Under-appreciated in critical circles, the CBS show Person of Interest is full of strong, unorthodox characters, both male and female, and strong plotting, as well as an examination of the ramifications of its premise, all of which combine together to make it a must-see.
In every story, there are certain necessary contrivances that, while you wish could be side-stepped, the narrative simply needs to enact. In Lost, for example, the survivors need to leave the Island to realize that they belong there. Even though its eye-roll inducing, it’s a direction the story needs to take and is allowed that. The same can be said of “Beta”.
“The Only Light in the Darkness” opens with Ward getting patched up by Simmons as he feeds false information to Coulson and the gang. Ward claims that he was too late to stop Hydra from taking over the Fridge and releasing super-villains previously captured by SHIELD, including a villain Coulson captured personally, Marcus Daniels (Patrick Brennan). Hearing this news, Coulson decides to take part of the team to protect Audrey Nathan (Amy Acker), Marcus Daniels’ last target and the woman he called “the only light in the darkness.” She is also Coulson’s mysterious cellist, the last woman he was romantically involved with before the attacks in New York. Agent Koenig (Patton Oswalt) isn’t keen on anyone leaving the secret hide-out, so he forces everyone to submit to a lie-detector test before allowing anyone to leave.
Person of Interest falls into many of the same traps that shows of its ilk often do. Their week-to-week mysteries, full of twists and turns that are meant to surprise and trick viewers before resolving at each episode’s end, inevitably become a weakness, taking away from the series’ many other elements, those that they do so very well. The difference between Person of Interest and other procedurals is that this show is going for who-gonna-do-it instead of the tired whodunit. Perhaps the formula would be more successful if the mystery were whether the weekly number is going to kill someone or be killed, but more often than not, it’s straightforward, with little more for our leads to determine than who the wants to kill the number.
No one could have predicted in Person of Interest’s freshman season that, beyond the two leads, Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson), the show would develop truly fascinating and dynamic side characters. It’s odd to even call someone like Root (Amy Acker) a secondary character when she feels so paramount to the show, especially in episodes like “/”, where she is essentially the main focus. Root is so delightfully crazy, however, that the switch in main characters this week is entirely welcomed and nearly makes the audience forget that she isn’t usually the lead.
There are times in life when you’re forced to do something not because you want to, but because you have no choice but to do it. Who among us hasn’t taken a crappy job for the sole reason that you won’t rent otherwise? In a perfect world we do the work we want and love with a big salary attached and life is good. The real world is far more cruel that, however, and sometimes you just suffer through that bad job. Hopefully it’s never to the point of this week’s number, Kelli Lin (Elaine Tan), who is extorted into stealing art by criminals that have her daughter.
The first half of Person of Interest’s third season was a tremendous group of episodes: laughs were shared, losses were had, feels were felt (in case you’re wondering, all), but good times were had by all, except, perhaps, Taraji P. Henson, but let’s not go there. In any case, it’s been a great season and all indications say that will only continue from here.
Halfway into Person of Interest’s third season and it’s as good as it’s ever been. Despite the fall finale ending on a cliffhanger, because shows feel they have to do that sort of thing now, the show finished the year on one heck of a high-note and that’s always welcome.
Person of Interest, Season 3, Episode 6, “Mors Praematura” Written by Dan Sietz Directed by Helen Shaver Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on CBS The driving force behind Person of Interest is its greatest strength and its biggest potential weakness. Having an all-knowing Machine at the foreground is, in one breath, a fantastic expositional tool that can …
A brief recap on the first two seasons: there exists a machine made my the government that monitors the activities of everyone in the country (and abroad) for the purpose of predicting and preventing terrorist attacks. As a byproduct, “The Machine” also tracks the more mundane activities, i.e. premeditated murders. “The Machine” gives out a person’s number who will either be murdered or will be murdering someone else. Using “The Machine” to prevent these murders, former CIA operative John Reese (Jim Caviziel) and Harold Finch (Lost’s Harold Finch), creator of “The Machine”, work to prevent these murders with the assistance of New York City Detectives Carter (Tarji P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman).
Spending two hours in the world of Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing inspires envy in his seemingly palatial abode, as well as delight at his effortless, carefree adaptation of an equally effortless and carefree Shakespearean comedy. There’s mistaken identity, slapstick, swooning romance, and giddy farce, as you would expect from any revival, modern or otherwise.
Much Ado About Nothing Directed by Joss Whedon Written by William Shakespeare (play), Joss Whedon (screenplay) USA, 2012 Upon first realization that Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is set in contemporary Southern California, one most certainly becomes both skeptical and intrigued all at once. How will all this play out? (No …
Much Ado About Nothing Adapted and directed by Joss Whedon USA, 2012 Shot at the director’s home over twelve days amidst post-production for The Avengers, Joss Whedon’s version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was rehearsed and honed during various afternoon reads over the years. It’s a stylish take that cleverly transposes the text into …
Much Ado About Nothing Adapted and directed by Joss Whedon USA, 2012 Shot at the director’s home over twelve days amidst post-production for The Avengers, Joss Whedon’s version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was rehearsed and honed during various afternoon reads over the years. It’s a stylish take that cleverly transposes the text into …