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docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

great, there's two of them
I could see them doing a double-fakeout ending, where on one hand we have the Machine picking up Blackwell as her primary asset to hold American society together in the wake of the molten shards of Samaritan raining down all over everything, while it appears that everyone is dead.

And then we cut to Italy, where Harold and Grace Uccelli run a bird sanctuary together, while the Man in the Suit and the Woman Who Doesn't Like Suits But Will Wear One To Blend In travel the world to save the irrelevant numbers, backed up by INTERPOL Agent Fusco.

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Kithkar
Apr 23, 2011

I'm gonna RENOVATE your ass!
I would not be surprised if the original plan for 6 seasons had Samaritan being defeated in season 5, leaving the antagonist of season 6 to be Dark Harold having broken all his rules becoming the villain he constantly went on about being afraid of becoming.

berzerkmonkey
Jul 23, 2003

Acer Pilot posted:

Carter had a kid too though

Carter's kid was older than Fusco's kid, and had the benefit of a father who could take him on. Plus, they had planned on Carter dying in order to propel the show and give the gang something to rally around. Killing Fusco at the end would serve no purpose to the story, especially because this is his redemption from the years of being a dirty cop.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

great, there's two of them
I don't consider this evidence for or against Fusco dying, but doesn't he share custody of his son with his ex-wife?

berzerkmonkey
Jul 23, 2003

docbeard posted:

I don't consider this evidence for or against Fusco dying, but doesn't he share custody of his son with his ex-wife?

Yeah. I think she has full custody. But, being as this is a story and not real life, it really doesn't serve any purpose to kill him, other than an "everybody dies" mentality by the writers. There has to be a bright spot at the end, as a lot of the show focuses on redemption.

SpookyLizard
Feb 17, 2009
We've really only seen his son as something important to Fusco, for him to be threatened with and subsequently use as the starting reaction for a potential rampage or act of ridiculous violence. Carter's kid had a little development, she reconciled with her husband and him being able to care for his son was an important part of that.

Also let's take a minute to remind everyone that Finch is kind of responsible for stealing/copying ARPANET and giving people the internet. Which would be an interesting story in and of itself, but Prometheus stealing fire from the gods is something they've only ever implied.

Honestly, Finch and Grace getting back together is absolutely silly to me, considering he's been dead afask for like, ten years? But Samaritan thinking Team Machine are dead, the Machine and Samaritan having it out and/or merging, and then the Machine's Daddy.exe protocol is actually keeping them safe while they try and live out their lives as people would be a satisfying ending. John trying to be a normal person who can be attached to others, Shaw merely trying to be a person, and etc.

Also I have to say I'm really glad that Samaritan realized it had a blind spot, and made some kind fo work around. I felt the cover identities was kinda overstaying it's welcome.

stoops
Jun 11, 2001

SpookyLizard posted:

Honestly, Finch and Grace getting back together is absolutely silly to me, considering he's been dead afask for like, ten years?


I agree with this.

There hasn't been anything to warrant this, but it would be nice if Finch realized the love of his life is gone, maybe remarried, and he moves on. Maybe next time he goes to the cafe, he'll buy the two cups and ask the waitress to join him.

i still want a happy ending for everyone. Fusco being captain of the precinct, John still working as a cop under Fusco, and Finch moving on with his life.

But the numbers keep coming, so Shaw works alongside ROOT/MACHINE

3 shows left and i would totally want the Samaritan arc to end in the second episode and just have the final episode be a, one year later/where are they now, finale.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

great, there's two of them
Yeah, I mean idyllic happy ending fantasies aside, I can't imagine any reunion between Harold and Grace at this point being anything but difficult. Though I'm at the point in my Season 2 rewatch where we're seeing them dating again and goddamn are they adorable together (not least because, I suppose, Grace's actress is Michael Emerson's wife and their chemistry is real) and the old sap in me wants it to happen anyway.

berzerkmonkey posted:

Yeah. I think she has full custody. But, being as this is a story and not real life, it really doesn't serve any purpose to kill him, other than an "everybody dies" mentality by the writers. There has to be a bright spot at the end, as a lot of the show focuses on redemption.

Oh yeah, I absolutely agree. I don't think Reese, at least, makes it out alive, but I hope I'm wrong because seeing him claw his way back to being a real person again after having the humanity ground out of him has been fantastic.

Normally I think American TV seasons are too long, but I kind of wish we'd gotten a full season this year. The pacing just feels off and I think some of the slow-burn characterization that they like to do is suffering because of it.

Please Eat A Vegetable
Jun 26, 2002
Lord of Primate Booty
Did they ever explain why Blackwell is such a critical asset to Samaritan? Is it his IQ? His prison background? Did Samaritan arrange for him to paint houses as training like Mr. Miyagi? I get that he has certain genetic markers and some natural immunities, but is that all?

It just seems like he went from ex-con, to house painter, to errand boy, to a Martine-level elite operative with special assignments in a very short span.

THF13
Sep 26, 2007

Keep an adversary in the dark about what you're capable of, and he has to assume the worst.

SirMonkeyButt posted:

Did they ever explain why Blackwell is such a critical asset to Samaritan? Is it his IQ? His prison background? Did Samaritan arrange for him to paint houses as training like Mr. Miyagi? I get that he has certain genetic markers and some natural immunities, but is that all?

It just seems like he went from ex-con, to house painter, to errand boy, to a Martine-level elite operative with special assignments in a very short span.

He's not important. He's desperate because of his ex-con status and he's willing to commit violence against others so Samaritan is using him as a pawn. He was getting step by step instructions without understanding really why he was doing them or why it was important.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

great, there's two of them
I think Blackwell is meant to be our window into a typical Samaritan operative's training.

bring back old gbs
Feb 28, 2007

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

THF13 posted:

He's not important. He's desperate because of his ex-con status and he's willing to commit violence against others so Samaritan is using him as a pawn. He was getting step by step instructions without understanding really why he was doing them or why it was important.

He is a also literal genius though, it displayed his IQ in an overlay but not everyone had that. It may matter.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

great, there's two of them

bring back old gbs posted:

He is a also literal genius though, it displayed his IQ in an overlay but not everyone had that. It may matter.

Samaritan's definitely made a practice of recruiting exceptionally intelligent people in the past. I guess now that it's more entrenched than before, it can just raid temp agency files for the smartest people instead of depending on nautilus-themed ARGs.

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007
An alright dude.
I don't think anyone is going to survive this season. There's no way Reese makes it out alive or Shaw. Maybe Fusco.

Altared State
Jan 14, 2006

I think I was born to burn
Everyone dies, the only beings left alive are the Machine and Samaritan.

They argue until their power supplies run out.

quantumfoam
Dec 25, 2003

I am hoping the 3 other techno-wizards on Team Machine resurface with whatever THEY have been working on.

Please Eat A Vegetable
Jun 26, 2002
Lord of Primate Booty

THF13 posted:

He's not important. He's desperate because of his ex-con status and he's willing to commit violence against others so Samaritan is using him as a pawn. He was getting step by step instructions without understanding really why he was doing them or why it was important.

Just seems weird. Samaritan could recruit or manipulate almost anyone from a much larger talent pool, including professionally trained soldiers, spies, Hague investigators, etc.
But hey, this ex-con house painter seems really smart and capable.

Eh. I trust the showrunners to make this make sense, so I'll just enjoy what's left of the ride.

bring back old gbs
Feb 28, 2007

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

SirMonkeyButt posted:

Just seems weird. Samaritan could recruit or manipulate almost anyone from a much larger talent pool, including professionally trained soldiers, spies, Hague investigators, etc.
But hey, this ex-con house painter seems really smart and capable.

Eh. I trust the showrunners to make this make sense, so I'll just enjoy what's left of the ride.

I think it's going a step further though, going back through that house painters life to see that he got abused when he was younger, put into foster care, foster parents weren't great people, took advantage of the violence in his past to get him to do violent things for them, then hung him out to dry when he gets arrested for doing something he was ordered to. So Samaritan has this profile of a guy who desperately wants approval from some authority figure and will gladly commit violence for the person if he gets that, and this is their default behaviour because they are mentally broken. Samaritan just has all these different environmental factors it knows add up to make specific skill sets and it's finding people better suited to their jobs this way instead of simply stealing Blackwater's employee list and assuming they'll be loyal because they are soldiers.

Bruceski
Aug 21, 2007

Live, laugh, kupo!

Golem II posted:

Everyone dies, the only beings left alive are the Machine and Samaritan.

They argue until their power supplies run out.

Final episode: Some new guy gets a phone call, gets directions to a location with Machine and Samaritan both spouting ideology at him. He gets to a storage facility, and finds that by complete coincidence the two had their mainframes built in adjacent lockers. So New Guy walks into a room with the wall knocked out, all of the assets on either side dead, and both systems asking him to shut the other one down while they dit there impotently able to affect anything. End of series.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

The final episode is going to be a giant robot battle as both ASIs combine a bunch of trucks into Voltrons.

Samaritan will appear to have the upper hand, but there's a crucial piece of intel The Machine gained by working with its assets instead of using them as tools like Samaritan: The Machine kneecaps Samaritan.

Arist
Feb 13, 2012

who, me?


Everyone dies except Fusco. Fusco becomes the new Finch, guiding the new Man in the Suit: Leon.

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007
An alright dude.
What the hell did happen to those other tech guys? Didn't they all get killed?

xeria
Jul 26, 2004

Ruh roh...

Hollismason posted:

What the hell did happen to those other tech guys? Didn't they all get killed?

The Machine gave them all new identities like it did Finch/Reese/Shaw, and they were never heard from again.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
The show ends with the Machine getting elected President.

I'd watch a show about the first AI PotUS.

CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK
Sep 11, 2001



paragon1 posted:

The show ends with the Machine getting elected President.

I'd watch a show about the first AI PotUS.

Only if he speaks through that kid.

Mustache Ride
Sep 11, 2001



The Machine can't get elected, its only 6 years old.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:

xeria posted:

The Machine gave them all new identities like it did Finch/Reese/Shaw, and they were never heard from again.

I vaguely remember them showing up one more time in a later episode, but yeah they basically got written off/forgotten.

Argue
Sep 29, 2005

I represent the Philippines
Didn't Martine kill them all in the opening of season 4?

xeria
Jul 26, 2004

Ruh roh...

Argue posted:

Didn't Martine kill them all in the opening of season 4?

No, she just killed some randos to show how Samaritan is shutting down any possible leak of its existence IIRC.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.

xeria posted:

No, she just killed some randos to show how Samaritan is shutting down any possible leak of its existence IIRC.

And any possible competition.

Sub Rosa
Jun 9, 2010




Somehow the closed captions for the last two episodes have leaked. Beware of spoilers.

bring back old gbs
Feb 28, 2007

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Sub Rosa posted:

Somehow the closed captions for the last two episodes have leaked. Beware of spoilers.

lmao that cam versions of movie trailers and closed captioning text leak nowadays. poo poo's so ridiculous.

Sober
Nov 19, 2011

First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Sub Rosa posted:

Somehow the closed captions for the last two episodes have leaked. Beware of spoilers.

I mean yes this makes sense but holy gently caress is this real life?

Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006
I'm sure someone else already mentioned it, which is what reminded me of it, but go back to the Season 5 premiere. It began with some apocalyptic-sounding narration in Root's voice, so go watch and listen again, knowing what we know now, and it will change your outlook on what we've already seen and what is yet to come.

bring back old gbs
Feb 28, 2007

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

I'm sure someone else already mentioned it, which is what reminded me of it, but go back to the Season 5 premiere. It began with some apocalyptic-sounding narration in Root's voice, so go watch and listen again, knowing what we know now, and it will change your outlook on what we've already seen and what is yet to come.

nah I don't remember that it was probably nothing.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:
I don't know who Ben Linus is but Harold is about to gently caress some poo poo up :suspense:

berzerkmonkey
Jul 23, 2003

WarLocke posted:

I don't know who Ben Linus is but Harold is about to gently caress some poo poo up :suspense:

He was the character played by Michael Emerson on :lost:. Quite possibly the best character on the show - you were really drawn to him, but he was a real son of a bitch.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:
Everything about Finch's monologue in the interrogation room was intense as gently caress.

And then the phone call with the Machine after - the look on his face when he realizes that if the Machine chose Root's voice as her own, that means Root must be dead - jesus, gives me chills.

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

SirMonkeyButt posted:

Just seems weird. Samaritan could recruit or manipulate almost anyone from a much larger talent pool, including professionally trained soldiers, spies, Hague investigators, etc.
But hey, this ex-con house painter seems really smart and capable.

Eh. I trust the showrunners to make this make sense, so I'll just enjoy what's left of the ride.

Samaritan can only recruit so many highly trained soldiers before someone notices it.

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Chasiubao
Apr 2, 2010


Reese is thing to ruin everything by pulling Finch back from the edge, isn't he :saddowns:

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