Notes for season 2 episode 3, “Masquerade“
They’ve updated the title sequence, but still retained the most annoying thing. “The government considers these people irrelevant. We don’t,” claims voiceover-Finch. However, in a series of flashbacks, we see that Finch alone decided that individual targets would be ignored – the government had no say in the matter. [shakes fist] Oooh, that government!
01:15 Reese hides the Root research files on the computer screen by pulling on a nearby PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera control joystick (a Pelco KBD300A – basically the CCTV version of a NES Advantage). Not clear why that would work, but apparently it does.
02:29 Finch has a process translating Portuguese language web pages into English. Google Translate was already available to the public in 2006 (as statistical machine translation).
04:28 The box of Corwin’s things contains what I’d have assumed was a black pocket router / wifi repeater with a retractable network cable plugged into it, although Fusco identifies it as a “microchip reader”.
08:05 “She’s smart enough to keep her phone’s wifi and bluetooth turned off.” Back in 2012 I usually had wifi and Bluetooth switched off. Security concerns aside, they were a drain on battery if you weren’t actually using it. In mid-September 2017 there were articles advising people to switch off Bluetooth in light of security findings. Then, less than a week later, iOS 11 was released and changed the controls such that the wifi and bluetooth toggles stopped turning off those features, instead just temporarily restricting them. And so they’ve mostly been on ever since.
12:07 Carter finds the RFID reader on the manufacturer’s website, add turndaletechnologies.com to the Warner domain pool. “So where’s the chick?” asks the subtitle transcription, apparently unfamiliar with RFID chips.
20:40 Reese beating up goons in the nightclub now feels a bit John Wick – but the first John Wick movie wouldn’t be released until 2014.
27:32 Reese calls Finch from the only place in the city where you can get some air. It’s not indicated, but this is the High Line, a disused elevated rail line converted into a park, first opened in 2009.