Summary: Phoebe learns about Chandler and Monica when she sees them having sex. She enlists Rachel and Joey and decides to mess with both of them. Ugly naked guy is moving out so Ross tries to get his apartment.
The Good: What an incredibly creative episode. This episode perfectly encompasses everything I love about this show. The rich characters, funny interactions, realistic plots and hilarious moments all add up to make some outstanding comedy. The titular scenes that bookend this episode are awesome and manage to feel different from each other despite the same thing happening, more or less, in each scene. Phoebe and Ross' reactions to seeing Chandler and Monica are hilarious and are written perfectly to get the most humour out of the scenes. I also love the moment with Ross joining the girly celebrations early in the episode. The main plot is excellent. Watching Chandler/Monica go up against Phoebe/Rachel is very entertaining and is a funny set of mindgames that builds to an exciting conclusion. And then there is poor Joey who is caught in the middle and manages to get a lot of amazing jokes out of his role. The character work in this episode is the best it has been in a long time. Phoebe is back to her original self, Monica's character is wonderfully consistent without being over-the-top like she usually is, Chandler is awkward, but in a charming a way and Joey's simplified thinking makes him look less childish than he has become. The usual overacting isn't even a problem because it is acknowledged by the show and we are never supposed to believe that Chandler or Phoebe actually believe that the other is genuinely interested. The central date scene is a terrific climax. Chandler and Phoebe play their roles perfectly, the dialogue and execution is hilarious, and the climax is a really sweet scene. Ross' B-story is better than what we usually get and it has a few great jokes and an unexpectedly great payoff joke with ugly naked Ross. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. Best Moment: The date scene. It's so awkward in the best way and that leads to so many terrific laughs. The break scenes with Phoebe in the hallway and Chandler in the bathroom are so well written too and only add to the atmosphere of a terrific scene. Character of the Episode: Phoebe. Conclusion: Spectacular. This episode is a near perfect piece of comedy. It's fresh, different, impeccably written, and a consistent source for laughs. This is as good as comedy gets. Score: 92
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Summary: The next POI is a man named Logan who owns a billion dollar company. He is also a total slob and is very unpredictable. Reese is forced to reveal himself to protect him since Logan continually puts himself in tedious situations that make it impossible to follow him. Logan is able to deduce who Reese is and is curious to learn more. Eventually it's revealed that Logan's lawyer is trying to kill him so Reese disposes of the lawyer and leaves. Logan's name comes up again and his business partner is trying to kill him since Logan jumped ship to another business. Reese deduces what is happening and saves Logan again.
The Good: Logan is a really fun character. While he really stretches believability (see: The Bad), he is also really fun in a way that POIs usually aren't. Logan is such a cartoon character that he is a total joy to watch. The unpredictable nature of his character and his funny obnoxious personality make the episode more enjoyable to watch. Jimmi Simpson delivers a surprisingly convincing performance, and he continues his track record of impressing me in every show I see him in. The episode itself isn't particularly important and is a definite cool down after the last few episodes. However, I don't think that's a bad thing. It would be hard to follow up the relentless pace and suspense, so the show was in need of some cooling down to build towards the next big storyline. The main story was pretty fun too. It stands out because of Logan's intelligence. it was interesting to see a conventional POI story only with the POI being aware of who Reese and Finch are. It added an interesting new dynamic and had its fair share of fun, surprising moments. The watch at the ending was a fun little twist and did a nice job of adding some extra depth to Logan. It certainly sets up a return from him later on. I enjoyed the flashbacks too. Finally, we get to see more of what happened with Finch and Ingram after the Machine was given to the government. It seems that Ingram was the original Reese and he may have been the one to come up with the idea of saving the other people instead of Finch. Perhaps Finch only continued it to respect Ingram after his death. Either way, it seems that something significant will happen that leads to Ingram's death and I'm excited to see what it is. The Bad: Logan is so much of a dirtbag that it's hard to believe. I've never seen anyone so vile in the real world, so it's stretching it for Logan to have such an excessive personality. The Justin twist wasn't very good. The second he was introduced, I figured he would be involved with a twist later on, especially seeing how his relationship with Logan wasn't very good. As far as the show's twists go, this was one of the weakest ones for sure. The Unknown: Was Ingram the first Reese? What led to his death? Was it government-related or did he die while trying to save lives like Reese does? Will we see Logan again? After re-watching some episodes, I couldn't help but notice the boxes that the Machine assigns to people. I noticed that Reese and Finch are yellow. Does that just mean they are servants of the Machine? Does it mean they are aware of its existence? Or something else? I've also noticed that red boxes seem to mean dangers. Best Moment: The reveal of the nature of the watch gift was a fun moment. Character of the Episode: Logan. Conclusion: This was a pretty fun episode and a good way to cool down. Score: 61 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Stanton survived the blast and was hospitalized. She is met by a mysterious man who offers her revenge. Carter escapes the scene of Donnelly's death and notices Reese is gone. Fusco gets involved and learns what happened. Finch tries to locate Reese to save him. Reese awakens wearing a bomb vest with Stanton and Snow. Stanton tasks him with obtaining a specific hard drive from a secret laboratory. Reese deduces that Stanton is trying to get a cyber weapon and secretly deletes the drive data to Snow's chagrin. Stanton reveals she actually wanted to upload something to the laboratory instead. She triggers the bomb vests and Snow and Reese are both on borrowed time. Finch arrives and manages to defuse Reese's bomb. Stanton gets a call from the man and receives a name to get revenge. Snow shows up in her car and the bomb blows up, killing both of them. The name is revealed to be Finch.
The Good: It was always going to be hard to follow the prior episode, but this did a damn good job. While the episode isn't as relentlessly intense as "Prisoner's Dilemma", it follows a more basic method of building up to a climax which then delivers as much of a bang (literally) as possible. This ended up being a very smart approach since it ensures that this episode won't be overshadowed by doing a completely different story. And the story was really great. Stanton was excellent in this episode, and while I was saddened to see her go so soon (see: The Bad), her storyline has successfully set up yet another mysterious background character who will most certainly be showing up again. It's good to know that Stanton was just the beginning of a storyline which is even larger in scale than I initially imagined (see: The Unknown). Stanton's story was really good too. Her character works really well in opposition to Reese. Stanton is everything Reese isn't. She is a psychopathic monster and perfectly fits with the description of Reese that Donnelly gave in the previous episode. She comes off as pure, cold evil and Annie Parisse plays the role extremely well. I think Stanton works so much better as a villain than Donnelly due to her connections to Reese, her charismatic personality and the background she is given in this episode to give her some motivation. We learn that Stanton is entirely driven by vengeance towards the people that tried to murder her. It gives her some necessary depth and makes her overall goal in the episode more interesting. I enjoyed the main plot line a lot. Watching Reese and Snow work together to do Stanton's dirty work was fairly enjoyable. There were some fun sequences and I really enjoyed all of the three way conversations between Reese, Stanton and Snow. The tension slowly built up as Reese continued to defy Stanton and I was waiting for the ball to drop by the end of the episode. It all happened at the DoD lab when Reese fully started to go against Stanton after he lost contact with her. The scenes at the DoD were very tense and I liked the action scenes. The brief fight between Snow and Reese was great, as was Stanton's sudden arrival, revealing that she wasn't after a cyber weapon after all. It was an effective twist and raises a lot of great questions (see: The Unknown). The final stretch of the episode was superb. Stanton armed both Reese and Snow and they both turned into time bombs ready to explode. Reese resigning to his fate was sad, especially as he dismissed Carter and Fusco to head to the roof, where Finch was naturally just there. Then we got a lovely sequence as Finch defused the bomb (I caught that subtle nod to "Goldfinger"). The scene wasn't tense since I was fairly sure that Reese wasn't going to die. Instead it was emotional and was all about the risks Finch was willing to take to ensure Reese doesn't die. We have heard over and over how much Finch means to Reese (he gave me a purpose), but we don't often get these long emotional scenes that show how important Reese is to Finch. This scene effectively conveyed those emotions in a big way. On the other side of the episode's climax was Snow and Stanton. I thought their deaths were very well written. Snow was given a great final line, and having him kill Stanton as well as himself was a fitting end to his character. I also enjoyed the detail that Snow chose not to kill Reese. It seems that Reese's insistence on not killing anybody changed Snow's opinion of him. Stanton was too dangerous to keep alive, but Reese had become a decent man. Then, there was that amazing cliffhanger. Honestly, Finch had lost most of the mystery surrounding his character this season. He had become just another member of the crew, and while I still enjoyed him, he wasn't as fascinating to me as he was in season 1. This episode rejuvenated his mystery in a big way. The final reveal that he sold this mysterious laptop and is apparently the target of this mysterious new corporation is really big and I cannot wait to learn more. As a final point, I liked the first few scenes with Carter and Fusco too. Carter making her escape was suitably tense and I really liked that Fusco got involved with the main story through something as simple as finding Carter's missing earring at a crime scene. The Bad: Well that's the third time we have seen the same Ordos flashback. I don't think I need to see that flashback ever again. Having Carter, Fusco and Finch just show up at a building that has a bomb threat was really bad. The cops were blocking people from going up the elevators but apparently nobody was watching the stairs which is dumb. Furthermore, there was a lot of security preventing people from taking the elevator up to the 21st floor. Yet Carter and Fusco can just walk up some random staircase and get all the way up there somehow. And Finch can just teleport to the top of 20 story buildings at will apparently. It was disappointing to lose Stanton so quickly. There was so much build up for her character, and her role as a villain was too good to be used up so quickly. Even though her story did build up another set of bad guys, I feel like more should have been done with her character. With both Snow and Stanton dead now, it feels like Reese's past has just been brushed under the rug. The Unknown: Who is the man who has the laptop now? What are his motives? He had Stanton upload something at the laboratory. What was it? Will it affect the Machine? How does he know Finch? Apparently he works for Decima Technologies. What does the corporation do? Is it a British corporation? Does that mean it ties in with Wesley? What are Finch's ties with Decima? What has he done in the past? What is on the laptop and why did he sell it? Did he program whatever it is that is on the laptop? Best Moment: Finch defusing Reese was fantastic. Character of the Episode: Stanton. Conclusion: This was another great episode. It built up nicely, felt important and had a terrific climax while also opening up several big mysteries for the show to explore. A great hour of television. Score: 71 Summary: Fusco takes care of the nest POI as Finch and Carter work on getting Reese out. Donnelly is determined and does thorough background checks of all four men. Finch fabricates a backstory for Reese while Carter interrogates him. Reese meets with Elias while in prison and gets in an altercation with Byron. Hersh infiltrates the prison with a goal to kill all four suspects. He kills one. After a tense investigation, Donnelly heavily suspects Reese. He isn't able to find anything and so he uses his altercation with Byron as an attempt to discover evidence. It fails. Carter interrogates another man and is able to pinpoint that he is the man in the suit. Reese is released and meets with Carter. However, Donnelly finds them and arrests both of them. He had suspected Carter to be a mole and it was confirmed when she showed some concern for Reese. Finch gets on the case but the Machine gives him another number: Donnelly. Donnelly's car is crashed and Stanton arrives to kill him. She reunites with Reese.
The Good: Well damn. When "Person of Interest" goes all in, it goes all in. This episode was ridiculously tense and had me completely hooked the entire time. I think this is one of the best tension-based drama episodes I have ever seen, up there with some of the best episodes of "Breaking Bad". It's not often when I feel so mentally exhausted that I find myself pausing just for a few moments to collect my thoughts. This episode started off in a brilliant way. The recap at the start was done in such a stylish way and it immediately captured the building tension that this episode thrived in. Furthermore, the fact that this episode was given a moment like this to kick it off makes it feel so much more important than all of the other episodes. Once the episode really gets going is when it shines though. The interrogation scenes between Carter and Reese are incredible. What adds on to these is Donnelly's presence in the background waiting for just one mistake to capitalize on. Every conversation puts me on the edge of my seat and they only get more and more suspenseful as the episode goes on. The climax results in a terrific scene where Carter is taking opposing commands from Donnelly and Finch, unsure of what to do. My mind was racing, thinking of the possibilities of what might happen. And then, just like that, the scene becomes an emotional scene where Reese gets to recount his life and his most tragic decision (see: Best Moment). It takes fantastic directing for the transition to work as well as it does without taking away from the pounding suspense. Donnelly's character is a standout once again. His persistence and capabilities as an antagonist are what make this episode work so well. Donnelly is so careful to dot his i's and cross his t's that it seems increasingly likely that he may discover something about Reese by outdoing Finch. Donnelly's moves were brilliant and I loved that nothing Finch and Carter did was able to outsmart him. His visit to the office was excellent, his relentless and quick background checks were fantastic, and the little things like him not falling for both the fire alarm and Macavoy's false evidence were splendid details. Plus, they genuinely challenged Finch who had to do some spectacular moves to ensure that Donnelly doesn't get ahead of them, such as contacting Macavoy, forging Reese's background and more. And these excellent developments are all thanks to Donnelly. Everything he does is so pleasingly logical and intelligent that it feels downright refreshing. The best villains are the ones who feel like they are an actual threat to the protagonists. But calling Donnelly a pure villain doesn't seem right. He is just a man doing his job, and that is made abundantly clear in this episode. In fact, his position on catching Reese does come off as morally correct and the points he makes about Reese are very true. Calling Reese a monster ties in nicely with the flashbacks and builds a little bit of morally grey stature around his character. The ending is really tragic for Donnelly. He did everything right in catching Reese, but his fatal mistake was letting the case become personal to him. By attacking Reese, he got caught up in something much bigger than he probably suspected, and without any backup to help him, he met his end. The final sequence was astounding as well. After the episode built up so fiercely, I thought that Reese being proven innocent may have been the end of it. With "Eminence Front" playing, I thought that the episode may have a calm ending that ties up loose ends and maybe spent more time on Fusco's story. So when Donnelly returned and arrested both Reese and carter, it completely caught me off guard. I was very pleased by it and it was consistent for the paranoid Donnelly to suspect Carter after everything that went wrong. After that, I knew something had to happen to Donnelly since two of the show's leads obviously weren't going to be jailed forever. But predictable isn't always bad, and the show managed to create drama at the end by accepting this. By having the Machine give Donnelly's number (also, how great was that scene where Finch walked by pay phones which all prominently started ringing), we knew that something was going to happen. The Stanton reveal was fantastic and provides one hell of a cliffhanger. By the look of things, "Person of Interest" is going to keep the momentum going into the next episode and I can't wait to watch what happens next. There were so many other things I loved about this main storyline. I was pleased that Finch and Reese already had an alias planned in the event that Reese gets captured. Finch's preparations were terrific and I was continually pleased that he considered several things that could happen. I really liked his plan to pin the blame on somebody else before Reese gets ratted out. The presence of Byron was some lovely continuity and the test that Donnelly did at the end was a perfect hail Mary. The chaotic feel of the episode was awesome. So many factors kept coming into play as Hersh and Elias also got involved, and it only added to the sense that something crucial to the story was happening on screen. I liked Fusco's story too. It worked to put the POI in the background of an episode for once, making this episode feel refreshingly different and special. Additionally, Fusco's story led to some of the funniest jokes that the show has ever done, a very necessary bit of relief in an episode which was so sensationally tense. Every time the episode cut to Fusco, he was in such an overly dramatic and funny situation. I absolutely loved it. The flashbacks were really good too. It's about time that we got to learn more about Reese and Stanton's dynamic, and it gives us a good idea of what to expect once we catch up with them in the next episode. The Bad: The final flashback was a bit redundant. We saw majority of it back in "Matsya Nyaya", and I don't think we needed to see it again. The Unknown: Who is Special Counsel's contact that sent him the information? Why did he feel the need to send Hersh to kill the four men? Is this the end of the man in the suit investigation? Or will somebody else continue it? Will the FBI be satisfied with Packer as the culprit? What does Stanton want with Reese? Will she treat him the same way she treated Snow? Or does she have something else in mind? What does she want? What will she do with Carter? Will she dispose of Donnelly's body or will she use it as a message to the FBI? Whatever is happening, I suspect it's going to be pretty big. Best Moment: A tense interrogation by Carter turns into a heartfelt moment as Reese fabricates a story for John Warren about how he lost his girl. It's a lovely bit of storytelling that of course mirrors how Reese lost Jessica. It's a really touching moment amidst utter chaos and I love it. Character of the Episode: Donnelly. His presence will be missed, though with Stanton and Root around, I'm sure that the show can fill his shoes nicely. Conclusion: What a stellar episode. I was expecting something big to happen from this storyline, but I never expected something as downright epic as what we got here. This is far and above the best episode of the show so far. It was remarkably tense, used all of its characters in a very efficient way and provided us with the best writing I have seen in the show. This checked all the boxes and showed me a glimpse of just how good this show can be. Score: 82 Summary: Reese has been imprisoned and Finch tasks Carter with proving him innocent. Carter is able to replace Reese's DNA which was discovered before with another man's DNA. Finch is forced to take the next POI case for himself. The next POI is a high school student so Finch goes undercover as a substitute teacher. The POI is a boy named Caleb and his brother died in a train accident. Finch initially thinks that somebody else killed his brother but it isn't the case. Finch eventually realizes that Caleb is on the verge of suicide and manages to talk him out of it. Reese is almost released but Donnelly persists and keeps him, ordering Carter to start interrogating the four men in suits.
The Good: I liked this much more than the last episode. Watching Finch tackle a case alone is always fresh and I really enjoyed seeing him saving a life without the need for any big action sequence. The lack of any action makes this episode stand out among other episodes, forcing the plot to take center stage to allow for some exciting drama. I've noticed that the show likes to add an excess of plot to make up for less action and most times it doesn't work. But pleasingly, I thought it worked here for the most part, as most of the plot twists were meaningful and added to the story. I liked Finch's story in this episode. While I found Caleb to be difficult to care about as a character (see: The Bad), the show found a way around that by making me understand why Finch would care about him. Finch initially thought very little about Caleb, but after learning more about who he is, he grew more attached to Caleb. By the episode's end, it was clear that Finch had cast himself onto Caleb and because of that, he became extremely determined to save his life and to ensure that the world won't lose an individual who could bring about great things in his life. I liked the relationship that developed between Finch and Caleb after their scenes together. The ending nicely sets up for Caleb to return later on as well. The school scenes worked well too. I was pleasantly surprised by the show's portrayal of a school. It was more accurate than I was expecting and even touched on the common question of "why am I learning this stuff anyways". The follow-up scene where Finch got to show some passion for math was lovely and I liked that Finch's words were able to get the interest of the classroom. It was a realistic look at how students work and I thought the hallway scenes were pleasantly well written too. If only more shows could get the school setting right. Carter's story was fun too. While I'm not too sure if Carter going to a night club is the most efficient way to get some DNA, it was certainly the most fun story they could have provided. Watching Carter in this different role was surprisingly fun, and I just wish that we had gotten more from her story. I enjoyed watching her set up what should have been a perfect way to prove Reese as innocent. Better yet was the ending as Donnelly was smart enough not to fall for Carter's trick. He persisted, which was completely consistent with his character and he has now set up some excellent drama for the next episode as Carter will now be interrogating Reese. I can't wait to see what happens there. There were a couple of good references in here that I caught. Sending Mrs. Bentham to Maui was a nice nod to "Lost". And I caught that one frame with the blue meth. The Bad: The one storyline I didn't like was the drug one. It never got resolution and didn't seem to add to the story at all. Also, I found the reason for why Caleb was dealing drugs to be unsatisfying. He will be getting a truckload of money from the work he's giving to Beckner, so why would he need to get into dangerous business to make a few more bucks? Furthermore, nothing was done about Lorenzo. It seems to me that Caleb is going to get killed by a few baseball bat strikes soon, so Finch better not just leave him. Caleb's character is pretty difficult to relate to. A hidden genius doesn't really connect to many people, and it didn't quite get me to fully sympathize with him. It feels like a missed opportunity to have a really relatable character. How did Finch plant a phone in Reese's cell? Donnelly ensured his men to be super careful with the prisoners, so it's hard to believe that they would make this oversight. Also, who did Finch contact to plant that phone? The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. The Unknown: So the Machine reports suicide cases too? That's interesting and opens up the possibilities for a POI case even more. Finch talked to Caleb about making a big mistake. Is he referring to the Machine? As far as I remember, I don't recall him ever saying that the Machine was a mistake. So was he referring to something else? What? Does it have something to do with Ingram's death? Or the incident that caused him to have a limp? Best Moment: I really liked Finch talking Caleb out of suicide. Michael Emerson is a terrific actor and he naturally rose to the occasion here. I bought into the relationship between Finch and Caleb and that made this scene work. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was much better than the last episode. Having Finch work alone made this episode feel different from the many others I have seen. Add on some strong and logical progression of the show's overall story arc, and I think this ends up as one of the season's finest hours. Score: 66 Summary: Donnelly returns and has found a way to track down the man in the suit. He enlists Carter to the FBI to help him out. The next POI is a girl named Abby who is about to do a robbery. However, Finch believes she is innocent so Reese goes to help her. Reese and Finch end up doing a bank robbery alongside them. Reese is in the action and Finch is outside. They get attacked by some men working for Chapple, the guy whose safe was being robbed. Donnelly is able to track down Reese and arrests him and three other guys in suits who were present at the robbery, unsure of which one is the man in the suit he is tracking.
The Good: The Donnelly story is pretty strong. I enjoyed seeing Carter's interactions with him as she is forced to go along with his investigation despite working for Reese. Additionally, Donnelly's presence gives the episode more momentum, which was needed for a midseason finale like this. Donnelly's role in this episode reminded me of Snow back in "Number Crunch" last season. This episode was also structured very similarly to the last one where it's an ordinary episode for a while before having an exciting conclusion. The ending was pretty tense since Reese felt exposed for once due to him being right in Donnelly's grasp. The cliffhanger ending with four people getting arrested is very intriguing and it sets up a fresh story where Reese will seemingly be jailed while Finch will be forced to get him out. I thought the main storyline started pretty well. The sequence where Finch had to fake being a criminal was pretty fun and I got some good laughs out of it. The ensuing double confrontation with Abby/Reese and Shane/Finch was fairly entertaining and did a solid job of getting us acquainted with Abby and Shane to prepare for the episode's final act. The Beecher twist with him being a part of HR is a pretty strong twist. It makes HR seem more important by having one of them closely acquainted to Carter and it allows them to be taken more seriously as a threat. The Bad: Finch was out of character in this episode. I found his insistence that Abby was innocent to be awkward and pretty stupid. The explanation he gives about the Machine not giving her number for a serious situation to be unsatisfying since it hadn't been brought up in over 30 episodes. Furthermore, Finch looks dumb for assuming Abby to be innocent based on trivial information, especially after so many cases in previous episodes have seen an apparently innocent person becoming the perpetrator. Finch looks even worse because Root was like this too and him not considering that Abby could be "bad code" shows that he learned nothing from his time with Root, contrary to what the show had been establishing with Finch's character development in recent episodes. Once again, the POI story becomes pretty tame after the mystery is dispersed. Without Donnelly, the final act of the episode would have fallen extremely flat. I was finding it tough to care about the gunfight that was happening and I had no reason to believe that Reese was in any danger from these mercenaries. The only threat was Donnelly, and that made every other factor in the climax of the episode, including Abby and Shane, tough to care about. The nature of the Abby storyline didn't help either. The story was needlessly complex and I found it hard to understand exactly what was happening and for what reason. This story really needed an edit to make it more understandable for the general public (like me). The HR plot hasn't been very interesting so far. Quinn as a bad guy is really lacking since we know next to nothing about him. Every other recurring character is more interesting because we have more of an idea of who they are. We desperately need an episode focused around Quinn so I can start to care about the HR storyline a little more. This episode didn't really work as a midseason finale. A short action sequence at the end of an episode worked for the midseason finale in season 1 since we hadn't seen anything like those final few minutes before. But after the raw intensity of "Firewall", we know that the show can do much more than what was shown here. It ended up making this episode feel disappointing and almost dull. Hopefully the midseason premiere delivers more than this did. The Unknown: What is Simmons up to? Is he eavesdropping because he is planning to turn on HR? Or does he want to take control and become the new head of HR? What will become of Reese now? Will Donnelly be able to identify that he is the man in the suit? How is Finch going to get him out? Will he use Carter? Perhaps Elias? Will somebody else be framed to prove Reese as innocent? Or will they simply do a jailbreak? What happened with Snow and Stanton? I thought we would be seeing them in this midseason finale but strangely we didn't. Perhaps we will see them again in the season finale. And Root too. Best Moment: The ending scene. The show has to move in a different direction now which can only be a good thing. Character of the Episode: Donnelly. His contributions saved this episode. Conclusion: This episode copied the format from "Number Crunch" to deliver an exciting midseason finale but it didn't accomplish what that episode did. Without Donnelly's storyline, this would have been a total dud. Score: 54 Summary: Joey wants to look sophisticated for an audition so Rachel helps him by giving him a bag. However, Joey becomes attached to the bag and wants to keep it. Monica gives bad massages and Chandler lies to her, telling her that they are good. Phoebe's grandmother dies and at the funeral she meets her father.
The Good: Phoebe's story is really good here. Having her finally meet her father is a big moment and their final scene together is really strong, both from a comedic perspective and an emotional one. The rest of the episode has some good moments too. While the stories leave a lot to be desired (see: The Bad), the episode is saved by a number of clever jokes (goodbye muscles, unisex, it looks like it's coming right at me). In general, thank god for Joey, as this episode would not have worked at all without him. His presence allowed the writers to cram in all of these strong jokes. The Bad: Phoebe's story should have been the main storyline, yet it comes off as a side story which is disappointing. I feel like it could have used more time and focus to be better. Joey's bag is a pretty dumb story and his unnatural attachment to it is exactly that: unnatural. It never feels real and doesn't lead to any good jokes regarding the bag. Monica's storyline is really stupid. The idea of her being so terrible at massages is pretty ridiculous and the scene with Chandler at the end feels extremely forced. While the jokes are funny, the scene feels overly dramatic for a nothing of a storyline. Surely the writers could have come up with something better to set up that ending scene. Best Moment: The unisex joke with Joey and Rachel was fantastic. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: This was a disappointing episode. Phoebe's story was good but the other two stories were a big step down from what we usually get from "Friends". Thankfully, the character interactions are still amazing because without them, this episode would fall flat. Score: 56 Summary: Fermin is a taxi driver who is trying to get his family to New York. He need $40 thousand to do so. He gets involved with shady business with an Estonian mob so Reese and Finch have to save him. They do so successfully and Fermin is reunited with his family. HR wants to get back in Elias' good graces so Fusco is sent on a mission to kill the only remaining mafia don. But it's a trap and Fusco's partner is killed. Elias wants nothing to do with HR. Simmons is angry and gives Carter an anonymous tip about what happened to Davidson.
The Good: Thankfully, the stories this season have been much more creative than the last season. A taxi driver is a creative new POI and it allows for there to be unlimited potential for mystery considering how many people the driver could be involved with. This allowed the first half of the episode to have a fun element of mystery to it. The Bad: Most of this episode was pretty uninspired though. After we find out everything surrounding Fermin, the episode loses all intrigue and ends up being generic and completely uninteresting. I found it hard to care about the story towards the end of the episode and there wasn't anything presented to get me back into it. I also have to add on that having an associate of the POI die has become the norm for this show and is completely predictable now. The moment that Reese and Fermin went to see Aziz, I knew he would be dead when they arrived. One thing that happened in this episode is that it dawned on me why most of these episodes fail to be anywhere near special. I've realized that for most "Person of Interest" episodes, I enjoy the build-up more than I enjoy the pay-off. This episode is a perfect example of this. I was much more engaged in the episode when Fermin was a total blank slate and we had to discover what he was involved in. It was interesting to learn more about him and I was always intrigued to find out where the threat comes from. However, once the mystery is clear, I know that all the climax of the episode entails is an action setpiece which is much weaker than the mystery which propels the first half of these episodes. This episode was weaker than usual because the climactic action scene was quite poor. It underwhelmed and I didn't realize we had seen the climax until after it was over. One of the episode's worst aspects was Fermin himself. The actor playing him did a pretty poor job and did a bad job of getting me to sympathize with him. The performance was flat and not emotive, making him one of the weakest POIs so far. Another issue was the pacing of this episode. It felt ridiculously inconsistent and that took me out of the experience. The beginning of the episode was very slow, and after the episode it feels pointless. The Estonian mob wasn't introduced until the halfway mark of the episode, so nearly everything before that feels needless. As a result of a slow and meandering beginning, the middle of the episode was totally rushed and the climax fell flat. I think the problem with the unsatisfying final two acts of the story came from the pacing issues of the episode. The HR storyline was underwhelming too. The biggest problem was how repetitive it felt. We have seen Fusco trying and failing to escape HR before, so to see him do it again was pretty redundant. His overall story only inched forward from this episode and it didn't even do so in a satisfying manner. The big cliffhanger really didn't feel like a big deal. The show is trying to drive a wedge between Fusco and Carter by making us think that Carter will condemn Fusco for killing Davidson. But this drama is totally meaningless because we know that Reese was there when Fusco killed Davidson and could easily explain the situation away. The Unknown: Apparently the Carter and Beecher date has become a storyline. I initially thought it would be a one-off thing to help with the theme of the last episode, but it seems to be an ongoing storyline. I wonder what the pay-off would be because I expect it won't be as simple as just giving Carter a boyfriend. Best Moment: The taxi ride with Fermin and Finch was a pretty good scene. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was the worst episode in a while. Almost nothing about this worked and this was a pretty big disappointment from the mostly consistent season 2. Score: 49 Summary: Flashbacks show Finch's relationship with Grace. In the present, the next POIs are a married couple. Reese soon discovers that both of them are trying to kill each other. After intervening and getting the two to talk to each other, they make good but they have both assigned hit men against each other. With the help of Carter and Fusco, who had to be pulled away from a date, the hit men are disposed of.
The Good: I really liked the theme of love which was explored throughout the episode. The central story was between two characters whose marriages fell apart, and that was contrasted by the new love between Fusco and his date Rhonda as well as the flashbacks showing the relationship between Finch and Grace. This central focus gave the episode more of a connected feeling and made this story feel more important than it otherwise would have been. Each individual story worked. The story of Daniel and Sabrina was pretty well done. It was nice to get a proper character story showing how these two reorganized their life and rediscovered their happiness. While the story was certainly flawed (see: The Bad), it was deeper than what we usually got. It was nicely acted, fit the episode's theme and provided a decent backdrop to set up the action scene in the episode's climax. Plus, the show got to bring in yet another "Lost" actor with Mark Pellegrino. The idea of a couple that are trying to murder each other is pretty creative and gave this episode something unique to help set it apart from everything else. Furthermore, the reason for their relationship falling apart made sense and everything that happened to get them back together was pleasingly logical, if rushed. The flashbacks were good too. They were more emotional than I was expecting since we got to see exactly what Finch has lost by doing the job he does. It certainly helps that Finch and Grace have wonderful chemistry which perfectly showed how happy Finch was before. This contrasts nicely with present day Finch who has become fairly bitter after his time with Root, as he wonders if it won't be better to let the couple kill each other instead. Fusco's date was a nice source of humour. I especially liked the kidnapping scene which allowed for a couple of laughs. The Bad: Unfortunately the kidnapping scene was absolutely ridiculous. Did Reese seriously kidnap a woman who was screaming loudly in the middle of New York with nobody noticing? That's just poor writing. It was always going to be tough to convey the change in the hearts of Sabrina and Daniel in a single episode. As such, their development comes off as unrealistically rushed and simplistic, a consequence of the show's insistence on single episode story arcs. This episode did practically nothing to advance the overall plot. While it told a fun story, it wasn't as engaging as the show's best episodes. The Unknown: I don't really have anything to put in here. Best Moment: Finch and Grace at the end of the episode was a really sweet moment. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a solid episode. I don't have many gripes and I thought this worked well as a complete story. Score: 61 Summary: Rick walks off into the forest to collect himself and Glenn puts himself in charge. Glenn is angry and wants vengeance. The Governor puts Andrea in charge of Woodbury while he collects himself. He promises not to attack the prison but he leaves with some men on a supply run, which Andrea is suspicious about. Daryl realizes that being with Merle won't be like it was before and he convinces Merle to go back to the prison. The Governor attacks at the prison and a massive gunfight ensues. Axel dies. The Governor breaks down the fences and releases a horde of walkers inside the fences. The Governor leaves with the prison a mess.
The Good: I enjoyed both Woodbury and the prison responding to the open war they are now involved in. Glenn's desire for revenge and open combat made sense and I really liked seeing him cave under the pressure of being the leader now. His relationship with Maggie also got some solid development as they both addressed what happened in Woodbury. The Governor and Andrea's interactions in Woodbury were solid too and I liked the way that the Governor treated Andrea. He let her be in charge but in exchange decided to secretly attack the prison. Rick's story remains sad and engaging. His decaying mental state after losing Lori is powerful to watch and Andrew Lincoln is very good at conveying Rick's emotions. Rick and Hershel's conversation in the middle of the episode was extremely strong. Hershel is being the voice of reason to Rick, helping him overcome the complex emotions he must be feeling. Daryl's story was fine. His mini-arc told the good story of him realizing how life with Merle isn't going to be the same as it was before after everything that has changed him. The dialogue between the brothers was strong as usual, and the action sequence was pretty fun. The climactic battle was even better. The setpiece was very nicely done and it was impressive how many of the characters felt exposed and at risk of death. The Governor's attack was a total surprise and it left me feeling that an important character may be facing some major consequences. While that didn't happen, we still got a very entertaining gunfight that provided a strong climax to the episode. The Bad: Axel was handled really badly. He finally gets some development here and has some nice interactions with Carol. But then it's all meaningless because he dies. It seems like a waste of a character, and worse yet, now all of the prisoner characters are dead making their storyline almost entirely pointless. The death was surprising, but we need to care about characters before they die so it means something. Also, the Governor must be one hell of a marksman to make that shot (and without a sniper at that!). It's a shame that after that one shot, every single person failed to shoot accurately. Martinez was the biggest culprit as he missed Rick with so many shots when he was wide open. And then when Rick runs into the open, Martinez just leaves. Why didn't he kill him? Daryl and Merle's story was extremely generic and it wasn't written particularly well. The whole "daddy lashings" thing felt so forced (how did Merle not know about this before?), and it was a contrived way to get Merle to agree to go back to the prison. Another nitpick, but there is no way in hell that Daryl heard that baby crying from so far away. It was a poor example of sound design. The Unknown: It appears that the Governor's motive behind the assault was to damage and not kill the prisoners. Perhaps he hopes that the walkers he released in there will kill them all? That would prove to be a good way to explain how the prison group all died. A horde broke the fence and killed them all. But, it seems like Andrea won't buy whatever the Governor tells her. What will that lead to? Will Rick be back in leadership now? Will he retaliate against the Governor? Best Moment: The climactic battle was really fun. Character of the Episode: Glenn. Conclusion: This ended up being a solid episode. There was good follow-up and a strong climax. Enjoyable television. Score: 66 Summary: Rachel tries to get Monica to confess her relationship with Chandler. Monica gets frustrated with Chandler who sucks up to his boss at work. Ross learns that Emily is getting married and has a one night stand with Janice.
The Good: The continuation of Joey and Rachel's storyline was really good and their few scenes were the best part of the episode. Ross' storyline is good too. The Janice twist is fantastic and Joey's presence in their storyline was pretty hilarious. I also appreciated the continuity with Janice thinking Chandler is still in Yemen. Chandler's storyline is a very good concept since a fake "work laugh" is something that lots of people have experience with. The final scene with Chandler and Ross is overacted but its heart is in the right place and that makes it funny. The Bad: Unfortunately Chandler's story doesn't end up being particularly funny outside of the entertaining presence of Chandler's boss. Rachel attempting to get the truth out of Monica was really bad. It makes no sense that Monica and Chandler would keep the secret and it hurts their characters by having them behave so stupidly. Also, it's inconsistent since they immediately told Joey when he figured it out, so why not do the same with Rachel? Ross and Janice's story is too on-the-nose and due to that it isn't as funny as it should have been. Best Moment: The opening scene with Rachel and Joey. Joey's constant "I don't know"s were great and nicely got humour out of the dichotomy between Joey and Rachel. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: This was a fun episode, but it lacked in subtlety and a lot of the episode felt like it was trying too hard to get laughs. Score: 59 Summary: The next POI is Leon again so Finch and Reese save him. They take him back to the library to keep him safe as they tackle the next POI, a doctor named Maddy. Maddy is targeted by a man, Wesley, who wants her to kill a patient in surgery. Wesley threatens to kill Maddy's wife Amy so Reese is sent to save her. Finch contacts Maddy during the surgery and keeps her calm. Reese attempts to save Amy but is confronted by Wesley who is interested in him. Leon discovers Wesley's motive. Reese escapes and eventually gets Amy out safely. Wesley has planted a nurse in the surgery room but Finch knocks her out. Amy and Maddy are reunited and the patient survives.
The Good: The return of Leon was a delightful moment and led to some very good comedy early on. I'm always glad to get more of Ken Leung, and it adds yet another recurring character for a show which has built up a really interesting web of characters. Wesley is another fantastic addition. He is a fantastic new villain who I hope we see again in the future. He carried himself very well, leading to a threatening and intimidating presence that was just as memorable as Root and Elias. What stood out most was how capable he was. Everything that Reese and Finch tried had an answer to it which was pretty impressive. It's always refreshing to see capable and dangerous villains challenging the protagonists. Fusco's brief role in the story was fun too. He had good scenes and is a fairly good comic relief character when he doesn't have a story for himself. Carter's side story was excellent. All of this build up for the Snow/Stanton story has been very intriguing and I'm excited for whatever is coming. Snow added some very interesting tidbits by saying that Stanton is planning something big. The Bad: The main story is very generic. I don't really care much about Amy or Maddy and that prevents me from getting as engaged in this episode as I should be. The Liz twist was a very weak story point since it had little significance and was predictable. I didn't like Finch revealing himself during the procedure. Wesley made it clear that he had access to the events happening during the surgery, so surely he would notice Finch's arrival as suspicious. I also didn't like how squeamish Finch was. It was a lame joke and didn't feel quite right with his character. Bear's role in the story is getting tedious again. In this episode he didn't provide comic relief and simply proved to be a meaningless obstacle. Another story based on stocks is pretty repetitive. This must be the third or fourth story that has happened due to a villain wanting a cash-in from stocks. There needs to be more originality than that. The Unknown: Who was the man who had Carter's card? Did Snow kill him? Did Wesley? What does 66 11th mean? Is it actually the address? What is at that location? What is Snow up to now? Why is he going around killing people? What is Stanton planning? Who shot at Carter? Was that Stanton or somebody else? Where has Wesley gone? He mentioned that he and Reese met before. Is that going to become important? Best Moment: Carter and Snow's encounter. It was a tense moment of action with some excellent hype for whatever story is upcoming for Stanton and Snow. Character of the Episode: Wesley. Conclusion: This was your standard "Person of Interest" episode. A fine, inoffensive story with ups and downs. Score: 60 Summary: Ross makes a new year's resolution to try a new thing every day. He decides to wear leather pants for the new thing of the day and goes on a date that ends up disastrous. Chandler takes a bet with Ross where he can't make fun of anyone for a week. Phoebe tries to teach Joey how to play the guitar. Rachel learns about Monica and Chandler and struggles with what to do with the information.
The Good: Most of this was damn good. Rachel's story is a highlight here. The way she learns about Chandler and Monica is absolutely hilarious and Jennifer Anniston sold the moment really well. Her final conversation with Joey is fantastic and the humour in the scene is really clever. They both act really well to draw the most humour out of the scene. Chandler's story is really fun. I love the way the friends all torment him as he struggles to not make fun of everyone. The ending scene where Chandler insults everyone in rapid succession is great. Ross' storyline is extremely strong too. Watching him get stuck in the leather pants was terrific and David Schwimmer played Ross' desperation incredibly. The phone call with Joey was a really funny scene and was one of the season's finest moments. The Bad: Phoebe continues to be sabotaged by the writers. She is downright unlikable here and her teaching methods are really dumb and not funny. Best Moment: Rachel and Joey's awkward conversation about Monica and Chandler. Their awkward dialogue as they slowly realize they both know the same secret is terrific. I also love that both of them are genuinely excited just to talk about it. It's a really relatable emotion that adds to the comedy. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was 3/4 of a terrific episode. Rachel's story, Chandler's story and Ross' story were all great and were setting up another awesome episode. Unfortunately, the poor Phoebe story holds this back from being an outstanding episode. Score: 78 Summary: Flashbacks show how Finch met Grace. In the present, Reese is assigned in a neighbourhood with the next POI Graham. Reese realizes Graham is a happy man with a family but he had a previous life that is coming back to haunt him. Reese gets acquainted with Graham and defends him. Zoe joins up with Reese and pretends to be his wife. Reese saves Graham who decides to turn himself in for his past crimes. He still gets support from his wife afterwards and respect from Reese.
The Good: The flashbacks told a nice story. This episode had the theme of leaving your past behind and settling down. The flashbacks played into this nicely by showing us how Finch was introduced to Grace and how he ended up falling in love with her. The flashbacks were very sweet and also did well to further develop the Machine by showing us how it understands human behaviour. The main storyline was pretty good. I enjoyed Graham's story and I thought it was more complete of a character journey than what we usually get. I thought that his conflict was very easy to understand and the idea of him trying to run away from his regrettable past was understandable. It was nice to get some scenes to get to know the character early on and that allowed me to care a little more about him. What also helped was Reese's attachment to Graham. As Reese grows attached to Graham, so do we and it helps us get more invested in this storyline which doesn't tie in with the overall story at all. Reese's story was pretty good. I appreciated him getting to know another man who was running away from his past. It allowed Reese to see what his life could have been had he settled down with Jessica and that gives this episode a more emotional edge. It was great to see Reese actually interact with Graham after his life was saved, showing that Reese has developed some sort of bond with him. It's a good way to humanize Reese a little more than the witty badass he usually is. The plot was fairly fun too. There were some interesting mystery elements early on which captivated me. I was a fan of the scenes where Reese went undercover as a general civilian. It felt different and fresh. I also liked the Zoe and Reese interactions once again. The Bad: This episode was entirely centered on Reese and focused on the depths of his character as we got to see him in a new role. Unfortunately, this exposed Jim Caviezel who wasn't particularly convincing in his role. Some of the dialogue was delivered weakly too. This has been a problem in previous episodes, but it felt especially apparent here. I would have liked the show to commit more with Reese doing an investigation while pretending to be a normal civilian. Then again, Jim Caviezel probably wouldn't play the role well, so I'm unsure if it would be a good thing. The Unknown: Why was Grace so perfect? Is there any significance to that? Was it the Machine secretly finding an ideal girl for Finch? Best Moment: Reese going back to speak with Graham at the end of the episode. It was a nice bit of character. Character of the Episode: Graham. I think this is the first time I've given this to the POI of the episode not including recurring characters. Conclusion: This was a solid episode that told a good story. While it didn't feel very important, this was an easy watch. Score: 62 Ever since I started writing episode-by-episode reviews in 2017, I always wanted to take the effort to create a massive post covering my thoughts on an entire TV show. After completing my reviews on “The Leftovers” back in September 2017, I decided that this show would be the first that I covered with an extremely lengthy blog post. Now, over a year later, I’m finally getting around to it. I plan to do more massive reviews like this one in the future for shows that I have finished watching, and I hope there won’t be such a large gap like this one between my final episode review and the series review of a particular show. I expect that you will get 3 series reviews from me in the next year covering “Game of Thrones”, “Person of Interest” and “13 Reasons Why”. My review will be divided into two parts. The first part will be a spoiler-free section covering my thoughts on the series as a whole without delving into specifics. Afterwards, I will focus on each season of the show individually, giving spoiler-filled thoughts about what I liked and what I didn’t like. If you haven’t seen the show before, don’t read past the large SPOILERS text included below. Note: I will not have an overall score for the series or each season like I do for the individual episodes. Furthermore, the average scores that I’ve given each season are just that: averages. They may not accurately reflect my overall feelings about a season of television. Now, on to the review! Series OverviewSummary: Created by Damon Lindelof (Lost), “The Leftovers” came to our TV screens in 2014 on HBO with one 10 episode season. Shortly after, it was renewed for a second 10 episode season which was followed by a final 8 episode season. The show originated from a 336-page novel written by Tom Perrota that was published in 2011. The novel was adapted into the first season of the show, whereas season 2 and 3 featured original and new content. The show stars Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Chris Zylka, Margaret Qualley, Ann Dowd, Liv Tyler, Scott Glenn, John Carroll and Regina King. The story of “The Leftovers” surrounded an event called The Departure where 2% of the world’s population suddenly vanished without any given reason. The show examines the 98% who were left behind and the different ways that the grief of these characters manifested over time. The show specifically takes place in small-town Mapleton and focuses on the Garvey family. The show’s ratings were strong in its first season, averaging over 1.5 million viewers per episode, without a single episode having ratings of under 1 million. After that, the ratings took a relatively sharp decline in season 2, with over the season 2 premiere being watched by 50% fewer people than the season 1 finale. The average ratings for season 2 plummeted down to 0.70 million viewers. The show wouldn’t cross over 1 million viewers in an episode again until the series finale. Despite its falling ratings, the show received more and more praise from critics as it went on. The show featured a very average score of 65% on metacritic in its first season, which grew to 80% in season 2 and an impressive 98% in season 3, which was named the #1 best TV season in 2017. Rotten Tomatoes sees a similar increase from season 1 (82%, 7.67/10) to season 2 (93%, 8.81/10) and finally season 3 (99%, 9.36/10). Despite its critical acclaim, “The Leftovers” never performed well for awards, having only won a handful of major awards. The show was only nominated for one Emmy in its third season which it did not win. Much like “The Wire”, “The Leftovers” has already began its legacy as one of the most well known snubs from award shows. I was late to watch “The Leftovers”. I didn’t start watching the show until the third season had already concluded, by which point the wide praise from the show had began circulating online. Following this, I started watching the show and was quickly impressed. A few weeks later I had gotten to the end, by which point the show had impressively made a lasting impact on me after just 28 episodes. As I mentioned above, this show is what motivated me to become a regular writer, and my reviews for this show are the oldest reviews on this site. The Good: This show always stood out for its ambitious style of storytelling which differed greatly from most other shows. This series focused entirely on its characters and relied very, very little on actual plot. When you look at the show from a plot perspective, nothing much happens through its entire run. A synopsis of the show would be boring to most people. That is because the real meat of this story comes from its characters and the journeys they take to fill in the holes that have been left inside of them after The Departure. All great shows understand that the key to crafting a compelling drama lies in its characters, but I have never seen a show which commits so intensely to its characters and succeeds. It’s a very impressive feat. When talking about great character dramas, it’s hard to leave “Lost” out of the conversation. That show was a staple for all character dramas, and its concept of focusing an episode around a central storyline which covers the story of a single character was revolutionary for TV dramas. “The Leftovers” adapted this method of storytelling frequently and it led to some truly spectacular hours of television which were mesmerizing to get through. Furthermore, “The Leftovers” doubled down on these episodes, crafting a sense of “tunnel-vision” as entire episodes would sometimes focus on just one single character’s journey, ignoring all other aspects of the show. These episodes provided some of the most memorable television you will ever see and served like 1-hour short stories more than they did a part of a larger story. It is vital for a TV episode to stand alone and be enjoyable as a single hour of television rather than a piece of a larger story. This show toyed with this idea in season 1 as there were 2 or 3 episodes with this tunnel vision. But it wasn't until season 2 that the show started to understand how good this method of storytelling was. After that, nearly every episode would have this refined focus on a single character which allowed for an epic experience in every single episode from the season 2 premiere all the way until the series finale. For those who have not watched this show, seeing this tunnel-vision for the first time will be a visceral experience leaving you emotionally exhausted by the end. One of the most fascinating aspects of this show is its ability to leave questions unanswered without leaving the audience unsatisfied. Leaving unanswered questions can be a real slap in the face to fans and often leaves people cheated. Just look at the backlash that “Lost” received after its season finale. And while this show does mimic “Lost” by not answering its questions, it’s done correctly this time. In this case, the show never promised any answers for its mysteries and I think it is all the better for not providing a concrete answer. One of the show’s biggest themes comes from whether you choose to believe in the supernatural or the rational. The show often provides seemingly indisputable evidence that the supernatural is firmly involved in these characters lives. But there is always the more rational answer: it’s all in somebody’s head. The most fascinating thing this show does is that it never gives you a concrete answer on what you should believe. Was there truly something supernatural happening? Does it all somehow make logical sense? You are left to fill in the answers yourself, which is very unique and powerful storytelling. Furthermore, the show impressively adapts a literary convention to make this exploration possible: an unreliable narrator. I have seen TV shows which are written in such a way that they remind me of a novel (Breaking Bad, The Wire), but I have never seen a TV show pull off the impossible and actually adapt a complex literary concept with the exact same feeling as a novel. It’s the same feeling that people must have felt when “The Lord of the Rings” was impossibly adapted into three terrific films. I’ve talked about the show’s reliance on character as one of its strong points, but it can only really work if the characters are compelling and complex enough to warrant such an in-depth exploration. Thankfully, the characters in this show are wonderful with many layers which get uncovered as the show goes on. And better yet, the characters actually change as the show goes on, undergoing proper transformations, learning lessons and making cathartic discoveries about themselves and the lives they have been living. The main character Kevin is one of the show’s most fascinating characters due to these reasons, and it’s a joy to watch him grow as the series progresses. His story is focused on the idea if he is losing his mind or not, and it’s wonderful to watch because we can never be sure that Kevin actually is sane. The most impressive part of this story is that we learn about Kevin while he learns about himself, which allows for an insane level of emotional investment. The other central characters like Nora, Matt and Laurie all go through similarly effective storylines and each one is gripping. As good as the storytelling is, it isn’t my favourite element of the show. The best thing about this show is the fact that it sticks the landing with an outstanding conclusion. It’s very easy for a series conclusion to be disappointing (Dexter), predictable (Breaking Bad) or messy (Lost) which all detract a certain amount of excitement from everything. While it doesn’t always equate to being bad (Breaking Bad had a killer final season), it leaves me with the feeling that the ending could have been so much more. Nearly every TV show has fallen into this trap while ending its run, and for good reason. It’s hard to provide a conclusion which is satisfying in every way. But despite this difficulty, “The Leftovers” set out to do the impossible once more by providing an ending that satisfies in every single way. And somehow the show pulled it off to near perfection. So many storylines were wrapped up beautifully with a hell of an emotional impact but there were a number of delightful surprised which ensured that I never had any idea how the show would wrap up. It was powerful and unpredictable, and then it ended with a series finale which perfectly captured everything I loved about the show, ending on a rousingly high note. It will be hard to discover a series with a finale as perfect as this one and I am yet to find a series finale that provided a better final note than the season 3 finale of “The Leftovers”. The show also gets the little things right which enhances an already rich experience. The soundtrack is touching, powerful and memorable. The musical pieces that are played in this show complement the emotions in a scene so well that when you hear the violins swelling up for iconic tracks in later seasons, you automatically prepare yourself emotionally for a powerful scene. And every single time, “The Leftovers” will deliver something powerful, with the music aiding the overall effect of the scene. I also have to mention how good this show became at finding memorable songs to play over scenes. I often find myself remembering “The Leftovers” while listening to songs like “Where’s My Mind” and “Nothing Else Matters” which were among the great songs used in the show. Another thing that adds immeasurable value to this show is the acting. The acting in this series had me in awe at times because every single character was played to perfection. It is beyond me why Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon never won any Emmys for their performances in this show, because they are stunningly good and blow me away frequently. The emotions in this show are enriched so much by the compelling performances which make all of the characters feel that much more real and relatable. The last aspect of the show I want to look at is the cinematography and direction. In terms of visuals, this show can come off as uninspiring and bland as it doesn’t look as visually spectacular as shows like “Better Call Saul”, “Game of Thrones” or “Westworld”. However, that isn’t to say that the show lacks a complex sense of direction. There are many moments of subtle symbolism included throughout the series, especially in season 1 which adds on to the novel-like feeling the show can create at times. Furthermore, I think the bland nature of the cinematography isn’t a show of incompetence but is actually a stroke of genius. During conversation scenes, the camera is often focused completely on its characters and that allows every line of dialogue to have the maximal effect on viewers and also allows the actors to put in their best possible performance. The Bad: The biggest issue with this show will be getting into it at first. Where some popular shows like “Breaking Bad”, “Game of Thrones”, “Lost” and “The Walking Dead” make a terrific impression in their first few episodes, “The Leftovers” doesn’t really attempt this. The show is slow at first and really tests your patience. Even though I really, really loved episode 3, none of the other first 5 episodes were particularly good and they failed to truly hook me. It wasn’t until the end of season 1 that I finally realized how good this show was, and after that it just got better. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that the first season can be a real slog at time and tested my commitment a number of times. The other major issue stems from its final season. While I think the last season is easily the best season of the show, there is a big flaw in it. That flaw is that several important characters get next to nothing to do in this entire season. With the season’s shortened length, sacrifices had to be made and unfortunately that means that some of the show’s most exciting characters are shafted to the background with minimal screentime which is hugely disappointing and a waste of some terrific characters. Conclusion: So, should you watch this show? I think the comparison in the sizes of The Good and The Bad pretty much speaks for itself in this case. “The Leftovers” may be tough to get into but it is certainly worth it in the long run. Seasons 2 and 3 are some of the bets seasons of television I have ever seen and are essential viewing. This show is up there with “The Wire” as an underappreciated great, so absolutely go check it out. Now, onto the spoilers section. SPOILERS!!!Now, to get into the nitty-gritty... Season 1The Good: What is most striking about season 1 is how unusual the whole season felt. There was a ridiculous amount of symbolism present in most episodes and entire scenes could be devoted to this, with the presence of things like the deer and the blinking red light. These scenes, mixed with the questionable state of Kevin’s sanity provided an almost dream-like feeling to the show, which made watching it so strangely special. Some sequences, including the crashed truck of human dolls and the sudden blackouts Kevin would have only exacerbated these confused dream-like feelings that made the show so difficult to watch. Looking back on the season, I’m certain that it’s these odd moments that are responsible for the much weaker review scores that season 1 received from all critics, including myself. Yet, the show’s biggest weakness was also one of its strengths. I believe that these scenes are actually what made the show succeed in the first place. A lot of praise directed to this show focuses on its sense of “magic” that it creates by its vicarious methods of storytelling. Most people would claim that this started in season 2, but I disagree. This has always been present in the show since the very first episode, but it was inconsistent and became more notable in later seasons when it was used better. This bold style of storytelling was started as early as season 1, and I think this season deserves a lot of credit for that. The thing that got me hooked on this show wasn’t its confusingly vague storytelling. Rather, it was the inclusion of character-centric episodes that explored the effects that the Great Departure had on its characters. The two episodes that guaranteed that I would stick around for the duration of the show were “Three Boats and a Helicopter” and “Guest”. Both episodes honed in on a specific character who we didn’t know very well and took them on an adventure that allowed us to get to know them, sympathize with them, and get engaged in what these characters would be doing for the rest of the show. These two characters were Matt and Nora, who I immediately knew I loved after their respective episodes. Both Matt and Nora would end the series as my favourite characters and I’m beyond glad that the show had the courage to present them to us in such a bold manner. What’s more impressive is how these two episodes would be the framework for “The Leftovers”’s success in its later seasons. Almost all episodes in seasons 2 and 3 succeeded because of what was established in these two episodes, but more on that in the section for season 2. Outside of those two excellent episodes, the season wouldn’t hit its stride until the penultimate episode, “The Garveys at their Best”, which helped rectify a big issue that I had with the season up until that point. The issue was that I wasn’t particularly invested in the struggles of the Garvey family since I felt I didn’t know them as well as I should have. After a powerful episode that made me care more for these 4 characters than anything presented before, the season killed it with an emotional finale which capitalized on everything that was built up prior to it. There are moments in this episode that still stick with me, like Kevin’s emotional scenes with Matt, his terrifying dream and Nora’s final message. It’s incredible how I went from not really caring that much about Kevin’s dilemma to being completely invested after just a single episode, and that allowed the season to end on an extremely high note and for me, that cemented the season as a great one. The Bad: Even though I love this season in retrospect due to how impressive 4 of the episodes were, I can’t ignore the fact that there were still 6 other episodes in this season. Now, most of these episodes weren’t bad, but they had a distinct lack of focus that the other 4 episodes didn’t have. The issue was the fact that these episodes had to divide time with 4 different stories: Kevin’s dilemma, the Guilty Remnant, Jill’s teenager life and Tommy’s involvement with Holy Wayne. The big problem was that I wasn’t invested in these stories for a very long time and that resulted in there being a number of moments when I was simply bored, confused, or unresponsive to the emotions that were on display. After its first few episodes, I knew that “The Leftovers” could deliver hard-hitting emotions and I ended up being confused as to why the show refused to give the same treatment to the Garvey family that it gave to Matt and Nora. I feel like if “The Garveys at their Best” could have been shown earlier in the season, the season could have been even better to watch with less clunkiness before the season finale. I think that Jill and Tommy’s storylines hold up very poorly on your first watch and in retrospect. The way that Jill and the other teenagers are handled is laughably poor as they feel more like walking teenager tropes than actual characters. Though I must admit, the Frost brothers were pretty funny. Tommy’s story is weaker in a different way from Jill’s. While Jill’s is fundamentally poor, I found Tommy’s weak story to be a result of Chris Zylka’s acting. Tommy was alone for the entirety of his storyline, so we desperately needed a more capable actor to convey the emotions he must have felt. While Zylka did a fine job, there needed to be somebody exceptional playing Tommy to make up for the fact that Tommy’s story is separated from the others in such a big way. Best Episodes: Here is where I list the fantastic episodes that still stick with me now that I’m done with the show. E03 Two Boats and a Helicopter: It’s truly incredible how much this episode puts us in Matt’s shoes throughout the episode. It’s almost like reading a book directly from his POV, which is really impressive. It created a self-contained story with hills and valleys, genuine emotion and a heartbreaking conclusion that hits hard due to how much we understand Matt’s character. An evocative episode that remains one of the show’s finest. E06 Guest: I fell in love with the character of Nora in this episode. Carrie Coon did a wonderful job bringing this character to life with all of her pain and witty dialogue. It was fascinating to learn more about Nora in this episode and we get to see how horribly detached from reality she is as the episode goes on. This made the scene with Wayne a joy to watch as she comes face to face with everything she feels in an outstanding moment that is acted to perfection. E09 The Garveys at their Best: The episode I waited the entire season for. It’s impressive how this episode made the Garvey family drama so much more poignant and meaningful. This one episode got me invested in four different characters and their relationships with each other which is no mean feat. E10 The Prodigal Son Remembers: A cathartic and memorable conclusion to the first season, the season one finale remains a near-perfect note to conclude this first season. The episode bounced from powerful scene to powerful scene in a way that made this episode feel immensely satisfying as a conclusion to this season. Worst Episodes: Here is where I list those select episodes that I still remember with anger and hate. Amazingly, no episodes this season pissed me off, but there were a few clear weak links. E04 BJ and the AC: This one is an odd episode. It committed overly much to being symbolic, so much so that it felt cheesy at times. The episode was also hurt by the fact that it came before I cared about any of the Garvey family drama, meaning I had a very limited emotional connection. E05 Gladys: This one was far from a bad episode, but it was weaker. It suffered for similar reasons to episode 4. It wasn’t very memorable and it came before I actually cared about the Garveys as a whole. Conclusion: This season worked very well as a whole. It was emotional and memorable with four spectacular episodes that each aided me into getting invested in the show. But the season was flawed in its storytelling and characters, flaws that wouldn’t be fixed until the next season. As a whole, I think the average score of 69 is fitting for this season, as it accurately shows how the season hit genuine greatness a lot, but was too flawed to crack the 70 mark. I’m happy with the ratings I’ve given each of the episodes and I stand by them pretty firmly even after the show is done. This was certainly a good season. Season 2The Good: Season 2 of “The Leftovers” was a huge improvement over season 1. The first season was restricted because it had to adapt the story from a novel, but season 2 did not have these same limitations. This allowed the team behind the show to get creative and tell their own story, and that resulted in a season which was immersive, emotional and memorable. The “magic” of this show which I mentioned earlier was mastered in this season. It happened in the first episode of season 2, which demonstrated to us how the complex storytelling of this show could provide something surprisingly engaging. Of course I’m talking about that powerful first scene which had no relevance to the main story whatsoever, yet it worked so well. Shockingly enough, not even the second scene addressed the characters in Mapleton who we had come to love. It’s unexpectedly incredible to see a TV show open up its sophomore season in a completely different place from season 1, because of how risky it is. It would be so easy to jump the shark whilst doing something like this, but “The Leftovers” never did. It was a risk, but the intriguing storytelling and expert writing allowed this first episode to successfully introduce a totally new setting with totally new characters. “Axis Mundi” is not one of the very best episodes of the show, but I can’t give enough praise for what this episode accomplished: it widened the story in a way that didn’t detract from the main story. So many stories get lost when they try to widen the storyline because they lose sight of what initially made the story so good. “Game of Thrones” is a prime example of this, both the books and the TV show. But “The Leftovers” was clever enough to use its tunnel-vision approach to introduce its new setting and then address the main characters afterwards. Because of this, the momentum of the story was never halted while Kevin and Nora got to discover Miracle and the Murphys on their own. By the time we touched in with them, we already knew about Miracle and the Murphys, so the show could easily go ahead and tell its story without worrying about any of the difficult details. And the story that they told delivered in a big way. The show learned from its first season and committed to telling its story in a way that had proven successful. Every episode in this season used that tunnel-vision that made “Two Boats and a Helicopter” and “Guest” so good, and that ended up creating many spectacular episodes in this season. Every character’s individual journey was powerful, memorable and well-written. The best part is how all of the season’s best scenes were spread out throughout the entire season, making nearly every episode feel special. That made this season feel consistent, unlike season 1. Season 2 had committed to the kind of story that the show wanted to tell, it had committed to the tone it wanted to hold and it committed to the characters it wanted to explore. This commitment allowed for the season to reach greater heights for all of the stories that were being told. The individual storylines in this show were really damn good. The highlight was Kevin’s story and his conflict with Patti, who may or may not have been real. Season 1 had done a similar story of Kevin thinking he is going insane, but it never explored the ideas of insanity and how it feels like Kevin’s season 2 storyline did. The season did a terrific job of showing how awful having a personal ghost would be as Kevin not only convinced himself that he was losing it, but ended up alienating others by result this. Kevin’s deteriorating mental state had taken away everything from him and he was willing to risk everything to get a chance to fix himself, even his own life. What made Kevin’s struggle so visceral to watch was that we, like him, had no clue if Patti was actually there or if she was just a fragment of his mind. There was evidence for both sides, and fascinatingly it was never confirmed if she was real or not. I think this was an excellent decision to leave the question unanswered because it allows the rewatch to be just as poignant as the first watch because we still don’t know if Kevin was going crazy or not. Not even after “International Assassin”, the best episode of the show which featured Kevin visiting what may have been the afterlife. What a stellar episode that was. I don’t think I gave it justice in my review, but this episode was a really strong culmination of Kevin’s story with Patti. The most fascinating thing about the whole experience was how Kevin went to the afterlife for an entire episode, yet we still couldn’t be sure that his experience was completely real, as it could still possibly have been some kind of drug trip that Virgil put him into. The whole episode contains this whimsical feeling because of this uncertainty and it makes for one hell of an experience. It’s the perfect centrepiece for Kevin’s storyline, and the final scenes with Patti were a perfect ending to her character arc. Another standout was the story of the Murphy family. We were just introduced to these characters, but we got to know them remarkably well and it led to a heartbreaking story of a family that just wasn’t meant to be. The central part of this storyline was the disappearance of Evie which caused a ripple effect across the remaining three members of the family. The stories of John and Erika were really sad, especially Erika’s as we got to learn how she blamed herself for Evie’s disappearance while also contrasting with Nora’s story, which (unsurprisingly) was also really good. The family’s struggles all came together in the season finale though, with the terrific reveal that Evie was still alive, allowing for incredibly powerful scenes for both John and Erika as they realized that their family was dead. The other stories in the season were pretty good as well. I don’t really have much to say about Matt’s story other than the fact that it ruled. Again. Matt is a terrific character, and I think his overarching story throughout all three seasons is one of the best. Laurie and Tommy didn’t have a huge role to play in this season, but their storyline was enjoyable whenever it was on-screen. One unexpected standout character was Meg. I’m not a big fan of Liv Tyler, but the role of Meg was absolutely perfect for her and her voice and look allowed for a creepy, mysterious and charismatic villain to be introduced at the end of the season. The season finale delivered in a big way, just like last season. It was an extra long episode yet it somehow flew by as it delivered a number outstanding moments one after the other. The conclusions for every story were damn good. I already mentioned the end of the Murphy storyline, but I’ll say it again because it was remarkably powerful for a set of side characters. Kevin’s story conclusion was outstanding as it worked as a sort of redux of season 1’s conclusion where Kevin finally overcame his own problems so he could survive with his family. Matt’s story ended pleasantly as Mary came back and Matt could stop atoning for a crime he never committed. The return of the Guilty Remnant was an exciting plot that carried the season finale, leading to the hope of Miracle being shattered by the villains in a depressing sequence. The Bad: I can’t think of any major issues that hurt this season. It really was an exquisite stretch of ten episodes. The biggest problem for me was that we never touched on Mapleton in this season. So many side characters ended up being ignored for the entirety of this season. Even some major characters were shafted to the background like Laurie and Tommy. Best Episodes: Plenty of episodes were incredible this season. I had to leave some off this list so I wouldn’t just list everything. E05 No Room at the Inn: Matt’s centric episodes are so good because he is a really compelling guy to follow. Matt is the embodiment of a good man, so it’s easy to root for him to come out on top in these episodes which put him through the wringer. These Matt episodes are so good and investing me into the story being told. E06 Lens: Even though I didn’t like the ending scene very much, I can’t deny that this was an extraordinary character exploration for both Nora and Erika. Their personal confrontation at the end of the episode was so good. The decision to focus the cameras purely on their faces from such a closed distance was a stroke of genius as it allowed us to completely invest with what the characters were experiencing. E08 International Assassin: This is a special experience. You can never be certain that what you’re watching is real, and it’s all so fantastical and strange. The episode is a wonder to uncover and is delightful, confusing, emotional, hilarious and intense. It’s a near-perfect experience that embodies what I love about TV. E10 I Live Here Now: a chaotic and emotional finale. This season ended with an episode that culminated everything in a memorable way. This is how to close out a season in a way that leaves a lasting impact. Worst Episodes: I got nothing. Every episode in this season was above average. Conclusion: Season 2 is remarkable. It improves every single aspect of season 1, polishes it, and adds an extra bit of TV magic to make a special season of television. The average score adds up to a 73, which I think is a good interpretation of how consistent this season was. It was a rarity to get an episode that didn’t go above and beyond, and a few episodes ended up going even further than that. This season was always a joy to go through and it will go down as one of the great TV seasons. Season 3The Good: I thought that “The Leftovers” would have a tough time topping what was presented in season 2, but that didn’t happen. Season 3 smashed it out of the park and is one of my all-time favourite TV seasons. While it never hit the highs of season 2 (“International Assassin” is special), season 3 consistently delivered fantastic episodes one after the other providing closure for its characters in meaningful ways. Even the lesser episodes were few in number (only 2 were scored under 70!) and can’t be called bad because they still did a number of things really well.
The character-centric episodes were on display once again this season, and I think they had an even bigger impact this time around. The stories that were told in each episode had even more power and meaning to them because a number of them were used to close out character arcs. That is the advantage that this season has over season 2. The beginning and the conclusion will always be more satisfying than what comes in the middle from a storytelling perspective. Now that the show is well into its rhythm, and is also in its final stretch, the story is more polished, more memorable and a lot more powerful. Every character who receives a centric episode has a brilliant story to tell. But I thought season 3 was stronger than season 2 even though both seasons accomplished the same thing regarding character centric episodes. Why? The answer lies in the way that season 3’s storylines tied better into the season’s overall theme than in season 2. From the opening moments of season 3 we are presented with the main idea which drives every single character in the season. A woman in the 1900s waits year after year for the return of Christ and ensnares her family into this, but it never happens. She ends up looking foolish and loses everything in the process. The scene is really powerful and emphasizes the inevitable loneliness and disappointment caused by having faith. Most TV shows like to paint faith and religion in a positive light, so it’s pretty surprising to see “The Leftovers” be so downright negative in what people believe in. It’s so genius because disappointment is such a real emotion to examine, and it’s something that every viewer can relate to. That nearly every character’s story is affected by this theme in some way is really impressive and it allows the season to still feel connected despite the fact that most of these episodes take place at different places and character stories don’t interact very often. Every main character’s arc was stellar. Matt had a fantastic conclusion to his trilogy of episodes. His episodes have shown that this man is purely devoted to the lord and keeps his faith even through the toughest situations. It’s been a powerful story which is also played as darkly comedic at times. Now we get the conclusion which is thematically perfect and fits in line with what happened in those previous episodes. The dark humour is better than ever and it adds more to the story than ever as the ridiculous Frasier religion contrasts perfectly with Matt’s faith as it subtly shows that there isn’t much different from these people’s beliefs and Matt’s. Matt’s story is a slow realization that everything he has believed in has been for nothing. It starts with the mockery being made of his new book and it ends with a tremendous scene where Matt gets to speak with “God” who tells him he did everything for himself and that he was never listening. When combined with Matt’s cancer reveal, it’s a shockingly bleak ending for his character to realize that everything he has done has been for naught. But somehow this show once again proved its mastery of our emotions by turning this into a somewhat happy ending with Matt finally moving forward from his faith. The whole story is written with such elegance that it ends up being one hell of an emotional rollercoaster that hits with maximum impact on every drop. The other character stories were similarly effective to Matt’s. Kevin Sr. goes through a very similar arc. Evidently he has lost it in Australia and firmly believes he has to save the world. He puts himself on a pedestal above everybody else and thinks of himself as the most important person in the world going into the anniversary. But by the end, nothing happened. He wasn’t important, he didn’t need to do anything, and just like Matt, he had wasted his life believing something ridiculous. It’s fantastic to see how these two wildly different storylines get connected by theme at the end. Laurie has an excellent story as well, one that ties into the theme in a mature and different way. Laurie has always been the pragmatic member of the group, and judging by the theme of the season, it seems that she is going to be in the right. That’s what the show initially suggests, but the direction the story goes is much more impressive. Sure she doesn’t waste her life with any of this religious crap, but it doesn’t lead her to happiness and success. She is still lost in the world, alone and broken, and without the recourse of faith to lean into, she breaks even more than Matt and Kevin Sr. does, which heartbreakingly leads to her contemplating suicide, though she doesn’t go through with it (see: The Bad). What’s most fascinating about this approach is that it also paints pragmatism in a negative light. Both science and faith have been deemed equally terrible by the addition of Laurie’s story and it leaves us confused. Well what are you supposed to do to cope? The fact that we don’t ever get a clear answer and are left to interpret this is exemplary of why “The Leftovers” is such a magical show with so many layers of storytelling. This season conveyed the depth of its story better than either of the two seasons before and that makes this a truly special experience. I’ve saved the best stories for last. Kevin and Nora were undoubtedly the best parts of this season and their story felt refreshing and emotional. It was unexpected to see so much focus on these two characters and their relationship with each other, especially since four(!) entire episodes were apparently devoted to their romance. But I don’t mean that in a bad way. In just 8 episodes, these two captivated me in a way I never expected them to. The first two episodes of the season showed how alone and hurt they still were despite them being together. “G’Day Melbourne” had them finally fight each other and let their emotions out. While the scene didn’t affect me as much as I had hoped, it was still written very well and ended their relationship in a way that was consistent with the story being told. The rest of the season would be about both of them going to their respective escapes, only to back out and seek each other out in the end. Kevin goes back to the afterlife yet it fails to fulfill him like he had hoped. He backs out. Nora tries to go see her children again yet it fails to fulfill her like she had hoped. She backs out. The parallels here are terrific and they convey the characters in brilliant ways, showing us their fears about moving forward that ultimately convince them to go back to each other. It’s really strong storytelling because fear is an emotion that everyone understands and can sympathize with. It makes us root for them to escape the hell they are living in and lets us cheer when they get reunited. The finale was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the show. After three seasons filled with mystery, emotion and potentially supernatural elements, the show opted to close out its run with an episode focused on the romance between Kevin and Nora. And despite how lame that sounds, the episode was fantastic. The reunion between Kevin and Nora was very sweet and fit the themes of the show so well. The ending scene is one that has stuck with me, showing Nora and Kevin quietly smiling at each other after finally coming together again. Of course there was also Nora’s story which was a fascinating unresolved mystery that added more to the mystique of the show while remaining consistent with its characters. The idea of us having to draw our own conclusion instead of being given one has been used frequently throughout the series, and it’s fitting that the show ended the same way. One thing that was most impressive was how the show continued to craft new and original horror stories about how the Departure affected people. After 2 seasons there had already been a ton of exploration of how the Departure has affected the 98% who remain, so I didn’t expect to get so many stories in this third season. But we ended up getting some of the weirdest, strongest and most powerful stories, told by Grace, Mark Linn Baker (I absolutely love that he was in this show) and the man who blew up the submarine. The Bad: As I mentioned in the spoiler-free section, the end of the series suffered from not having enough time to provide compelling stories for the supporting cast. John and Erika had remarkably emotional storylines in the previous season, yet they are only in a couple of important scenes this season with a massively reduced presence. Jill and Tommy are nearly non-existent in this season. It’s a shame that the show didn’t get enough time to tell compelling stories for the whole cast. I’m not a fan of timeskips. They come off as a lazy way to make characters develop without showing the change they went through on screen. Because of this, timeskips can feel very jarring and tough to believe. This season’s timeskip suffered from some of that. Laurie and John’s relationship felt so random and some of the developments (Mary falling out of love with Matt, Nora having to give up Lily) would have been much more impactful if we got to actually see them happen instead of being told that they happened. Best Episodes: Again, there is plenty to choose from here. Yes, I listed more than half the episodes in the season. It was that good. E03: Crazy Whitefella Thinking: Kevin Sr. is a character we hardly knew before this episode. But the show was bold enough to have us spend an entire hour with him and it worked so well. His story was a perfect blend of entertaining, funny, ridiculous and sad and it culminated in one of the show’s very best monologues with Grace telling the story of her kids. This was “The Leftovers” at its weird and heartbreaking best. E05 It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World: And again, this was “The Leftovers” at its weird and heartbreaking best. This episode told a story with a number of fascinating layers to delve into once you are finished. It’s a perfect emotional conclusion for Matt’s series-long character arc and also manages to tell its own story while closing out Matt’s. This one was a definite highlight. E06 Certified: What a tragic episode. This one wasn’t particularly action-packed or exciting. It was simply real. The character work and the writing was incredible in this episode and it made for one of the most subtly heartfelt episodes of television ever created. Show this to anyone with no context and it’s one of the dullest hours of television they will sit through. But for everyone invested in this story, this has to be one of the most emotional episodes that the show ever put out. E07 The Most Powerful Man in the World (And His Identical Twin Brother): The unofficial sequel to “International Assassin”. While it doesn’t top the original (there was next to no chance of that happening), this episode managed to stand out on its own by telling a very compelling story about Kevin’s life through his experience in this afterlife dimension. It was unpredictable, creative, memorable and emotional. What more could you ask for? E08 The Book of Nora: A near-perfect series finale. I’ve talked about it enough earlier, but I can’t sing enough praise for this episode. It was a bold, emotional and satisfying conclusion that perfectly captured the heart of the show. It will be hard to find a series finale better than this one. Worst Episodes: Once again, nothing particularly bad here. But there was one episode that I thought lagged behind the quality of the others. E01 The Book of Kevin: This one suffered from the timeskip issues and the fact that it had to reintroduce everyone. Because of that, it couldn’t tell as good of a story as the other 7 episodes in this season. Conclusion: This season was downright mesmerizing. It’s insane how powerful this season is and the fact that I can confidently say it was better than season 2, another outstanding season, is a major feat. I think this is a genuine contender for best TV season of all time, and it is a season that deserves to be remembered for a long time. The average score for this season was a 75, which is absolutely ridiculous. While I don’t think the overall season is quite that good, it’s still one of the most breathtaking experiences you will ever get from television. And that’s the end of the post! This was one hell of an effort to write and I had to keep pushing back the deadline due to this simply becoming longer and longer. George R.R. Martin, I now understand why “The Winds of Winter” is taking so long. Well, I partially understand. Speaking of “A Song of Ice and Fire”, my next series review will be of “Game of Thrones” coming sometime after the final season airs this April. But for now, I need a bit of a break from these massive series reviews. Summary: The next POI is Maxine Angelis, a journalist who has a habit of pissing people off. Reese wants to make himself known to help her out, but he is unable to because she is also looking for the man in the suit. Reese poses as a boyfriend to get close to her. Donnelly has come in to discover the boss behind HR and Maxine stalks some people and comes to the conclusion that Zambrano is the head of HR. She writes an article but Zambrano is innocent and was a crucial witness. He is killed by HR and Donnelly is angry at Maxine who has made herself a target. HR try to kill her but Carter and Fusco kill them and save Maxine. The head of HR is revealed to be a new character, Quinn.
The Good: This told a fine story. I enjoyed the comedy more than anything else. Finch poking around Reese's stuff and flirting with Maxine over chat was pretty great. I also heavily enjoyed the immensely awkward date scene which was padded with tons of great jokes. Finch played his role perfectly as he got a little bit too invested in this date, and Reese's total disinterest was a very nice character detail. I also liked the brief Zoe cameo. The usage of Bear was better this time. The jokes were balanced better without ever feeling excessive. With the focus changing to HR, Fusco got more of a story in this episode. Simmons' threat put him in a real pickle as he was once forced to either betray Simmons and risk his consequences, or to betray Carter and Reese to do what Simmons wants. It was a good story, and while I felt like there could have been more to it, I was reasonably satisfied by the end. Maxine's story was alright. I really don't like fake reporter people in general, so I was delighted to see her stupidity lead to very real consequences for her character as she got an innocent man killed. Donnelly's harsh dismissal of her was very strong and did well to make me sympathize a little bit with this character who I immediately disliked. The Bad: I'm very confused about the status of HR. I thought the storyline was resolved last season and everyone was arrested. Maybe I'm missing something, but I was pretty confused by their sudden re-emergence, particularly Simmons who just appeared randomly in Fusco's car. I'm also getting annoyed with the presence of both Carter and Fusco's kids. So Reese can't intervene because Maxine is looking for a man in the suit. So... take off the suit. Wear something else. It's not rocket science. The Zambrano twist was very predictable. I didn't believe for a second that this obviously bad guy would be the big bad they were looking for. The Unknown: What is Quinn's role? What will he do next? The show has created yet another recurring character as the world continues to grow. What is the status of HR? We need to know this to view them as a threat. Best Moment: Not much really stood out. The best scene was probably the date. Great humour. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: I thought this was solid but unspectacular. Aside from HR being extremely unclear, I didn't have any big qualms. Score: 59 Summary: The next POI is a man named Riley who is a killer and part of a gang run by leader George. Reese thinks Riley is the perpetrator but realizes he is the victim since George wants to kill Riley and his girlfriend Annie. Riley kills George's son and escapes with Annie while Reese chases him down. Finch is indifferent towards saving Riley. Bounty hunters go after Riley so Finch contacts Elias to get him to put off the hit on Riley. Annie is kidnapped and taken to George anyways. Reese and Riley save Annie but Riley is killed.
The Good: I liked the concept behind this episode. The idea of the Machine providing a POI who the crew is reluctant to save has been something I was always interested in. I appreciate the show exploring moral dilemma like this. It also led to a great moment with Finch referencing Root, showing that she did get to him a little bit. Elias' return was pretty cool, though a bit pointless (see: The Bad). His interactions with Finch were fun and I liked the idea of him primarily wanting company from Finch over anything else. It nicely humanizes Elias. The overall story is fine. It's your usual episode and not much more than that. I liked George and I thought the actor who played him (I don't know his name, sorry) did a nice job. The Bad: This episode feels too generic and was tough to get invested in. It felt like just another episode without much going on in it. The relationship between Riley and Annie fell flat for me and I struggled to care about what happened to either character. Their limited connection with Reese likely caused this to happen. Having Reese interact with the people he is saving is an effective way to get us to sympathize with them more, causing more investment in the story. That didn't really happen here so it felt like the episode was missing something. Also, the episode felt like it was lacking a sense of urgency, especially for an episode that had high stakes like this one. It never felt like there was a big threat, and that was demonstrated best by the fact that Riley did more damage to Reese than anyone else in the episode. If the good guys are the strongest guys around, why should we think there is an actual danger to worry about? Additionally, this episode didn't have as gripping of a mystery as the previous episode and the set-pieces weren't put together as well. I really disliked the scene where Annie got kidnapped. It was shot really poorly and it came off that Reese was stupid enough to place a threat in the area and do nothing but watch as this threat kidnaps Annie. It was pretty sloppily shown. The return of Elias was a big scene, yet when you look at the overall story, it was entirely unnecessary. Finch spoke to Elias in order to get the bounty hunters to chase George instead of Riley. Yet this scene accomplishes nothing. A bounty hunter still captures Annie in the end and George is never attacked by his own men to show that they were turned against George. This was a pretty big waste of Elias if his contribution to the episode is literally nothing. The Unknown: No real pressing questions. This episode didn't do much for me. Best Moment: Finch referring to Riley as bad code was excellent. Michael Emerson is very skilled and plays Finch's newfound fear of bad humans extremely well. I was able to buy into the fact that Finch would bring this up and it didn't feel forced. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: A weak episode. This did absolutely nothing to stand out and was the most ordinary thing we have gotten this season. Score: 53 Summary: Monica sets up Rachel on a date with Danny but she is creeped out by his close relationship with his sister. Ross is bored so Joey enlists him to help him write his own script, though Joey's heart isn't into it. Phoebe is picked to get charity money outside Macy's.
The Good: Some aspects of this episode are pretty good. Joey's story is good fun and he does a terrific job of getting laughs throughout the episode. The funny apology scene is a highlight. Rachel continued to be fun in her relationship with Danny, short-lived as it was. I loved the small moment with Chandler stealthily escaping Monica's room. It was great unexpected comedy. Phoebe offers the odd funny line. The Bad: The episode isn't very memorable. Phoebe's character continues to be sabotaged. Street Phoebe has always been a remnant of the past for a kind-hearted and moral character, but now she seems to become rude and aggressive at will because the writers think it's funny. Sadly it isn't even that funny and is only moderately fresh to watch. Danny's relationship with his sister is pretty unrealistic and that takes away from his story. It's a forced way to end the Rachel/Danny story. Best Moment: Ross and Chandler reading Joey's script for their apology. I particularly liked the "could I be any more sorry" bit as well as the "a handsome man enters" bit. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: A forgettable episode. There wasn't anything that bad, but there was nothing particularly good either. This is weaker than what we usually get. Score: 57 Summary: The next POI is a spoiled girl Sophia. Reese suspects that her father's politics will get her in trouble so he gets himself as her bodyguard. After an attempt on Sophia's life, Reese starts to investigate more into her life and suspects she got herself into personal business. Carter continues to investigate Alicia Corwin and notices somebody tampering with her body. Snow is also there investigating. Stanton is making Snow do work for her. Reese investigates people he suspects and Fusco is left to watch over Sophia. Sophia is taken and it turns out her boyfriend Jack wants her dead. Reese, Carter and Fusco save her life. Jack is arrested.
The Good: After the exciting first two episodes, "Person of Interest" is back to its usual rhythm with case-of-the-week stories. This episode was more solid stuff with a decent story behind it. I enjoyed it well enough and there were a few fun moments. We got another Looney Tunes scene as Reese dominated the 14th Street mafia in hilarious fashion. Fusco got a nice moment as Sophia recognized him as a stud. I don't believe I ever addressed the opening scenes of the show, but I do like them. They give the show more identity by showing us some scenes from the point of view of the Machine. Furthermore, they provide some nice foreshadowing of the episode's story by showing us some key events that will become important later. I especially enjoyed the sequence where Reese made himself Sophia's bodyguard. Reese frequently just becomes a driver/bodyguard/whatever with no explanation given and it has bothered me. It feels so refreshing to see Reese going through the effort of getting the initial bodyguard fired and ensuring that he gets selected as a replacement instead of it just happening. These details help make him human, and seeing his charismatic ways to solve problems are perfect to get us acquainted with how he functions as a character. I really wish we had scenes like this in season 1. Finch had a really strong story in this episode. He is clearly affected by Root kidnapping him and it has made him feel mortal like everyone else, whereas before he always felt safe. Root exposed him and now her shadow is constantly lurking over him, leaving him frightened and more paranoid than ever. I loved the scene where he stepped outside, only to get hit with PTSD which caused him to immediately run back to the library. It's a very good story. The Carter side plot is very strong too. There is a lot of intrigue brought in by Snow's appearance, especially since when we last saw him, he was captured by Stanton. His presence and the added mystery of somebody tampering with Corwin's body, makes for a very interesting subplot. The Bad: This had some flaws as usual. The Jack reveal is very predictable and it didn't get much of a reaction from me. The episode wasn't able to get the tension ti tried to get since I didn't buy into Sophia being in any real danger; I was confident Reese would save her in the end. The villains didn't seem very convincing either. Their attempt to kill Sophia was really poor. Why kill her int he middle of a public club? Let her go outside and kill her then! Also, was Montgomery really going to kill Sophia in his own car at the end? That is a terrible idea in every way. The scenes with Bear seem a bit pointless and are just a random distraction. I understand the idea of using it to show Finch growing softer, but there were a few too many scenes for my liking. The Unknown: What was Alicia Corwin's incision about? It appears that Hersh did it and extracted a chip from her arm, or something like that. Who put the chip inside of her? Why was it there? How did Special Counsel know about it? It's very interesting that yet another outside force has been introduced since nobody we know was responsible for tailing Corwin. Root didn't know she existed until she died, so it isn't Root. Who will Snow be sent after next? Is Stanton searching for the person responsible for ordering her death? Is that person Special Counsel? Best Moment: Reese proving himself to be better than all of the other bodyguards was excellent. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: This was a good episode. It was a small step down from the exciting first two episodes, but that was to be expected I think. The show handled the change of focus from Root nicely by introducing some intriguing new aspects while telling a fine story in this episode. Score: 64 Summary: Reese and Carter go to Texas where they investigate a missing girl Hanna who they suspect is Root. After some more digging, they discover that Hanna is actually dead and her friend Sam is actually Root. Root had engineered the evidence to allow Reese to discover the truth about what happened to Hanna and make it public. Root has captured Weeks and is attempting to get more information on the Machine from him. Finch helps free him but Weeks turns on Finch and extracts information before attempting to kill him. Root kills Weeks after getting the information she wanted and takes Finch to a train station. Reese intercepts them and recovers Finch but Root gets away.
The Good: Root remains a very entertaining presence. These first two episodes were really fun, primarily because Root has been so good. Amy Acker plays the character to perfection and her charisma brought this episode to a new level. All of her scenes with Finch and Weeks were very good and continued to raise the mystique surrounding her character. The conversations with Finch were written really damn well and I liked the exploration of Root's belief of humans being bad code through Weeks. The action scenes in the Root story were pretty fun too. I loved the irony of Finch freeing Weeks only to end up in the same position, only with a different person interrogating him now. The way this tied in with Root's beliefs was great, and I appreciate that Root was capable enough to turn the situation back around and kill Weeks. Root came off very strongly with her villainous antics. I loved little details like her disconnecting the phone line (which also served as a logical way for Finch to leave a hint for Reese) as they make her seem like a more important and formidable force. The main story was fine overall and heated up nicely by the end. I enjoyed the reveal that Root was actually Sam instead of Hanna. It was some effective backstory for her character, though it may not have had the impact it tried to have (see: The Bad). The story did come full circle at the end with the reveal that Root had set up evidence to reveal Hanna's true murderer brought all of the loose ends together in a nice way. The Bad: The investigation with Hanna wasn't as tense as it should have been because it was obvious that she was related to Root in some way. It hampered my engagement in the mystery and made the first half of the episode pretty boring for the Reese/Carter scenes. I also wasn't happy with the flashbacks which were too repetitive and didn't offer any insight into Root's character. I hated that we were reshown the flashback to be reminded who Sam was. Also, the final reveal was hurt by the fact that it didn't do anything for Root's character. It was just surprise for the sake of surprise and offered no deeper emotions. "Lost" did these character-based twists much better. The climactic scene wasn't very satisfying. It was built up so well, but the actual confrontation between Reese and Root lasted mere seconds. It was disappointing that it was resolved so quickly and now we have been robbed of the great Root/Finch interactions. I really hope that Root doesn't become absent now like Elias was in the last season. I had similar problems with Barbara as I did with Jessica's mother in "Many Happy Returns". While I understood the story, her character just felt off to me. The emotions were pretty forced and it was hard to understand some of the things she was doing. The Unknown: So who is Root's contact? Is it anyone from Texas or somebody new? So "Special Counsel" is apparently the man in the government. What is his role in the story? What does losing Weeks mean for him? Who is Hersh? What is Hersh going to do? What does Special Counsel know about Root? Weeks seemed to be aware of her, so do they have some history? Will Root go into the background now? I feel like she will, but I really hope she doesn't. Whatever happened with Stanton? We haven't seen her in so long. Best Moment: Any moment involving Root honestly. My favourite was probably her murder of Weeks. Character of the Episode: Root. Conclusion: These first two episodes have been really fun. I liked this a fair amount, and Root helped make this episode better than it would have been otherwise. Score: 66 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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