CBS isn’t making fans wait too long for the next Person of Interest, with ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ airing this Tuesday. Luckily, I got to see the episode early and am here with a preview to quench your thirst (because after that last episode, a week really is a long time).
The relatively ambiguous ending to ‘If-Then-Else’ (remember, if you don’t see someone die on tv, they aren’t necessarily dead) left fans with one question. Is Shaw actually dead? Well, I can tell you that this episode reveals that [REDACTED].
Well, unfortunately for you all it looks like the Machine redacted that information. However, what I can tell you is that Team Machine are determined to believe that Shaw is not dead, and that if they look hard enough in all the right places, they’ll find her. That is the one and only objective of the team in this episode, and they’re willing to go to great lengths to find her.
‘Control-Alt-Delete’ isn’t all about Team Machine though. As the title suggests, Control returns and plays a major role within the episode. In fact, the first half of the episode feels rather out of place, because Team Machine are scarcely mentioned. Most of Control’s storyline is related to the relevant numbers and Samaritan, and in that sense, ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ feels a little like ‘Relevance’, and I feel it works really well.
Camryn Manheim is really enjoyable to watch as Control, and she gets some really strong development. In addition, there is a Finch scene that is very interesting in terms of his character development, in which Michael Emerson is, as always, fantastic. Reese is, once again, a broken man, while Root is clearly highly emotional and angry. Imagine Root as Reese from ‘The Devil’s Share’, just with a little less tall, dark and stormy and more psychopath. Caviezel and Acker especially are excellent in their roles.
Oakes Fegley’s Gabriel returns in an intriguing way. I wouldn’t say his scenes are quite as strong as the conversation from ‘The Cold War’, but he is still great to watch. For such a young actor, he really is knocking it out of the park.
There isn’t really all that much else I can describe without giving too much away. While it doesn’t match ‘If-Then-Else’ in quality, it is a sublime episode – I’d probably consider it at ‘God Mode’ quality.
Some dialogue teasers (feel free to have a guess at who said them in the comments and I’ll add correct ones in nearer the episode):
“You don’t ask me why.”
“Sorry, were you talking to me?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Ah, memories.”
“We gave you a marvellous car. Surely you didn’t think I’d let you drive it yourselves?”
“That’s on you.”
“We need to do this off the grid.”
“Just look at your computer, Mike.”
“Nothing would please me more.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“All that violence”
“Stop it. Now.”
I’ll leave you with one final general teaser. Once again, Person of Interest finds a magnificent (instrumental) track to close out an episode. ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ airs on Tuesday 13th January at 10pm on CBS, and you really don’t want to miss this one.
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