Since I just finished binge-watching Person of Interest on Netflix circa last night (which, really, took a few months of sitting on a couch), I feel like I need to tell somebody about it! SPOILERS AHEAD, I imagine; for those with the slightest interest in this show’s premise, please read here first.
Now, then, shall we begin?
Seriously, THIS SHOW. Wow. Person of Interest totally belies its origins on CBS, home of the “older” TV crowd and constant, formulaic police procedurals. While I have nothing against such shows, Person of Interest stands head and shoulders above its contemporaries for a number of reasons.
First, the show has guts. They follow themes; they mix case-of-the-week stories with a subtle, serialized element that starts to bloom at about the midway point of the second season. They take bizarre structural story risks in one week, followed by a story interleaved with standard case-of-the-week with excellent character development. None of it feels like a giant hoodwink, that I started a show and ended up with a different one (see: LOST). Person of Interest built an entire world in the first season, with themes and ideas that stretched into science fiction territory at times, yet grounded in the modern day. Eventually, all that seemingly rout world-building lets the show explode into unforeseen places, and really go down the rabbit hole of the existence of super-powerful AIs.
And best of all, they end character arcs. Imagine that! Sometimes, somebody needs to die, and Person of Interest will sometimes dispatch really important characters in the most nonchalant way possible. You get the message pretty early that no one is safe, and that’s a frightening thing for a show with so much time investment! The game Person of Interest plays can turn out to be a real emotional roller coaster; I rarely would say that sort of thing, but the show really goes for the jugular sometimes with the unexpected.
None of that would matter if not for the excellent character development as well. Jim Caviezel turns out to be surprisingly apt for this role, able to play a stoic former CIA-agent with the appropriate gravitas. He, too, eventually cracks his own facade after decades of regret for the things he’s done (all of which, true to form for Person of Interest, are incredibly interesting). Michael Emerson, though, is the real standout here; I like Ben in LOST, of course, but Harold Finch’s unwavering dedication to his principles and The Machine he built strike me as unique. The history of his relationship with this Machine forms the core of the show. Even as Samaritan (I am absolutely sure it’s named ironically) continues to bear down on our heroes, they refuse (even after great deliberation!) to give up their ideals, and that’s something remarkable.
Even more remarkable? Person of Interest turns assassins and murderers (the former villains of the show, in fact!) into likeable, fully-formed characters. A few examples: Root, played by Amy Acker, must be everyone’s favorite character, and why wouldn’t she be? Her introduction is shocking, her moral compass corrupt seemingly beyond repair. And yet, circumstances in the show reveal her too as a complicated character, someone who just needed a little direction (and, bar I say it, faith in a higher power) and relationships with people who understand her. Sameen Shaw, played by Sarah Shahi, also goes through a similar transformation, and her loss is extremely heartbreaking (at least temporarily, far as I can tell). Also, while I obviously am cautious about the LGBT thing going on…possibly?…it is, at the very least, a natural path for the characters and perfectly subtle in its implementation. The characters are the characters, after all, and that’s a part of what makes Person of Interest so special. Good guys become bad guys, and vice versa, but for entirely consistent, clear reasons.
I almost feel bad for not mentioning Fusco, who really forms the strange moral core of this show – to do good, and to redeem yourself through your actions. His journey from the beginning to the end so far casts him as a cop who took a few wrong turns; through the help of his new-found vigilante friends (well, in a manner of speaking), he’s found the path back to good. Detective Carter (much better than Cookie Lyon, for sure) was part of that transformation, and while she met an unfortunate end, she took down an incredibly large criminal corporation that haunted Fusco’s past; now, he can move on. I kinda wish I could drone on about Control and Greer, among others, but I gotta stop myself somewhere…
SO MANY LAYERS – Person of Interest tries so many things, and adds so much to every episode, and yet never feels top heavy at all!
At the same time, it’s still a show about bigger ideas, specifically the implications of artificial intelligence. At the moment, two opposing AI (i.e., “gods” of the Person of Interest universe) fighting over the fate of humanity. One, programmed by Finch, wants humanity to make their own decisions and understands/is programmed to accept the idea of free will. The other, built with no in-born moral system but cold rationality, seeks to make humanity better as a whole by any means necessary. Neither machine is evil, to be blunt, although we might perceive it that way; they just continue to evolve due to the nature of their programming. However, one does not seek peaceful coexistence, while the other does not want human beings under AI control. Their fight forms the serialized core of the series as it stands, and it will be interest to see where the next season takes this.
But, and I say this with great importance, The Machine and Samaritan are just as much characters as the humans on-screen. The Machine, through the course of the show, develops a personality (via plot reasons!). I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt emotion for a machine, but man if that last episode so far didn’t grab me a little bit. Finch is, for all intents and purposes, the “father” of The Machine, and that relationship plays somewhat similarly to a real human one, despite Finch’s best efforts. Understanding their characters, and their opposing philosophies, remains one of the delights of the show.
And really, the core philosophy of this show, above all else, is that people matter. Even in the face of absolute defeat, people are important as individuals in themselves, regardless of their good or bad actions. Further, it’s important to let them make their own decisions, and not to force them onto one path or another. That is quite a message for a show, and yet time and again (even without reward), the main characters continue down that path. Where it will lead them, I have no idea, but I am excited to find out when the show returns!
