“The man who created God? I never thought we would be friends.”
Like so many episodes before this, “Skip” deals with the ideas of humanity and compassion in the face of loss. It’s an entertaining and snappy piece of television that also finds a deeper and more poignant meaning behind its storylines, and while it’s far from a perfect episode, it’s certainly a step up from last week’s middling outing. “Skip” is able to find a better balance between the case of the week and the overarching Finch-Samaritan struggle, and as a result, both plots have excellent moments throughout the episode.
Let’s start with the case of the week, which is anchored by Katheryn Winnick’s firecracker performance as Frankie Wells, a bounty hunter who is out to take down her boss, Ray Pratt. Frankie has immediate chemistry with Reese–who seems to be a real ladies’ man in this episode–and whether they’re sitting down and talking or breaking out of handcuffs and kicking ass, they’re very enjoyable to watch.
Of course, it’s not all entertainment for Frankie, as her storyline takes a darker turn when she figures out that Ray was the one who killed her brother. What “Skip” wants to highlight, however is the fact that she eventually leaves behind her quest for revenge and saves Harper Rose. Even in this state of heightened tension and conflict, it doesn’t necessarily mean we descend to the level of the bad guys; even Harper, who stirred up a boatload of trouble earlier in the season, acts as a mediator here between Ray and others.
The whole storyline is not without problems, though. I’m not quite invested in Harper Rose enough to see her as a recurring character just yet, and I’m also not quite sure about where the show is heading with Iris and John. The Reese-Frankie dynamic eventually leads into Dr. Campbell expressing her feelings for John, and it’s an uncertain step for a show that has generally refrained from putting Reese into romantic relationships. That’s not to say the writers won’t handle this well; it’s just that with only four episodes left in the season, Iris’s role is still very unclear, and her character isn’t exactly the most fleshed-out character in the show.
So, that’s definitely the weaker aspect of the episode, but “Skip” shines whenever it focuses on Root and Finch, which is a pairing I will never get tired of. I do hope that the Trojan Horse plot point carries over into future episodes–it will be a waste of so much set up if it isn’t–but still, what we get in this hour are phenomenal character moments between two brilliant characters. We see just how far Root’s come: so far that she’s willing to listen to her own humanity over The Machine, so far that she values friendship over her “God”. Just like Finch and Reese, she’s been profoundly affected by the loss of people close to her, and she doesn’t want to lose anyone else.
The final scene she and Finch share is absolutely beautiful, and it’s a lovely moment that both acknowledges the connection they have and the distance that now exists between them. It takes care to note both past and present, and it doesn’t undervalue the significance of Root discrediting Beth Bridges or of Root saving Finch’s life. It’s a wonderful note to end the episode on, and it once again underscores just how fascinating these characters are. One thing is for sure: I will never get tired of seeing how they develop.
GRADE: B+
OTHER THOUGHTS:
– “You triggered it somehow. Ruh roh.” I love Amy Acker.
-I’ve been missing Bear recently.
-Next week, it’s the millionth time we break for a week following an episode. Anyway, the dates have been announced for the final four episodes: April 7, April 14, April 28, and May 5th.
Photo credits: CBS, Person of Interest
Polar Bears Watch TV 
I agree with you about this episode being better than the last one. I had a feeling Iris’s reason for refusing to be John’s therapist anymore had to do either with her being threatened by an outside party or her developing intimate feelings for John. I am interested to see where this relationship goes. I just hope it doesn’t lead to Iris being killed. Reese has lost enough people he cared about in the past. I would hate it even more if Iris turned out to be a spy for Greer/Samaritan.
The Finch-Root scenes were great. I love how the loss of Shaw has shaken Root’s absolute devotion to the Machine and has her developing her own personal agenda. I’m sad how things ended up between Finch and Beth. I was hoping it could further develop into a romance for Harold. But, sadly, it was inevitable for there to be some heartbreak between those two.
I liked this episode for the connection that has grown between Harold and Root. Root is not always listening to the Machine it seems, she was not when it came to Shaw and now when it comes to saving Harold over a woman that is simply a number to her and a means to an end. I liked seeing her struggle with her caring for Harold and not doing what she wanted to do (killing Beth). but she did keep her promise to Harold she did not kill Beth but she did kill her career and any chance of Harold ever seeing her again.
Root is still a very self-centred person at heart, she is trying to mean well for others but she still imposes her wishes and feelings over everyone else. She did this with her flirting with Shaw, ( I know that many think that they have a relationship but what I have seen has been pretty one sided, with Root flirting, and Shaw deflecting with mild hostility, they never have had any real moments of truth and soul like Root has with Harold, John had with Carter, or Shaw with Bear, that being said I do think that Shaw cares for Root as she does the whole of Team Machine.)
I think that Root being Root is part of the reason why the Machine is now talking to Harper, it needs another agent to fight its battle for Olympus with Samaritan. I do wonder how this news will go over with Root for she is a very jealous person (she is with Harold and John and originally with Harold and his creation The Machine).
Harold’s plan to Trojan into Samaritan is a good one but Root did not want it to come back and kill him, despite the fact that he believes that all lives are equal and no one should be sacrificed. She valued his life over his genius but highly risky plan. Granted we did not see her destroy the device that sets the trojan off in motion so it could still come into play. I hope that it does.
The way the Harold and Root parted was touching and open-ended, they are still friends and care but they need time away from each other and that will only make them stronger as friends and people. ( They both have problems with opening up to people, they are very similar)
I did like the bounty hunter Frankie, she is rather nifty and would make a great asset, and to be honest I would rather see John with her than with the good doctor Iris, Frankie was to me a combination of Carter, Shaw, with a touch of Root thrown in she gave as good she got with John I loved that Fusco approved of her!
I find the Iris story love line to be rather out of place, but it is nice to see John finding some romance considering his vile luck with women, but how does Dr. Iris come into it and why and why do I not really trust her?
What I did not like was that John did not seem like John, he seemed off his game a tad like he was ‘skipping’ a beat and was off his rhythm he always seemed behind and playing catch up. So was Harold for that matter.
Everyone seemed off their game this week, maybe hence the title Skip besides the bail skipping plot with the bounty hunter.
I am piqued to see how the Machine will be working/utilizing Harper.
What Root will be up to with the young computer guy that Harold taught.
What will be come of John and the doctor, I do not want a love story and I do not want to see John loose another woman he loves to someone killing her.
I too miss Bear.
laters PB! 🙂
Yeah, I’m not sure I trust Iris either. I have a feeling she might end up being someone who works for Samaritan, who knows. And yes, I agree that Frankie seems like a combo of the characters we love. She and Fusco had a nice dynamic going in this episode.
I think they called it Skip because you should skip this episode. One of the most poorly written episodes of the series. The Finch and Root story was okay but the rest of the episode was unwatchable. Every word out of Frankie’s mouth is awful as she recaps what just happened. “So you’re telling me that blah blah blah.” Just awful. And Harper’s deal. What a joke. She could have just stood up and said, “Why don’t you just let us go? And why don’t you just turn yourself in? And why don’t I just hand you this fake harddrive that I happened to have on me even though I didn’t know I would be given a hard drive today? And why don’t we all just put our guns down because that makes sense?” So very bad writing. Writing is so very bad.