Summary: Reese has been imprisoned and Finch tasks Carter with proving him innocent. Carter is able to replace Reese's DNA which was discovered before with another man's DNA. Finch is forced to take the next POI case for himself. The next POI is a high school student so Finch goes undercover as a substitute teacher. The POI is a boy named Caleb and his brother died in a train accident. Finch initially thinks that somebody else killed his brother but it isn't the case. Finch eventually realizes that Caleb is on the verge of suicide and manages to talk him out of it. Reese is almost released but Donnelly persists and keeps him, ordering Carter to start interrogating the four men in suits.
The Good: I liked this much more than the last episode. Watching Finch tackle a case alone is always fresh and I really enjoyed seeing him saving a life without the need for any big action sequence. The lack of any action makes this episode stand out among other episodes, forcing the plot to take center stage to allow for some exciting drama. I've noticed that the show likes to add an excess of plot to make up for less action and most times it doesn't work. But pleasingly, I thought it worked here for the most part, as most of the plot twists were meaningful and added to the story. I liked Finch's story in this episode. While I found Caleb to be difficult to care about as a character (see: The Bad), the show found a way around that by making me understand why Finch would care about him. Finch initially thought very little about Caleb, but after learning more about who he is, he grew more attached to Caleb. By the episode's end, it was clear that Finch had cast himself onto Caleb and because of that, he became extremely determined to save his life and to ensure that the world won't lose an individual who could bring about great things in his life. I liked the relationship that developed between Finch and Caleb after their scenes together. The ending nicely sets up for Caleb to return later on as well. The school scenes worked well too. I was pleasantly surprised by the show's portrayal of a school. It was more accurate than I was expecting and even touched on the common question of "why am I learning this stuff anyways". The follow-up scene where Finch got to show some passion for math was lovely and I liked that Finch's words were able to get the interest of the classroom. It was a realistic look at how students work and I thought the hallway scenes were pleasantly well written too. If only more shows could get the school setting right. Carter's story was fun too. While I'm not too sure if Carter going to a night club is the most efficient way to get some DNA, it was certainly the most fun story they could have provided. Watching Carter in this different role was surprisingly fun, and I just wish that we had gotten more from her story. I enjoyed watching her set up what should have been a perfect way to prove Reese as innocent. Better yet was the ending as Donnelly was smart enough not to fall for Carter's trick. He persisted, which was completely consistent with his character and he has now set up some excellent drama for the next episode as Carter will now be interrogating Reese. I can't wait to see what happens there. There were a couple of good references in here that I caught. Sending Mrs. Bentham to Maui was a nice nod to "Lost". And I caught that one frame with the blue meth. The Bad: The one storyline I didn't like was the drug one. It never got resolution and didn't seem to add to the story at all. Also, I found the reason for why Caleb was dealing drugs to be unsatisfying. He will be getting a truckload of money from the work he's giving to Beckner, so why would he need to get into dangerous business to make a few more bucks? Furthermore, nothing was done about Lorenzo. It seems to me that Caleb is going to get killed by a few baseball bat strikes soon, so Finch better not just leave him. Caleb's character is pretty difficult to relate to. A hidden genius doesn't really connect to many people, and it didn't quite get me to fully sympathize with him. It feels like a missed opportunity to have a really relatable character. How did Finch plant a phone in Reese's cell? Donnelly ensured his men to be super careful with the prisoners, so it's hard to believe that they would make this oversight. Also, who did Finch contact to plant that phone? The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. The Unknown: So the Machine reports suicide cases too? That's interesting and opens up the possibilities for a POI case even more. Finch talked to Caleb about making a big mistake. Is he referring to the Machine? As far as I remember, I don't recall him ever saying that the Machine was a mistake. So was he referring to something else? What? Does it have something to do with Ingram's death? Or the incident that caused him to have a limp? Best Moment: I really liked Finch talking Caleb out of suicide. Michael Emerson is a terrific actor and he naturally rose to the occasion here. I bought into the relationship between Finch and Caleb and that made this scene work. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was much better than the last episode. Having Finch work alone made this episode feel different from the many others I have seen. Add on some strong and logical progression of the show's overall story arc, and I think this ends up as one of the season's finest hours. Score: 66
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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