Romeo", who happens to be some kind of gangster? Does the Machine want Shaw to have a more action-oriented love life? Is it pitching dating to her through a more suitable context, perhaps? And Reese is Fusco's partner! WOO!! Meaning he can wear a suit again! And the HR reference by Elias! And Root and Shaw applying lipstick for each other! #Shoot4ever! Or Raw! Or whatever you call it! Or them! And Shaw's hilarious line "things like a grenade launcher" in response to Reese's "I had some weight on my hands" or whatever he said! And oh my god! Highlights! Developments! References! Trivia! Editing! Dammit, writers, you nailed this one! Epic premiere!
</p><p>- Exclamation marks end here. Thank you. Sincerely, TJ.
</p><p>P.S. Great to be back! (yup, exclamation mark thing is already a lie)
</p>
