In the seventh episode of the third season of Person of Interest, the team must protect a con man who unknowingly conned HR. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.Â
Can this show give me a break for like five seconds please. PLEASE.
Con
This isn’t the first episode with an unlikeable victim, nor is it the first time the victim is a perpetrator in another way. But Hayden Price is a unique brand of unlikeable! While I didn’t care that he stole only from the rich, he was just so arrogant. Despite how annoying he was, the team still had to protect him, especially once they figured out just much of a mess that he’s gotten himself into. Y’all, this season is SO good at combining numbers-of-the-week with the serialized arcs! I expected Carter’s story with Laskey to remain separate, but I’m getting the sense that this is all spiraling towards some huge confrontation or chaotic twist.
And that’s good storytelling. The HR plot has dominated the season because it HAS to. I can tell that’s the case without evening knowing what’s coming! The writers have been seeding details and context clues that have hinted on this massive fortune that HR is amassing, and it has to be for something. Their partnership with Yogorov is only a piece of it, as is their attempt to control any possible loose end.
But then there’s Joss Carter. No matter what they’ve thrown at her and done to her, she’s the resilient force who refuses to do their bidding. Who refuses to accept that this is the way the world is. That’s why it’s always made sense that she’s worked with John and Harold. All of them decided that accepting injustice was unacceptable anymore. That’s certainly put Carter in danger multiple times (including that UTTERLY UNFAIR scene at the end of “The Perfect Markâ€), but she’s now closer than ever to having everything she needs to take down HR.
And my gods, what a fucking JOURNEY to that point. This episode twists and turns with multiple threads that are all part of the same unraveling tapestry. Like all the characters, I assumed that Hayden was the main focus of this crime and that everyone else was incidental. But as I said before, the clues are all here that HR was desperate to increase their reach and expand their operation. In this case, Hayden was merely an accident, a third party who just happened to get tangled in this nightmare. It was Sven, Hayden’s patient, who was the person laundering money for HR. Hayden’s con just put him in HR’s crosshairs.
There’s a lot to love in the suspenseful script for “The Perfect Mark,†basically. I must shout my love from the rooftops, though, for the brilliant twist that Hayden’s unknowing partner, Natalie, was ACTUALLY CONNING HAYDEN THE ENTIRE TIME. After all the wrong he’d done, he got exactly what he deserved. I would have felt strange if he’d been “rewarding†after all of this, so I’m much more satisfied that he’ll have to start over.
And then there’s Root. Y’all, I truly am starting to think I got her and the Machine wrong. Harold’s fear is palpable in that scene where Root tells him that he may have misunderstood everything. He believes her, doesn’t he? At the very least, he’s doubting what he thought of Root’s interpretation of the Machine. And I don’t blame him! Aside from the fact that Root is just downright unnerving, she’s not lying about the Machine guiding her on a path that was entirely separate from everyone else.
So what is next for the Machine??? How else is it evolving?
The video for “The Perfect Mark†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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