Season 4, Episode 2
Nautilus
Reese: Damn it, Harold, it is still my job to save people.
Finch: Don't let your frustration with me affect your judgment.
Shaw: He's gonna let his frustration with you affect his judgment.
Finch: Don't let your frustration with me affect your judgment.
Shaw: He's gonna let his frustration with you affect his judgment.
Reese enlists Finch's help to work the latest Number, Claire Mahoney, a college student immersed in an Alternate Reality Game that brings her into confrontation with a ruthless private military contractor. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Alternate Reality Game is Samaritan's recruiting tool.
- Alternate Reality Game: the "Nautilus" game is a Fictional Counterpart to the enigmatic Cicada 3301
- Bad Guy Bar: Surprisingly, Reese doesn't start a Bar Brawl in it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Samaritan gets Claire and destroys potential competition in one fell swoop.
- Battle Discretion Shot: The Elevator Action Sequence.
- Book Safe: Where Claire keeps her hard drive.
- Building Is Welding: Finch constructing his base.
- The Chessmaster: Samaritan, which structured the "Nautilus" game so that it simultaneously recruited a new asset (Claire) and obtained a secure file from Silverpool that it could use to eliminate a potential rival AI (Silverpool's work-in-progress surveillance system).
- Diving Save: Reese on Claire when she's reading a clue in the middle of traffic.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: Root warns Shaw that there are two things she must avoid in the criminal career that is part of her cover: Getting caught, and being too good at not getting caught, as the latter will raise Samaritan's interest.
- Elaborate Underground Base: The new base of operations for Team Machine, a decades-abandoned subway repair station.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Finch interrogating the coffee shop guy.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Shaw In the Hood.
- Failed a Spot Check: Reese takes out three men trying to assassinate Claire.
- Fictional Counterpart: "Silverpool" is a rather obvious stand-in for the real-life private military contractor formerly known as "Blackwater".
- Hero of Another Story: We never find out why Root was posing as a flight attendant...or why she locked her pilot in the trunk of a car.
- He's Back!: Finch
- Hidden Depths: Fusco works out the puzzle Reese is puzzling over.
- Hollywood Hacking: But of course, doubly so because Finch broke his compromised computer without taking the time to wipe the hard drive. At least he took the precaution of using a clean computer with no identifying information on it.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Root notes how Reese and Finch have been Like an Old Married Couple, and says "kiss kiss" in response to Shaw's *Click* Hello.
- Improvised Weapon: Reese uses a pay phone to knock out a biker.
- In the Hood: Claire puts her hood up to try to keep the Private Military Contractors who want her dead from spotting her. It only serves to highlight her more as the weather is bright and sunny - but it also hides Shaw's face from the audience when she draws several mooks away until she gets in the elevator.
- Infinite Supplies: Averted; when Reese makes him cough up for vandalism damage (which Claire did) Finch reminds Reese that he no longer has access to his Arbitrarily Large Bank Account.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Finch gets annoyed when Reese arranges a meeting, only to find the Number there instead, despite him pulling the same trick on Joss Carter.
- Fusco enjoys how Reese now has to do lots of paperwork like him.
- Nerd Glasses: Justified as these goggles do something unusual.
- Poor Communication Kills: Due to his fear of Samaritan, Finch can't explain to Claire exactly what's going on, and due to his own issues fumbles his explanation, so Claire pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye while he's thinking up an answer.
- Punk in the Trunk: According to Root, It's a Long Story.
- Shadow Archetype: Justified as Samaritan is recruiting its own version of Team Machine. Claire has Root's fearlessness and unquestioning obedience, Finch's hacking skills, and like Reese in the pilot she's Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life after a personal tragedy. The parallels are shown when Samaritan leaks the documents to the media at the end, just like Team Machine would.
- She Knows Too Much: How Silverpool feels about Claire. Of course, she actually doesn't - she never bothered to actually read the file she stole.
- Smart People Play Chess: Claire is a chess grand master who's already beaten several computers.
- Throwing the Distraction: Reese throws a can to get a sniper away from his weapon.
- Villainous Rescue: Just when Claire thinks it's a "Shaggy Dog" Story and she's about to be shot by the mercs, they're shot by an unseen sniper and Samaritan makes direct contact.
- You Said You Would Let Them Go: LampshadedMerc: Give us the file.
Claire: If I do, will you let me go?
Merc: If I said yes, would you believe me? - You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Finch to Claire.
