Summary: Samaritan barely survives the virus and plans to upload itself to a satellite so that it can recover and return. Finch and Reese head out to kill the remaining part of Samaritan, hidden away on a single server. Finch discovers that they have just 18 minutes to stop Samaritan being uploaded to the satellite and that somebody needs to sacrifice their life. Finch locks Reese away and attempts to give up his life. However, The Machien frees Reese who then freely makes the sacrifice himself after The Machine leads Finch to the wrong building. Reese dies, but Samaritan is stopped. Shaw and Fusco protect The Machine from Samaritan's men. Shaw meets Jeff who she identifies as Root's killer. Jeff escapes an wounds Fusco. Fusco survives and Shaw hunts down Jeff to kill him. Finch goes off the grid and is presumed dead, but he has reunited with Grace. The Machine successfully uploaded itself to the satellite and returns in time. Shaw and Fusco presumably continue to work for it.
The Good: This was a terrific way to end the show, and this episode capitalized on the many emotions of a TV show coming to a close. The opening scene started things out brilliantly, reminding me of the season-opening monologue back in "B.S.O.D." before following it up with flashforwards that strongly hinted at Finch dying to stop Samaritan. I was invested from that moment and I found myself desperate to figure out if Finch would make it out alive. Finch and Reese's story was the best part of this episode. Their friendship has been wonderful throughout the series and it fittingly got the spotlight in this episode. Every moment between the two of them in this episode was wonderful, and the acting from both Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel certainly lived up to the moments. Jim Caviezel has come along way from the boring, charisma-vacuum he was in season 1, partly because the writers worked around his limitations and mostly from him actually improving as an actor during the show's run. His work in this episode was great and I really bought into the idea of him wanting to save Finch. I particularly enjoyed that Reese actually raised his voice when Finch left him caged, which marks one of the only times I've actually heard Reese panic in such a way. It's a brilliant way to show us how important Finch is to Reese. Reese's sacrifice was a highlight of the series. The moment was so emotional, and I think that having Amy Acker be a stand-in for The Machine was perfect, and it gave The Machine's powerful dialogue about death much more of an impact when we got to see Amy Acker acting out The Machine's slight emotional reaction to the events that were unfolding. I really enjoyed Reese's heroic final stand, and also Finch's distress when he realized that he had been tricked by the two that he trusted more than anyone else because they wanted to save his life. Shaw and Fusco's story was also quite good. I enjoyed that the underground base got to have a presence in the final episode, and Shaw bringing life to the subway train was a really cool moment. Better yet was Shaw coming face to face with Root's killer. The Shaw from the beginning of the series wouldn't hesitate to kill him, but it shows real character that Shaw actually let him live before ultimately killing him when she realized that everyone she cared about (minus Fusco) were likely dead. Another great moment for Shaw came when The Machine told her of Root's final words. I can totally buy that Root would have some final words prepared for The Machine in case she died, and the words had a very profound impact on Shaw, even making her shed a tear which I thought was very good storytelling. Sarah Shahi has been a gem, and her outstanding work on this show has often gone unnoticed. The epilogue part of the episode was really nice. It did its job as a fond farewell to all of the characters while also showing us the fates of Fusco, Shaw and Finch. Each character managed to find their peace in the end, and I found myself cheering when Finch and Grace reunited and when Shaw was contacted by The Machine to continue to save people. Shaw has finally come full circle and has gone from a ruthless killer following orders to a good person making her own decision to save lives. The Bad: Unfortunately, I found a lot of this finale to have been rushed. So much happened in this episode and I think everything would have landed even better than it did if there had been time for every moment to sink in. This episode had the impossible task of compressing the climax of the whole show and the epilogue into just 45 minutes, which was always going to be unsatisfying. I wish that this episode had been given an extra 15 minutes so that there could have been more set-up in the first half of the episode so that we weren't just rushing from exposition to exposition to set up Reese's big sacrifice. One of the biggest casualties of the rushed nature of this episode was Reese and Fusco losing their jobs. This should have been a massive moment for the show because it leaves both Reese and Fusco vulnerable for Samaritan. Yet it feels horribly out of place in this finale because both characters' arcs are resolved at the end of an episode where they are faced with a major change to deal with. It means that the big moment of them being arrested, which should be a very climactic moment, means absolutely nothing to the story as a whole. Hell, I was able to cut that entire scene out of my summary of the episode without any problems. This episode had a bunch of outstanding moments, but there was very little time to go from moment to moment. The episode didn't get the chance to breathe and really soak in the emotion and weight of each moment. We never see anybody mourn Reese. We never see Samaritan directly react to being shut off. We never see what happens to the world during the period when The Machine was inactive. There are many such instances of things like this throughout the episode, and I feel that I have to blame the cancellation of the show for this. Had this season been given 20+ episodes, all of this could have certainly been explored. I was confused why Jeff was left alive. It didn't make any sense why he wouldn't have at least been knocked out or left for the police. Furthermore, Jeff almost killing Fusco went nowhere. Another example of the rushed nature of this episode. There should have been more drama in wondering if Fusco was going to make it out of the series alive. This is just a nitpick but how did Finch not notice that his briefcase was empty? Surely there would be a weight difference. The Unknown: Will Fusco and Shaw continue to work for The Machine? Will The Machine reach out to the government for the relevant numbers or will it just create its own crew of elite assassins? How did the world change after Samaritan and The Machine were taken out? Best Moment: The entire sequence of Reese's sacrifice was some of the best television thsi show has produced. The Machine's lengthy monologue about death and its meaning set up the atmosphere perfectly as Reese went out like a hero, the way he always should have. There was so much emotion to this and it was a fitting way to end Reese's character. Character of the Episode: Reese. Conclusion: I thought this was an awesome finale even if it was rushed. There was more than enough emotion to this and I found myself to be satisfied overall. I just wish that there could have been more time given to this story because there was so much potential for some even better stories to be told here. This season was a brilliant way to end the show. There was a healthy mix of POI cases, drama between The Machine and Samaritan, strong character conclusions and emotional moments. This season had everything to be a strong conclusion to the series. The only problem I had was that it was too short. It feels like there was supposed to be much more to the story that was being told, and a number of storylines and episode felt like they were rushed just so we could end the story in a meagre 13 episodes. The series itself was one extremely fun ride. I'm very glad that I watched this show, and I give my thanks to Ben who recommended it to me. The show started off very poorly and it made a pretty bad first impression. But after that, it became one of a very small number of shows that actually corrected its problems and became a much better show as it went on. There's nothing more satisfying than watching a show live up to its full potential, and that's exactly what this show did. There were plenty of standout episodes that I've already watched several times, and I'm already itching to rewatch the best episodes of the show. Sure there are plenty of POI case episodes that I likely won't watch again, but there are always poor episodes in procedural TV shows. In the end, the good certainly outweighed the bad and the show ended with a bang. Score: 76
8 Comments
Joe Y
8/14/2020 11:07:51 am
'return 0' is crammed with story, emotional as it gets, yet staying true to the show's characters and themes. It's a philosophically rich, action-packed, densely plotted conclusion to this fantastic show that practically gets everything right.
Reply
Joe Y
8/14/2020 04:24:55 pm
"B.S.O.D."-82 [+14]
Reply
Aaronic
8/14/2020 06:26:38 pm
Thank you for the many comments! It was nice reading about your thoughts on the show as well.
Reply
Joe Y
8/14/2020 11:55:20 pm
Reasonable people can disagree. We’re both confident in our opinions. It was very interesting reading your thoughts on what worked and didn’t work for you.
Joe Y
3/30/2021 10:02:18 am
The interesting storylines that could have been expanded upon had the show been given a full season order:
Reply
Joe Y
4/16/2021 06:20:02 pm
Aaron, I don't know if you've read this excellent article by Abigail Nussbaum about the show, but you should definitely check it out. https://www.popmatters.com/this-is-the-next-world-the-stealth-futurism-of-person-of-interest-2495414120.html?rebelltpage=2
Reply
Aaronic
5/2/2021 08:20:09 am
Thank you for sharing this!
Reply
Joe Y
4/8/2022 09:32:56 am
The only other one I can think of is Angel, and to some extent The X-Files. And the former is very funny because that was Amy Acker's star-making performance. It was what convinced Nolan to cast her in this show. It also lasted for 5 seasons, blended serialized storytelling with cases of the week to great effect, tackled deep questions in a fun and non-pretentious manner, and was cancelled before its time but nailed the landing anyway. Hm! Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|