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Notes for season 4 episode 6, “Pretenders“ 05:51 “Are you eating something near my computer?” 06:41 Shaw checks if Walter has a registered firearm. Prior to 2012 gun permits were public records. There was a website launched in 2010, Who’s Packing? NY which allowed searches of this data. 07:56 Reese stands next to a poster…

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…