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Person of Interest, Ep. 4.12 to 4.22 continues to establish Samaritan’s dominance

The last half of Person of Interest’s fourth season delves into how Samaritan is trying to gain power and control, and how The Machine is trying to fight back, resulting in a finale that takes out some major players and leaves the team once again on the run.

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‘Person of Interest’ Season 4 deftly balances global and local stories

Over the course of Season 4’s first six episodes, Person of Interest has renewed its focus on crime in the city, while not losing sight of Samaritan and the problems facing the team, and the world, from its position of power. The welcome return of old characters and the emergence of compelling new ones has proven that the show hasn’t lost its touch.

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The Quiet Visual Innovation of Person of Interest

One of the hallmarks of the modern era of television is an increased critical focus on the visual aspect of the medium. For years, when a film critic said a movie “looked like television,” they meant it as an insult. That statement implied that the film in question was shot in an entirely functional fashion, …

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Person of Interest Ep. 3.21 “Beta” is cliched but narratively necessary

In every story, there are certain necessary contrivances that, while you wish could be side-stepped, the narrative simply needs to enact. In Lost, for example, the survivors need to leave the Island to realize that they belong there. Even though its eye-roll inducing, it’s a direction the story needs to take and is allowed that. The same can be said of “Beta”.

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Person of Interest Ep. 3.20: “Death Benefit” presents the characters with a moral dilemma

With only two episodes left until the finale airs, events are likely to get more and more hectic with the twenty-four activation of Samaritan. It could very well become a battlefield and that should be nothing less than the type of excitement that gets people’s nerves boiling.

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Person of Interest Ep. 3.19: “Most Likely to…” is a simple yet effective episode

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.

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Person of Interest Ep. 3.18: “Allegiance” sadly reliant on procedural format

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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.17, “/”: Welcome to the Root of Interest

No one could have predicted in Person of Interest’s freshman season that, beyond the two leads, Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson), the show would develop truly fascinating and dynamic side characters. It’s odd to even call someone like Root (Amy Acker) a secondary character when she feels so paramount to the show, especially in episodes like “/”, where she is essentially the main focus. Root is so delightfully crazy, however, that the switch in main characters this week is entirely welcomed and nearly makes the audience forget that she isn’t usually the lead.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.15, “Last Call” suffers from a melodramatic villain

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.

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Person of Interest Ep. 3.14: “Provenance” gets its heist on

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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.13, “4C” is necessary filler

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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.11, “Lethe” ends the year on a high-note

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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.09, “The Crossing” keeps you guessing

“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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.08, “Endgame” starts show’s three-episode arc strong

“Endgame” kicks off Person of Interest’s three-episode arc with stakes that don’t get a whole lot higher, as Officer Carter (Taraji P. Henson) goes on the offensive against HR. True to form, “Endgame” is another solid installment from Person of Interest. Seldom does this show ever fail to provide an effective episode and this week is no different. The shake-up of the show’s format is a welcome change. Most episodes follow Reese, Finch, and Shaw, with Carter on her own adventure and this week is very similar, except much more attention is spent on Carter’s dealings. The shake-up itself isn’t even evident until the show hits flashback-land, normally a danger-danger place, but this show always seems to make it work for them and it really helps the episode’s momentum when a couple of logistical mysteries are revealed in the flashback before catching up to present time.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.07, “The Perfect Mark”: Series delivers another top-notch episode

“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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.06, “Mors Praematura” works on its potential season-long villain

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 …

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.05, “Razgovor” a deeper look at its resident sociopath

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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.04, “Reasonable Doubt” provides a moral gray area

“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.

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Person of Interest, Ep. 3.03, “Lady Killer” shows off its female characters

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.

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