Lost was a landmark series for network television, a one-of-a-kind show that producers and executives are still trying, and failing, to recreate. It’s been ten years since it premiered, on September 22, 2004 (which, coincidentally, was the date of the crash of Oceanic 815). Rather than try to make a simple Top 10 Episodes list, …
Under-appreciated in critical circles, the CBS show Person of Interest is full of strong, unorthodox characters, both male and female, and strong plotting, as well as an examination of the ramifications of its premise, all of which combine together to make it a must-see.
Person of Interest works really well a lot of the times when it keeps its stories simple and straightforward with a little mystery thrown in for good measure. “Most Likely to…” is exactly that and the show does it wonderfully.
Person of Interest falls into many of the same traps that shows of its ilk often do. Their week-to-week mysteries, full of twists and turns that are meant to surprise and trick viewers before resolving at each episode’s end, inevitably become a weakness, taking away from the series’ many other elements, those that they do so very well. The difference between Person of Interest and other procedurals is that this show is going for who-gonna-do-it instead of the tired whodunit. Perhaps the formula would be more successful if the mystery were whether the weekly number is going to kill someone or be killed, but more often than not, it’s straightforward, with little more for our leads to determine than who the wants to kill the number.
Some episodes can have all of the elements that should make a perfectly effective hour of television, and would for most TV shows, but for whatever completely subjective reason, they don’t seem to work nearly as much as they should. In the case of “Last Call”, the pieces should theoretically work and yet, perhaps due to how they come together throughout the episode, the episode just doesn’t work, plain and simple.
There are times in life when you’re forced to do something not because you want to, but because you have no choice but to do it. Who among us hasn’t taken a crappy job for the sole reason that you won’t rent otherwise? In a perfect world we do the work we want and love with a big salary attached and life is good. The real world is far more cruel that, however, and sometimes you just suffer through that bad job. Hopefully it’s never to the point of this week’s number, Kelli Lin (Elaine Tan), who is extorted into stealing art by criminals that have her daughter.
The last few episodes were a very exciting bunch, ramping up to a big climax and even then barely slowing down. Each episode has been such a slurry of top-grade action and story that only now have things calmed down to the point that it feels like the show is standing still.
The first half of Person of Interest’s third season was a tremendous group of episodes: laughs were shared, losses were had, feels were felt (in case you’re wondering, all), but good times were had by all, except, perhaps, Taraji P. Henson, but let’s not go there. In any case, it’s been a great season and all indications say that will only continue from here.
Halfway into Person of Interest’s third season and it’s as good as it’s ever been. Despite the fall finale ending on a cliffhanger, because shows feel they have to do that sort of thing now, the show finished the year on one heck of a high-note and that’s always welcome.
When a show with a cast as small as Person of Interest decides to kill off one of its main characters, the next episode can often give an indication of how the show will feel going forward.
“The Crossing”, the second installment in Person of Interest’s three-part arc, picks up directly where “Endgame” left off with Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Carter (Tarji P. Henson) transporting the head of nefarious organization HR, Alonzo Quinn (Clarke Peters), to the FBI headquarters in New York City. Making matters more difficult, HR has put a hit out on Reese to every criminal in the city.
“The Perfect Mark” opens with Finch (Michael Emerson) undercover once more as a patient for Hayden Price (Aaron Staton), a con man posing as a hypnotherapist to get sensitive information out of people. In the opening scene, it looks like this hypnotherapist, fraud though he may be, might be able to squeeze some information from Finch about his past, but no, Finch is a tough nut to crack and it’ll probably be some time before the show reveals the hush-hush world of Finch’s pre-Machine life. All we know is that Finch might have been a legendary hacker in his past life and is still a wanted man, by his old name at least. Back to the case, though- Price has managed to get involved in the ugly affairs of everyone’s favorite corrupt police organization, HR, all in the search of an admittedly large score: a 1927 New York Yankees-signed baseball that could be sold for over four million dollars.
Person of Interest, Season 3, Episode 6, “Mors Praematura” Written by Dan Sietz Directed by Helen Shaver Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on CBS The driving force behind Person of Interest is its greatest strength and its biggest potential weakness. Having an all-knowing Machine at the foreground is, in one breath, a fantastic expositional tool that can …
It’s been shown numerous times since Shaw’s (Sarah Shahi) addition to the cast that she’s not quite what one would call a “team player”. It’s also been strongly implied that she might be some sort of a sociopath. Why someone like this would be in the business of saving people’s lives day in and day out is up to anyone to guess. “Razgovor”, though, has one very simple but vital goal- exploring deeper the strange woman that is Shaw.
“Reasonable Doubt” finds Reese (Jim Caviziel) and Finch (Michael Emerson) trying to protect Vanessa Watkins (Kathleen Rose Perkins), a prosecutor that may or may not have killed her husband on a boat and thrown his body overboard. After Watkins escapes the custody of the police, the team has to locate her and decide for themselves if she is innocent or guilty.
When Person of Interest first started, it had a simple cast of Reese and Finch (Jim Caviziel and Michael Emerson, respectively) being hunted every week by Taraji P. Henson that has now transformed to a full roster of characters (assets)-many of them women- that the show has its disposal. “Lady Killer” drives this point home time and time again when Reese and Finch receive a number from a regular Casanova, a real “lady killer”(get it, guys?) who they suspect might be a stalker/serial killer. To find out for themselves, they bait the waters with Carter, Shaw (Sarah Shahi), and political fixer Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco). While Reese and Finch are focused on the new number, Root(Amy Acker) is continuing her crazy-person-athon at the mental institution she’s attempting to escape from while not being discovered by government types.
A brief recap on the first two seasons: there exists a machine made my the government that monitors the activities of everyone in the country (and abroad) for the purpose of predicting and preventing terrorist attacks. As a byproduct, “The Machine” also tracks the more mundane activities, i.e. premeditated murders. “The Machine” gives out a person’s number who will either be murdered or will be murdering someone else. Using “The Machine” to prevent these murders, former CIA operative John Reese (Jim Caviziel) and Harold Finch (Lost’s Harold Finch), creator of “The Machine”, work to prevent these murders with the assistance of New York City Detectives Carter (Tarji P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman).