Person of Interest – A Retrospective


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You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered “irrelevant.” They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up… we’ll find *you*.

 

Person of Interest. Where do I even start? The show ran from 2011 until 2016, and had me hooked from the very first episode and not once did I ever think the show was on a decline. While saddened at the news of the shows end after Season 5, I was also kind of ok with it. Because at least then the show got to end before it ever had a chance to decline. Plus, it was known before S5 started that it was going to end, so the show creators were able to give us a true final season, wrapping things up and giving things the definitive ending we wanted and deserved. In the end, Person of Interest ended up becoming my all time favourite show. Is it, imo, the BEST show? Probably not. But favourite? Absolutely. For the 5 years it ran, I was enthralled each and every week in a way that very, very few shows have ever done to me. Now that its over, I wanted to express my love for this wonderful series beyond just a basic “top 10 episodes” list or some other generic list. Instead I’m going to talk about as much of the show as possible! Please be aware, there are going to be SPOILERS. MONUMENTAL SPOILERS. If you haven’t seen this show, then please, I urge you to check it out. Otherwise, lets get started!

 

I mentioned that few shows ever enthralled me in the way POI did. One other show that immediately jumps to mind that did, was Lost. Even when some people started to lose interest, I couldn’t wait for that next episode to see what information might finally be revealed or what new questions would be brought up that would keep me watching again and again until we got those answers. Obviously the show ended up being disappointing when it was all over, due to the sheer lack of real answers, but it doesn’t take away my love of the series as a whole. Two of my favourite characters in Lost were John Locke, played by Terry O’Quinn, and Benjamin Linus, played by Michael Emerson. They had tremendous chemistry on screen together, which elevated their scenes above everyone else’s, and they also seemed to share that chemistry off screen too, becoming fast friends. When Lost ended in 2010, there were rumours circulating about Terry and Michael working together on a new TV show. Needless to say I was HYPED. So when Person of Interest was announced, and Michael Emerson was named as a co-star… I could feel it. THIS was going to be the show! Except… Terry O’Quinn was nowhere to be seen. Now, I have never actually read anything claiming that THIS was the project they were going to work together on or not, but I do personally believe it was going to be that project. The character of “John” on POI is very similar to the type of characters O’Quinn was cast as following his performance in Lost, but for whatever reason, perhaps the need for a younger actor, it just wasn’t to be.

 

Still, Michael Emerson alone was enough to keep me fully interested in the show, plus I was very interested in the premise. A very private billionaire (with a shady past just waiting to be explored) had developed a machine for the government following the 9/11 attacks which would spy on everyone and everything to determine threats before they happened. The government were only interested in major terror threats, so everything else was deemed “irrelevant”. This didn’t sit well with Harold Finch (Michael Emerson’s character), and so he found John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel), an ex CIA agent presumed dead, to help prevent whatever crime the machine saw that wasn’t a major terror attack.

 

From the very first episode, I KNEW this was a show I was going to love. While on the surface it presented itself as a “procedural” show, similar to the many police/csi shows out there with a little twist of this not being about law enforcement, but it soon becomes apparent that there is so much more going on. Harold Finch is a complete mystery, and one we would very slowly unravel through 5 seasons, and Reese has plenty of backstory to explore too, despite the first episode seemingly showing us everything we needed to know about who he is and why he is the way he is. Also introduced in the first episode are 2 cops; Detective Carter, who is an honest as you can get, and Detective Fusco, a dirty cop who played a part in the crime during the first episode. Both end up becoming involved with Finch and John, but in very different ways given who they were, before coming together thanks to some amazing character development, primarily on behalf of Fusco.

 

The “procedural” part I mentioned is that each episode typically begins with Finch and Reese getting a “number”; a social security number that will point them in the direction of someone either in need of help, or about to commit a crime. From there, they follow that person and try to determine the threat, and then stop it. However, it isn’t long before the show throws in NUMEROUS, yes, NUMEROUS on going story arcs revolving around a corrupt group of cops known as HR, a new Mafia leader named Elias, the Government coming after Reese, and a mysterious Hacker who seems to know all about the machine. While normally a show would stick to just one overarching story each season, Person of Interest juggles multiple arcs at a time, and does it wonderfully. Each episode, while on the surface is all about the “number”, will end up dropping more hints regarding HR, or leading to information about Elias etc etc. Everything comes together perfectly without one arc seemingly overtaking the other until needed, and without ever confusing the viewer with too much information on too many different stories.

 

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Veni, vidi, vici

 

One of my favourite story arcs from the entire show was Elias. In the beginning, we hear the name every now and then in passing, until we get the big reveal episode and we discover just who Elias is (which, by the way, still holds up as a personal favourite of mine). From there, we have MAFIA WARS between Elias and the other Mafia heads, and an odd partnership between Finch/Reese/Elias which is again handled so well. He might be the “bad guy”, who has murdered people and deals in non legal activities, but he has brought back the ORGANISED part to organised crime, which in its own weird way actually helps make New York a little safer at the time. Because of this, Reese and Finch don’t make capturing him their #1 priority, and they often help each other out, leading to mutual respect, and even a little friendship by the time the final season ends.

 

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You can call me ROOT

 

Elias, played by Enrico Colantoni, is hands down my… SECOND favourite character in the show. When it comes to Mafia related things, I’m all over it. I have books and films and documentaries about the Mafia, so I am a little obsessed with it, which explains my love for the character here. However, my absolute number 1 favourite character in the show has to be ROOT. ROOT, aka Samantha Groves, is played by the beautiful Amy Acker (who I may have a sliiiiight crush on). She turns out to be the mysterious hacker that knows all about the machine, and in the beginning appears to be an enemy when she kidnaps Finch in an attempt to find and “free” the machine. From there, the machine goes out of its way to contact her and puts her to work preparing for something bigger, and as such ends up aligning with Finch and Reese. Her chemistry with Finch is fantastic, but her chemistry with Shaw, another former CIA agent, is even better. Shaw has, and I quote, “an Axis II personality disorder, making her unable to feel and/or express common human emotions like fear or sadness”, yet somewhere along the way she develops strong feelings for ROOT, who is definitely not quite on the side of normal herself. The fact these two never got a happy ending is one of the saddest parts of the show, but every scene between them was fantastic and was written so brilliantly, putting it beyond your simple “lesbian relationship”. Neither of them used that word, neither identified as being a lesbian, they just seemed to attract each other and develop a strong bond. Kudos to the writers for that. What I also love about ROOT is that, well, she’s a total BADASS. As well as being an excellent hacker, she was also an experience hitwomen for hire, and could easily give the highly trained specialists like Shaw and Reese a run for their money. And again, the writing and the way the show was put together really does her character justice by not trying to put any emphasis on her being a WOMEN and being able to do all the things she does. That’s just her and her character, the fact she’s a women never plays into it. Some shows and films will go out of their way to make sure you know that the badass women is a BADASS WOMEN, but here, its just a badass character who happens to be played by a women. Just another reason I was drawn into her character so much.

 

Labelling those two as my favourite characters in the show by no means diminishes the others. I don’t think there has EVER been a show where I genuinely like all the main characters and supporting ones too. Everyone from Finch, Reese, ROOT, Shaw, Elias, Fusco, Carter, Quinn, Greer and Simmons… I like them ALL. Occasionally one of the weekly “numbers” characters wouldn’t really have me caring for them, but never in a way that I hated them. That is extremely impressive for me. Hell there have been shows in the past where I like the show but hated the main character! With Person of Interest, everyone was written so well, and the actors portraying them were spot in. So with that many main and supporting characters for me to love… every death really hit me as a fan…

 

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What is it about you, John, that makes you want to save everybody else’s life but your own?

 

TV shows these days thrive on epic season finales, both giving you a big end to a season long story, while setting up the next season and giving you a reason to watch it when it returns. POI is no different there, except it also excels with mid-season finales. That time when a show will get half way into the season and then, for whatever reason (like most American shows…), it goes on a break for a month or so. Over the 5 seasons, POI gave us some great ones, like the multi-episode arc of Reese being arrested and integrated, by Carter and the FBI, to see if he is the “man in the suit” they have been seeking for over a year. Of course, what the FBI don’t realise is that Carter has been working with Reese all this time, so its incredible to watch her interrogate John to make her performance believable, and at the same time pull info from John about his actual past to learn more about him. However, this isn’t the one I want to take about. Season 3’s mid-season finale was also spread across multiple episodes, and to this day remains some of the best TV I have ever seen. As I said at the start, Person of Interest might not be the BEST show, but is my favourite… however episodes like these are a very good example of how POI could be perceived as the BEST show. Following 3 years of trying to track down and eliminate the corrupt group of cops known only as “HR”, Finch, Reese, Shaw, Carter and Fusco finally uncover the man in charge; Alonzo Quinn. He was an advisor to a New York politician, who eventually became Mayor, giving Quinn the perfect position to run HR in the shadows. The multi-episode arc to put an end to HR for good sees Carter wage a one person war against HR, even recruiting the aid of Elias to plant a seed in the Russian Mafia’s head that HR were turning on them. Despite finally capturing Quinn, Reese and Carter must make their way through the streets of New York filled with corrupt cops and gang members looking to cash in on a contract on the heads of Carter and Reese. Plenty of excellent action scenes to be seen here, along with a brutal torture scene involving Fusco who gets caught by Quinn’s right hand man, Officer Simmons. The trailers for the episodes teased the death of a character, and at this point it did seem that Fusco was the one to go. He thankfully survives through sheer willpower and the help of Shaw. Eventually, Reese and Carter arrive at the FBI offices to deliver Alonzo Quinn and end HR for good. A nice, happy ending. Right? WRONG. Just as it seems like Reese and Carter might start up a romantic relationship… Simmons appears from the shadows and shoots them both, killing Carter in the process. Absolutely HEARTBREAKING. The final episode of this mid-season finale might very well be the best of them all. With the death of Carter, Reese is severely injured from the gun shot, and Simmons is on the run. However, Reese wastes no time hunting him down, leaving a path of destruction along his way. At the same time, Shaw is also looking for Simmons, though is usually a step behind Reese. Eventually, they realise the only way to find Simmons is to talk to Alonzo Quinn, who is being held by FBI agents awaiting his trial. Teaming with ROOT for the first time, Shaw, Fusco and Finch set off to talk to the former HR head… only to once again be a step behind Reese. What follows is one of my favourite scenes ever, with Reese going all Terminator on a group of FBI specialists as he makes his way to Quinn. In the end though, its Fusco who finds Simmons first, and after beating him to a pulp, arrests him, but not before giving one hell of a speech about just how much he’s changed thanks to Carter, and how he won’t kill him because that isn’t who he is any more. Just wonderful. Simmons is taken to hospital to recover for the time being… but gets visited by an old friend/enemy… and well, that’s the last time we see Simmons. The death of Carter is felt throughout the rest of the show, leaving a void that they never really try to fill, at least not with another detective or anything like that. ROOT essentially fills it by becoming a main character rather than a supporting one that only showed up every know and then, but her role in the show is vastly different to Carter’s.

 

The rest of the major takes all take place in the final season, as we see the deaths of Elias, ROOT (nooooooo!), and in the final episode, Reese.

 

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While juggling so many story arcs throughout the 5 seasons, one of them became more of an ongoing WAR rather than your normal arc. Decima Technologies, a private intelligence firm, is always in the background of the show and is revealed to be linked to so many of the characters and their backstories too. Greer, the only leader of the company we ever find out about, leads the charge in first trying to find the machine to control it, then searching for an alternative. Eventually, another programmer and old friend of Finch’s is discovered to have made his own machine, though it was still a number of weeks away from being ready, and during that time Finch’s machine was finished and the government shut down any other projects as they were no longer required. Samaritan, unlike the machine, was totally open and allows the administrator to gain information on anything they desire, rather than simply sending them a social security number to look into a person. Greer, in many ways, reminds me heavily of Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, with how on the outside he appears to be trying to help the government out by offering them a more open solution to the machine, but is secretly a “Sith” behind closed doors, manipulating and murdering his way to great power. It takes years, but finally, after even orchestrating a vigilante group opposing the lack of privacy Samaritan would bring (kinda like how Palpatine orchestrated the Clone Wars) in order to expose the existence of the machine so he might offer up Samaritan as the new solution, Greer would get his wish, and Samaritan replaced Finch’s machine. Things did take a somewhat unexpected turn though, as Greer told Samaritan that it was not he who would tell this new machine what to do, but rather it was Samaritan who should tell HIM what to do! With Samaritan now monitoring everything, Finch and his team needed to stay hidden and attempt to bring down Samaritan as giving it all that power could potentially lead to a Skynet situation ala Terminator. From there, the machine begins to evolve a little, and begins to provide numbers that not only help save lives, but can also benefit the survival of its maker and his friends. What we end up with is a war of the machines, or GODS, as Greer and ROOT see it. Elias, HR and the multiple different Government arcs have nothing on what the Greer/Decima/Samaritan arc gave us over the shows entire existence. Like I said, all the reveals of how they link to the likes of Reese and Shaw, even placing them on the path to Finch and the machine, is all wonderfully played out and adds more layers to the show and the characters. When Samaritan takes over, little things like the presentation of the shows intro change to reflect that, just proving how much dedication to detail the creators had. Plenty of moral conflicts are brought up too, as at its core, Samaritan is SAVING LIVES, and preventing attacks just as the machine did, but was taking a much more direct approach. So WAS it evil? WAS it the right decision by Finch and the others to fight to take it down? In the end, Samaritan was defeated, and while there were losses on both sides, some people got a happy ending, and we even had a tease of the machine returning at the very, very end. Overall I can’t have asked for a better finish to my absolute favourite TV show.

 

I could continue talking about Person of Interest for much longer, but for now I think I’ll leave it at that. In the future, expect a top 10 list of my favourite episodes, and likely some other POI content as well.

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