Warning: Fullfor the episode follow...

Holy s***.Okay, I'm still reeling a bit here, so please forgive typos and/or brain spasms as I attempt to dive into such a jolting, exciting, heart-wrenching episode. "If-Then-Else" was next-level inventive as The Machine attempted to solve a lethal puzzle in a matter of seconds with all of our heroes' - its "assets" - lives on the line.Let's start at the end here. I was already a bit of a wreck after watching Root shed tears of joy just hearing Shaw snarkily tell her that maybe the two of them could be together if they were the last two people on the planet. That was enough for her. That made her so happy. And it made me bawl even though it was all part of a failed simulation. In fact, that made it even more divine.But the ending though. The ending ruined me. In a great way, of course. I love tragedy and sadness and all the morose elements of drama. The kiss. The sacrifice. And Root crying. And think that's what clinched it for me - Root's reaction to seeing Shaw fall. Because as a character she's always been somewhat cold. Not emotionless, but nothing coming close to the very human breakdown she experienced watching her one true love get gunned down and being powerless to stop it. It was as if her old self, the human side she'd shed long ago, returned and overwhelmed her.I was certainly expecting things to get a little deeper between Root and Shaw on this episode, but I would have even just been fine with the romantic conversation they had during Root's simulated "final stand" in that alternate Machine test world that never truly existed. That would have even been enough for me. Maybe it's because the show had never given us anything "Shroot"-related that was as touching. And markedly revealing.But then the actual real-life final moments managed to top even that. So the chat Root and Shaw had during the simulation number was almost like a deft fake-out move in retrospect. Tricking us into thinking that that's all we were going to get between them.Everything worked here. The Glitch Mob-scored action was brutal (we basically saw each hero except Lionel get dropped), the stakes were high, and the format was genius. And yes, I was fooled by the first faux-death when Harold fell. But then when we saw that it was all part of The Machine's option-scanning, it tied everything neatly into the wonderful 2003 chess scene flashback we'd seen. A flashback narrative that continued throughout the episode as The Machine learned the difference between a game with pawns and real people. An awesome way to break up an episode that had a lot of simulated scenarios in it.There was even time for humor too. Like when everyone started talking in Machine-speak at the end of the final simulation (which had the best possible outcome for everyone, even though it was super-slim). And when Fusco kissed Root. Which was both funny and super-strange when you realize that the moment came from a vibe that The Machine specifically picked up on somewhere and worked into one of the possible plays. Maybe it's the way he called her "cuckoo bird" all the time. Or, in this week's case, "banana nut crunch." Which was a hilarious cereal pull.Harold's final flashback message to The Machine was about how those who deem the world to be a chess game deserve to lose, and it spoke volumes here. Because that lesson is basically what's driving The Machine to fight Samaritan. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned. The Machine could concede if it saw world order the way Samaritan does. Like one would assume any ASI would. But it doesn't because of that one afternoon in the park with Finch.