My rough guesses on how this will go:
Speculation spoiler barred, because people might not want to think about how things might go down (Also using images from that promo to guide my thoughts, so if you don't even watch the promo's, don't bother reading):
Trial happens. Either to show they mean business, or he tries something to escape, I figure the president's aide gets killed. He's a brand new character versus the other 4 established ones. Screams Red Shirt to me.
Yep, right on
Harold reveals himself in some fashion, but in a way that isn't a "total reveal". Unsure if he or anyone reveals that it's not a simple "mass surveillance, but actually the worlds first AI", which would be it's own shitstorm.
More or less happened. The "not a total reveal" is explained because of Decima orchestrating the whole thing, including faking the broadcast to the world, fooling Vigilance. No one outside that room knows about Harold, and everyone in that room is dead besides Finch, Greer, Control and the Senator
Reese and Hersch somehow are able to track down that location (cause hey, that place looks like a library or large old building, shouldn't be too hard to single out possible locations). Large gunfight occurs, where I bet most if not all of Vigilance is killed, but I imagine the Senator is too. I have a feeling Control lives, but perhaps Hersch doesn't. Finch and John should make it out (cause hey, they're the show), and I'm unsure on what happens to Greer.
Wrong on the senator, but mostly because I wasn't sure on the Samaritan outcome. If it "died" it didn't matter what happened to the Senator or Greer. Right on Hersch and Control.
It looks like the cops raid Finch's library, which makes me feel it might happen near the end of the story, post-rescue. That leads me to believe that Harold is somehow exposed in all of this. But I assume that Fusco might help move the cops in the wrong direction.
Yeah, cops, post Samaritan turn on, but Fusco couldn't stop it if he tried, and Finch/Reese were already gone
Root's wearing a labcoat in a whiteroom, and Shaw's with her, so I'm assuming they're together @ Samaritan. I've just had this feeling for a long time that Root isn't making it beyond this season. That she's been the Machine's arms and feet, up until it upgrades itself, which leads me into:
Wrong on Root dying, thankfully. The way the show is now changed, the group really needs the Machine's help. Hell, they all need to be talking to the Machine instead of just her.
Super theory time: i've had multiple thoughts on how Decima and Vigilance are connected. Some of these theories are not compatible with each other.
1. The Machine has been behind Vigilance all along. A secret army to ferret out Decima and the government. Things that it, post-becoming free, decided were threats to human life. Vigilance has always had this odd ability to know things first, move undetected, and other things that should have popped up.
brrr, WROOONG, but I knew that Vigilance seemingly got some information help from something, which ended up being...
2. Decima has been behind Vigilance all along. Information broker could also explain how Vigilance knows things first/faster. Also, before being Captured, Greer seemingly knew they were coming ("It's already too late, Senator" or something like that.) That combined with how odd Decima is (people killing themselves, not really wanting control over Samaritan). They've used Vigilance to both remove The Machine, but also to ensure that the government will want to use it (Samaritan), by sacrificing Greer, along with the other 4 people, to a terrorist attack (the Kangaroo Court), all because they had turned off The Machine (because of public influence). Selling the idea of a 3rd party system that isn't held to the same standard as the Government is.
Almost completely right, except for the deaths of Greer, Control, the Senator or Finch. Didn't realize they had brought in 20-30 hostages, which in turn were the deaths needed for the plan. Saw Greer in the previous episode being mellow about being abducted by Vigilance, and the odd "chipper mood" during the kangaroo court was confirming it. The plan was expose the machine, get it shut down, introduce a newer/stronger machine, push the government to act by creating a terrorist attack while Samaritan was off.
3. Harold's involved with Vigilance. Tired of the fight, upset at his losses because of Government corruption, Harold created a contingency plan that can both reveal the machine's existence (since it's beyond being able to be turned off), and stop any competitors in the AI-Creating business. My least likely to happen thought.
Wrong, was going for a "Harold isn't who we think he is" play, though now going forward, he'll need to do something similar to stop Samaritan. Come on Team Elias!
2a & 3a: Ingram is behind Decima and/or Vigilance, because hey, half the cast is "presumed dead", why not pull the trick on us and have a presumed dead person really be alive.
for giggles, brought back an old theory about Nathan from season 2, where I wasn't sure he really died in the ferry blast. Would like to see a reappearance of that actor. Same with Zoe, Leon and Carter, in some fashion. That photo drop of various POI's
Only people I know should make it to season 4 are Reese and Fusco.
yep, never in "abnormal danger" as Reese is used to ongoing gun battles
My 95% survival is Finch
for a split second...this felt close.
Root or Shaw won't make it out, with Root being the most likely choice.
whew, wrong. My guess for the reason to not bringing in the 3 hackers, is that the machine wasn't sure there were enough goons to steal the RFID chips from.
Greer is 50/50
depended on the Decima and Samaritan plot
Collier is 25%, mostly based on the possibility of him being connected to Decima or the Machine, if this was all some sort of long con.
pretty much right. His contribution came to an end, and quickly so did his life.
Control is at 75%
wasn't quite as sure, but figured they didn't need to kill off all the bad guys in the kangaroo court
Hersch at 35%
season finale, gun battle between a large force and 2 men, someone was probably going to die. He went out nicely, and who knows, he might have been close to stopping it. World lost a true badass (come on, fighting off 3 mercs after being shot 2-3 times...)
The Senator is at 15%
He wasn't a big role, and didn't expect him to last much longer than the other G-Man. Also didn't plan on Samaritan actually "winning" which needed him to be alive to give it the feeds.
The other guy, just mark him for death.
lol yep, and I hope others figured this was gonna happen too
Rest of Vigilance is Dead or in custody.
Season finale needs a bodycount of cannon fodder
In all of this, I still hold out hope that Elias plays a small part, perhaps in saving Finch. But the storyline currently has no ties to a "small timer" like Elias (on the scale of where it is now, yep, Small Timer)
Lastly, trying to decide, just what the hell is Root and the servers doing? What does it mean?
She said something about "slowing down their adversaries." Maybe she thinks it'll slow down Samaritan's reaction time, enough that the government won't want it. But, I'm going with a different thought:
The Machine doesn't tell Root everything.
I believe the Machine tells the hackers how to set it up, where it can infiltrate the rest of those servers, wipe out Samaritan, and use the new power of the servers and the improved functions of Samaritan, to upgrade itself. That all of this, Decima and Vigilance, was it's long con, to improve itself, using people as chess pieces to get to this point.
The word "Decima" is the name for one of the Roman "sisters of Fate". It's greek version is called Lachesis:
"Lachesis was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being. She measured the thread of life with her rod. She is also said to choose a person's destiny after a thread was measured."
Choosing how much time left in life? Choosing a person's destiny? Sounds a bit like how the machine works. It could see those things, but with upgraded potential, and the Decima army behind it, can now "choose" instead of just observe.
Which makes me think, that the next season, at least going forward, is that The Machine is the big bad. Just one that still has that line of code that continues to try and save irrelevant people.
Jonah always said this wasn't a show that could just 'keep" going. I figure we have 1 or 2 more seasons left.
Added thoughts going forward, if this is the case: Finch seems to be found out, but still needs manpower to fight The Machine. Good way to bring in Elias and his group
Pretty much all wrong, but with the same rough outcome, a Bad A.I. But at least it's not our Faithfull Machine. It's Samaritan.