In the tenth episode of the first season of Person of Interest, this show continues to fuck me up in every way possible. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.
This has not been a slow start by any means. The escalation that’s occurred in these ten episodes has been so exciting to experience, and NOW I’M HERE. I expected that the first season would track Carter’s cat-and-mouse game because… well, that’s a good season-long arc. I would have had a problem if Carter had been kept away for longer than that, especially after the events in “Get Carter.” I DID NOT EXPECT THAT THE WRITERS WOULD ADDRESS EVERYTHING IN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE.
Look, there’s a part of me that just wants to scream about the final scene and then post this review and move on because this was an agonizing reveal, but there’s so much more prior to the ending that made “Number Crunch” such a satisfying story. I’M GONNA BE GOOD TO Y’ALL. Person of Interest continuously changes up the kind of framing devices they use for each episode, and IT’S SO COOL. That’s why I can see how this can last for years, even if I don’t know what the overarching story for the other seasons will be. In each of these ten episodes, none of the premises feel repetitive.
And in the case of “Number Crunch,” Reese and Finch are dealt one hell of a challenge: The Machine spits out four numbers, one after the other, and none of the people named seem to have the slightest similarity with one another. Plus, is the order they came out important? Was the first number the most urgent one or the least urgent one? To make matters worse (because this is Person of Interest and nothing is easy), one person is murdered before Reese can even arrive at her apartment. And if The Machine can only predict premeditated murders, then how the hell did that first victim get killed so quickly?
What unfolds is a morally-complicated tale of corruption, drug dealing, and opportunity, and I’m once again fascinated by who gets “rewarded” in this case. Oh, I don’t disagree with it at all, and I was thrilled watching that conclusion. Who is the real victim here? See, that’s a question that I feel the writers for Person of Interest constantly ask themselves. When that Congressman’s son crashed and died, it was a tragedy… but the dude, along with his father and another rich white guy, were using a charity for Haiti to launder money for their drug business. SO YEAH, DON’T FEEL BAD FOR ANY OF THESE PEOPLE. I have a finite amount of sympathy in my body, y’all, and I’m not given them any of it. Thus when four witnesses to the crash – the four numbers spit out by The Machine – take the million dollars left behind, they set into motion this ridiculous revenge plot. Dayne is RUTHLESS, and what makes him so unnerving is that he seems to have access to the kind of tools and information that helps Finch. He’s often steps ahead of everyone, like in the case of the first two victims. (That car bomb scene was so fucked up, JESUS.)
I think most of other shows would then compel the people who took the money to give it back and deal with the conflict that way. Instead, Reese discovers that Paula and Wendy are foster sisters and that they took the money to help pay off their mother’s mortgage. It is portrayed as a tragedy, though, a situation worthy of sympathy because that home ends up being worth less than the mortgage used to buy it. So, after Reese successfully neutralizes Dayne (and that other woman??? WHO THE FUCK WAS SHE???), he doesn’t punish these women at all. He insists that they take HALF A MILLION DOLLARS because they’ve earned it.
As fucked up of as a person as Reese is, I feel like the show did this for another reason. Simultaneous to this, the fallout of “Get Carter” affects Detective Carter in ways that frustrate her. She’s given desk duty, and this creepy man – played perfectly by Michael Kelly – looms over her, follows her, and then reveals that he’s CIA. What I love about this reveal is… well, there a lot of things. First, it’s a brilliant acknowledgment of the timeline. It’s only been a few months at most since the opening of the show, and Reese has managed to draw a lot of attention to himself. It made a lot of sense to me that the CIA would get involved! Snow also appeals to Carter’s inherent goodness as well. He’s gotta know what kind of cop she is, and that’s why I think he uses her sense of ethics to get her to set up Reese. Now, I don’t think that Snow necessarily lied about who Reese was. We know he killed people for the CIA, and we know that he used to have a partner named Stanton. Did Reese kill her? Well, we still don’t know that part of his backstory, and I’m willing to bet its not as clear-cut as Snow wants Carter to believe it was.
Regardless… that last scene, y’all. HOW THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW REAL. Look, Carter is the queen of split-second decisions. If anything, that’s one of the most consistent elements of her characterization. “Get Carter” showed us that: In a moment, she is able to choose what she feels is right. She did it with Alvarez, with Kovach, with Elias, with everyone. It was important to establish that so that her decision here made sense. See, “Get Carter” established something else: that Carter hates being betrayed. Snow made it seem like he just wanted to bring Reese in, but as soon as Snow’s partner shot Reese (OH MY GOD HOW IS ALL THIS HAPPENING IN THE TENTH EPISODE), Carter realized that she’d been had. Thus, given the chance to arrest Reese and Finch (SHE KNOWS FINCH IS REESE’S ACCOMPLICE HELP ME FOREVER), she instead helps them escape. Does she agonize over that decision? Clearly. And for once, she seems unsure of herself. That confidence we’ve seen over and over again is gone. But something must be wrong with Snow’s reasoning if it was worth killing Reese, right? Deep down, Carter knows that!
Oh god, y’all. I am so onboard for this ride. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS SHOW, IT’S SO GOOD.
The video for “Number Crunch” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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