Summary: In flashbacks, Finch hacks into Arpanet. In the present, Root saves Finch, Shaw and Arthur but she gets captured by Hersh and Control. Control tortures her to get admin access to the Machine but Root turns the tables with the Machine's help. She passes a message to Control from the Machine and leaves. Arthur reveals that his memory wasn't that bad and he was faking it to prevent Control from getting information from him. Arthur goes to a bank where he kept the back-up for Samaritan. Vigilance arrive shortly after, wanting to get Samaritan for themselves. Hersh arrives outside as well. Finch convinces Arthur to destroy Samaritan. The group escapes the bank. Root calls Finch and reveals that the drives Arthur destroyed were fakes. The real drives had been stolen before by Decima Technologies.
The Good: I enjoyed the pacing of the main story. We open up with a fantastic sequence that paid off of the previous cliffhanger in a great way. All of the pressing questions I had about Samaritan from the last episode were answered in a quick, efficient way without feeling overwhelming. Then we were treated to a nice action scene when Root arrived. It was a great way to start the episode. Root's storyline was a joy to watch. Control was intimidating and I was left wondering if Root's imprisonment was intentional by the Machine, or if it had somehow abandoned her. Control's words continued to build this conflict up and I became invested in finding an answer. I thought the scenes had a nice amount of tension to them. Root's torture gave her story a sense of consequence, without over-indulging into the violence which has detracted from torture in other shows (Game of Thrones). The way Root turned things around on Control in the end was very satisfying, and it was absolutely fascinating hearing Root directly convey the will of the Machine to Control (see: The Unknown). The Samaritan storyline was very well done. I enjoyed the way the plot was set up around the bank. Finch and Shaw were separated as the dual threats of Vigilance and Hersh closed in on them. It became tough to see a way out for the both of them and I was excited to see if they would make it out with Samaritan. Collier had great presence and he felt like more of a threat than usual. His conversation with Hersh was well written and extremely interesting, and suggests that Collier may be a more important threat than he has ever been (see: The Unknown). Finch and Arthur's conversations were the best parts of this episode. Making Arthur more conversable in this episode paid off big time and it allowed me to actually buy into him and Finch as old friends. It helps that Saul Rubinek and Michael Emerson are both fantastic actors that add that extra degree of realism to their work. I bought into both characters' and I enjoyed their interactions. The best scene between them was the conversation in the vault when Finch was telling Arthur to destroy Samaritan. Arthur killing his creation was a fascinating moment for him and it brought into focus whether it's right to simply destroy an AI or not. Better yet was how the Machine actually rewarded him at the end of the episode (see: Best Moment). Watching him relive his past memories with his wife was genuinely emotional. After all the time we spent with Arthur, I ended up caring about him. I've always wanted "Person of Interest" to have a POI case that carried over multiple episodes to give it more emotional resonance. It's not surprising that Arthur has to be one of the best POIs we have had so far when he was given multiple episodes for his story. The ending reveal was another outstanding plot twist. With the climax of the HR storyline, Vigilance's introduction and the reveal of Control, I had completely forgotten about Decima. The fact that they just acquired Samaritan was a big shock, and I'm excited to see what they plan to do with it (see: The Unknown). The backstory on Finch was a really excellent story. It nicely tied into "2PiR" with Finch hacking into Arpanet on a homemade computer. The story with Finch's father was genuinely heartbreaking and was a nice way to deepen our understanding of Finch while also suggesting a reason why he may have chosen to make the Machine. The Bad: The reveal that Arthur was faking it didn't feel entirely satisfying. If he had taken such good measures to be secretive from Control, why would he tell everything to Vigilance so quickly? It doesn't really add up. Reese's story was pretty much a dud unfortunately. It broke the pacing of the last episode, but I forgave it because it seemed to be setting up for something bigger. There wasn't much pay-off here and I found myself a little dulled out by his story. I was anxiously awaiting a return to the main plot whenever he and Fusco arrived on screen. It really hurt the episode's pacing by jamming it to a halt at a few points. The actual substance wasn't very good either. It's so tough to buy into Reese's new philosophy and there isn't a very credible reason for him to believe this, especially after working for the Machine for so long and saving so many lives. It would have been nice to see Reese's doubt in the Machine growing throughout the season rather than having him slowly develop a little bit of darkness if this is where his character was heading. Fusco and Reese arriving to save Shaw and Finch was very unsatisfying. How did they know where to go? How did they acquire the SWAT uniforms? It's too much of a deus ex machina. There was one bit of dialogue I really disliked. Shaw comes up with a great plan for Finch to escape without engaging the enemy. Yet Finch calls this plan reckless. What? No. A reckless plan would be for Shaw to fight through the enemy to get to Finch. This was smart and much safer, so why is it reckless? It seems that the writers wanted Shaw to come up with something reckless to fit her character and couldn't come up with anything. So to make up for it, they just had Finch call a good plan reckless to try to prove a point. It didn't work at all. The Unknown: Why did the Machine let Root be captured? Presumably Root could have been saved from Hersh, but the Machine didn't want that to happen. Did the Machine want to pass that message on to Control? Or could it be something else? Did Root just leave Control like that? What happened to Control? What will she do next? How does Collier know about Samaritan? Who are his sources that apparently know this? I'm hoping it isn't just a plot hole. What does Collier want with Samaritan? What does Decima want with Samaritan? They wanted to kill the Machine last season, so why have they obtained Samaritan? Do they want Samaritan to overtake the Machine? Why? What would change if this happens? Where is Reese going now? Back to Colorado? Will Arthur come back later? He was a pretty important character, so I think it's possible he may come back later. Then again, he is dying so he may not return. We haven't seen Leon at all this season and Zoe has hardly appeared. Will we see more of them later in the season? Best Moment: Arthur getting to enjoy some memories with his wife was genuinely touching. Fascinatingly, it seemed like the Machine provided Arthur with this moment as a thank you for him destroying his own creation. This is so fascinating because it implies that the Machine does have feelings and can express things like gratitude. I would love to see more on this. Character of the Episode: Arthur. Possibly my favourite POI character yet. Conclusion: This was another great and exciting episode. While the story was even better than in "Lethe", the flaws were more apparent, making this about equal to that episode. Either way, this two-part story was a big success and I look forward to seeing more. Score: 70
1 Comment
Joe Y
8/14/2020 03:46:09 pm
Aside from the just in time trope (deployed at the end of the episode as usual--gets old), 'Aletheia' is another tense, violent, and ultimately poignant thriller from 'Person of Interest'. Some of the best writing and acting in the entire series here for sure, and the parallels between Arthur and Harold's father shoots this one into the stratosphere.
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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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