The main thing that stuck with me after this episode: lots of Harold/Machine thoughts. I didn't really expect it to still be this imprinted on him - reviewing his lessons, saving the painting, immediately ending the first simulation when he is killed - so when we came to this:
I loved the "what good is it saving the world if we can't enjoy it?" message switching voices from Harold to Root in the real action
I was wondering if the Machine told Root to say that, repeating something it thinks Harold would say, on top of doing something for him specifically. Also, Root's reaction to his death in the first simulation: since the Machine sees her as its interface, would it predict her reaction to Harold's death in a way that's at least partly influenced by its own reaction? Loved the interaction between Harold and the Machine in the flashbacks, and I still don't know how Harold went from teaching the Machine like a child, having real conversations, to cutting off its memories (which I assume must have happened after) and not interacting with it at all anymore. There must be something the writers haven't made up we haven't seen yet.
a moral foundation
Yeah, those flashbacks were called 'reviewing precepts'. Which is interesting, because it's not something Harold wrote into the code, but something he told. Very different, and yet, the Machine still takes it as a deciding rule. (Not only that, it predicts his current responses in a similar way and acts accordingly: see the painting.) But on second thought, they didn't go down the hard route: both simulations the Machine rejected were utter failures anyway, it didn't really have to make the 'sacrifice a chess piece for a desired outcome' decision. During the second one it looked like sacrificing John might be okay, because it stopped only when Root was killed as well, but that might be reading too much into it. The way the flashbacks were paired with the simulations certainly suggested that the ultimate decision was based on Harold's words of not sacrificing people for strategy (see also the Bob/Alice scenario in 'Prophets') but, well, it was the only possibly successful one anyway.
What I'm not entirely sure about is the sense of humour you mention. I mean, the abstract dialogue made sense, the Fusco/Root kiss less so, and, in my probably rather unpopular opinion, that bit went too far in breaking the fourth wall. There are shows where it fits tonally, but in this one I found it really jarring, although I see why they did it.
They certainly know about him now, and know that he knows much more than he did
Ha, we'll see how that goes. I recently rewatched the end of last season and it occurred to me that Fusco is right there on the bridge with them during the Grace exchange, he is seen by many of Decima's operatives - and yet, no consequences.
no subject
I loved the "what good is it saving the world if we can't enjoy it?" message switching voices from Harold to Root in the real action
I was wondering if the Machine told Root to say that, repeating something it thinks Harold would say, on top of doing something for him specifically. Also, Root's reaction to his death in the first simulation: since the Machine sees her as its interface, would it predict her reaction to Harold's death in a way that's at least partly influenced by its own reaction?
Loved the interaction between Harold and the Machine in the flashbacks, and I still don't know how Harold went from teaching the Machine like a child, having real conversations, to cutting off its memories (which I assume must have happened after) and not interacting with it at all anymore. There must be something
the writers haven't made upwe haven't seen yet.a moral foundation
Yeah, those flashbacks were called 'reviewing precepts'. Which is interesting, because it's not something Harold wrote into the code, but something he told. Very different, and yet, the Machine still takes it as a deciding rule. (Not only that, it predicts his current responses in a similar way and acts accordingly: see the painting.)
But on second thought, they didn't go down the hard route: both simulations the Machine rejected were utter failures anyway, it didn't really have to make the 'sacrifice a chess piece for a desired outcome' decision. During the second one it looked like sacrificing John might be okay, because it stopped only when Root was killed as well, but that might be reading too much into it. The way the flashbacks were paired with the simulations certainly suggested that the ultimate decision was based on Harold's words of not sacrificing people for strategy (see also the Bob/Alice scenario in 'Prophets') but, well, it was the only possibly successful one anyway.
What I'm not entirely sure about is the sense of humour you mention. I mean, the abstract dialogue made sense, the Fusco/Root kiss less so, and, in my probably rather unpopular opinion, that bit went too far in breaking the fourth wall. There are shows where it fits tonally, but in this one I found it really jarring, although I see why they did it.
They certainly know about him now, and know that he knows much more than he did
Ha, we'll see how that goes. I recently rewatched the end of last season and it occurred to me that Fusco is right there on the bridge with them during the Grace exchange, he is seen by many of Decima's operatives - and yet, no consequences.