Contributor: Edmund B.
After its forays into the mythology of the Machine, “Person of Interest” takes care of some housekeeping and cleans up the police side of the show. And by ‘clean up’, I mean get down and dirty with the corrupt members of the force. Sides are more clearly drawn, players are reshuffled, and Fusco discovers some dirt just won’t wash out.
The number served up this time, Martin Cahill, appears to be involved in a smuggling ring led by Neil Vargas. But, as ever in this show, appearances are deceiving. Cahill is actually Doug Tulley, a cop working undercover to nail L.O.S., the drug kingpin Vargas is supplying. It is intriguing that the Machine gave them the cover id, not the real one. That real identity is buried at headquarters, but Finch can find it, so presumably the Machine can, too. Even more intriguing, right after the Machine begins monitoring Reese and Fusco, it hands them a case that comes very close to killing them both.
The common thread and threat is from the corrupt cops, an element that has been lying dormant since Elias’ attempt on Carter. Vargas has a man on the inside, providing protection and threatening to expose Tulley. It takes some fancy footwork, and fancy shooting from Tulley, to deflect the blame onto Reese. Reese winds up shot and in the trunk of a burning car. And if anyone thought he wasn’t getting out of that, I have a bridge across the East River you might be interested in. Once he pops the trunk, he and Carter get to bond over their love of guns, and sweep in to save Tulley in a hail of bullets.
Ever since Det. Carter’s entry into the team was accelerated, apparently at the insistence of CBS, there’s been an uneasy juggling act between her and Fusco. While they made a virtue of it, mining the humor of Reese playing one off against the other, something had to change. Given the Machine’s new interest, it’s even possible Fusco is now expendable. That gave the closing walk in the woods even greater power, especially after Finch has voiced the possibility they can’t save both.
The twist of using Fusco’s corrupt past as the conduit into the corrupt hierarchy, now known as ‘H.R.’, was a great move. It gives them a foot in both camps, a view into the yin and yang of the force. It also drives a wedge between Carter and Fusco, as she sees him return to the bad path she’s always suspected. And it promises more great scenes with Robert John Burke, who moves on from fallen priest Mickey Gavin on “Rescue Me” to fallen cop Simmons, Fusco’s H.R. handler.
While the case appears to end with that conventional firefight, there is another unconventional twist, courtesy of the CIA. L.O.S. is running the drug business for the CIA as a fund-raising venture. Agent Snow has been sniffing around the edges of the show, still ineffectually hunting Reese. This development gives him a chance to do a little bit more. His disciplinary abduction removes L.O.S. as a threat, for now, anyway, and emphasizes his standing as an enforcer within the Agency.
Snow also appears in the Reese flashback, checking up on Reese and Stanton (who I still maintain is channeling Madeline from “La Femme Nikita”). Again, appearances are deceiving. What seems to be a standard overseas op, holding a hooded government official in the bathroom, takes a sinister turn when we discover Reese is no stranger to operating in New York City. However, we see the toll his work has taken as Stanton successfully thwarts his attempt to stalk his ex. “You look like the rest of these people, but you’re not like them anymore, are you?…..We’re not walking in the dark. We are the dark,” she tells him. In this episode, Snow again says Reese killed her. But Snow’s part of that dark, too. Based on what we’ve seen so far, my money’s on him.
This show is really finding its footing. The police angle was the weak link at the beginning, and this episode shored that up considerably. They also continue to balance the main story with the background and arc-driven elements without sacrificing one to the other. Now that they’re hitting on all cylinders, it should be quite a ride to the season finale.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Total: 8/10