This week’s number of the week lends a hand in the hand-to-hand combat alongside Reese, Claire returns to play mind chess with Finch, and Root makes a very timely return.
Q&A, unsurprisingly, has an awful lot of talking in it. Claire and Finch spend most of the episode sitting or standing in a funeral parlor – which apparently can double as a medical clinic if you’re in a pinch. Claire said all the right things, displayed all the hurt and betrayal a young idealist, who has had her ideals shattered, should display, but Finch, a/k/a Mr. Only-The-Paranoid-Survive (Wolf and Cub), remained unconvinced right up to the end when it appeared he was willing to believe her, only to have her spring the trap herself, nearly trapping herself. Finch, oh, Finch, when are you going to learn: Always search the unconscious person for a weapon. Always!
Claire remains a wild card in this deck. I’m thinking she can be turned against Samaritan. Her naïve, idealistic and foolish ways have yet to discern what is glaringly obvious to others (okay, yeah, me) which is that Greer’s smiles do not reach his eyes. I never trust what someone is telling me when their smiles do not reach their eyes. Experience has taught me, when you see that, that means the person is only telling you what they know you want to hear. It’s a trap. Run. Run for all you’re worth! However, when she confronted him about her possible death, his blatant disregard for her ultimate well-being certainly did reach her foolish little mind. (Being smart is a good start, but knowing how to decipher what is going on around you beyond your book smarts is far, far more valuable; that comes from experience.) It’s not going to take much to push Claire into reaching out to Harold again, but this time with honesty.
While Finch was playing mind chess with Claire, and ultimately Samaritan by proxy, Reese and Fusco teamed up to protect Anna and uncover Fetch-n-Retrieve’s nasty secret. Now, some may say that VAL and what it could do is a bit farfetched, but we have only to look at marketing on any media platform you choose to see that you can target an audience and feed it information to hopefully move it in a particular direction. You don’t see luxury cars advertised on kids shows, but you do see them during golf tournaments or horse racing events; money advertises where money is. Grocery stores conduct massive consumer surveys about how to design their stores and where to put products to maximize sales. You may think you go about your life as you please, but we are constantly bombarded with visuals and sounds and smells and the like to get us to act a certain way, purchase a certain way – you name it. I’m sure many of you will note how your computer traces your online activity and then streams you ads for similar products. It’s not a coincidence. Everything is to manipulate us into thinking, behaving, and most importantly, spending, in a certain way. Paranoia? Not so much. I’m just very aware.
Anna being an amateur MMA fighter was a creative way to keep the hand-to-hand fight sequence quotient high, while not asking Jim Caviezel to shoulder all of the physicality, what with Sarah Shahi on the bench for the foreseeable future – those twins must be due soon. Anna was likeable, and since she was a formidable fighter, she was also entertaining to watch. Loved her and Fusco’s little moment as she gave him advice; Fusco, ever the bulldog wasn’t backing down: Set him up. I’ll go again!
When re-watching the episode I could hear the beginning strains of Root’s theme as Finch was leaving the building under heavy guard, but the first time I watched it I could only think, this would be a very good time for Root to show up – and then she did! Loved it. Root’s back. She cryptically told Reese that things were different, and no doubt we’ll find out what that means before too long, but I’m very happy she is back. True to the mysterious character that she is, we didn’t walk the journey with her of her return, but I’m sure there will be revelations of some kind or another coming soon.
Next week we see a return of Dominic as the show takes on medical marijuana in Blunt. I enjoy this particular nemesis as much as I do Samaritan. And, if it even suggests that Elias will be returning soon – if not next week, then in one of the six or seven remaining this season, then all’s the better.
Hard to believe we’re at the point in the season when I can count in single digits the number of episodes left, but we are there. I’m both saddened and happy. Saddened because Season 4 has been excellent; happy because this winter has been very, very, very cold here in the northeastern part of the U.S., and I’d like some warmer temps, which happen to coincide with PoI and other shows I enjoy taking a lengthy hiatus. But, for now we have another episode on the way, and it will be here soon.
Until then, thanks for reading, Elle2
