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
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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