Summary: HR takes a job to murder somebody, a psychiatrist named Turing. Reese contacts her and saves her life but is seen by security cameras. Donnelly goes after him and the FBI trap him in a building. Finch helps Reese escape and plans to take Turing to safety while Reese fights back. Finch is confronted by Alicia who wants him to shut down the Machine. Alicia is killed by Turing who is revealed to be Root and was responsible for everything that happened. Root takes Finch. Fusco and Carter discover they are working for the same person. Together, they hep and save Reese. Afterwards, Fusco anonymously lets the FBI know of HR's corruption. Simmons is taken down. Reese asks the Machine for help saving Finch and he receives a phone call.
The Good: Well this finale came right out of nowhere and completely caught me off guard. This episode felt like "Witness" in a lot of ways (I'll elaborate later), only it was more refined, paced better and had much more emotional impact. The action and character scenes were much stronger than usual and I was left feeling breathless by the end of this. I'm usually not a fan of show's showing us a glimpse of the future in the opening scenes of episodes, but I didn't mind it here. The opening scene allowed us to see that Reese would be in genuine trouble later in the episode and that made me more invested for the early parts of the episode since I was curious to see what happened. The way the episode ratcheted up the suspense and tension after the opening scene was incredible. This must have been one of the very best tension-based TV episodes I have ever seen. Reese's investigation of Turing was engaging due to the psychology of Reese's meeting with Turing. Both characters were probing each other and Finch added the extra tension by trying to ensure Reese doesn't reveal something he shouldn't. Reflecting on the episode, that scene would be even more intense while re-watching considering what we discovered about Turing. That meeting was only the first part, as the chaos exploded afterwards. Reese quickly found himself trapped with HR and the FBI both closing in on him. Reese became quite desperate and had to do some genuinely clever things to get out alive with Turing. I enjoyed seeing him get help from Carter and Finch to ensure that he doesn't make the wrong move. I loved the moment where all of the stories converged. HR had set up the bomb and the FBI were ready to engage Reese in a gunfight. The countdown that they used to build it up had me on the edge of my seat. The pay-off of Finch shutting off communication in the city was unexpected but extremely satisfying as it provided a welcome and creative way for Reese to survive and escape. As if that wasn't intense enough, we also got to follow the Carter/Fusco storyline. Carter slowly began to clue together that Fusco was involved with something and that led us into a good confrontation in the bathroom. I really enjoyed Fusco trying to defend himself, owning up to past mistakes and saying how he sometimes saves people now. Kevin Chapman performed really well and it was a great catharsis to see Fusco genuinely defending himself as somebody trying to do good after he started the show as a dirty cop. What I appreciated the most about the drama in the episode is the way it resembled "Witness". That episode had a similar setpiece with Reese being trapped with his POI in a building under assault. Only this episode didn't go as smoothly as Reese planned which allowed it to be a lot better. I was expecting Reese to easily escape once the helicopter was mentioned and I was a little disappointed by that, but I was subsequently impressed when the FBI locked down the helicopter to ensure that escape wouldn't be easy. It was after that moment that the show was able to show us what it had learned throughout its run by getting the drama to hit a whole new level from "Witness". And like "Witness", this episode stuck the landing with an excellent twist that I probably should have seen coming (it was exactly like the Elias twist). But I didn't see it coming, so the Root reveal worked really well and provided an important ending to the episode. Every confusing aspect of the episode clicked into place with that reveal and it left us on an epic cliffhanger with Root taking Finch. The Bad: Some aspects of the story weren't fleshed out enough. The downfall of HR was too sudden and out of nowhere. It's a good moment for Fusco, but it probably should have had more focus. The Alicia story ended up being pretty weak. While her character entering the episode gave some more tension, she didn't give us anything particularly useful. Her motives were shallow and I was confused as to why she wants to destroy the Machine. After all, she seemed to acknowledge the real enemy (see: The Unknown) anyways. Why not be afraid of them? I was glad to finally see Reese get identified by someone. But did they really have to catch him on a random street camera? It really begs the question of why Reese was never noticed in any of the other episodes. Furthermore, why wasn't there somebody from the FBI watching over Reese through the cameras? Instead, only Carter is able to do this and she is able to warn him. It's glaringly stupid. The shootout scene didn't work for me. While I liked seeing Fusco and Carter showing up to save Reese, I've never found these shootouts where every bullet seems to miss to be any good. It makes the characters seem too invincible and it removes the drama. The Unknown: Did the Machine get Ingram killed? How? Did it also cause Finch's injury? Who are the enemies that Alicia referred too? Was it Root? Or was Root's arrival just a coincidence and there is somebody else. What does Root know about the Machine? Has she known about it for a long time, or only recently? Or did she just find a way to hack into it? What does she want with Finch? That ending was excellent. Did it just imply that the Machine is sentient? Now that is a big surprise. How will this affect the series? Will the Machine actually help Reese save Finch? Best Moment: The Root reveal was awesome. There were plenty of epic moments to choose from, but this was the best. Character of the Episode: Fusco. Conclusion: This was "Witness" only bigger and better. This episode felt like a season finale and it delivered one of the best tension-based hours of drama I have ever seen. While it still suffered from some of the show's classic problems, it was a big success that makes me want to tune in for season 2. This season was a bit of a rollercoaster. It's amazing to look back and see my scores for early in the season. The show wasn't satisfying back then and it was flawed beyond belief. The series steadily improved as it went on, but it did so in a surprising way. Rather than correcting the issues I had with the show, I noticed that the show instead chose to work around the issues. A lot of the complaints from the first few episodes still hold up in these later episodes (plot movement is too rapid and sometimes tedious, Jim Caviezel is a bad actor, the show skips over some important details). Rather than fixing these problems, the show found a way to make the show become enjoyable in spite of these issues. Reese's character was used and explored in a way that almost makes Jim Caviezel look good, the rapid plot movement was corrected with an increased amount of emotional connection, and the important details are (usually) addressed with a single line of dialogue rather than being shown. Despite the methods of improvement, it's great to see that the improvement is there at all. 15 episodes ago, I wouldn't have expected myself to continue on with season 2. But after several consistently good episodes, I can't wait for season 2. Despite all of its flaws, "Person of Interest" ended season 1 on a high note. Score: 72
10 Comments
Summary: Flashbacks show Finch preparing the Machine for the transfer to the government. Ingram decides to make a back door into the Machine as a backup. Reese continues following Finch and discovers that he gets the POI numbers from a payphone. The next POI is a man named Peck who is being targeted for asking too many questions about something. Finch eventually realizes that he has uncovered details about the Machine and it is going to get him killed. Reese attempts to save him without revealing himself but it proves to be tougher with government assassins hunting him down. Peck arrests himself for safety and eventually realizes that the Machine is real. Reese gets him out but Peck escapes. Finch meets with Peck and confirms that the Machine exists and in exchange Peck goes off the grid. Reese discovers that Finch had a woman in his life but he had to leave her to protect her.
The Good: This was another really strong episode. While not quite as good as the previous episode, this one told a great story with a combination of plot and character development. First, we got some really important plot developments. Now we know where Finch gets the numbers, and the answer was not what I was expecting. The idea that a payphone provides the numbers is really interesting and it also provides a good reason for how Finch is able to access the Machine without being detected. I'm interested to learn more about this (see: The Unknown). The flashbacks were also quite good. We got some key information regarding the confidentiality of the Machine, while also getting more information on who Alicia Corwin was. Additionally, there was a nice reveal about the creation of the Machine's back door. It seems set up for the back door to cause some trouble and I'm unsure if this trouble is what led to Ingram's death or if the trouble will be coming in the present day. The character aspect of the episode was also really good. This episode seems to have concluded the storyline of Reese following Finch. The story ended on a high note as we got the surprise discovery that Finch had a woman in his life who he was forced to leave. Finch's story at the end was pretty tragic and it made his character a little bit more human by giving us a glimpse into the life he had lived outside of the Machine. The POI story in this episode was good, helped by its connection to the Machine. I liked the idea of Reese having to save Peck without revealing himself since it created a different sort of tension than the usual. Of course it didn't last very long, but it did lead to the funny moment of Reese immediately revealing himself as Finch tells him not to. The action sequences in this episode were some of the strongest in the show. By having other professional assassins challenge Reese, we got some of the best choreographed action sequences in the episode. There were a few other details I liked. I really loved the idea of Peck getting himself arrested to ensure his own safety. I thought that Fusco dismissing Peck's very correct guesses about the Machine was hilarious. The ending provided a great cliff-hanger. I'm very interested to see what Alicia does now that she knows that Finch created the Machine. The Bad: Some bad clichés in this episode. Reese following the guy only for him to vanish when the truck went by was pretty stupid and improbable. Where could he have gone? Also, the running away cliché featured again, though it made more sense this time. Still, it's present in nearly every episode which is laughable. Also, it's really dumb for both Reese and Finch to follow Peck so openly, especially when he is looking around for people following him. The Unknown: How does Finch get the numbers through a payphone? Was that the contingency plan? Or is this something else? How are the numbers sent through payphones? Is it only that one specific payphone that provides the number? Is it any payphone? Is there a set time that Finch needs to be there? Did Ingram or Alicia tell somebody about the Machine? If so, who? What will result from Ingram's contingency plan? I imagine the government could find out which would lead to trouble. Who is the boss of the assassins? Was it that man at special counsel that Finch mentioned? What does Alicia plan to do? Best Moment: Finch's speech at the end about Grace was wonderful and it provided more insight on the show's most mysterious character. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: "Person of Interest" remains consistent. The show has found its groove and it has delivered another very enjoyable episode that provides a lot of suspenseful action mixed with insightful character development. Score: 69 Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Jessica was accidentally murdered by her abusive husband Peter. Reese learns this and seemingly kills Peter. In the present, Donnelly involves Carter on his investigation of Reese which leads to Jessica's murder. She eventually learns of Reese's relationship to Jessica. Finch gives Reese a day off since the next POI case is a woman running from an abusive husband. Reese gets involved anyways and lets his emotion take control. Reese captures the husband, Marshall Jennings, and plans to kill him. Carter meets up with him and convinces him not to. Reese ends up putting Jennings in a Mexican prison.
The Good: This was a really strong episode with some great storytelling. It almost felt like "Lost" at times because of the way the flashback story impacted the main narrative by explaining Reese's motivations in the present through a story from the past. The format worked for "Lost", and it worked just as well here, providing the show's best episode yet. Reese's emotional journey was really strong. His utter disdain for abusive husbands was explained really nicely since abuse was the reason that Jessica died before he could come back to her. Better yet, the show capitalized on Reese's emotions to make him a proper loose cannon. He was burning hot with anger and that anger led to him behaving irrationally throughout the episode and that added a lot of tension. We could never be sure what Reese was going to do or what consequences he would be faced to endure due to his overly emotional state. This unpredictability is very different from what we usually get from this show, and it allowed this episode to really stand out and provide a more emotional experience than what we are used to. Reese's evolution as the show has gone on has been wonderful to see. He started off as one of my least favourite parts of the show, an overly serious badass that had little to no charisma. But as the show developed a sense of humour, it has used some lovely repetition (lines like "hello Lionel" whenever Reese appears out of nowhere) and smart dialogue to make Reese a more charming character. They even managed to make Jim Caviezel's discount Batman voice fit with the character by structuring some dry humour around him. It has worked superbly well, and coupled with the familiarity effect, it has turned Reese into a character that I enjoy to watch. Some of the tense sequences were really great. Finch's investigations are still some of the most exciting scenes to watch. I enjoyed watching him patiently track Sarah, and having him get caught by Marshall Jennings was really tense and I was excited to see how he would get out of the situation. I thought Reese's save was really good and I laughed at the idea of Reese just happening to have a police badge on him. Naturally, somebody like Reese would actually have a police badge on hand. I was really happy to see that the police were notified this time when Reese did something stupid. I also like how it tied into Carter's story and got Donnelly away from her when she was investigating Reese. I like the idea of her learning more about Reese. Taraji P. Henson did a great job of conveying Carter's feelings for Reese. After learning more about his past, she has come to view him as another person and her opinion of him has changed. Reese with a beard looked remarkably similar to Jack from "Lost" in that one episode. Those who have seen "Lost" should know. I found that to be a neat parallel, especially seeing how both characters were in similar states. The Bad: I was surprised by how easily Reese was able to get away from the Marshalls. He just assaulted one of them, and they just let him go. Apparently nobody got a look at his face either which is ridiculous. Also, he certainly appeared on some security footage, so he should be a wanted man now. Sharon started talking about Reese really suddenly to Carter. I understand that she would want somebody to talk to, but I felt that the scene was set up poorly. Sharon's emotional state wasn't clear enough for the scene to work. The running away cliché featured again when Sarah made her escape. The Unknown: Very interesting ending. Was Finch aware of Jessica's existence? Did she appear on the Machine? Or was he following Reese? Why? Was he casing for a new partner? Why was he in the hospital anyways? Evidently he had just had the injury which caused his limp. What will Carter do now that she understands Reese more? Best Moment: I really enjoyed Reese grimly speaking to Peter moments before he (seemingly) kills him. It was a very powerful scene that nicely displayed Reese's regrets. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: The show's first truly great episode. This episode was a great emotional journey for Reese while finally giving us all of the information we need to truly understand him. Even outside of the emotional subtext of the story, this was still a very enjoyable episode to watch which makes it a big success. Score: 70 Summary: In flashbacks, Reese and Stanton are sent on a mission to retrieve a laptop which contains data about the Machine. They are both given instructions to kill the other by Snow. They discover that the CIA wants them both dead to erase all evidence of the Machine. In the present, Reese works on a POI mission where he investigates a man named Tommy. Tommy robs a grayling truck of over $1 million worth of platinum. Reese investigates but gets caught by Tommy's girlfriend Ashley. Ashley kills Tommy, but Lynch kills Ashley. Lynch was part of the deal to get a cut from the platinum. Lynch sees Reese and threatens to kill him but Fusco shoots Lynch. Reese is freed. Snow finds a lead on Reese and investigates but finds himself captured by Stanton.
The Good: This was another solid episode with plenty of things to enjoy. The humour presented in the show has gotten better as it has gone on. I thought the opening scene with Carter and Reese was pretty strong and did a good job of showing Reese's sense of humour. The decision to give Reese more of a sense of humour was great as he has become a lot more enjoyable than in those early episodes of the show. The POI story was pretty fun. I liked Reese's infiltration of the grayling services and his fear of a robbery allowed those scenes to have an appropriate sense of tension. I particularly liked the prank scene as it served to be a strong tease of an action scene. Perhaps more importantly, I thought the actual robbery scene also delivered. The explosion that derailed the truck was surprising and caught me off guard. The chaos of the ensuing scene was conveyed really well with a clever use of sound and cinematography which helped put us in Reese's disoriented state as he tried to save Tommy's life. I thought it was a very clever way to make us understand that Reese's usual ability had been lowered which left him vulnerable to getting shot. I thought the climax of the story was strong too. I like the way that Fusco's story combined with Reese's at the end and it led to a lovely moment where Fusco willingly saves Reese's life. It was a great way to show how far their relationship has grown from that first episode. By waiting 20 episodes for this scene, the show was also able to use longevity to their benefit, making it appear that Fusco and Reese have known each other for ages. It makes it much more plausible that the two of them have grown attached to each other over the course of the show. The drama with Ashley and Tommy was solid too and there were some good twists at the end of the story. I feel like a terrible person for laughing at how sudden Ashley's death was when she attempted to run away. The flashback story was really good too. It was important for us to know how Stanton "died" and to see what led to Snow's claim of Reese killing her. Learning more about what happened, it has become clear that Snow is the real villain here. Evidently he somehow got involved with some shady dealings regarding the Machine, and was willing to sacrifice both Reese and Stanton to keep the Machine hidden. It's a very interesting plot development that increases my overall interest in the show. I also like that this information was given through a story where Reese was put into conflicts regarding him wanting to help Jessica vs him not wanting to murder Stanton. The ending was fantastic too. The reveal that Stanton is alive feels very important and it provides an exciting ending. I'm very excited to see how she slots into the story and I'm intrigued by what she has planned for Snow. The Bad: Reese recovered unusually quickly from that gunshot wound. It stands out more since the last time Reese was shot, he was out of action for a while. The Unknown: What is happening with Jessica? Is whatever this is the event that led to her death? What is the CIA's involvement with the Machine? Were they doing something illegal with it? Who were the people that got the laptop that had information of the Machine on it? What did they learn? Why has Stanton captured Snow? What will she do with him? Did she get him solely for vengeance or does she have other plans? Best Moment: This episode had a lot of strong reveals, but the best one was at the end. Stanton surviving was a great twist and mixes up the story in an interesting way. The end of the season is being set up very strongly. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: This episode delivered good reveals, some solid character drama and a few powerful moments. This was probably the most consistently enjoyable episode of the show so far. I had a good time watching this and I'm starting to get pretty excited for whatever the show has planned for the end of the season. Score: 67 Summary: Flashbacks show where Elias' hatred of his father stemmed from. In the present, Carter gets word that Elias has withdrawn $4 million and is planning something. Finch deduces that Elias plans to kill the five major mafia leaders after they are all declared POIs. Reese starts investigating and one of the men die. Carter brings the other 4 into police custody with Fusco's help. Elias kidnaps Taylor, Carter's son to get a hostage. Carter refuses to back down. Reese frees both Taylor and Gianni from Elias. Finch convinces the HR department to leave Elias' cause and they arrive to back up Fusco. Elias stands down and is arrested. Gianni is killed by a car bomb orchestrated by Elias.
The Good: This episode felt really big and important since it was the big blow-off for the Elias storyline. Because of this, I was immediately hooked into what was happening. The episode kept my interest in a way that no other episode has done so far. Elias had been built up so well, so I was excited to see what would happen when Elias finally made his move. The set up for this episode was awesome. The whole episode was tense with a rapid pace and with many characters being in a precarious position where things could really come crumbling down. After Elias kidnapped Taylor, I thought that Carter may be about to face some huge consequences for not sticking with Reese by being a potential casualty of this storyline. Elias had set things up so well that I actually thought he might successfully take over the entire mafia. This sense of fear, helped by how capable Elias has been shown to be, made the first half of this episode extremely enjoyable and some of the best television that this show has provided. The action was similarly strong. It was choreographed extremely well and that led to a lot of exciting moments that helped give this episode the climactic feeling it was going for. I really liked the storylines for Fusco and Carter in this episode. They were cooped up together and were both under pressure. I thought that this episode may have also been building up to both of them realizing that they work for the same guy, but that didn't happen. Despite it not happening, the thought that it would happen did make the episode more exciting for me. Furthermore, Fusco's storyline was good here. I liked how Zambrano played Fusco against Carter and got me to question if Fusco was actually about to turn on Carter so that he may survive. I liked the Elias flashbacks. It was good to get some backstory on his hatred for his father and why he wants to kill him and take over the mafia. His backstory helped deepen his character a little more which was useful in an episode which focused so heavily on him. The Bad: The first half of this episode did such a tremendous job of hyping up whatever Elias was going to do that the conclusion ended up feeling really flat and disappointing. I was thinking that this was going to be the best episode of "Person of Interest" so far, but the anticlimactic ending left me thinking "that's it?". It's never good when a show does that to me. I thought that Elias' arrest came right out of nowhere and was a very unsatisfying conclusion to Elias' storyline. After all that build-up, Elias was just another villain who was dispatched of in one episode. It's disappointing and it prevents Elias from being an even better character than he already is. The ending felt anticlimactic because it made Elias seem so much more incapable than he has always seemed. Did he seriously attack Carter and Fusco with the grand total of two henchmen by his side? That's so stupid, because Carter and Fusco could likely beat Elias, even if he did break in. Also, if Elias was just going to break in, why kidnap Taylor? He surely has the guys to just kill Carter and Fusco, so why not kill them both? It would have saved him the trouble. Also, what the hell was the point of having his cops show up if they just stood outside doing nothing? It's just poor planning. All these failures make it even more painful that Elias would go right to the scene of the crime instead of letting his guys do the work. I was also very displeased with how easily Elias' plans came crashing down. Elias waited so long before doing this, so surely he would have took more care in ensuring that he had a suitable number of guys working for him. But he didn't, and Reese had to kill just three guys (by my count) to free both Taylor and Gianni. That was sloppy. It seems that Elias relied extremely heavily on HR, which makes no sense. He had several guys tailing the HR people, so clearly he didn't trust them. So why didn't Elias have back-up men in case HR betrayed him like they did in this episode? The way this plot was resolved feels like an insult to everything that Elias had done right in prior episodes. Additionally, the way that Finch got HR to betray Elias felt way too easy and it didn't feel like a satisfying development. It's annoying to see Elias' plans gone awry so easily, especially sicne he took a long time to get to this point. Plus, now Fusco is free of his conflict without the character doing anything to earn this freedom. That's not how to resolve a character's inner conflict. I didn't like the way Carter went back to Reese either. The reason she left was because Reese was trying to do what cops could do with greater efficiency. So naturally Reese has to prove to Carter that he is worth working for because he is just as good at justice. So naturally, the way to do this is to... help her out one time? That's quite sloppy and makes Carter leaving a pointless development which never went anywhere. I don't like the idea that all of these gunfights and explosions can just happen in the New York streets with no witnesses or anything. Surely a wanted man like Reese would be spotted by several people. The Unknown: Does Elias ever get out of jail? Where does his story go from here? Was getting imprisoned somehow part of his plan? He seemed pretty happy by the episode's end, but perhaps that was just because he had just killed Gianni. Best Moment: It's tough to pinpoint a single moment that stood out in this episode. I'll go with Zambrano, Fusco and Carter all having their guns drawn and pointed at each other. The scene was insanely tense and it felt like a lot of different outcomes were entirely possible. Character of the Episode: Elias. Conclusion: I know I went off on a lot of things in "The Bad", but I still enjoyed this episode. It was really exciting all the way through and it was certainly the most engaged I have ever been in a "Person of Interest" episode. But so many things in the second half of the episode were disappointing, and I can't ignore that in my score. Score: 65 Summary: Finch gets a new POI and discovers that the person, Hester, is actually two individuals and one is impersonating the other. Finch follows the female Hester and Reese follows the male. Reese discovers an ecstasy lab and discovers that one is a drug dealer. Reese suspects it's the male. Finch sees some men going after the female Hester, so he befriends and saves her. However, the female is actually the impostor and she drugs Finch to disable him, leaving him to die. Reese comes into contact with the male Hester and decides to help him take out the female, whose name is Tara. Tara is able to overwhelm Reese and Hester but they both escape and get the cops to arrest Tara. Fusco saves Finch.
The Good: The main storyline was really fun. Whenever the show decides to do something different from the usual POI formula, it results in a better episode. This continued that case as the impostor gimmick worked really well and made for some really tense and exciting viewing. I thought that Tara was a really successful villain for a one-episode storyline. While I did see the big twist coming (see: The Bad), it was built up really nicely with a lot of hints that make the reveal blatantly obvious on rewatch. It was very satisfying storytelling that created an uneasy sense of tension as the episode went on. As it became more obvious that Finch was revealing himself to the wrong person, I became a little more worried about what was going to happen to him since Tara was clearly more than she let on. This helped engage me emotionally and made this episode mean so much more because of that. I think that Finch is criminally underused in this show. He is so vulnerable, so unlike with Reese there is some actual tension in his scenes because it isn't guaranteed that he will get away by being a superhuman. I'm liking some of the scenes where the show addresses how Reese gets out of a pickle. Before, the show used to gloss over these things which left me unsatisfied. But now, the show has started to address them in fun, comical ways. This episode had the great joke regarding the sprinkler system which was briefly touched on to explain how Finch escaped without slowing the rapid pace of the episode. It's a win-win as I get satisfied by the details without the show sacrificing the style that it clearly wants to stick to. Finch getting drugged ended up being surprisingly funny. It didn't add much to the story (minus the great ending reveal (see: The Unknown)), but it was pretty fun. Seeing Finch so vulnerable and carefree is really different from what we're used to and I think that's good. The show needs to be more creative to remain enjoyable. A lot of the jokes were pretty funny and I was pleased to see a fairly accurate representation of what ecstasy does to somebody, especially since the stink of what "13 Reasons Why" did with ecstasy is still relatively fresh to me. The side storylines for Carter and Fusco were really strong. I enjoyed seeing Carter get back to being a homicide detective with a few thoughts regarding Reese, wondering if she did the right thing. But she is still comfortable with her choice which is the right decision. Let this storyline play out before Carter goes back to Reese (because, let's be honest, she is most likely going back to Reese at some point). Fusco had some good moments too as we get some nice metaphors regarding his position as a crooked cop who now wants to be seen as a good cop. His connection with the imprisoned Morris tied in to this story nicely and it gave him a good moment as he helped prove an innocent victim as not guilty. The Bad: The twist was a bit too heavily choreographed and didn't surprise me. It's not a bad thing because I think that the early realization allows for the rest of the episode to have some excellent tension. But the issue comes from the fact that Reese and Finch aren't able to clue into this. Being as smart as he is, it seems weird that Finch wouldn't have a more open mind regarding the case. Furthermore, I find it odd that Reese wouldn't communicate his very clear suspicions to Finch as he continued his investigation. The climax of the episode was underwhelming, but it was always going to be. After Tara revealed herself, it was only a matter of time before Reese, Finch and Fusco took her down. That obvious sense of where the episode was going made the drama after the reveal substantially weaker than the drama before it. Surely using Finch to follow a POI is pretty stupid. He has a limp and is easily distinguishable. I'm certain that I would notice this limping man following me after an hour, never mind an entire day. Why Finch and Reese never thought of this is beyond me. The Unknown: The ending was very interesting. Does Finch calling Reese Nathan imply that Ingram was the man doing Reese's job before the series started? Does this mean that Ingram faked his death to work for Finch? Could he still be alive? There are some exciting directions that this story could go. Best Moment: Finch realizing that Tara is the impostor was a wonderful moment to pay off of the tension which had been building up throughout the episode. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a strong episode with good drama and a better story than what we usually get. I enjoyed this, and I want to see more episodes like this one. Score: 66 Summary: Moretti is released from prison so Carter and Reese watch over him to ensure Elias doesn't attack him. Moretti is attacked but Carter ensures he is safe and move shim to a safe location. Finch notices that the next POI is Leila who is a six-month old infant in a hospital. Finch realizes she is in danger and steals her from the hospital. Reese tries to discover why somebody is trying to kill Leila. He figures it out but Leila is kidnapped. To get her back, Reese goes to Elias for help. Elias helps but threatens to kill Reese and Leila, only letting them live after Reese gives up Moretti's location. The baby is saved but Elias gets to Moretti and captures him. One of the cops Carter left to watch over Moretti is shot and she decides to stop helping Reese.
The Good: Now this is more like it. Whenever "Person of Interest" indulges in its long-term stories, it results in a strong episode. This was no exception. The episode's dual storylines worked really well. It established tension at the beginning of the episode as Reese was worried about Moretti and Finch was worried about Leila. I really liked how both stories converged into tense moments which had exciting conclusions (the brief shoot-out and the hilarious reveal that Finch kidnapped a baby). Additionally, it resulted in a dramatic final act where Elias joined in with Reese during the baby storyline. Elias is fantastic. I love his character because he is a genuine threat to Reese, which is pretty rare to find. Elias is currently 2-0 over Reese as he has outsmarted him twice now. That's really good because it means that Elias is a big deal whenever he shows up, since he is an established threat that we have been conditioned to take seriously. The conversation that Elias and Reese had in this episode was great too. I liked the way that Reese convinced Elias to join his cause, but better yet was how Elias betrayed Reese halfway through and ensured that he would be gaining something by helping Reese out. I thought the ending was really smart too. Reese took a risk by working with the one man who has bested him before and he has paid for it by losing Carter's trust and loyalty. It was a surprising turn of events but it makes a lot of sense for the characters. Carter refusing to help Reese is logical, especially considering that she works as a cop whose job is to protect people, and she was doing a fine job of it before Reese came along. I'm pleased with this development as it shakes things up and increases my interest in what the show has planned as the season's final act. I think Fusco has been given a strong storyline too. His involvement with HR has given him a good conflict to help explore his character by forcing him to be dirty. I like that Fusco has slowly transitioned from a dirty cop to a decent guy throughout the series as he continues to do work for both Reese and Carter. This character transformation got a great moment in this episode when Fusco refused to give up Carter's secret to Simmons, showing that he has no desire to be dirty anymore. The action scenes in this episode were pretty solid and tense. I liked Leila's kidnapping scene, Reese's violent attack on the Petrosians and Reese halting the baby swap. They were all dramatic moments, as well as the scene where Elias trapped Reese and Leila in the refrigerated truck. I thought that having the kidnapper put Leila in a zipped up bag was incredibly smart. It's such a reckless thing to do, and it immediately made me hate the guy who did it. This paid dividends when Reese shot the guy in the head. I was cheering to see the man die because the show added the extra detail to make me despise him, even though he only said like 2 lines of dialogue. The Bad: It was weak seeing the same car accident trick two episodes in a row. Last episode, it was an attempt on Adam's life and this time it was an attempt on Moretti's life. Elias is going to need to find different ways to kill people. I was really angry to see Finch walking around in public getting baby formula when he is a suspect for kidnapping a baby. Just send Reese to do this! It was really out of character for the cautious and paranoid man to do this. The show loves to do the dramatic reveal of the POI escaping from Reese/Finch to leave us with a cliff-hanger before commercials. It's getting comical how frequently this is happening. I find it hard to believe that Leila would escape so easily from Finch, and I find it harder to believe that Finch believed that some small books would keep Leila inside. Reese breaking into the Petrosians house was tense but also incredibly stupid. Now both Finch and Reese should be suspects who have been seen in public and can be recognized on sight. The Unknown: So why did Elias contact Reese in the last episode? The cliffhanger went nowhere. What is Elias planning to do? Is he just going to kill Moretti? Does he have other plans? Is Carter actually going to stay away from Reese now? Will she come back later? Best Moment: Carter deciding that she was done was a really strong moment. Character of the Episode: Carter. Conclusion: This was a good episode that was pretty fun. It gave the show some momentum and provided a fun story to boot. This was a solid return to form after a few weak episodes. Score: 65 Summary: The next POI is Adam Saunders who is a businessman on Wall Street. Reese reads up on Wall Street and gets involved with Adam. He discovers that Adam discovered something he shouldn't have while researching where to invest and is now in danger. Reese protects him but his accomplice, Sydney Baylor is killed. The company where Adam invests his stock suddenly crashes and Ada loses his uncle's money and wants to get it back. Finch helps out by investing a ton of stock in the company and raises the price back. Carter gets a phone from a criminal and gives it to Reese. Reese calls a number and Elias answers.
The Good: I liked the idea that Reese had to study to blend in on Wall Street. It makes him seem more human since he didn't conveniently know everything about Wall Street before the episode. The story throughout the episode is pretty good. I think it was more enjoyable than the usual episode since it had a lot of twists and turns, as well as a better POI story than usual. Adam was one of the better POIs who had a pretty good story to tell. The overall story left a good impression with me. The ending of the episode was very strong. I'm excited to have Elias back in the story as it can give the show some much-needed momentum. I liked the throwback to Virtanen in the early parts of the episode. The Bad: The episode just doesn't engage me like a good episode of television should. I think the big issue is that the episode just doesn't feel important. With bigger storylines involving characters like Elias, Will, Snow and Root, these individual episodes don't give me a reason to care about them. Even though there was a story which had a lot of effort put into it, I couldn't get invested. The other big issue was how complex this story was. Cramming so much story into 45 minutes is very exhausting for me and it can only work if the story has enough substance to it. Considering that I wasn't very invested, this episode didn't succeed in that regard. I spent too much time trying to follow the story instead of getting engaged, making it convoluted and unsatisfying. I've been saying this from the start of the show, but we desperately need multi-episode stories in this show. Something like this would have worked much better if it had some time to breathe. The Unknown: What does Elias want with Reese? What was his involvement with Rasmussen? Why did he kill him? Best Moment: The ending was exciting and promises that this story will pick up now. Character of the Episode: Elias. Conclusion: This episode was fun to watch on the surface, but emotionally it did absolutely nothing for me. Episodes like these are what make this show difficult to watch for me at times. This was far from the worst thing the show has done, but it's disappointing because I see potential for so much more than what we got. Score: 55 Summary: Reese infiltrates a smuggling group operated by a man named Vargas. He is surveying a POI, Cahill who is part of the group but it also secretly a cop. The group is ratted out and are forced to hide in a warehouse. Vargas knows there is a rat in the group and Reese prevents Cahill from being discovered but nearly dies in the process. Fusco helps Reese save Cahill's life but is captured by a corrupt cop and is put in danger. Reese is able to save both Cahill and Fusco.
The Good: There were some strong moments of tension that made this fairly exciting. The gun shootout with the Asian man was pretty tense, as was the ending shootout. Fusco's arrest was a really good moment too as it added some unpredictability to the episode. Reese taking Cahill's phone was also good because I wasn't sure what he was planning to do. He could've framed himself, framed someone else or simply gotten rid of the phone. I got a laugh out of Fusco and carter running into each other and giving each other suspicious looks as they parted ways. I liked hearing "If I had a Heart" again, as I had last heard that song on "Breaking Bad". The Bad: This was the weakest episode in a while. This episode fell right into all of the show's biggest traps and ended up being very unsatisfying as a result. First and foremost, the episode was dull. It was tough to invest in the central POI story, and it was made tougher by a plot that was far more convoluted and fast-paced than it needed to be. Without any investment, I found it really tough to keep my attention on understanding the plot. It made the episode much more tedious than it needed to be. Some of the show's worst clichés were involved in this episode. Reese conveniently infiltrating the gang without showing us how he did it was poor. It was explained away with a "cool" line of dialogue. I was really displeased with the scene where Reese watched Cahill break into his own house. Finch telling him to kill Cahill before he hurts any innocents only for Cahill to be acquainted with the innocents was very familiar. I can't pinpoint which exact episode, but I am certain that this exact scene has happened in a prior episode. I immediately predicted the reveal so it ended up being more cheesy than surprising. The death tease was extremely bad. Unlike in "Number Crunch", I never felt like Reese could die in this episode so the tension was completely lost as I just waited for him to reveal he is alive. There were loads of problems with the execution as well. The idea that Reese would pass out from a graze is pretty stupid, especially for a man like Reese who was shot pretty badly back in "Number Crunch" and still managed to survive. Furthermore, Vargas is a total fool for thinking that Reese was killed without any bullet hole in his skull. Lastly, the burning of the car sucked. Any smart person would put the two bodies in the front seats to avoid any suspicion from cops. If the bodies are in the trunk, that immediately puts the cops onto them. The climax was poor as well. Finch sets up that Reese can't save both Cahill and Fusco in time. So to solve this... Reese simply just saves Cahill and Fusco anyways. So what the hell was the point of Finch's statement? It was a cheap way to attempt to add tension. I expect stunts like these from downright bad shows and it disappoints me to see something like this from this show. L.O.S. ended up being the most boring villain on this show. He was introduced towards the end of the episode and accomplished absolutely nothing to make me view him as a threat. But then he was revealed as CIA and I thought that perhaps he would be a major player because of this. But then he's unceremoniously murdered by Snow which makes me wonder what the point was. The flashbacks didn't do much for me. I didn't learn anything new about Reese from them and they weren't very interesting. This episode hardly had any Finch in it. That's a problem. The Unknown: Did Reese and Jessica get back together? Did L.O.S. just give away to Snow that Carter is helping Reese? What will Snow do about that? Best Moment: Probably Fusco running into Carter. A nice moment. Character of the Episode: Fusco. Nobody else was interesting. Conclusion: This episode was really hard to care about. Add on the bad moments and this episode ends up being one of the worst ones so far. It's a shame to see two weak episodes in a row since the show was just gaining momentum. We need to get back to the Reese/Finch story, Elias, Will and others to help the show get back on track. Score: 48 Summary: The next POI is a boy named Darren whose brother was murdered by thugs. Darren is seeking revenge and Reese befriends him in an attempt to help him and keep him safe. Reese helps get the thugs arrested and gains Darren's respect. Finch continues to meet with Will who gets closer to uncovering the truth about the Machine. Will meets with one of Ingram's partners Alicia who lies about the nature of the Machine. Finch monitors this conversation. Fusco continues to report to Reese. The Machine determines that Reese is a threat.
The Good: I thought Reese was really enjoyable as a character in this episode. Jim Caviezel has been very limited in his acting thus far and that took away from Reese's character in the early episodes. But now the writing seems to have found a way to work around Reese's dry lines and have finally given him an appropriately fun and charming personality which contrasts with Jim Caviezel's performance nicely. Instead of Reese being a boring badass with a Batman voice, he has become a cool and funny guy that carries a certain light-hearted way about him as he does his job. This new Reese is much more exciting to follow than what we had gotten before. I liked Finch's scenes in this episode. I liked that Finch was forced to make a new system as it helps put over how threatening Root was in the last episode. The exploration of Finch's paranoia was very good and I liked how he started following Will to ensure that he doesn't uncover anything. The scene with Alicia raises some interesting questions and I'm excited to see if we get more answers by the season's conclusion (see: The Unknown). The final moments with the Machine declaring Reese as a threat were terrific. I have so many questions about this and I'm really intrigued to see how things play out. The Bad: The POI story was weak. Darren wasn't an interesting character, and without any involvement with Elias, Root or Snow who we are invested in, the story was impossible to care about. I tried to get into it but there just wasn't enough presented to make me care about what happens to Darren. This storyline feels like it belongs in the first 5 episodes of the show. This episode did more to make me like and understand Reese than any other episode. It feels like something we should have seen much earlier than we did. There were a few moments that annoyed me a lot. First was the way that Carter arrested Brick. The scene felt sloppy and I was confused to see that Reese and Carter communicated as friends in front of Brick. What if Brick mentioned this to the police? They are already suspicious of Carter. Furthermore, why wouldn't Brick call for a lawyer immediately if he has already been apprehended? He has been through this before apparently, so surely he should know to get a lawyer immediately. Also, it's hard to imagine Carter being allowed to arrest somebody with such a small amount of evidence. This show loves the cliché of having the POI run away because they don't trust Reese. It's especially sloppy here because Darren has no reason not to trust Reese at this point. He just runs away because the story demands it. The Unknown: Who is Alicia? How does she know Finch? She appeared to be unsettled by the idea that Finch was around somewhere. Why? Is she afraid of him? Is there a side to Finch that we haven't seen yet? What does the Machine mean when it is monitoring Reese? Is it stating that Reese is a threat to the Machine itself, or could it possibly mean he is a threat to Finch? Does Finch have access to this information? Ingram was named as a threat in an earlier episode. I thought it meant Nathan, but it seems more likely that it was his son Will. And Finch immediately sought him out after this, so could he have been aware of that? Does this mean that Finch will view Reese as a threat after this? That could be really interesting. Best Moment: The scene with Will and Alicia was the best moment. The dialogue was really well written and I was worried for a second that Will may actually uncover something big. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: This episode was a bit of a mixed bag. The POI story was a failure, but the continuation of the overall plot in the background of this episode was strong. Score: 54 Summary: Finch notifies Reese that the next POI is an ordinary plan named Powell. They suspect that he is planning to kill a congressman but eventually realize he was set up by a professional hacker. They try to hack the hacker to get more information but the hacker is better than they expect and their system is compromised. Powell is arrested and Reese has to get to him to make sure he isn't killed. Finch brings Zoe in and together they figure out that a congressman named Matheson is working with the hacker. They arrange for him to be framed. The hacker cuts ties with Matheson and arranges for him to be killed. Powell is proven innocent. Finch is contacted by the hacker who relishes in a formidable opponent. She identifies herself as Root and reveals to know Finch's identity.
The Good: The opening scene was pretty fun. I liked Finch calling Reese in the middle of a fight and it allowed for some rather funny moments of interaction. Pleasingly, this continued throughout the episode and it led to a few more fun moments between the characters. I especially enjoyed Reese lecturing Finch about stakeouts. Reese brought out some good dry humour which helps with the big issue of his character being boring. The hacking details of this story were well done. The story was easy to follow and never veered into being too complicated which is impressive. Dumbing down hacking to make it understandable for the general population is pretty tough to do and I've seen many TV shows and movies unsuccessfully attempt it. More impressively, the hacker, Root, was able to come out of the episode looking extremely intelligent and threatening despite the simplicity of the hacking. The ending cliff-hanger was really strong and I'm excited by the possibility of a character being out there who is aware of who Finch is and could possibly even be aware of the Machine (see: The Unknown). Powell's story was fine in this episode. I like that his character was allowed to have some common ground with Reese which was nicely explored in the subway scene. The drama in the episode was very strong as expected. The action scenes in particular stood out as all three fist fights were well choreographed. The bathroom brawl was particularly good as it used the environment nicely to add to the struggle. It was nice to see Zoe again even though she didn't do a whole lot. I'm more pleased at this development because it confirms the possibility of POI characters potentially returning if needed. The Bad: The show really likes to cut to commercials with Reese/Finch making some important discovery about the person they are investigating. I've been noticing this pattern in every episode and it's starting to stand out to me. I thought that Finch and Zoe's conversation was a contrived method for them to suspect Matheson. The entire basis of their discovery was based on speculation which is a very unsatisfying way for the plot to develop. They got a little too cute at the end with Reese magically vanishing. The Unknown: Who is Root? How does she know who Finch is? Is she aware about he Machine? How about Reese? It's so interesting to have a character with this much mystique surrounding her. Best Moment: I'll go with the ending. Finch's identity has been so secret that nobody has ever figured out who he is. Yet somehow this hacker managed to derive his identity through his computer. It's a huge moment that feels even bigger because of how frequently Finch's secretive nature has been played up this season. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: This was a solid episode that introduced another big villain in entertaining fashion. There wasn't anything particularly special here, but it was pretty good. Score: 64 Summary: Reese meets with Carter and enlists her help in the next POI case but he doesn't tell Fusco. The POI, Andrea is a lawyer whose life is in danger and Reese looks into it. Reese grows suspicious when Finch goes to meetings he doesn't tell Reese about. Reese uses Fusco to follow Finch and learns that Finch is communicating with Will, Ingram's son. Reese also learns that Ingram passed away. Andrea is attacked by a friend, Chris who is the villain. Reese and Carter work together to take him out.
The Good: I liked the opening scene a lot. The Reese/Carter interactions were really strong and I really liked Carter's continual curiosity about how Finch is able to get all of the information. I thought Reese handled Carter's questions nicely and he was able to recruit her effectively to help them out. Their double-team throughout the episode was good and nicely finished the story arc of Carter discovering Finch and Reese's operation and joining in. Finch's storyline was really strong in this episode and it raises a lot of questions (see: The Unknown). The idea of some distrust between Reese and Finch makes sense considering how closed in both characters are. While they have worked together and formed a bond, they really don't know much about each other and it makes sense for Reese to finally decide to figure out exactly who Finch is and what he's up to. The addition of Will is a good follow-up from the intriguing flashbacks in the last episode and I'm really excited to see where this story goes. I liked that the show continued to show Reese struggling to fight due to his gunshot wound. Wounds like that don't heal quickly, so I'm glad that the show isn't pretending that it magically healed overnight. The Bad: The POI story was very simple in this episode, and it felt like the usual boring and predictable plot. It's hard to have 25 original stories every season and some episodes have suffered because of this. This episode lacked originality. The plot twist at the end was very predictable and mirrored the Rick twist from the previous episode, but it wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable since we literally just saw this story happen. I didn't like that the show attempted to make us sympathize with Terrence by showing that he has kids. It's a lazy way to try to induce our sympathy for a character we have no reason to care about. I had some nitpicks on this episode. It's pretty hard to believe that the CIA are consistently letting Carter escape their tails. They should be much more suspicious by now if she escapes from them over and over again. Are we supposed to believe that Fusco can successfully tail Finch? This is the same overly cautious Finch who knew when Reese was following him in the first episode and told him that they would meet on his terms. It's tough to believe that he wouldn't notice somebody tailing him. Especially Fusco of all people. Let's not forget that Fusco failed to keep his eye on a POI he was tasked to follow just two episodes ago. Reese's reasoning for Carter and Fusco not knowing that the other is also a part of the operation is really stupid. Heck, Reese doesn't even provide a real reason and he simply dodges the question when Finch asks it. This is a clear example of a character doing something because the plot demands it. The Unknown: Is Carter a full member now? Or is she still skeptical of joining Reese? Why is Finch in contact with Will? What happened to Ingram? How did he die? Was Finch responsible somehow? Does it have something to do with Ingram being a threat? Why doesn't Finch tell Reese about this? What else will Reese uncover? Will it create a hole in their bond? Best Moment: The opening scene was the best part about this episode. The interactions between Reese and Carter were really good. Thankfully both characters have grown on me and Jim Caviezel gives a better performance in better scenes like these. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a decent episode, but it's the most flawed the show has been in a while. While I like where the plot is heading, this episode wasn't the best. Score: 58 Summary: Flashbacks show Finch trying to offer the Machine to the government with the help of his friend Ingram. The next POI is a super named Trask. Finch and an injured Reese become tenants in the same building where Trask works. They figure out he is stalking a girl in the building named Lily who has a boyfriend and that he plans to kill the boyfriend. Carter dodges Snow's tails and tries to contact Finch. Finch allows her to and shows her what they do through example. Reese discovers that Trask intends to kill that night and stops him. However, he realizes that Trask is actually helping Lily as Rick isn't her boyfriend but her stalker. Reese, Finch and Trask all team up to kill Rick and save Lily.
The Good: This was another good episode where the show added further proof that it has found its footing. I thought that the idea of Finch and Reese switching roles in this episode due to Reese's injury was really clever and was a good way to keep the show fresh. I enjoyed seeing Finch struggle to do Reese's job as it put over how difficult Reese's job is while also showing us a new side to Finch as he is forced to get his hands dirty consistently throughout the episode. I also got some laughs out of Reese trying to tell Finch what to do. I liked that this episode focused more on the characters trying to get to a solution instead of them simply obtaining the solution easily. The focus on these details made the episode much more satisfying overall. I liked Finch finding a specific doctor to heal Reese who he knows won't ever speak anything about it. I liked Reese preventing Trask from killing Rick by thinking on his feet and turning on the fire alarm. I also liked the explanation as to why the CIA won't find Reese being that Finch has tasked Fusco with providing them with false leads. All of these little details were very good and helped with my engagement with the story. With the characters needing to work hard to prevent everything from spiralling out of control, the story has a sense of danger which is essential for tension-based action shows like this. Carter's story was also strong in this episode for the same reasons. I was pleased that the showed spent an entire scene showing how Carter threw the CIA tail. It shows how intelligent she is while also giving attention to the fact that the CIA would obviously be following Carter after the events of last episode. I was really happy to see her continue to investigate Finch, and their interactions in this episode were terrific (see: Best Moment). I really liked the scene where Trask chased Finch, thinking he had found the thief. The whole scene was brilliant drama and was genuinely tense. The way that Reese got Finch out of the predicament was organic and worked really well too. I was pleased by it. I also like that Reese found a solution for Finch in case this happened again, even if it was a bit too convenient (see: The Bad). The flashbacks were really good. It brought more insight on the Machine and has made me a lot more interested in finding out how exactly the system works. I wasn't expecting this to be addressed, but I am glad that we are seemingly getting an answer on this. The Bad: I was annoyed by one specific line of dialogue. Reese apparently didn't have an open mind regarding Trask's role as either a victim or a perpetrator. Surely after this much time working with Finch he would know better. How did Reese just happen to access a master key for the building? It was too convenient. The climax of the episode didn't deliver. The fight started well, but then it went into ridiculous territory quickly. Reese didn't even appear to be injured during the fight and he even started walking and fighting like it was nothing which confused me. Then, Rick died a laughable death that was over-dramatic to the point that it made me laugh from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The Unknown: Does Finch plan to recruit Carter to his cause? Is that why he showed her what they do? Who is Ingram? Where is he now? I noticed at the end that the Machine picked up a threat from Ingram. Is that from the present or the past? What is Ingram planning? Does Reese's theory that the Machine in actually Finch have nay merit to it? Is the Machine somehow built into Finch or something along those lines? Best Moment: Finch and Carter's conversation was terrific. I really liked Finch's metaphoric story about him being thrown in the deep end to figure out how to swim. Michael Emerson is such a good actor. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: "Person of Interest" has become consistently fun. It was a rough road to get here, but now the show is delivering. Score: 67 Summary: The machine gives 4 POIs at once. Reese looks into them and finds one already dead. Reese follows Wendy, Finch follows Matt and Fusco follows Paula. Paula and Wendy escape. Matt is killed by a bomb while Finch was watching. Finch discovers that the four found money on a guy who died in a car crash and that's why they are being hunted. Carter is contacted by Snow, a man who knew Reese in his prior life and wants him dead. The girls gather at their house and Reese contacts them and saves them from death. The girls go to a hospital to visit their mom where they have stashed the money. Reese contacts them but Paula has been captured and Wendy is expected to bring the money to her at a parking garage. Reese tells Carter to meet at this garage but Carter tells Snow. Finch overhears this. Reese saves the girls but Snow and Carter arrive. Reese is shot and Finch hurries to extract him. Carter gets to them but lets them go.
The Good: This was a very strong episode that proves to me that "Person of Interest" has finally hit its stride. This episode crammed a lot into 45 minutes and was very enjoyable for almost the entire time. I thought the build up to the POI story was pretty good. It was an intriguing mystery and I was never able to figure out very much of it until the characters made the discoveries themselves. The story was also made better by including a few really good moments, mostly from Finch. I really liked Finch being unnerved by watching another innocent die without being able to do anything to stop it. It made him feel more human and Michael Emerson played it very well. I also liked the way that Finch set up the congressman. It's so much more satisfying to see characters set up and execute plots to get what they want instead of just getting what they want without doing much work at all. The best part of the episode was the introduction of Snow as another major player. Before his arrival, Carter's story seemed to be a solid follow-up to last week's episodes. I was actually pretty surprised to see the show immediately capitalize on the momentum it gained after the way it messed up the continuation of the Elias story. I am very pleased though as Carter's encounter has led to an increase in urgency for the Reese investigation. We got some very interesting backstory on Reese (see: The Unknown), and now there is a new big threat to Reese, and this threat actually feels pretty legitimate unlike the one-off villains in prior episodes. The storylines all intersected in a terrific climax. Reese leading Wendy to make the switch became really tense because I had no clue when Carter, Finch and Snow would appear. The swap ended up being tenser than it should have been. But the swap was only the beginning of what was the show's best climactic act so far. Snow arrives and Reese actually gets shot. This genuinely surprised me because it's so rare for Reese to feel mortal. He frequently comes off as an untouchable badass that is never in danger, and to see him struggling to live was refreshing in a way. Furthermore, I thought that the Reese/Finch relationship build-up paid off big time here. After seeing them work together for the past 9 episodes, I bought into Finch's desperation to save him and I understood their friendship towards each other. I thought Carter choosing to let Reese live was a fantastic moment too. It teaches us so much about her by seeing her make a tough decision. In the end, she remains consistent to her righteous side that we learned all about in the last episode, choosing to let Reese and Finch live regardless of the consequences she may be forced to face. The Bad: Does Reese have some camouflage ability that I don't know about? Fusco follows his POI the same way Reese would, yet he is immediately noticed. How has this never happened to Reese? Why did the bad guys kill Matt suddenly? Didn't they need to get his money? Why didn't they do the same with Wendy and Paula? Odd. The Unknown: This special case of four POIs does beg the question of why the machine doesn't do this every time. Why doesn't the machine just give the names of both the perpetrator and the victim? Who is Snow exactly? What was his relationship with Reese? Were they on good terms? Why does he want to kill Reese? Did Reese actually kill Stanton? Was it something else? How did she die? How did Reese fake his death? Will Carter be forced to face consequences for allowing Reese to survive? Best Moment: The final three minutes were stellar. The standout moment in all of it was Carter allowing Reese and Finch to go. Character of the Episode: Carter. Conclusion: This was very good. This had some of the best drama of all of the episodes thus far and the ending of the episode was both powerful and memorable. The show has picked up in a big way. Score: 68 Summary: Flashbacks show Carter's history in the army. In the present, the next POI is Carter. Reese investigates her with Fusco's help and they discover tons of people who may want her dead including Elias and a thug named Hector. Reese helps Carter survive many of these threats and makes contact with her telling her to be careful. However, Carter is betrayed and shot by a friend, BC, who Reese kills. Carter survives the attempt on her life by wearing a bulletproof vest.
The Good: This was the strongest episode so far. The focus on carter was very welcome and helped transform her from a side character to somebody I am invested in. I didn't care very much about what she was doing in prior episodes because I never felt like I knew very much about her. This episode rectified that by giving me a good understanding of her principles, values, backstory, goals, and character. It was a very strong exploration of her character that sets her up nicely as a protagonist in her own right despite the fact that she is against Reese and Finch. The flashbacks finally delivered something more than just intrigue which i really liked. These flashbacks properly provided insight on Carter's character and had a purpose. In just a few scenes, I was able to understand everything that Carter was about and I shared in her despair when she realizes that the soldiers let Yusuf die. The backstory did a lot of work in making me understand why Carter is going around trying to save everyone instead of simply focusing on her specific job. But more importantly, it made me appreciate the character of Carter and now I am emotionally invested in what she does in the show. This episode built up its story extremely well, barring one scene (see: The Bad). The danger surrounding Carter is amplified by a lot because of the sheer number of people who are out to kill her. There is Hector, there is Elias and there are the dirty cops and you have no idea which ones will pose the largest danger for Carter. Furthermore, there is also the danger of Reese potentially letting himself be discovered while trying to save Carter. All of these factors help make this episode more engaging than all previous episodes and it felt like an episode where something big could actually happen. While I did end up predicting BC turning on Carter about a minute before it happened, I still thought it was an effective twist. With all of these threats around Carter, the actual danger came from the place you would least expect it, which is solid storytelling. It was also an effective way to get Reese and Carter to have a conversation without Carter being able to arrest him. I'm curious to see how their relationship furthers from this experience. I thought Reese had his best scene in this episode. That came when he viciously threatened Captain Lynch. I was impressed by this because it was the culmination of an actual character story that Reese went through in this episode. By following Carter throughout the episode, Reese gains respect for her and eventually ends up supporting her cause. His dedication to her reaches its climax when he threatens Captain Lynch. For once, Jim Caviezel actually puts some emotion into his acting and I feel like Reese is a little more than cool batman in this scene. The Bad: This episode had done well to avoid "Person of Interest"'s long-winded exposition scenes. But then we get one scene with Fusco and Captain Lynch which gave us so much information with nothing being done to earn this information. It stands out even more than usual because of how much better the rest of this episode was by comparison. So Elias is the one who shot Carter. How do they know this? Surely the blood test would track some teacher called Charlie Burton, not Elias himself. Why didn't they just go arrest him then? Where is Elias now anyways? Did he quit his job as a teacher to commit more to being a criminal? Does he have actual protection now? None of these questions are answered, and that's pretty annoying because we now have no idea how much of a threat Elias is. The Unknown: Will Carter be attacked again in the future? It's been established that she has a lot of enemies. Can Carter possibly have an alliance with Reese? So what is Elias up to? Where did he go? What is he doing? Best Moment: Reese threatening Lynch was pretty great. Character of the Episode: Carter. Conclusion: I'm noticing a trend in this series. Whenever the show builds foundation for the future, I enjoy it so much more than the one-off episodes which don't deliver much in the long-term. This was the strongest episode of the series thus far and it gives me hope that I'll like where this show is heading even if there are some bumps on the way there. Score: 66 Summary: The new POI is Ulrich Kohl who is a former spy hunting down his former comrades. Finch and Reese investigate and discover he is getting revenge since his former team were responsible for his wife, Anja's death. However he learns that Anja is still alive and scared of him. Reese fears Kohl will kill her and gets her to a safe location and confronts him. Kohl turns the tables on Reese and escapes. Kohl visits his daughter so he can go speak with Anja. He confesses that Anja was right to fear him and Reese kills him.
The Good: Alan Dale as Kohl was pretty fun. I like the addition of another "Lost" character, plus Alan Dale is very good. I thought that Kohl's story was pretty good and served as a good way to make Finch and Reese reflect on their lives at the end of the episode. The Bad: Unfortunately the show has lost all of its momentum coming out of "Witness". Elias is gone and forgotten for now, so we are sadly back to person of the week episodes that are pretty much devoid of any long-running story to be engaged in. I would be fine with it if any of these episodes provided something worth watching, but unfortunately they don't. This episode made me realize the biggest flaw about "Person of Interest". The whole thing is so predictable. This episode told a good story but completely failed to engage me because it all felt too familiar. Reese never loses or is in any real danger so I'm never invested in the action he gets himself into. The rest we are left with is mystery based around the POI. Unfortunately the show has groomed me to expect answers dished out to us in unsatisfying ways by the end of the episode. The sheer amount of expositional dialogue in all of these episodes is taxing on me and it ruins the fun of solving a mystery since the characters practically just come up with the answers with no effort whatsoever. It's not engaging television and it makes me feel like I'm wasting my time if I try to get invested. It's bad when a TV show leaves me feeling like I shouldn't bother caring about the characters since I know we will never see them again and they don't matter in the long run at all. There were logic gaps in this episode like all of the other ones. Reese conveniently showing up like 4 seconds too late got old fast, yet they must have done it three times in this episode. I was extremely annoyed that Reese was able to talk to the German agent after shooting his car without getting apprehended or anything. Did nobody see this happen? How about the guy that was literally standing right next to the German agent? Furthermore, why would Finch be present for that scene? It seems like an unnecessary risk, especially considering how paranoid Finch is and that Finch has recently been interrogated by the cops regarding the Elias robbery. Lastly, if Kohl is such a great spy that was able to locate his former comrades, how did he not know that Anja was still alive? Also why did he wait 20 years to do this? I don't think this was ever answered, though I may have simply missed something. There's too much exposition, so it's easy to miss something when information is being dished out so much. Did they really pass up on an opportunity to please every "Lost" fan by not having Dale and Emerson in a scene together? Come on. Also, it's not the best idea to cast an actor with a heavy New Zealand accent as a Russian spy. The Unknown: The flashbacks were really interesting. Who was Reese working for before being taken in by Finch? Who were the organization he was associated with? Will they come into the story later? Is Reese not actually his name? Best Moment: I really liked Reese and Finch wondering if they would be buried under different names and if anyone would care. It was a very human moment for both of them and I wish this show included more scenes like that. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This episode completely failed to follow up the show's best episode appropriately. This was another dull episode that indulged the show's worst habits. Score: 46 Summary: A Russian mob goes after a witness who saw the death of a man who they murdered. The cops investigate and so do Reese and Finch. The POI is the witness. The witness is a teacher named Charlie who Reese saves from the Russians. Reese gets disconnected from Finch so both of them have to work on their own. Charlie is shot and Reese has to save him, but they are trapped in a building filled with Russians. Finch looks more into the case and discovers that Elias is involved. Charlie revealed that he was told to get a message to Elias by the victim. Reese eventually escapes and captures one of the Russians, Laszlo. They take a ferry and head to meet Fusco who will safely extract them. However, Charlie reveals he is Elias and sends a message by shooting Laszlo. Elias murders Ivan, the leader of the Russians.
The Good: This was a stronger episode overall and it's probably the best episode of the show thus far. I thought the story in this episode was much more tense and exciting than previous ones. The reason for this comes from the story. The focus surrounding this witness allows for Reese and Finch, the cops, Elias's forces and the Russians to all be gunning for the same thing which makes for an episode that feels important with a central plot point and tons of potential for excitement. I thought the scenes in the apartment complex were fairly solid drama and I liked watching it. The best moment of the episode was easily the twist. I am pleased to say that the Elias twist caught me completely off guard and surprised me. It was a combination of the show's previously predictable nature and a plot that's busier than most "Person of Interest" episodes that prevented me from expecting this episode to do anything more than a basic happy ending for Charlie. So when the reveal started clicking in and Charlie turned on Reese, I was surprised and impressed as the show had finally pulled off something worth watching. The twist is incredibly smart in other ways too. The biggest thing it has going for it is that it allows Reese and Elias to have a more personal rivalry which makes us more invested in seeing Reese take this guy out. Had Elias just been another guy, I wouldn't have cared nearly this much about Reese foiling his plans. Furthermore, getting us to know Elias as a smart and friendly guy helps make him a more layered villain which is much more interesting than the bland and generic bad guys in previous episodes. The Bad: This still suffered from the same flaws: Inconsistent storytelling, Reese's bland acting, weak dialogue and so many more things which need ironing out. However, I thought the flaws didn't stand out quite as much in this episode for some reason. Perhaps it was slightly more competent writing in this episode. That's not to say there were no flaws in the story. I think I'll always have holes to poke in this story. It's highly illogical that Reese would get to Charlie before the Russians reached his apartment. The Russians were flooding into the building and Reese was across the street, so I don't see any way for him to make it inside. Furthermore, Elias seems to be a woefully unprotected man considering how powerful and important he is. What would he have done about the Russians if Reese hadn't come along? I thought the idea of a Russian mob was stupid. Another cliché with the generic Russian bad guys. The Unknown: What are Elias' plans exactly? How does he plan to conquer the world? Who are the five families? How are the Russians involved with this? Best Moment: The Elias reveal was the show's best moment so far. It was genuinely surprising and gave the show a crucial plot line to build off of. Character of the Episode: Elias. Conclusion: This was a good episode and it's a big one for the future of the show. This episode sets up a major plot line with a ton of promise that suggests that this show may actually get a lot better. Now it's up to the rest of this season to deliver. Score: 63 Summary: Reese becomes a driver for the next POI, Zoe Morgan. Reese and Finch realize she is a fixer and track her involvement to a company called Vitalen, as she has a recording which incriminates them. The company tries to cut ties with her by killing her but Reese saves her. Together, the three of them discover that Vitalen intends to sell a drug with a 3% mortality rate. Zoe and Reese are captured but Zoe talks her way out. Reese gets out as well and is able to get the recording evidence out to Finch. Carter investigates a murder which she connects to the Elias evidence box. She contacts a former detective, Sully, but he turns up dead. Carter collects a blood sample of the person who killed him.
The Good: I enjoyed this episode. While there weren't any particularly great moments or emotion to this, it was a relatively fun drama episode with an engaging plot line. The initial investigation on Zoe was pretty fun and I was engaged by the mystery of what she was doing. That's the one thing that made this episode stand out: the mystery. There were tons of questions being raised throughout which gelled together at the end making this episode a complete mystery, which I found to be fun. However, I've always been a sucker for mysteries, so I may have enjoyed this more than the average viewer. Carter's story was really good here because it promised some big things to come with all of this set-up for Elias. The mystery in this storyline, just like the main storyline, was compelling and it interested me immediately. I especially liked the tense final moments which engaged me a lot due to how unpredictable this Elias story currently is (see: Best Moment). I liked Finch's scene where he got to talk about all of the people he could have saved but was unable to. It was a good showcase for Michael Emerson in a show that hasn't used him properly. I like the addition of Zoe as a new character. I hope to see her more as Paige Turco is pretty good and is a welcome change of pace from Reese's Batman voice solving every problem. The Bad: The beginning of the episode did disappoint me. It was a prime example of a TV show telling us and not showing us. Reese has become Zoe's driver, yet we have no idea how he got to this position or what Finch had to do to set this up. It's a shame because it could have been exceptionally fun to see this get set up. The same flaws stick once more for this episode. While I like Zoe's character, the examination of her as a POI wasn't particularly interesting and her conflict with the villains was bland. Hell, the villains in general were bland too. I wish this show could have some long-running arcs so that the villains could improve. And of course, it wouldn't be a "Person of Interest" episode without at least one illogical scene. The stand-out in this episode for me was the villains taking Zoe on her word that she sent an e-mail instead of simply checking her phone. What makes this worse is that they check her phone later, showing that they had the ability to do this the whole time. The biggest issue with this story is the lack of character moments outside of Finch's brief speech. An episode like this would have been so much better with a proper character arc or emotional conflict that gets explored throughout its run. We don't get anything like that in this episode which prevents it from being good television. This flaw has hurt "Person of Interest" in its entire run so far, and I think it's the main reason this show hasn't connected with me very well. The Unknown: So who was it that killed the suspect and Sully? Was that actually Elias? I feel like it wouldn't be as I imagine that Elias has some other connections. Will we see Zoe again? The show sets it up so we can expect a return later, perhaps as a recurring character. Best Moment: Carter finds Sully dead and gets into a direct confrontation with his murderer. After Carter shoots the unknown person and goes after them, the scene picked up with a great amount of tension. Due to the unpredictability of the Elias storyline, for a moment I had no clue what would happen and actually felt that Carter may be kidnapped, or shot, or something else. It's a great sign when a story has that moment of unpredictability where you have genuinely no clue what to expect. Character of the Episode: Finch. This is getting pretty repetitive now, isn't it? Hopefully the show realizes how much of an asset they have with this character. Conclusion: This was a fairly enjoyable episode of "Person of Interest" thought that's not a particularly high standard. While I liked the episode, it never threatened to fix the problems that I've had with the show so far and suffered from a lot of those problems. Score: 56 Summary: The next POI is a judge, Samuel Gates. Reese follows him but soon after, his son is kidnapped. Reese investigates and is able to link the kidnapping to a case that Gates is overseeing. The kidnappers request that Gates throws the case. The guilty party, a woman named Angela, is in cohorts with the kidnappers. She is declared innocent, but Reese captures the kidnappers and sets them up for the cops. Gates' son is returned to him.
The Good: I continue to enjoy Reese and Finch's interactions. The best parts of this episode happened at the beginning and the end with the conversations between Reese and Finch. The Bad: This wasn't good. This was like a mash-up of everything I disliked about this show and it was disappointing. Reese was uncharismatic, the POI was boring and uninteresting, the action was hard to care about, and the story was filled with inconsistencies. The whole episode was so generic and unimportant that it feels like a filler episode due to the fact that it doesn't even play a role in the overarching storyline. The villains of this episode were pretty poor. They were cliché and forgettable, making them a complete waste of my time. Furthermore, they were all idiots. They look really dumb for letting Reese sabotage all of their plans. Furthermore, they don't keep watch on Gates which is incredibly dumb for a kidnapping story. How did they plan to ensure that Gates didn't go to the cops? It also looks stupid that they allow him to work with Reese. The climax of the episode was poor. The episode did nothing to make me even a little bit invested in this story, so I was bored throughout the climax. The action was very poor too since it's hard to believe that none of the guys would have shot Reese, Gates or his son when they were directly in the open. I was sad to see David Constabile roped into this mess of an episode. His talents were wasted and he really should have been placed in a bigger role. Reese hearing the phone ring and immediately assuming "that's them" in reference to the kidnappers is a perfect example of why this show is failing. First of all, the dialogue adds nothing and is dulled down by Jim Caviezel. Next, how does Reese know it's not just a telemarketer? It's a stupid assumption that would make him look like a fool if somebody else called instead. Third, the line is only in there to make Reese look "cool". If the writers cared even half as much about telling a story instead of making Reese look cool, maybe this show wouldn't be as poor as it is. Fusco really needs to learn when to have his criminal conversations. He steps two feet away from Carter for the phone call, and he follows up by having a conversation about criminal activity with Reese in public, right next to people. Unbelievable. The Unknown: How long will Fusco last before Carter discovers him? He is pretty bad at his job. It's a wonder that Reese hasn't replaced him yet. Best Moment: Finch proving to be overly paranoid in the opening scene. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a bland, uninspired nothing of an episode that failed to make me care. It was moderately entertaining I guess, but other than that, it was a boring mess. Score: 43 Summary: The next POI is a hard-working doctor, Megan who Reese discovers is plotting to murder a man, Andrew, who raped her sister and caused her to commit suicide. Carter investigates more on Reese and goes to talk with Finch. Fusco gets involved with drug dealers and needs Reese's help to kill them. Reese doesn't kill them and Fusco betrays him. Reese tries to prevent Megan from executing her plan but he is captured by the drug dealers. Reese breaks out and gets to Megan in time and convinces her not to kill Andrew. Reese debates whether or not to kill Andrew. Fusco is assigned to work under Carter so Reese can keep an eye on the investigation on him.
The Good: This was a stronger episode with better drama. I thought that Reese's investigational skills came off better here and I liked the way he identified who Andrew was, though I would have liked to see how he returned his ID. Furthermore, the complexity of the plot made this episode less predictable and I was delightfully surprised at a few points in the episode. Megan is definitely the most fascinating POI so far and her story held my interest better than any previous episode. I thought the character conflict of a doctor having to make the tough decision of taking a life was pretty compelling and added a layer to this episode that the previous episodes were missing. The climax of the episode was handled very well. I really like that all of the storylines (Carter's investigation, Fusco and the drug dealers, the POI) came together for a suspenseful and exciting final act of the story. It was very fun throughout with a few really good scenes. The highlights were Finch lying through his death like Ben Linus to Carter to save his skin, and Reese debating on what he should do with Andrew at the end of the episode. I approve of the decision to end the episode without giving us an answer for what Reese did, allowing us to try to figure out what Reese would have done, giving us that extra amount of engagement with the story. The Bad: The episode was still badly flawed and far from perfect. Reese remains a very poor aspect of the show. This episode gave more focus to Finch which really highlighted the vast difference in the quality of performance between Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel. Emerson is terrific and adds value to every line that his character says, whereas Caviezel is devoid of any charisma and drags all of his scenes down with his dry and boring line delivery. It's one of the main reasons that Reese is so boring to me, along with the lack of development the character has had. I'm confident that the only reason I like his character when he talks with Finch is simply because Emerson's performance brings the best out of those around him as well. The drug dealer plot is pretty poorly thought out. I have no clue why Reese doesn't just kill them since it would be convenient for him in every way. It helps Fusco stay in line with Reese helping him out and it also prevents any loose ends for Carter to find while she investigates him. With Reese being so sloppy when dealing with them, it makes him look like a total idiot for getting caught while following Megan. Also, how did the drug dealers find him anyways? I don't recall Reese revealing his identity to Fusco in previous episode. If Meg's plan is so well thought out, why didn't she fill up gas beforehand? I feel like stopping at a gas station with a man in your trunk will cause ridiculous amounts of anxiety. Furthermore, the idea that Megan's excuse to leave work is "I'm taking a nap, don't disturb me", is incredibly dumb. What do the hospital people do when they realize she is gone? A one-way trip from New York to Montauk is four hours long after all, and I don't think anyone naps for that long. The mafia drug dealers were laughably cliché. I was wondering how long it would take for this show to indulge in the cliché mafia characters, but I certainly didn't expect them this quickly. So the reason Finch was forced into the crime scene last episode was so this scene could be possible. While I like the development, surely there are better ways to get from point A to point B. The Unknown: How was Finch injured? What was the surgery for? Is it the reason for his limp? I'm very interested in his past. Best Moment: Finch and Carter's conversation was tense and Michael Emerson shined once more. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a better episode that improved on little things and moved the plot forward in enjoyable ways. However, the show's flaws still prevent it from finding its footing and being something really great. The potential is there, it's just a matter of the people behind the scenes being capable enough of taking advantage of it. Score: 60 Summary: The Machine selects the next POI as an ex-soldier named Joey. Reese follows him and discovers he is a bank robber working with a group of former soldiers, connected by a man named Latimer. Reese joins their group to get more information and assists on some robberies. The cops gain some information on the group and Carter makes multiple attempts to catch Reese, who is saved by Finch's information. Latimer betrays the group and kills all of them except Joey and Reese who escape. Joey leaves town with his girlfriend. Carter gets in touch with Reese through a radio left by one of the dead soldiers. Latimer is killed by a mysterious man, Elias.
The Good: Finch remains a strong point of the series. His character is entertaining and all of the episode's best scenes always consist of his character. I like the way his relationship with Reese is growing and it's worth mentioning that Reese only ever interests me in his scenes with Finch. I'm glad that the show seems to be hinting at an overall story arc with Carter getting more involved with the story and the surprise introduction of Elias at the end. It's a good sign and can hopefully lead to much better television. I'm glad that Joey was given some time to get his struggle across, even if it wasn't explored very well (see: The Bad). If the show steadily improves its character development through its episodes, it could end up being pretty good by the end of the season. The climactic action setpieces have been quite good so far. When Finch showed up in the second robbery, things got pretty tense for a little while which was good. I appreciated the clever way Reese was able to get information from him, even if it didn't make sense in terms of continuity (see: The Bad). The Bad: The logistics of the plots in this show still disappoint me. Finch showing up at the robbery was cool, but why didn't he just tell Reese the information through his headpiece just like before? It's an oversight. Also, Reese's skill of following people needs a lot of work. He is right behind Joey the entire time and doesn't even try to be subtle. Surely Joey would notice this, seeing he is a criminal and a former soldier. It gets worse when Reese has already met Joey and is still blatantly following him. If Joey just looks in his direction, he's screwed. Then, in an incredible leap in logic, Reese relies on Joey paying attention enough to find him for them to talk, which is ridiculous and hilariously ironic. That bar scene was pretty bad too. Those random bankers who starting trashing the war vets was really stupid and seemingly served no purpose. The scene was written really badly and felt like a "yeah soldiers!" moment more than an actual character moment. Joey's story was too shallow to be good. We are given lengthy expositional dialogues to explain his situation but we are given absolutely no time to actually explore his conflict. Did this show never get the "show, don't tell" memo? Was there really only one recently discharged soldier that was left-handed? The Unknown: What is the full story between Reese and Jessica? It seems more complicated than I thought. Who is this Elias? What is his significance to the story? Why did he choose to kill Latimer and how? What connections does he have? My instincts make me believe that Finch is lying and he does know who Elias is. So who is he? I'm fairly certain he has some history with either Finch or Reese. Best Moment: Probably Finch doing push-ups after Reese told him to get in shape. It was a nice character moment which has been rare so far. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a stronger episode than the last with some good signs for the future, though the show still feels too sloppy and generic to succeed. Score: 52 Summary: Reese and Finch start investigating their next POI, a teenage girl named Teresa who is supposedly dead. Reese locates the girl and eventually learns that her family were killed as part of a greedy scheme from a company. He gets this information from Teresa's uncle Derek. Reese leaves Teresa with Finch as he takes care of the men who are trying to murder Teresa. Teresa's location is discovered and a man tries to kill her but Reese arrives in the nick of time. Teresa is saved.
The Good: The hotel sequence was an excellent use of tension. The entire scene was played really well as both Reese and Teresa had to think on their feet to outsmart the man attacking them. It was a perfect dramatic spectacle. The flashbacks were really interesting to watch as we got a tease of Finch's past and more information on The Machine. I really want to see more of it. I got some enjoyment hearing a musical track towards the end of the episode that I had first heard on "Better Call Saul". The Bad: Unfortunately most of this was disappointingly dull. After the first episode, the show needed to give us an example of what we could expect from the season. Unfortunately, there wasn't very much here that excited me. The biggest issue is how generic and bland this show is. The action sequences, characters and dialogue are very typical of these kinds of crime dramas and the concept of The Machine isn't enough to give the show an identity to make itself stand out. It comes off as just another drama with very little emotional engagement for the viewer. With the show being called "Person of Interest", I was expecting these POIs to stand out and have compelling stories for us to discover along with Reese and Finch. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case so far. I was willing to forgive Hansen's dullness due to the fact that it was the first episode. Teresa's dullness doesn't get the same treatment from me and I'm left annoyed that we are expected to care about a character with such a small amount of development and personality. We need to be given reasons to care about a character; you can't just present a character and tell us to sympathize. A lot of moments in this episode were lame too. In a cop show like this, I expect the characters to be smart so I can be impressed by the operation. This show has done the opposite so far as Reese comes off as a total idiot. The show is so focused on making him so cool that they forget to make his actions logical. There is no reason for Reese to attack the teenager connected to Teresa so blatantly. Surely he would watch quietly and go talk to Teresa on his own when he gets the chance so as to not attract attention to himself. But he's a fool and he doesn't do this. Then he ends up creating a massive scene in a laundromat which is really bad for a wanted criminal. Surely somebody would call the police after a gunfight just happened with Reese and the other guy and there would be reports of this "guy with a suit" that the cops are looking for. The biggest issue is that this isn't just a fluke. It has been a pattern throughout these first two episodes and it needs to be corrected as soon as possible. I was confused by Finch and Reese's immediate assumption that Teresa is innocent, especially since Hansen ended up being evil. Furthermore, I thought Finch had gotten into this business to save lives. Yet he only seems to care about the life of the POI, as he and Reese don't even bother to follow other people to save their lives. It was the same situation with Pope in the previous episode who they simply allowed to die. The Unknown: I don't remember Finch's limp ever being addressed. Perhaps I missed something through the episode's rapid pace. What caused it? Best Moment: The hotel sequence was tense and exciting. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a pretty generic episode of television. So far the show hasn't made much of an impact but I see potential for some good storytelling if things can be more streamlined. I hope we don't get more episodes like these. Score: 48 Summary: John Reese is a former soldier who has become an alcoholic after his love died while he was gone. Reese is brought in to the police for a scuffle he had with some teenagers on a subway but is secretly whisked away by Harold Finch who gives him a job offer. Finch has a resource that provides him with SINs that correspond to people who will be involved with crime in the future. Reese's first task surrounds a prosecutor, Hansen who is linked to some crime. She is discovered to be the perpetrator of a corrupt police scam and Reese uses his skills to shut it down, gaining the loyalty of another cop, Fusco. Finch reveals that he gets the SINs from a secret back door to a government software that he created called "The Machine". Reese agrees to continue working for Finch.
The Good: This was a decent pilot that started the story nicely. The opening story immediately built up some intrigue and questions were raised and answered at a good pace throughout the next 45 minutes. The standout here was Michael Emerson who is terrific. His character, Finch, immediately piqued my interest and desire to learn more about his past and The Machine. I think the concept of Finch's machine is pretty good and can lead to some fun drama if used correctly. I really liked the brief montage of Reese preparing his operation and surveillance of Hansen. As a huge "Death Note" fan, I thought this was really entertaining as it helped piece together the investigation, allowing me to understand the significance of what's happening. The idea of POIs is really clever. I like the idea that they can be either innocent or guilty and we would have no idea. This can be a really useful plot device as it opens possibilities for some devastating reveals of either innocence or guilt. It was used nicely in this episode with the twist that Hansen is the perpetrator which I wasn't expecting. The Bad: This episode left me breathless. So much happened in such a short amount of time and very little had the chance to stick with me. The task of this pilot isn't one to envy though and that could explain why it feels so breathless. This episode has to introduce characters and story while providing a taste of what the show can do in an exciting storyline all within the usual 45 minute limit which is pretty difficult. Had there been an extension of time for this episode, it may have fared a little better as the characters and story would have time to breathe. While I really enjoyed the initial montage, I was disappointed to get very little of that from the rest of the episode. All of the investigation results felt rushed and flew into each other way too quickly with little impact. Allowing storylines like these to last multiple episodes is a must with this show's format and I hope they do make the decision to do this. Because of how quickly this plotline went down, nothing felt memorable and I wasn't impressed by the logistics of the investigation at all. Instead, I was only treated with a few "cool" action moments. While they can be fun, it isn't practical to base a show off of these. I wasn't a fan of the episode's climax happening offscreen in favour of the twist that Hansen plays a tape confessing her guilt in court. I've had enough of writing about unnecessary surprises after finishing up "Game of Thrones". It was a needless twist and I think it would have been better to actually see how Reese got out of his predicament so he doesn't feel like as much of an invulnerable and perfect protagonist who will always find a way out of impossible situations because... just because. The Unknown: Who is Reese exactly? What is his past and why is there so much concern when investigating his past? What happened that resulted in Jessica's death? Why is Reese believed to be dead? Does it have something to do with him killing the person who killed Jessica? What about Finch's past? What are his government connections? Why is he believed to be dead? Who was the woman he loved? How did he accumulate so much power, including a bank that he bought and forced into bankruptcy? I look forward to getting to know these characters better. Best Moment: Finch was the best part about this. I greatly enjoyed his reveal of "The Machine". Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was a solid pilot that opened up the show on an enjoyable if unspectacular note. There are already some worrying signs, but with the compact nature of this pilot, I'm not going to make any major judgments from these first impressions just yet. Score: 63 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|