Voices off? Two more episodes of ‘Person of Interest’ this week with the series reaching a landmark 100th episode as it heads into the final act… with someone’s number finally up. SPOILERS!
Sotto Voce… When a masked man, Terry Easton (Neal Huff) walks into a building, Reese presumes his latest ‘number’ is a locksmith with less than legitimate business in mind. But when the man reveals he has a bomb strapped to his chest and says he’s being forced to carry this out because his wife is being held hostage, Reese decides he may have to reevaluate the mission. He takes Easton back to the precinct where Fusco (Kevin Chapman) has successfully managed to work out that his own collar may not be all that he apepars. Though Fusco and Reese are barely talking after Fusco was once again sidelined, they may have to work together when the precinct itself is attacked. Saving them may mean a road trip for Harold and Elias.
And elsewhere, Shaw finally makes it back to NYC and is reunited with Root, but will her story end the same way as all the simulations she went through?
Ironically, given that there are two major mythology moments in the episode (the actual return of Shaw to the fold and Fusco formally being brought in to their ‘inner circle’), the episode is the most by-the-numbers (no pun intended) of the season. The show’s one weakness has been the tendency to have scenes (or post-production ADR) add exposition to proceedings… characters basically verbally reiterating plot-points or providing the connective tissue to avoid extra scenes… but this one does so without apology throughout. Perhaps it needed to as the episode’s over-all plot is ridiculously convoluted and really doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. The ‘hire bad guys and get arrested so I get access to a police-station to kill another prisoner’ is the James Bond-ian level of complexity that goes beyond coincidence. In that regard, even though there’s a decent amount of action and shoot-outs, Assault on Precinct 13-lite, the ‘A’ story just feels under-written. It disposes of a previous villain (the unseen, but definitely heard ‘Voice’ from the third season episode Unknown Call) a promising story-thread which now feels prematurely and too-easily tied-off only because if the show’s imminent closure.
That being said, the reunion scene between Acker’s Root and Shahi’s Shaw works very well, playing off the anguish Shaw has gone through in her simulations. We also have more Enrico Colantoni as Elias and some nice camera set-up choices – the final scene, with our complete ‘Team Machine’ finally assembled – deliberately echoing the end of the pilot episode’s mission statement by the bridge…
7/10
The Day the World Went Away… Harold visits a coffee shop, one he hasn’t been to in decades. But it is a fateful mistake. Samaritan’s efforts now involve scanning past behaviour and within minutes, the amoral AI and its acolytes are dispatched. In response, the Machine issues a new number… it’s Harold’s.
‘Team Machine’ have little time to gather their meager resources before Samaritan supplies a Hydra-level number of agents against them and their interests. Elias volunteers to use some of his shadowy contacts and debts to ensure Harold is kept hidden and out of danger – but it’s merely a delay and even Elias, a master chessplayer and planner finds himself in checkmate. As the team make every effort to save Harold, Root tells him the Machine deserves not only to be free but also to have a true voice rather than just online text.
But with all of Samaritan’s forces engaged against them… how can everyone survive the onslaught?
With the previous episode proving fairly standard, The Day the World Went Away was quite the opposite. The 100th of the show was given a suitably bigger budget and proved to be one of the genuine turning points for the show as everything begins to ramp up for the very final episodes over the next two weeks. Cue car-chases, more firepower than a Michael Bay dream sequence (though a better comparison is Michael Mann’s HEAT) major casualties and real consequence as some of the pillars on which Person of Interest survived were compromised. Their IDs were blown, their sanctuary compromised and by the time the credits rolled, the reunited team was dealt some mortal injuries. In many ways it could have been a ‘season finale’, but the end is not yet nigh.
Part of the promotion for this episode was that someone wouldn’t survive it. There were certainly moments where any of the main characters could have been in the line of fire, but for those armed with such knowledge some viewers may well have worked out who it would be. First Elias is killed by a bullet to the head, tellingly outside the housing estate in which we first encountered the character – valiantly saving Harold but paying the ultimate price. But we can guess he won’t be the only casualty. The Machine, always referred to as a female, was given the opportunity to choose a voice for ‘herself’ and the show has often been able to plant such seeds for a reason, drawing in elements to help others combine and germinate. With Root waxing philosophically about life being a simulation of sorts and – because of that – arguing that a person is never really lost to time as long as there is data about them (a variation of ‘not being truly gone until you’re forgotten‘), I did predict early on that she would be the one to meet her demise, but would continue to voice the Machine thereafter. Amy Acker’s character does indeed sacrifice herself to save Harold (who, for a long time, looked to be at genuine risk) but will continue to be ‘heard’ for the remaining three episodes. The reveal of the loss (admittedly adding yet another entry into tv’s ‘lesbian relationships as Shakespearian tragedy’ remit) is played out rather hauntingly and tugs on the heartstrings as designed. Bravo, Ms Acker and all involved.
While not quite having the sheer emotional wallop of, say, the now legendary The Devil’s Share episode (a benchmark for television drama in my opinion and one which also had a Nine Inch Nails connection) The Day the World Went Away nevertheless masterfully pulled out a lot of tricks and honoured its careful mythology.It reminds us of why we love this show. It also might make loyal viewers go back and watch the opening moments of this season’s run once more – hearing that voice in a new way. It made us care and proved a reward for many who have followed the intricacies of the show thus far… and it signals an increase in momentum and stakes for the very final episodes.
>>>game on.
9/10
