Warning: Fullfor the episode follow...

"Beta" might not have been the all-out siege episode I thought it would be (as in, something akin to "The Crossing"), but it still surprised me in many ways. First and foremost, it was a huge showcase for Grace (the returning Carrie Preston), and her second act scene with Greer, where she was a tea time hostage, was magnificently done. Well mapped out and wonderfully acted. And the whole time you're waiting for Greer to shatter Grace by telling her that Harold was still alive. But it never came because he held back. Which made the scene even better.At first, it seemed like he was doing it out of respect for her feelings, but later we discovered that he was doing it in order to, in the very least, enter into a dialogue with Finch on somewhat cordial terms. He even kept Grace blindfolded during her release as well, just to keep things copacetic.I'd still like to believe that Greer was also being delicate with Grace out of an ingrained sense of politeness, but I can never be fully sure. Especially for a man who demands that his operative kill themselves rather than be captured. Even his resident egghead, Virgil. "I'm afraid Virgil's already dead," Greer coldly stated right before the poor guy forced Reese to shoot him. All while Greer appeared to Reese and Shaw via a giant screen like a true supervillain.So yeah, this episode wasn't a shoot 'em up manhunt, despite Greer having the power of Samaritan behind him. As powerful as he is, Greer didn't have the authority to turn Manhattan into a war zone. He still has masters - for now. He basically had to play nice so as to not draw too much attention to his play - which involved finding Finch quickly before he turned over a real and viable terror suspect to Senator Garrison. So "Beta" involved a lot of sneaking around. A lot of hiding, and tricks involving disabled cameras and traveling in the trunks of taxi cabs. Hell, our heroes even hid in Jersey at one point.The police precinct portion of the episode was fun, what with Decima agents trying to get at Grace posing as FBI (that's Root's deal!) and Root having to pretend to be an anonymous armed (and hooded) weirdo in order to get inside to help out. "I barely believe this is a police station," Grace said, providing a solid laugh in the middle of the tension.But then our heroes made break for it and, would't you know it, those dang Samaritan red triangles popped up everywhere and Grace got nabbed. Again, if this episode belonged to anyone, it was Grace. Which was very unexpected for a peripheral character.But I'm happy it happened because it allowed her to come off as a fleshed-out character and not like a flat damsel in distress. Which, in turn, was important because we the audience had to buy - despite her not having been on the show in a long while - that Finch would still do anything to save her. Which not only included giving himself up to Decima, but giving Reese a very meaningful "kill them all" order should anything have happened to Grace during the switch.And adding to the show's already potent "comic book meets reality" feeling was Finch's acceptance of that final moment. "This moment was always looking for me," he told Reese, understanding that there was simply no way to devote his life to The Machine without large consequences. And so while the bulk of the emotional weight for the episode was carried by Grace, Finch got to own the final minutes as he walked across the bridge, passing her on her left. Even helping her when she stumbled.