Synopsis for 4×21: Everything heats up as all of the various parties involved in NYC come together. The Brotherhood captures Elias, Greer is able to lure in Finch and Root, and Control is slowly piecing together exactly what’s been happening just underneath her nose.
Rating: ★★★★☆
‘Twas the episode before the finale, and all through New York City Team Machine was scrambling to prevent Samaritan from finding the Machine. This episode brought together all of the strings that had been left hanging all throughout the season and laid the groundwork for the finale. With quick flashbacks to Elias having to make the terrible decision to kill his right hand man, and to Control’s previous meeting with Finch, it was clear from the get go that crap was about to go down.
First, Control came on the scene and captured a mother on her way to work. The lady seemed innocent enough, but Control felt the need to cut the brakes to her car, causing her to smash into a pillar. She then proceeded to abduct the woman and drove off in a black van.
Thing between Elias and Dominic continued to heat up as another set of Brotherhood soldiers were killed. Reese and Fusco were on the case and immediately went to seek out Elias. He’d been using old bank tubes which stretched all throughout the city to deliver messages, unseen by the Machine and Dominic, to his men. He left one behind, and Reese and Fusco tracked it down to the bank. Unfortunately, so did the Brotherhood.
That left Reese and Fusco on their own, just as the Brotherhood came down on Elias’ hideout and took them in.
Meanwhile, Control was having fun interrogating the woman she’d abducted. She seemed convinced the lady worked for Samaritan, but the woman was adamant she had no idea what Control was talking about. Even after Control shot one of her former agents in cold blood, her captive refused to admit that she was working for Samaritan.
They followed the Machine’s direction to an asylum and Root located an underground wire room. Finch plugged his computer into the wiring and got a view into the world of Samaritan. They were close to finding the Machine, which meant the situation was more dire than they had initially thought. Root and Finch needed to get into the asylum to try and find out more information. So, with Finch disguised as a mental patient, they danced into the belly of the beast.
While they are stuck trying to save the Machine, and Shaw in the process, Reese, Fusco, and Elias were all being tortured by Dominic and his crew. Dominic wanted to know what Elias knew. Also as a surprise, the friendly drifter from earlier in the season made another appearance as a new member of the Brotherhood. With Fusco and Reese trapped and slowly being tortured, everything seemed hopeless.
Control still had the woman who she was insistent on torturing. While her captive did everything in her power to deny any connection to Samaritan, Control finally presented her with evidence she couldn’t refute. The captive finally gave up her persona.
Back with the Brotherhood, everyone is being tortured. Elias revealed to Reese that it had been his plan all along to be caught. He’d left the tube as a breadcrumb to lure the Brotherhood in. Reese had just shown up at the wrong time and gotten himself caught up in the mess that Elias had purposely set out to create.
Samaritan realized very quickly that Root was in the building after Root smashed into what had been Shaw’s room. Instead of Shaw, however, she found Martine who swiftly captured her. Finch was brought into the room as well, captured in the lower levels, and the two realized what it was Samaritan wanted. They’d scanned every possible network and hadn’t been able to find the Machine, but Root’s implant could lead them to it. It was her direct connection to the Machine, after all.
Control’s captive revealed a huge part of Samaritan’s plan. She called the super computer’s rule “The Correction.” Samaritan would make the world better. It would purge all of the bad and what it would leave was an organized, protected civilization. Samaritan wants to be a god, and Control’s captive is insistent that the AI’s plan is about to come into play.
Elias managed to convince Dominic that his second in command was the mole. He shot Link, then Elias revealed the truth: he’d set him up. Link hadn’t been the mole, but Elias had made it look like it in order to avenge his own fallen second. He made Dominic pay for Anthony’s death. There is going to be chaos in the Brotherhood.
People mattered to the Machine. Honestly, the Machine wouldn’t be Harold’s Machine if she wouldn’t put herself on the line to protect people. She demanded her agents be released in exchange for information on her where abouts and Samaritan agreed. Root and Finch walked free, but at what cost?
Now it is going to be a race to get to the Machine.