Notes for season 1 episode 21, “Many Happy Returns”
01:50 Reese is casually reading a copy of “Stress Fractures in Titanium”. This is the book, albeit with a different cover, that DeNiro’s character in Heat, Neil, is looking at in the diner when he meets Eady.
03:53 Reese gives a key to… the Key Master from the Matrix sequels?
08:35 Obligatory OCR-A on the police database lookups.
19:57 Apparently the only way to look at the digital x-rays is on the computer next to the corpse in the morgue.
23:19 I’m not sure what the logic is of breaking a cell phone (in a way that reduces resale value but doesn’t prevent forensic analysis) rather than just switching it off – especially if you’re leaving it behind. And if you’re dumping the phone to prevent being tracked, why not toss it into the back of a passing truck?
24:00 It’s interesting how the show doesn’t really take a clear stance on mass surveillance. It’s based on the thought-experiment that human behaviour is predicable at an individual level based on perfect surveillance, but the plot picks away at the infrastructure, not the core of the idea. In this case: what if the the features available to law enforcement (in this case checking the identities of people buying train tickets) made it harder for domestic abuse victims to escape.
32:03 Reese disconnects the encrypted voice channel communications, leaving Finch with a dialtone – presumably added as a skeuomorphic affectation.