In the fourteenth episode of the second season of Person of Interest, Reese and Finch must try to save the life of someone with a limitless supply of resources and a knack for not following any rules. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.
I should not have enjoyed this episode as much as I did. It’s the same reason why “One Percent†is so ambitious: what if Reese and Finch are tasked with protecting someone who is intensely unlikable? Justin Pierce, the erratic and eccentric CEO of a social media company that’s a thinly-veiled reference to Facebook, is the subject of this episode’s complications, and I really should have just hated this. Pierce is arrogant, unpredictable, and used to getting exactly what he wants. He behaves exactly as you’d expect someone to if they’re a multi-billionaire, and it makes for a frustrating experience.
So how the hell did I find this so entertaining? Part of that comes from Jimmi Simpson’s compelling performance, since he makes Pierce… well, I wouldn’t call him charming. He’s interesting, at least in the sense that there’s actual depth to him. Pierce’s whole persona is built on this immense fear of being left behind in the dust, a fear spawned by his father’s failure as a businessman. That kind of of traumatic event can absolutely affect a person, and I say that as someone who watched his father’s business collapse, which sent our family into bankruptcy and poverty. I suppose that’s why I could, at a very base level, understand Pierce. It’s not fun to have your safety net swept out from under you, and I know that I have never quite felt like I’ve ever gotten it back. If you ever wanted to know how I keep up such an absurd work ethic, look no further than this very simple emotional behavior: I fear everything falling apart again. I keep moving and I keep working to push away what I consider the inevitable.
Of course, I also don’t have even a fraction of the success that Pierce does in this episode, and I’d like to think I’m also not an incredible asshole. See, a sad story or a difficult upbringing can only excuse so much, so while I did find a smidgeon of Relatable Content within Pierce, I also didn’t really like him.
Reese and Finch never reach that point, either. WHICH I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND. Pierce is showy and prone to fleeing at the drop of a hat, which made the surveillance an unbearable challenge. That is very compelling television, though, and the writers milk this dynamic for everything it’s worth, and I LOVED IT. I loved that Reese was forced to be more direct than he usually is in order to get Pierce to just stop blocking all their attempts at protecting him. AND THIS MIGHT BE THE FIRST TIME THAT REESE COMPLETELY GAVE UP ON A TARGET BECAUSE THE TARGET ANNOYED HIM SO BADLY. It’s shit like this that makes me appreciate that the Person of Interest writers room has a sense of humor. Reese has a limit! There’s only so far he can go!
Ultimately, that’s the theme that stretches across the entire episode, which includes the other two major plots as well. Pierce tests Reese and Finch (mostly Reese because DUH), and even though Reese tries to leave, guess who comes ‘round in the end to save Pierce? You could also interpret this episode’s flashbacks through the same lens. How far could Finch stretch his friendship with Nathan Ingram? Initially, the two were inspired to help change the world after the September 11 attacks, but after Finch gave The Machine away, a schism formed. We still don’t know what actually happened between Finch and Ingram or if Ingram’s death was because of the Machine. But we now know that Ingram was the first once to deal with the list of non-relevant numbers that the Machine was supposed to discard. Ingram made a choice: he couldn’t deal with the moral implications of The Machine’s list of unimportant people. So what brought Finch into that reality? What changed his mind?
Finally, I thought this would be the episode where Fusco told Carter the truth about the missing officers. Yet again, you can see how this plot fits the idea of the limits of friendship. How far was Carter willing to go for Fusco? Well, she’s smart as hell, and she refuses to let Fusco tell her the truth about his past in the NYPD. Oh, it would have helped her solve the case, and she would have learned about Fusco’s role infiltrating HR. That might seem like the “easier†option, but we gotta remember that this is a longstanding struggle with Carter. She wants to know more about how Finch and Reese know to follow certain people, but knowledge isn’t necessarily power in this world. It can be a death sentence. So maybe this is her way of acknowledging that. It sets a clear boundary in her relationship with Fusco, too. She’s choosing to trust him now, regardless of what he did then.
Let’s just hope Fusco doesn’t screw it up.
The video for “One Percent†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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