SNAFU

Its hard to describe this... im trying hard to give a decent but spoiler free review but the level at which this episode operates is great and i mean great! Watching the machine trying to find its way and tow the lines between who's good and who isn't is marvelous. If last week showed us how scary Samaritan can be, then in many ways this was The Machine flexing its muscle also. The cast were awesome, style, experimentation, everything. Episode took the awesomeness from Episode 1 and turned it up even more. This is the best early start to a season the POI writers have ever written.

Everyone go watch this episode!

Everyone including reviewers should be able to admit it when they encounter things in Life they never expected.

I never expected that TV would not only evolve as it has in the last decade but that, in so doing, it would surpass theatrical film in terms of quality, acting, writing, production, directing.

I never expected that, having set the bar so high, TV -- led by auteurs like JJ Abrams and his team -- would then end up competing WITH ITSELF since there is no longer any other form of entertainment left on the playing field that can offer it a fair fight.

In the process of competing with itself, I never imagined that TV would toss the traditional "short arc" construct under the bus, and not only play the "long arc" like it's never been done before, but actually go one step further and periodically, within the context of a series, completely break itself down and then, with the full participation of the audience, rebuild itself.

Many shows are doing this now. Blacklist comes to mind. Banshee does this every few episodes. But at the end of the day, the "Grandmaster" of deconstruction and reconstruction, the man who possibly invented it, is still Abrams.

This single episode is not only remarkable for the way it deliberately messes with your head (only if you are a regular viewer of course) but for how it, almost effortlessly, delivers a treatise and Good and Evil as good as or better than anything Hollwood has ever done, even with a budget ten times what this show cost.

Best episode in the series. Actually transcends the series. Amazing TV.