Person Of Interest

Person Of Interest is an interesting TV show, to say the least. You have a billionaire Mr. Finch who has developed a computer program that predicts the identity of people connected to violent crimes that will take place in the future. Fortunately, the program has limitations, such as being unable to predict when and where the crime will take place. Then you have a former CIA operative John Reese who works for Mr. Finch in actually stopping the crimes.

From what I've seen so far, there is a good amount of drama attached to this. Mr. Finch and Reese are essentially vigilantes. There is Detective Carter, a cop who is trying to capture Reese. She told him in one phone conversation that she has arrested criminals who apparently considered themselves heroes. Clearly, that raises the question of how heroic Reese is, and the question of how long before a Jumping Off the Slippery Slope situation occurs.

I've only seen up to the third episode, but this is a pretty awesome show. I also find it interesting how Michael Emerson, who usually plays complete monsters, is portraying a man who is basically trying to redeem himself. I mean, in the second episode, its made clear that he knew about the Irrelevant List, he just didn't particularly care. After all, he just wanted to stop terrorist attacks. Also, it seems that Reece is destined to become something of a Woobie.

edited 10th Oct '11 4:10:21 AM by AtomJames

I'm more than a little creeped out by the premise, which is basically Minority Report with the good and bad sides flipped.

The disdain of crime/detective shows for any semblance of personal liberties (with NCIS as probably the worst offender) has been growing for the last several years; I suppose this is a logical progression.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks NCIS is heartwarming fascist propaganda.

I'm pulling for Caviezel. Ever see him in Frequency? Or Pay It Forward? He hasn't had the best of careers, to put it mildly, so I think he's due for some recognition.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks NCIS is heartwarming fascist propaganda.

Thanks you for that. My laugh of the day.

You know, with this and The Dark Knight under Jonathan Nolan's belt, do you think it would be to reactionary to say he might agree with the Patriot Act?

Just started watching it. Holy cow this show is awesome.

BTW, does anyone else get a batman vibe off of Reese?

edited 23rd Oct '11 9:22:14 PM by TheProffesor

Yes, definitely. He might be a slight bit more of a hard guy than Batman, but they have a lot of similarities.

Jonathan Nolan did help write The Dark Knight, so that might have something to do with it.

So, how about tonight's episode? I thought it was pretty slick.

What was tonights episode?

Saving the "favor" broker?

Wait, wait. I've seen that one. It is the kidnapping episode. my bad. This new ally should prove interesting.

edited 28th Oct '11 8:40:06 PM by AtomJames

Here's hoping Paige Turco sticks around for a good, long arc. I loved her on American Gothic, and it seems like her character has serious Ensemble Dark Horse potential here.

I wonder what those murders have to do with everything. Season finale maybe?

I'm thinking more like Arc Welding... like maybe an episode or two from now they'll come back to it, rather than waiting for the season finale.

After all, not everybody has Superior Autobiographical Memory. Waiting for the season finale to bring it up again will probably piss off the people who have forgotten about it.

So it looks like they have set up an arc villain.

I watch this show with my mother and she has come with an interesting theory as to who the Killer is. She thinks that it might be the nephew of the cop that Zoe helped.

edited 4th Nov '11 5:34:51 PM by AtomJames

@The Professor: I was thinking the same thing. Assuming Flashpoint doesn't keep Enrico Colantoni too busy.

@Atom James: Interesting theory. Especially since I can't find any way to poke holes in it, and I inherited masterful nitpicking skills from my dad. You may very well be right... I guess they'll tell us eventually. As long as there's no Arc Fatigue like there is on the show that airs after this one... I am so fucking sick of Red John.

Didn't Jane kill Red John?

As of the last episode, Red John is back. He killed the Villain of the Week after said villain went on live TV and called him an "amateur". Jane had maneuvered the villain into doing this, presumably to see justice done to the villain and draw Red John — who Jane has insisted is still alive all this season — back out of hiding.

So we have finally met Elias. I have to tell ya, I didn't see it coming. I mean for a while I thought I had it figured, but nope. Wrong. Also it's cool how Finch has finally met Fusco. Now we have a power trio deal going on and thats just cool.

Yeah, it should be interesting to see how the three of them interact with each other, especially considering how in the last episode Finch showed distrust toward Fusco and Fusco got all pissy about it. Probably gonna come up again.

I saw the episode "Get Carter" last night. That episode was interesting, to say the least. The episode focuses on Detective Carter (Captain Obvious), and how her number has come up! So now you have Finch, Reese, and Fusco trying to figure out who is going to make an imminent attempt on her life.

One thing that becomes pretty clear is that Reese and Carter definitely have a Not So Different vibe going on between them. Carter also turns out to be a Good Cop who is willing to go the extra mile, even though she does make risky moves that could have gotten her killed! I never would have thought that her CI (Confidential Informant, weasel, stool pigeon, snitch, etc.) would turn around and shoot her! Then again, such is the power Elias (who I'm convinced is the overall Big Bad) has. He has enough power and connections to turn a CI into a hitman.

That part about Carter being an Army interrogator was quite the eye-opener. She was able to form a rapport with a man named Yussef who has helped Al Qaeda, and has made bombs for suicide bombers that have resulted in the deaths of three soldiers. Yussef turns out to have a family, he does have feelings, and he is afraid that Al Qaeda will go after him and his family if he helps her. After she assures him that he and his family will be protected, he ends up explaining that the location to the other bombs are not on the map she has, and that he has to lead them to the place. So he is sent to that location with three soldiers. The three soldiers come back and are happy to report that the bombs have been found and dismantled. However, when Carter asks where Yussef is, the soldiers respond that he didn't make it. That would be a euphemism for "Oh, we decided to gun him down like a dog when the opportunity presented itself!" She knows that it's a euphemism, and is very unhappy. She states that she promised him that he and his family would be protected. The soldiers respond that she shouldn't make promises that she can't keep. She points out that he had a family, and asks if they don't even care. The soldiers respond that it's not their job to care, that he was hardly innocent, and one of them is smirking by this point. She even tries jumping at one of them, which was pointless, because there's three of them, all of whom are taller than her by a head, and all three have guns and she doesn't. The smirking soldier sticks his face up close to hers and tells her to get off her high horse and realize that she's all alone.

Okay, I'm not a soldier, so I can't really understand certain aspects about war. I am also biased against the Army, so I can't really be objective about this. It is clear to me that the soldiers are under the impression that they are fighting a Guilt-Free Extermination War. They have committed an act of murder, but they wouldn't call it that, because they are fighting in a war, aren't they? If it really is not the soldier's job to care, then whose job is it? Are soldiers supposed to be robots or something? It's true that Yussef was not innocent, but did that give the soldiers the right to kill him, when they were not ordered to? The one who smirked is clearly a Smug Snake who engaged in Kick the Dog on Carter. I bet his trainer put him in a roof full of puppies and told him to kick all of them until he stopped feeling anything over it! Let me tell you, I hated that smirking soldier's guts right then and there, and I wanted to punch him in the face to wipe that smirk off his face...and knock all his teeth out! Clearly, the viewpoint being presented here is that soldiers are callous, insensitive brutes who can do whatever they want whenever they want and they will never, ever be made to answer for their actions! Isn't there something called a court-martial to handle this sort of thing? I hope anyone who is an actual soldier would be disgusted by this portrayal!

edited 9th Dec '11 10:13:43 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Your post should be under spoiler tags.

I thought this episode was really interesting. I really liked that there was some interaction between John and Carter. I hope we get to see more interaction between them in the future. Who knows? Maybe they tag-team together in the season finale to take down Elias? This episode has also made me appreciate Carter more. She's quite the sassy lady.