Summary: Flashbacks show that Finch attempted to kill Alicia Corwin as revenge for Ingram's death but ultimately chooses to spare her. The next POI is a man named Edwards who has been framing people he thinks are responsible for crimes. Morris, the man convicted for killing his wife, comes after him. Reese and Finch try to talk Edwards out of getting revenge but Edwards threatens Morris with a gun anyways. Edwards reveals he plans to kill himself and frame Morris for the murder but Finch and Reese talk him out of it.
The Good: This episode was all about revenge. Every character and every story in the episode ended up revolving around the act and consequence of getting revenge, giving this episode a dedicated focus and theme. Edwards is a very interesting POI character. His drive for revenge is pretty basic (a man killed his wife so he wants to put him away), but it fits amidst more complex and interesting stories from Reese and Finch (more on that later). The part of his character I found most interesting was his style of vigilante justice where he would frame bad people for crimes they didn't commit to bring about justice. Not only is this a creative and interesting idea because of the morality of the whole thing, but it also brings about good drama when we are watching Edwards go about his business, unsure of what he is planning. Finch's story in this episode was the most fascinating to me. Michael Emerson was given a lot to do in this episode, and we got a great reminder of just how good of an actor he is. He played Finch's moral conflict in the flashbacks really well, especially when he had to make the decision to blow up Alicia or not. Honestly there was enough conflict here to fill an entire episode with Finch's decision coming at the climax. I enjoyed seeing Finch hinting at his desire for vengeance for Ingram (it even ties nicely back into the therapy scene in "The Devil's Share" which is a phenomenal piece of continuity), and I also liked The Machine attempting to stop Finch from doing this crime by constantly ringing the phone and even popping Finch up as the next POI. Reese had a very subtle tie-in with revenge in this episode. His scenes with Iris were fine at the beginning, but the last one was really great. Reese got to open up a little more once again and seemed to hint that the revenge he got for Jessica back in "Many Happy Returns" didn't end up fixing anything. He was left just as broken as he was before, which is very sad. I'm surprised I'm saying this, but I really like that this episode had no tie-ins with Samaritan or the Brotherhood. It was its own personalized story and it worked really well because of it. The Bad: Unfortunately the timing of this episode is poor. With six episodes left in the season, we should be getting episodes that ramp up the tension and develop the long-running storylines. I feel like if this episode came at an earlier point in the season, it would fit much nicer in the chronology of the show. This episode was really missing Shaw and Root. While the storytelling was really strong, the team dynamic feels lessened with the lack of banter that comes from Shaw and Root. That makes it less enjoyable to watch the team in action, especially since we have already seen more than enough episodes of Reese and Finch doing cases on their own. Going back to just the two of them does feel like a step back. This episode does suffer from a lot of the usual POI case problems. Edwards is very bland as a character and there isn't much depth to him. The same goes for Morris. This episode completely hinges on the revenge theme, and underneath that there is very little of substance to actually uncover. Alicia's dialogue while in the car was a bit too corny for my liking. It seemed a little too on-the-nose that she would say these lines that are so full of exposition and dramatic weight. Some more organic dialogue would have helped. The Unknown: So was Morris actually the killer or not? The episode left it open-ended, which I liked. It feels more consistent with the revenge theme that sometimes you won't get anybody to blame for the terrible things that happen to you. Best Moment: I really enjoyed the Finch/Alicia scene. Finch's moral conflict was easy to understand, and Michael Emerson portrayed Finch's conflicting emotions so well. The phone ringing int he background was a wonderful touch too, making us feel a little bit of the pressure that Finch must have felt when making his decision. Character of the Episode: Finch. Conclusion: This was the best POI case I can recall in a long time. The revenge theme added a lot and made this into a better episode than what I was expecting. Score: 64
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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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