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Notes for season 4 episode 5, “Prophets“ 00:49 “We have incumbent Governor Murray leading 52 to 48”. Ah, the “cursed ratio”. 00:53 Samaritan observes poll workers, noting party affiliation, age, race, income. This feels post-2020, but is from 2014. 03:11 We can see a bunch of unracked servers in the secret train. They appear to…

Notes for season 4, episode 4, “Brotherhood“ 06:10 “I’ve managed to track the Booker children via their government-issued metro cards” 13:00 Mini is played by Winston Duke, now recognised as M’Baku in the Black Panther movies. 16:55 “Yo, that’s the new Wii.” Wii U was released in November 2012, but this episode aired (and is set…

Notes for season 4 episode 3, “Wingman“ 04:51 I checked to see if Finch’s tool-box was available on Alibaba, and it was. “Plastic Portable Parts Box Screw Storage Box Metal Parts Hardware Tool Screwdriver Auto Repair Divided Material Tool Box” 05:11 It seems so weird for the show to now start treating money as a…

Notes for season 4 episode 2, “Nautilus“ 00:08 “We are being watched…” The season 4 titles take on the red/black on white aesthetics of Samaritan, rather than the white/blue on black design used by the Machine. 01:48 Apparently Finch isn’t the only one capable of hacking into credit card numbers to pull transaction details –…

Notes for season 4, episode 1, “Panopticon“ 01:51 “An Artificial Intelligence bought your paper.” The people in the bar in Budapest discuss the idea that a non-human entity can influence governments, affect livelihoods, manage what the press can say about them, and operate without any real accountability. Mmm, they’re called “corporations”. 02:00 I guess the…

Notes for season 3 episode 23, “Deus Ex Machina“ How did they get through two seasons without using Deus Ex Machina for a title? 01:39 “We’ve opened up these proceedings to observers around the world.” So presumably people around the world are watching, but few people in New York since… there’s a power cut, and…

Notes for season 3 episode 22, “A House Divided“ 06:12 Root’s irregulars, three of the hackers recruited in previous episodes, are huddled in the back of a delivery truck like a cheap version of Sneakers. 06:58 Shaw gets handed the same model sat-phone she had in her first episode 08:46 We see an establishing shot…

Notes for season 3 episode 21, “Beta“ 04:43 The Samaritan beta test is just a projector and bunch of laptops in black Pelican cases (Peli 1470) in an empty warehouse. Pure operator theatrics. 06:17 Ah, the secret paths though the city that avoid the Gorgon gaze of security cameras. 12:00 Briefly feels like another “Assault…

Notes for season 3 episode 20, “Death Benefit“ 3:19 Finch and Shaw leave $1 million (which we presume can’t be linked back to Finch) on the street, next to the drug dealers who were going to kill each other? Effective altruism. 6:10 The congressman is played by John Heard, the dad in Home Alone. 6:39…

Notes for season 3 episode 19, “Most Likely To…“ 01:56 Shaw gives the NYC taxi medallion number to Finch, who looks it up and retrieves the driver details. This isn’t quite right. The medallions are associated with the vehicles, not the drivers. There’s not a one-to-one relationship between drivers and cars, and there are many…