In the sixth episode of the first season of Person of Interest, HELP. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.
Y’all, this show has been consistently good, and each episode has been, at the bare minimum, entertaining to watch. That’s a good baseline to start at, but there’s just so much more going on here ALL THE TIME. Let me start with DETECTIVE CARTER GETTING A STORY THAT ISN’T JUST CHASING AFTER REESE AND BEING TWO STEPS BEHIND HIM. Because y’all, that was starting to get old fast. I’m not sure how sustainable that narrative is because… well, you can’t write one character as competent and cunning, but have them be tricked or fooled episode after episode. It undermines who they are, you know? So I’m glad that this plot, first referenced in “Mission Creep” is part of something much, much larger.
It seems that Carter unknowingly stumbled upon a 30+ year revenge plot, though the plot twist at the end of “The Fix” makes absolutely no sense to me. In terms of the timeline, it makes sense that Carl Elias, Marlene Elias’s surviving son, is the one who had Latimore steal that evidence box from lockup. He then used it to avenge his mother by killing her murderer with the VERY SAME KNIFE. Open-and-shut, though, right? After the murderer’s death, what else is there left for Carl to do? He got what he wanted, right?
SO WHY KILL SULLIVAN? As far as I could tell, Sullivan actually tried to get the killer arrested, but police corruption got the man off scot-free. Is this case of revenge a lot bigger than Carter thought? SHE WAS SO CLOSE. She has a bit of his blood, though, so here’s to hoping she can nail him with that.
As for the main plot, BE STILL MY HEART. I am also very interested in Zoe Morgan, played by the very talented Paige Turco (who fans of The 100 will recognize), becoming a recurring character on this show because PLEASE. She recognizes that Reese has a ton of skills that SHE can USE for HER BENEFIT. She is immensely talented at the sort of political manipulations and balancing acts that she pulls off. REESE DOESN’T INTIMIDATE HER ONE BIT. It’s like Reese has met his match in this character, and I just want so much more??? THE UNDENIABLE TENSION AND SHE EVEN KISSES HIM AT ONE POINT TO PASS ALONG A PAPER CLIP AND there are so many delicious romance tropes in this single episode. HELP ME.
I am not expecting that Morgan will show up again, and even if she does, I’d be perfectly fine if the writers never explored a romance angle either. She was perfectly entertaining and intriguing all her own! And what a story to introduce her in, y’all! Right from the start, Morgan is an exception. Reese follows her after The Machine spits out her number, and it seems clear she’s about to assassinate someone, and then NOPE. She’s revealed to be a fixer, someone paid absurd sums of money to “fix” problems for other people. And as far as I was able to discern, she wasn’t terribly interested in the ethical implications of what she did. She helped returned a cop’s lost gun; she got an incriminating tape back from an online blogger. In short? If it got her money, then it was part of the job.
Actually, that’s doing a bit of disservice to her character, since I don’t want to portray her as someone merely greedy for money. I mean, that apartment in Manhattan was pretty spectacular, but that’s a separate thing. It’s not until later that we get her backstory, told while she and Reese are tied up and facing imminent death at the hands of the pharmaceutical company who had previous hired her. Morgan wanted to be the person who fixed problems after her own father’s political issues were “fixed” by someone with just two words. What those words were is immaterial to the story; it’s the demonstration of power and influence that inspired her.
Yet this specific job ends up having implications Morgan never had to deal with. What if her work guaranteed that tens of thousands of people would die? Is she really “fixing” anything by contributing to that? Look, I don’t think Person of Interest shies away from portraying Morgan as opportunistic or selfish, and I appreciate the layers she has. At the same time, this is her wake-up call, her chance to view herself in terms of complicity. What is she responsible for setting in motion? Granted, it takes an honest-to-god death threat for her to decide that she’s going to double-cross Vertanen (I have no idea if I spelled that right), but at least she gets there.
BUT LET US ALSO TALK ABOUT WHAT THIS STORY MEANS FOR FINCH. I love that we see him get emotional over his connection to this project… or mission? However you’d define it. We get a real sense of his existential anxiety over The Machine and all the people’s numbers it spit out, all while he was unable to do anything about them. In this specific case, Dana Miller – the whistleblower – had her number come up years prior, and Finch was unable to stop her from being murdered by the pharmaceutical company. Now, though? Oh my god, he hurts the owner in the company in the way he knows will be most effective: by stealing all of his money right before the man is indicted on charges of fraud and murder. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It doesn’t necessarily vindicate Dana’s death, but I’m fascinated by the idea that Finch is trying to actively atone for his past.
The video for “The Fix” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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