The frightening new credits from Samaritan’s point of view are a reminder that our Team Machine are still on very dangerous ground. This week’s mission is a scavenger hunt and everyone’s invited.
****SPOILERS BELOW****
The scavenger hunt serves two purposes – as a backdrop for the Number the team is helping and as a puzzle to get Finch to come out of retirement. Finch has been adamant about walking away from the Numbers due to the danger of Samaritan and he doesn’t like that the Machine asked him to kill a Senator. However, if you stick a puzzle in front of Finch’s face or a Number that resembles him in any way, then he is compelled to follow/help. Reese is tricky enough to realize this and set up a meeting for Finch and a genius college student that needs his help. The puzzles presented in the scavenger hunt are just too much and Finch is in it to win it- well until it’s apparent that Samaritan is behind the game. A deadly game that involves hit men. Not the kind of game a college student should be playing.
The Number herself, Claire, is not that sympathetic considering she pulls a gun on Harold the first time she meets him and sets him up to be beaten up by random passersby. Luckily, Reese is there with his NYPD badge to save the day and handcuff Harold when he doesn’t give Reese the answer he wants. That’s playing dirty Reese, but I approve.
Meanwhile, Shaw is living a life of crime with a bank robbing crew. Root checks in to make sure Shaw plays down her abilities and does not become an extraordinary thief. Maybe B+ range. However, Shaw isn’t capable of downplaying her skills. Reese has similar issues with saving people and paperwork. He walks willingly into danger to help this Number (as Shaw predicted), but gave Fusco a ten on his death glare scale when handed a stack of paperwork.
Once Team Machine track down who is sending out the clues for the scavenger hunt they realize it all culminates into a recruitment program for Samaritan. Harold gives Claire an impassioned speech about purposes and path in life, but he realizes he should be giving himself a similar speech. The girl doesn’t listen to him, but Harold follows his own advice by reforming the team, officially. Claire “wins” the game and ends up as Samaritan’s newest asset, though it’s unclear what it needs with a math genius. Decima gave it total freedom to do whatever it wants, so why does it need a human to write programming?
The plot of AI vs AI is evolving into a fascinating battle, but it seems our Machine is running at half speed and really needs to up its game. Speaking of which, Team Machine have a brand new/really old headquarters on a disused subway line. The library will be missed, but the new digs might be ok once they add a couch and a throw pillow or something. Get on that Reese. Harold can’t do all the decorating.
