Tag Archives: Person of Interest Review Recap

Person of Interest “M.I.A.” Review (4×13)

4 Feb

Person-of-Interest-M-I-A-9

“I couldn’t stand to lose someone today.”

Person of Interest deals with loss in a fascinating way by intertwining the human side with the technology side, the direct emotional fallout with the larger societal implications. It doesn’t forget about any character, and it takes care to allow loss to reverberate throughout the rest of the show’s universe. In “M.I.A.”, we get an incredibly intriguing look at the reactions from Root, Finch, Reese, and Fusco about the possibility of Shaw’s death, about the possibility that their friend truly sacrificed herself for them back at that elevator. The episode shines when it zeroes in on the characters’ emotions and thoughts and feelings, but at the same time, the episode stumbles a bit when it focuses on the larger picture.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Control-Alt-Delete” Review (4×12)

13 Jan

Person of Interest - Episode 4.12 - Control-Alt-Delete - Promotional Photos

“Can you consider the possibility that you’ve been lied to?”

“No.”

The name “Control” implies, well, control, and that’s exactly what we saw with the character prior to this episode. She was resolute and powerful, and when she wanted to get something done, she did it; even if she had to carry out 853 murders, she did so because that’s what she believed her country asked her to do. She did so because that’s what she believed she had to do in order to remain in power, to keep her country safe. Right from the beginning of “Control-Alt-Delete”, however, we start to see that pedestal of control slowly being chipped away at, and we see her efforts to reprimand Mr. Travers nonchalantly brushed off by the man. Simply put, Control is not in control anymore.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “If-Then-Else” Review (4×11)

6 Jan

Person-of-Interest-If-Then-Else-Season-4-Episode-11-5

“The lesson is: anyone who looks on the world as a game of chess deserves to lose.”

Person of Interest has always dealt with the intersection between humans and machines, with the meaning of humanity in the context of a technologically advanced world. In “If-Then-Else”, easily one of the show’s most thrilling, heartbreaking, and entertaining episodes, that issue is at the very forefront. It plays a role whether we’re seeing Finch and the Machine playing chess, Shaw trying to take care of the bomb vest situation, or the Machine calculating success rates, and it’s an absolutely fascinating question handled with aplomb. That’s Person of Interest for you, folks. It’s one of the best shows on television.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “The Cold War” Review (4×10)

17 Dec

Person-of-Interest-Season-4-Episode-10-The-Cold-War-06“Human beings need structure, or they wind up destroying themselves.”

The very first idea explored in this season was the idea of purpose, the idea that in order to survive, humans need to have something to work toward; the show looked at that idea through Team Machine and the disguises its members had to take on, and now, we’re being posed the questions: Does purpose translate to structure? How much structure do we need in our lives? Does free will get sacrificed in the name of security, in the name of control? Similar types of questions are oftentimes tackled in the national security vs. civil liberties debate, and Person of Interest is deftly utilizing the conflict between the Machine and Samaritan to go into depth with these ideas.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “The Devil You Know” Review (4×09)

25 Nov

Screen shot 2014-11-25 at 8.20.55 PM

“Invictus maneo.”

The above is a Latin phrase that translates to “I remain unvanquished”, and that certainly applies to the man who walks away unscathed at the end of the episode. In the Person of Interest world, you either survive or you don’t, and the rules of the game dictate that at some point, someone who doesn’t survive has his or her place taken by someone else. As Dominic says, “it’s the natural order of things”.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Point of Origin” Review (4×08)

19 Nov

7e2190a9c18d4b3acb7e1c9e692fb56b

“It’s all about relationships.”

One of the best aspects of this show is the development of relationships, relationships that are not so much romantic as they are platonic. We’ve seen our team grow tighter and tighter over the course of the series, and we’ve seen what happens when one of those team members is taken away without warning. Now, we’re seeing what happens when our main characters come into conflict with a group of people who know how to exploit relationships, who don’t care for others as long as they are ahead. Both The Brotherhood and the people behind Samaritan embody these characteristics.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Honor Among Thieves” Review (4×07)

12 Nov

thieves1

“How much wrong are we willing to do in the name of right?”

In the Person of Interest world, it’s becoming much more difficult to separate good from bad, friends from enemies, technology from life. Sure, there are teams and sides and various agendas, but the lines separating everything aren’t as clearly delineated as they were before. As Samaritan’s power grows, our characters have to grapple with a plethora of moral dilemmas, and the moral ambiguity inherent in the situation begins to reveal itself.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Pretenders” Review (4×06)

29 Oct

pretenders-heading

“Pretenders” slowly reveals itself as it progresses, developing from a standard case of the week into an essential piece in the overlying Samaritan storyline. The show’s always been great at balancing its two aspects, propelling its main stories while serving up cases that are not merely peripheral; rather, they all tie in with each other somehow, and the themes explored are very relevant throughout.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Prophets” Review (4×05)

21 Oct

prophets-4

“Sometimes, it’s better not to know.”

The POI team, for the most part, spends this episode on the outskirts of the action, never directly interacting with the case of the week subject–Jason Ritter’s Simon Lee–until the end of the episode; rather, they resort to tactics such as crashing a random car in order to get him to turn a certain way, and this all serves to highlight the necessity of keeping a cover, of avoiding Samaritan’s watchful eye. However, this is also an episode that clearly delineates the mindsets of our main characters, forcing them to confront the idea of Samaritan, of the past, the present, and the future.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Person of Interest “Brotherhood” Review (4×04)

15 Oct

BROTHERHOOD1

“There’s just one rule: we all die in the end.”

The unrelenting cycle of violence and crime seems to be a common topic among television shows these days, with The Bridge exploring that idea in terms of the U.S.-Mexico border and with Boardwalk Empire doing so in a historical, gangster world context. Person of Interest is tackling the issue in present-day New York, in a steadily evolving world that gets more restrictive as time progresses.

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →