In the twenty-third and final episode of the third season of Person of Interest, what have you done to me. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.Â
At the end of this season, I can’t think of a better feeling than “disturbed†to explain what I’m going through right now. This is one of the most deeply upsetting finales imaginable because EVERYTHING IS SO GODDAMN AWFUL. I did begin to suspect that Samaritan would go online at the end of the season, but guess what? STILL NOT THE WORST PART OF ALL OF THIS. Somehow, there are worse things!
I guess I didn’t expect this to get so dark, and the severity of this situation hit me hard. I fell right into Greer’s trap, just like everyone else did. I was focused on the excitement of Collier’s kangaroo court, rather than thinking of the endgame, and GUESS WHAT. I even noticed that Greer wasn’t freaked out by Collier’s plan. But I still didn’t put two-and-two together! I AM A FOOL, WHAT HAVE YOU ALL DONE TO ME.
Let’s discuss.
Kangaroo Court
Obviously, the major driving force of suspense in this episode is Collier’s court, and it required us to believe that it was being transmitted live. That belief was easy to maintain, right up until Lionel seemed confused by the mention of the trial. Even then, perhaps he was so busy that he didn’t know what else was going on, right? Right??? THAT’S WHAT I TOLD MYSELF. Yet it was all a ruse, an attempt to control information by manufacturing it. What’s particularly upsetting about this is that, for a moment, the show still managed to provide a biting criticism of the surveillance state. No matter how Control justified her usage of Northern Lights, she was still complicit in the violation of the rights of other Americans and international citizens. She ordered the murder of an untold number of people. And, as we saw with Peter’s brother, it is highly likely that the Machine gave Control a number and people misused it. We’ve seen the team make mistakes with the irrelevant numbers. Are you telling me that Control and her division had a perfect track record all those years?
That’s what I loved so much about the courtroom scenes: Peter Collier, for all his flaws and mistakes and downright nightmares he’d perpetrated, was still on the pulse of something true, on this great injustice acted out against the American people. Was he set up? Yes. Was he radicalized by a third party who had a vested interest in that outcome. Absolutely. Does that mean Control, Garrison, Greer, and Harold suddenly aren’t complicity in this terrible system? Nope! Garrison felt slightly guilty and was interested in saving himself; Control believed in what she had been doing; and Harold felt that sacrificing himself would solve everything. It’s an incredible distillation of their characters, isn’t it? That whole sequence events summarizes them perfectly.
Plan B
You know, Shaw and Root were doing so well that even as all of this was falling apart, I still held out hope that Root and the Machine had come up with some way to disable Samaritan. That’s what seemed to be happening, but once again, I was fooled by appearances. Well, except for one “appearanceâ€: SHAW AND ROOT ARE SERIOUSLY RAMPING UP THE FLIRTING. I am not imagining this, y’all. It’s happening, right???
Anyway, I feel like the surprise reveal of Root’s plan B highly suggests that the Machine never really wanted its analog control or admins to kill anyone. If the way to stop Samaritan was to kill Congressman Garrison, it appears that the Machine did not tell Root to do this. Instead, it found other means to survive, which meant protecting the seven people who had the means to stop Samaritan. So, does this imply that Harold really did push the Machine toward being moral? Does it truly protect every life? I’m guessing that’s the case, since that puts it in direct contrast to Samaritan, which doesn’t aim to protect people but identify threats regardless of the context of them.
There’s another Plan B here, though, and it’s the hidden plan that Greer had orchestrated for years, utilizing surveillance feeds to push Peter to become more and more radical. What’s so fucking insidious about this is that Greer created Vigilance and Peter, and then used their activities as JUSTIFICATION FOR THE EXISTENCE OF SAMARITAN. Vigilance literally would not exist without Greer! He manipulated Garrison and Control, too, and they ate it up. Why? Because all they care about is seeing themselves as being on the front lines of protecting national security. They don’t care if they’re complicit in creating the very things that they’re fighting against.
My god, it’s so fucked up. The look on Peter’s face in his final moments is the worst. He was taken down by the same force he was trying to stop. I FUCKING HATE GREER SO VERY MUCH, Y’ALL. He’s just so unrepentantly evil??? He is one of the most openly villainous characters I’ve ever come across? And he’s not even on the same level as Control, who truly believes that she’s doing something just and right. Greer just wants to be in control, to be at the forefront of a new world where AI makes people… what? Agents of their will? THAT LAST IMAGE IS SO HORRIFYING. Greer is going to take commands from Samaritan??? For what?
Apart
I am guessing that Root will stay in contact with the Machine, but what about the other three characters? The end of “Deus Ex Machina†(WHAT A TITLE) sees everyone assume new identities and disappear into new lives. But they’re now hiding from Samaritan. Will they still get numbers? How can they help the Machine and do what they normally do? WHO THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY TO CHOOSE THAT RADIOHEAD SONG FOR THE END MONOLOGUE? This show is so evil, I swear.
The video for “Deus Ex Machina†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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