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So I finally saw POI 3.10 this afternoon. I think my general reaction is: this is an episode I would have loved if it hadn't followed last week's, but instead it's like chocolate after lemon juice, or something like that. Viewed in isolation, insofar as that's possible, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good, with lots of Michael Emerson's face lovely moments.
Somewhat more detailed if incoherent thoughts under the cut. I may respond to others' posts and comments later, though tomorrow I'm in the car all day.
I find at this point I can't do the "but Carter didn't have to die!" speech that I really do sympathize with many of you for launching into; the Doylist decision-making is too big a factor, as I said before. Given her necessary demise (or otherwise-vanishment, but I know that a tragic death scene is hard to resist, for actors as well as writers), I think the follow-up wasn't awful, and maybe I can pretend that I imagined last week's horrible mess, but… I can't trust them not to screw things up worse, now.
However, I did really like Fusco's big scene in 3.10 (although the fistfight was stupid, unnecessary, and repetitive given that Reese had already punched Simmons out; I'm somewhat less concerned about it being contrary to the Carterian moral imperative), and Elias and Scarface coming in at the end to finish things up. I knew Elias's debt to Carter would manifest itself somehow, and I'm glad this was how (and I love that he pretty much told Simmons that he and Carter had a cooperative arrangement, when it was too late for Simmons to do anything about it).
I'm also continuing to love Root and Finch together, though I am sadly prepared to feel that the coming Machine arc isn't all it could be. (I really really want Harold-Machine communication at some point, and I'm wondering if it will ever happen. And I also want Root-Machine arguments.) All the acting is still splendid - I wanted to shake hands all around and say sorry about the scripts - but I am particularly devoted to Emerson and Acker, which has probably not been at all obvious ha ha.
The flashbacks were intriguing - I was kind of waiting for a meaningful revelation of the faces we never saw, but in retrospect I don't know what sort of plot twist that would have amounted to. They were all, I guess, moments of self-realization that later get turned on their heads, Fusco's being the most obvious in that respect. Harold's didn't exactly seem to belong in this episode, though it was very well done, and John's was circumstantially interesting but pretty much a reiteration of stuff we already knew. Shaw's doctor-boss, as others have pointed out, was a pretentious jerk; if they'd wanted to make something of the scene paralleling Fusco's turn-around there probably should have been more of her at Reese's bedside, though frankly I think it's sufficient that her technique is good (Bear can supply the touchy-feelies).
And many of the little details I've already forgotten were gemlike and sparkly, like the Machine telling Root about Lionel the lion (though what are the chances, really, that there was a camera observing Fusco's father just then).
Anyway, I will think of other things later, but basically… we've done this already this season, the whiplash between "OMG awful" and "hey, pretty good" and I'm not sure how much more of that I can take. They are mostly fun scripts, but continuity appears to have taken a bullet to the kneecaps, or perhaps the head. I found out this week that my dad and stepmother, who we're staying with, are occasional POI watchers, and - it was a casual mention, we didn't discuss it, but - to them it was apparently perfectly natural that Reese and Carter had a thing, and probably it is if you just drop in for random episodes, because who knew what happened in the ones you missed, mm? A romance might have been developed in an entirely natural and logical fashion, instead of as a weird little one-off that didn't really get followed up on next time except that Reese has never had his screws tightened all the way which we kind of knew.
Okay, and I have to do this: get rid of all that stuff from last week, give us Fusco's "my partner taught me better than that" speech this week, and maybe Finch's "Joss wouldn't have wanted you to do this" to Reese (why is he calling her Joss all of a sudden? well, never mind. Except I will now be dreadfully afraid if he ever addresses Shaw by her first name, whatever it is), and also give us parallel moments for Shaw and Reese demonstrating (though probably not speechifying about) what they learned from Carter, and make it really truly a tribute to her. (And actually I'd rather have Finch show he'd changed his behavior due to Carter's influence too, rather than telling Reese she wouldn't have wanted him to kill Quinn; I mean, Finch isn't exactly the poster boy for senseless violence either.)
But I really loved Elias.
Somewhat more detailed if incoherent thoughts under the cut. I may respond to others' posts and comments later, though tomorrow I'm in the car all day.
I find at this point I can't do the "but Carter didn't have to die!" speech that I really do sympathize with many of you for launching into; the Doylist decision-making is too big a factor, as I said before. Given her necessary demise (or otherwise-vanishment, but I know that a tragic death scene is hard to resist, for actors as well as writers), I think the follow-up wasn't awful, and maybe I can pretend that I imagined last week's horrible mess, but… I can't trust them not to screw things up worse, now.
However, I did really like Fusco's big scene in 3.10 (although the fistfight was stupid, unnecessary, and repetitive given that Reese had already punched Simmons out; I'm somewhat less concerned about it being contrary to the Carterian moral imperative), and Elias and Scarface coming in at the end to finish things up. I knew Elias's debt to Carter would manifest itself somehow, and I'm glad this was how (and I love that he pretty much told Simmons that he and Carter had a cooperative arrangement, when it was too late for Simmons to do anything about it).
I'm also continuing to love Root and Finch together, though I am sadly prepared to feel that the coming Machine arc isn't all it could be. (I really really want Harold-Machine communication at some point, and I'm wondering if it will ever happen. And I also want Root-Machine arguments.) All the acting is still splendid - I wanted to shake hands all around and say sorry about the scripts - but I am particularly devoted to Emerson and Acker, which has probably not been at all obvious ha ha.
The flashbacks were intriguing - I was kind of waiting for a meaningful revelation of the faces we never saw, but in retrospect I don't know what sort of plot twist that would have amounted to. They were all, I guess, moments of self-realization that later get turned on their heads, Fusco's being the most obvious in that respect. Harold's didn't exactly seem to belong in this episode, though it was very well done, and John's was circumstantially interesting but pretty much a reiteration of stuff we already knew. Shaw's doctor-boss, as others have pointed out, was a pretentious jerk; if they'd wanted to make something of the scene paralleling Fusco's turn-around there probably should have been more of her at Reese's bedside, though frankly I think it's sufficient that her technique is good (Bear can supply the touchy-feelies).
And many of the little details I've already forgotten were gemlike and sparkly, like the Machine telling Root about Lionel the lion (though what are the chances, really, that there was a camera observing Fusco's father just then).
Anyway, I will think of other things later, but basically… we've done this already this season, the whiplash between "OMG awful" and "hey, pretty good" and I'm not sure how much more of that I can take. They are mostly fun scripts, but continuity appears to have taken a bullet to the kneecaps, or perhaps the head. I found out this week that my dad and stepmother, who we're staying with, are occasional POI watchers, and - it was a casual mention, we didn't discuss it, but - to them it was apparently perfectly natural that Reese and Carter had a thing, and probably it is if you just drop in for random episodes, because who knew what happened in the ones you missed, mm? A romance might have been developed in an entirely natural and logical fashion, instead of as a weird little one-off that didn't really get followed up on next time except that Reese has never had his screws tightened all the way which we kind of knew.
Okay, and I have to do this: get rid of all that stuff from last week, give us Fusco's "my partner taught me better than that" speech this week, and maybe Finch's "Joss wouldn't have wanted you to do this" to Reese (why is he calling her Joss all of a sudden? well, never mind. Except I will now be dreadfully afraid if he ever addresses Shaw by her first name, whatever it is), and also give us parallel moments for Shaw and Reese demonstrating (though probably not speechifying about) what they learned from Carter, and make it really truly a tribute to her. (And actually I'd rather have Finch show he'd changed his behavior due to Carter's influence too, rather than telling Reese she wouldn't have wanted him to kill Quinn; I mean, Finch isn't exactly the poster boy for senseless violence either.)
But I really loved Elias.
