I’ve tried to watch it based on this recommendation and struggled a bit with “how long do I have to watch this random crime procedural before it turns into an AI show?”
That’s a fair criticism! Season 1 is definitely slower on that front compared to the others. I think season 1 is the most normal “crime of the week” season by far, which is why I view it as a good on-ramp for folks less familiar. Arguably, for someone situated as you are, you should just watch the pilot, read a quick wiki summary of every other episode in season 1 except for the last 2, watch those last 2, and move into season 2 when things get moving a little faster. (Finch needs a character that doesn’t appear until season 2 to do a lot of useful exposition on how he thinks about the Machine’s alignment).
Well, it’s quite good random crime procedural with very likable main characters, but yes, in the first season AI plotline is very slow until last 2 episodes. And then it’s slow again for the most part.
I’ve tried to watch it based on this recommendation and struggled a bit with “how long do I have to watch this random crime procedural before it turns into an AI show?”
That’s a fair criticism! Season 1 is definitely slower on that front compared to the others. I think season 1 is the most normal “crime of the week” season by far, which is why I view it as a good on-ramp for folks less familiar. Arguably, for someone situated as you are, you should just watch the pilot, read a quick wiki summary of every other episode in season 1 except for the last 2, watch those last 2, and move into season 2 when things get moving a little faster. (Finch needs a character that doesn’t appear until season 2 to do a lot of useful exposition on how he thinks about the Machine’s alignment).
Well, it’s quite good random crime procedural with very likable main characters, but yes, in the first season AI plotline is very slow until last 2 episodes. And then it’s slow again for the most part.