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
3 Comments
Joe Y
8/14/2020 10:46:53 am
Fusco is a street cop, while Reese is a highly trained former CIA and spec ops officer. That's the difference, and why one is great at following people without being noticed.
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Aaronic
8/14/2020 11:11:01 am
I understand that much and it does make sense that Reese is better at following people than Fusco. However, the show doesn't show us any difference in the strategies that Fusco and Reese use. I would have enjoyed it much more had the show visually shown us a difference between Reese and Fusco rather than simply tell us that Reese is better. This would have allowed for less of a suspension of disbelief to get invested in the show in these early episodes. It's a small thing, I know, and it doesn't hurt the show much, but it's still something that I think could have been done better.
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Joe Y
8/14/2020 03:28:04 pm
Fair enough. But Reese being a 'Man in a Suit' helps him blend in extremely well in NYC. There are lots of guys in suits there. Fusco doesn't quite blend in as well into NYC. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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