Contributor: Edmund B.
Written by Greg Plageman and Jonathan Nolan
Directed by Richard J. Lewis
“Person of Interest” brings its freshman season to a close with another stellar episode. And it did it by taking its established formula and layering in the onging elements it’s been building all season. Rather that a special event finale, it becomes an enhanced episode that ramps up the tension to a fever pitch. While some questions are answered, some plot threads are closed, it all drives to a conclusion that was both satisfying and leaves you begging for more. It’s going to be a long summer waiting to hear the other side of that phone call.
It all starts with another phone call, Finch urgently calls in Carter (accompanied by an on-screen hash tag, #ReeseOnTheRun, as a tech-savvy hint at the action to come.) But she is dragooned by Special Agent Donnelly and taken to the FBI command center. They have spotted Reese, plus an apparent hostage, inside the most heavily surveilled six blocks in the world, and they’re getting ready to close the net.
The “hostage” is Reese’s current Person of Interest, psychologist Caroline Turing. In hindsight, giving her the last name of the eccentric English mathematician who invented the modern computer was more a huge hint than the sly nod I initially took it to be. Also, Ms. Turing has a minimal internet presence, but that fits with her rich and powerful clientele and their many secrets. Casting the ever-fetching Amy Acker completed the cornucopia of distraction.
Fusco has been nipping at Reese’s heels about his meeting with HR’s top brass. The storylines begin to merge when Fusco finds out HR has been hired to kill Ms. Turing. With one of her mover and shaker clients wanting her dead, it provides the perfect opportunity to bring back Zoe Walker for a consult. While their encounter is brief, the chemistry between Zoe and Reese still crackles. Her quip doubting “there’s a woman out there alive who could fix you, John” is borne out when Reese poses as a client.
HR’s hit on Turing is foiled with Reese’s usual non-lethal aplomb. (I’ve lost count now of how many kneecaps he’s accounted for.) The aftermath of the hit circles back to the opening, as Reese and Turing take refuge in a hotel. The pincer movement of the opposing hunters works beautifully to ramp up the tension. HR is coming after them from below, while the feds land on the roof, cutting off one possible escape route. The whole team gets involved as Carter uses her insider’s view to warn off Reese from the FBI. Finch works his online magic, including a beautifully ironic use of a DHS contingency to knock out cell service and disable HR’s bomb. Even Ms. Turing gets involved, with a surprising facility to hot-wire an elevator (hint, hint).
They even work in a comic interlude, when Carter thinks she’s found HR’s mole. Her busting in on Fusco talking to Finch was a great pay-off to the whole season’s worth of her giving him the stink-eye. We knew they couldn’t play them off against each other indefinitely, and their cavalry charge to rescue the pinned-down Reese, later in the episode, shows the benefits of having them on the same page.
Which brings us to the climax of the episode. Alicia Corwin is seen throughout the episode, following Finch and discovering the Bat-cave, I mean, library. Their final confrontation turns into a double-bluff. Alicia is fixated on the Machine as the enemy, not its handlers and protectors. When she’s shot, it seems those minders have finally caught up to Finch.
But, instead of Stanton sliding into the back seat, as I’ll admit I hoped, it’s Turing. After introducing Reese’s nemesis, Elias, as a Person of Interest, they pull it off again with Finch’s analogue, Root. (There’s that old saying about fool me once, etc., but nobody needs to feel any shame about this development.) All season, Finch has warned of what might happen if the Machine fell into the wrong hands. Now it’s within reach of someone who is certifiably bonkers and completely amoral.
Reese is left adrift, but we are a long way from the two talented, but awkward, misfits who started the season. They have built a team around them, including a member who has remained unacknowledged until now. Reese looking up at that camera from the pilot and, this time, calling out the Machine was a perfect capstone to the season. The Machine’s take may be, “Error: Continuity of Operations Compromised. Evaluating Options”. But there is no doubt about how to evaluate this episode and season.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Directing: 2/2
Style: 4/4
Total: 10/10
(Season 1 Final Average: 8.1)