Entry tags:
POI 2x21 Zero Day
I'm too tired to talk about the serious stuff in this episode, and I suspect things are just gonna turn upside down on Thursday and leave us screaming in agony all summer anyway, at which point I plan to flail extensively, BUT. I can't be the only one who noticed that the machine named its cover identity after North By Northwest, right? Ernest Thornhill = first name of the screenwriter + the last name of the main character, who spends most of the movie tracking a person who doesn't exist.
OMG NERDS.
Especially considering 1x11 Super was a blatant Rear Window takeoff, and the Agatha Christie episode. Someone on this show is a *old-school* nerd. MY PEOPLE.
[also, please note: the Machine did not name itself Ernest. That is not what happened there. OMFG people stop gendering it already and naming it Aurora and then freaking out when the canon does it differently. BREATHE.]
...okay, I lied. I'm not over Finch TRUSTING JOHN WITH GOD MODE OVER THE MACHINE.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inmyriadbits said - and I think I'm starting to agree - that Harold thinks John is a better person than he is. He for sure didn't *start* the series thinking that way, but I think he might be there now, especially knowing exactly how much Harold's changed since Nathan's death.
BUT SERIOUSLY. After an entire conversation talking about how the Machine as his child, he trusts it to John. Knowing that John will be pissed at him for the 911 call, and ditching him to go to Root after John explicitly asked him not to ever pick up for her. NEVER GOING TO BE OVER IT.
And apparently I can't stop myself now, because I have to talk about the laptop. I think John's shock in that scene doesn't come from a belief that Harold was actually responsible for the laptop getting to Ordos, just that there was a Harold connection at ALL - especially after the whole "I would never book a car service under my own name" line. Even if John believed Harold would sell out the Machine like that, he can at least have faith in Finch's paranoia that he wouldn't sell it on a laptop under his name. Since it's a) the Finch identity, which was his IFT identity and b) Harold scolded Nathan for his poor security choices, I'm guessing it was one of the laptops that Nathan was using.
Also, called it about Harold making a devil's deal with Root to save the Machine. Called it in so many places I can't find the links. Right down to the Grace thing.
I'm...still way too tired to argue about the morality of Relevant vs Irrelevant and Harold's choices re: all that. Tumblr seems to be handling that end pretty well. But how much do I love that this little pretending-to-be-a-procedural show that I thought was just going to fill time in my life snuck up with its scifi and did what all the best scifi does: pose questions about humanity. And people are arguing about it. There's not going to be a right answer, no one's going to agree, and I don't think the show is going to take a definitive stand about it -- they even created a whole new awesome character to argue the side of The Program vs the boys' vigilantism vs Root's AI freedom crusade vs Carter's law and order vs the Machine's protective imprinting on Harold/nascent sentience/who knows what else -- but damn, it's fun to watch.
*sits back with popcorn and waits for Thursday to explode*
OMG NERDS.
Especially considering 1x11 Super was a blatant Rear Window takeoff, and the Agatha Christie episode. Someone on this show is a *old-school* nerd. MY PEOPLE.
[also, please note: the Machine did not name itself Ernest. That is not what happened there. OMFG people stop gendering it already and naming it Aurora and then freaking out when the canon does it differently. BREATHE.]
...okay, I lied. I'm not over Finch TRUSTING JOHN WITH GOD MODE OVER THE MACHINE.
inmyriadbits said - and I think I'm starting to agree - that Harold thinks John is a better person than he is. He for sure didn't *start* the series thinking that way, but I think he might be there now, especially knowing exactly how much Harold's changed since Nathan's death.BUT SERIOUSLY. After an entire conversation talking about how the Machine as his child, he trusts it to John. Knowing that John will be pissed at him for the 911 call, and ditching him to go to Root after John explicitly asked him not to ever pick up for her. NEVER GOING TO BE OVER IT.
And apparently I can't stop myself now, because I have to talk about the laptop. I think John's shock in that scene doesn't come from a belief that Harold was actually responsible for the laptop getting to Ordos, just that there was a Harold connection at ALL - especially after the whole "I would never book a car service under my own name" line. Even if John believed Harold would sell out the Machine like that, he can at least have faith in Finch's paranoia that he wouldn't sell it on a laptop under his name. Since it's a) the Finch identity, which was his IFT identity and b) Harold scolded Nathan for his poor security choices, I'm guessing it was one of the laptops that Nathan was using.
Also, called it about Harold making a devil's deal with Root to save the Machine. Called it in so many places I can't find the links. Right down to the Grace thing.
I'm...still way too tired to argue about the morality of Relevant vs Irrelevant and Harold's choices re: all that. Tumblr seems to be handling that end pretty well. But how much do I love that this little pretending-to-be-a-procedural show that I thought was just going to fill time in my life snuck up with its scifi and did what all the best scifi does: pose questions about humanity. And people are arguing about it. There's not going to be a right answer, no one's going to agree, and I don't think the show is going to take a definitive stand about it -- they even created a whole new awesome character to argue the side of The Program vs the boys' vigilantism vs Root's AI freedom crusade vs Carter's law and order vs the Machine's protective imprinting on Harold/nascent sentience/who knows what else -- but damn, it's fun to watch.
*sits back with popcorn and waits for Thursday to explode*
no subject
I don't think Finch was his IFT identity - I think Finch was independent of IFT. If it was his IFT identity, the Decima would have found it. Which is, I think? Why fans have been so confused about the name - why would it be Finch, and not some other bird?
I don't know where John's shock is coming from, because I still insist he should have realized there was a Harold connection when Alicia Corwin got involved.
no subject
I don't think Finch was his IFT identity - I think Finch was independent of IFT. If it was his IFT identity, the Decima would have found it. Which is, I think? Why fans have been so confused about the name - why would it be Finch, and not some other bird?
Hmm. I've always thought Harold Finch was the cubicle worker identity in 1x02. It made sense since John knew him by that name only at that point and John didn't make any reference to his surname being different, but I recently rewatched that episode and his last name is never mentioned. Hmph. Faulty memories: this is how fanon happens, kids! Alternately, the identity *was* Finch, and he could have just deleted the identity after John found him.