For the first time in its fourth season, Person of Interest delivered an episode totally free of the Samaritan storyline. Instead, ‘Brotherhood’ explored the criminal gang known as the Brotherhood, who seem to be making a name for themselves.
Unfortunately, last week I was short on time during the week, and there wasn’t all that much to discuss about ‘Brotherhood’. So, I decided to deliver a double review this week.
Last week’s instalment wasn’t that as good as this week’s, but it was by no means a bad thing. Person of Interest is such a good show, and this is evident when you look at the fact that even the shows weaker episodes are of a high quality. I enjoyed the focus on the Brotherhood. After the two Samaritan-heavy opening episodes (and the connected sub-plot in ‘Wingman’), I think the show needed to just take a step back from that arc and focus on its other main plot for the season.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the plot of ‘Brotherhood’. Malcolm, though his intentions were interesting, wasn’t great onscreen. However, as he always is when kids are involved, Reese was fantastic.
I did enjoy the reveal that Mini, whom Shaw had held captive, was in fact Dominic (and it was right in front of us – Dominic). That added a nice twist on things, and it means that going forward, we know now who the adversary is.The Finch-Elias scenes were very enjoyable. The dynamic between the two is very good, because Elias is one of the few people that may rival Finch on an intellectual level. I liked that Finch is kind of looking out for Elias – not telling him details to keep him safe.
Overall, ‘Brotherhood’, though not the best episode the show has done, was far from the worst and it provided some nice development in the Brotherhood storyline.
‘Prophets’, however, was a superb episode – easily the best of the season – that delivered on all fronts. The Samaritan plot was brought to the forefront once again, and it made for brilliant television.
The stand-outs of the episode was Amy Acker and Michael Emerson, who were absolutely brilliant in their two major scenes together. The first, where we learned that Root hasn’t heard from the Machine in months, was illuminating. You could see the upset on her face, while Emerson was superb in his portrayal of the comforting Finch. It was, however, the pair’s discussion about understanding the Machine in which both stood out. The two paralleled each other well – Root was desperately trying to make sense of the Machine, to some extent humanise it; Finch was being realistic, and telling her not to centre her life around the Machine. It’s scenes like these that make television worth watching.
We also got to see Nathan again (for the first time since he died in the ‘God Mode’ flashbacks). The flashbacks in this episode were really good. I liked seeing how Finch made several versions of the Machine before the final version, as well as seeing some of the problems he encountered.
It speaks to how Samaritan operates. Finch put the safeguards in place to prevent the Machine from having full power and going on its own devices – as he said, he crippled it. Samaritan has no restrictions and it’s killing people. Finch was right to destroy the troublesome early versions of the Machine.
Reese took a backseat this week, but he was still featured a considerable amount, and he had some great scenes. I particularly loved his discussion with the therapist about Carter. Jim Caviezel plays these emotional moments so well, and it’s a joy to watch.Samaritan seems to have implanted 58 politicians “across all levels of government”. Quite why, I don’t know. But it cannot be good. Samaritan has also ordered Greer to “find the Machine”, which means the battle really is heating up. I also liked the end scene where Finch tells the camera that “It’s time we had a talk, you and I.”
Odds and ends:
- Is there anything more entertaining than Root and Martine shooting at each other through the floor?
- “We can go to the NSA’s sources – the backdoors. I’ll do Google, you take Yahoo.” Excuse me while I change my search engine to Bing…
- I loved the opening scene. Reese offering to shoot the guy instead of him jumping so that his family get the insurance money.
- “I think this is very good for Ms. Shaw. It’s teaching her valuable people skills.”
- “It seems to have imprinted on me.” “Yeah, like a baby bird. Have fun mommy.”
- While Finch was concerned about governing the Machine in the flashbacks, Greer suggested that humanity needs to be governed. That’s a very interesting, and concerning, comparison.
‘Prophets’ was easily the best episode of the season so far. It had elements to virtually every single plot that were fantastic. This really was Person of Interest at its best, and hopefully it keeps this up for the remainder of the season.
Good stuff Bradley. POI's strongest aspect is its backstory and flashbacks. We learned a tremendous amount in Prophets with regard to The Machine and how Finch worked on it. We went right back to the earliest days when The Machine was commissioned - just a couple of weeks after 9/11and Finch had a very powerful program. I'm wondering whether he had built something similar previously, but not used it, and then fast tracked it after 9/11. It makes sense given Samaritan's early existence.
ReplyDeleteThe Brotherhood storyline was beautifully set up. That was the primary objective of the episode - to set things up for future callback. What's there is very exciting
As for both episodes, they had some drop dead hilarious one liners, the one-of-a-kind POI humor, and the ever present entertainment value. It's the best series on TV.
Cheers. Those flashbacks were probably the most insightful ones we've had on the show as to learning about the Machine. The fact that even at an incredibly early stage it was manipulating Finch is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYep, the humour was, and is, great. And yes, totally agree - best show on tv.
Shaw is easily one of my favorite characters on TV right now.....
ReplyDeleteYou focused on all the best of the episodes . Reading your reviews brought back the satisfaction I had in viewing them. An episode like Prophets just keeps rewarding its viewers with amazing scene after scene. Between the 2 scenes with Root and Harold and Reese's testimonial to Carter with the therapist, among others, I just felt fortunate to have experienced the richness and depth and subtleness of the drama. And some of the funniest one liners and best action sequences on TV. Thanks for reminding me how good it all was.
ReplyDeleteOne question I do have is concerning Fusco's exclusion from Root 's original altering of Samaritan's code to protect the gang by having Samaritan see them as irrelevant everytime they appear on the grid. At the beginning of the show in the credits it shows Samaritan scanning Fusco and classifying him as irrelevant, along with the other stars. But since he isn't programmed into Samaritan to be seen as irrelevant isn't he exposed ( and thus also the others) everytime he works with them ?
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of this season is to see the difference between the two AI's. The Machine was programmed to protect whilst Samaritan was programmed to survive. It's also an allegory to raising a child. Whilst one was raised with one looking out for it, the other was born out of a need to survive.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't need a cover identity because he already lives a normal life.
ReplyDeleteI like what you suggested - that Finch hadn't really started with nothing on September 12th 2001 but maybe had a little more "already in the drawer".
ReplyDeleteThe Season 3 flashbacks from Finch's youth / childhood play in that direction as well, since he was already thinking about how he'd make a machine to, at first, help his father and then maybe watch after him. 9/11 probably was his trigger to actually build it, but I think we can assume he spent a lot of thoughts on it before. :)
Also, I think it is nearly impossible to create something this advanced in a little more than a month just with superb programming skills.
I've spent some thoughts on this as well, but I don't think we can give a definite answer with our knowledge.
ReplyDeleteUsually, if Samaritan recognizes one of the team members, it switches back to irrelevant after a brief moment. But what happens if Fusco is with them in that very moment and it classifies him as Deviant as well?
Would it recalculate his status after the Team members are switching back to irrelevant ("Oh, there's Harold Finch! And look who's with him.. uhh, a "Fusco", he's working with them. Let's mark him as deviant. Oh, wait, it wasn't Finch, so I guess he's irrelevant.) or wouldn't it?
Not sure about this, but Fusco being irrelevant also requires a total data reset between Beta and final Samaritan, since Samaritan witnessed him with the team during that "Beta" episode, e.g. when they traded Finch for Grace. It should already have known him as being bad at that point.
If we assume the best, then Fusco is relatively safe (unless he actively becomes deviant or states knowledge about the machine/samairtan). However, the whole blind spot thing only works until Samaritan notices that something's wrong with it (glitches statistics or sth like that) or until Greer or some other operative notices what's going on.
But he is constantly seen in less than normal situations with the others.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Bradley. This series expresses character interaction and characterization outstandingly. I would even say better than any other show on network television and most of cable. To think the writers can make you fear for the death of a main character within only the fifth episode of a season -- after a major character death had occurred just nineteen episodes earlier -- speaks to the believability aspect behind these characters. They're real, and the audience can feel them. I've long held the opinion that Michael Emerson deserves at least an Emmy nomination, but Amy Acker was right up there with him, this week.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading your comments which match my own thoughts. I too have worried about Grace because she would be easy as pie to find and Greer knows she is Harold's achilles' heel.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review Bradley, I think POI is on fire right now. I agree with you the flashbacks of Prophets episode was really good and I miss your thoughts about the insane sequence in the hotel between Root and Martine Rousseau, that was the first confrontation Machine and Samaritan of this season.
ReplyDeleteAbout Michael Emerson and Amy Acker performances, it's difficult to understand why this actors not get a Emmy nomination yet, the academy has real problems for sure.
Emerson and Acker both deserve Emmy nominations for this episode. But it'll never happen, which is a complete joke.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but he is technically doing his job when he appears.
ReplyDeleteAnd he has no knowledge of the AI's.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I think the Brotherhood could've been introduced any other way. I really didn't like the episode, it was kind of boring, and I never got bored watching POI. Thank the Machine, Prophets was so much better and made me forget a little about "brotherhood". I like that qe can have both perspectives on the show, Samaritans and machines.
ReplyDeletePerson of Interest is just amazing.
ReplyDeleteSadly. :/
ReplyDeleteInteresting analogy. It reminds me of Smallville in showing how differently a person turns out who is raised in a loving, nurturing, strong moral values family (Clark's), in contrast to a cold, calculating family (Lex's). That produced a Superman (values driven-protective) vs. Lex (mercenary-villainous).
ReplyDeleteHarold "raised" his machine with values programmed in, while Samaritan, as you say, was programmed just to survive.
Truly a sad commentary on TV awards....
ReplyDeleteYeah this episode was the first time I've given it serious thought that Finch may have had a prototype or simpler version of The Machine prior to actually building it full scale. Even though Finch is good, the writers would be stretching it a bit in selling the idea that it was built virtually overnight.
ReplyDeleteExactly. :) Though I have to admit, they really slipped up one time (regarding computer science) in (I think it was) "2*Pi*R" when they had that number case with that new compression algorithm, fitting a hundreds of terabytes on a standard-sized USB drive. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, Bradley the Emmys are pretty much run by automatons. Based on the show premise (invisibility) the idea of not being nominated plays right into the hands of the show-runners. Any interviews I've seen at comic cons or such both Amy Acktress and Sarah Shahi are tantalizingly sensational. Pity they don't get on Letterman or The Jimmys - of course both of them are so normal and smart they don't make the best guests. (ie. the best guests on these shows are usually stupid and up to the level of humiliation the show wants to heap upon them; Amy and Sarah wouldn't let that happen)
ReplyDeleteYou don't need nods to know how good this series is. I'd prefer they didn't get them because at the end of the day, the fans are the real winners! :)
ReplyDeleteTrue, but it would be nice for the show to get that formal recognition.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they know what kind of a show this is and that's probably why they get noms but no nods.
ReplyDeleteThere are some fans who still question when/why/how this "became" a serialised show, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Emmy voters don't know.
ReplyDelete