In the twentieth episode of the fourth season of Person of Interest, Happy Holidays! EVERYONE YOU LOVE IS DEAD. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.Â
I miss Joss Carter so much.
I adore “Terra Incognita†in ways I’m worried aren’t easy to convey, and I also feel bitter about the loss of potential here. There are glimpses within John’s dying hallucination that remind us what the story could have been like if Carter hadn’t died at Simmons’s hand. (Slightly unrelated, but my boyfriend is binge-watching Law & Order: SVU, and the actor who plays Simmons has a recurring role and I hiss every time I see him.) Of course, that’s partially the point of all of this: Why did John wait so long to open himself up to Carter? Why is he so determined to push everyone away? Thus, Carter holds a specific meaning to John and to the narrative itself. She is loss: loss potential, loss opportunity, and John’s sense of loss, too.
The structure of this story, though, is just as fascinating as the thematic exploration of loss and grief. I appreciate that the episode’s big twist—that in death, John hallucinated a different version of a memory while in the present timeline—was designed in a way to confuse the audience. I recognized that there were three different layers unfolding within the story: John’s attempt in the present to solve the Patterson murder; flashbacks to show us Carter’s first experience with the case; and an unconnected scene where John and Carter were on surveillance together. (Some time shortly after the Team acquired Bear, mind you.) The editing for “Terra Incognita†is INCREDIBLE, and all the transitions between timelines looked EFFORTLESS. And it lends itself to the tragic fairy tale tone of the storytelling, as if we’re watching Person of Interest’s version of a holiday film. That felt intentional to me, and for that, I’m thankful. Like “If-Then-Else,†I want this show to experiment with different narratives, and this episode is no exception.
Which is also why Root, Fusco, and Harold all take a backseat for the most part. By revealing the twist as early as the script did, this allowed the writers to devote a lot of time to Carter and Reese. At least the show didn’t invite Taraji P. Henson back for a bit part, and I was glad she got so much screen time here. The trade-off, of course, was that this felt like one of the most actively devastating and cruel episodes imaginable. I now understand why Carter said so many heartbreaking things before the big reveal. THERE WERE SO MANY CLUES AS TO WHAT WAS GOING ON. But this is like one giant therapy session for John, a chance for him to face his major flaw before his death. Through that, he must also contend with the fact that he didn’t start treating Carter like a real, close friend before she died either, despite that he had convinced himself he had. He wasted that opportunity, too! Why?
Because John has truly believed that keeping people at an arm’s length will make him a better soldier. Obviously, that manifests a little differently in the present, since he’s somewhat closer with Harold, but even with Iris, you see the same behavior. (Well, at least until very recently.) And he can’t ever move on if he repeats these habits over and over again! It’s exactly the sort of thing we heard Iris tell him, so where does that leave him? In the same place. The same trauma. The same grief. And he’ll be stuck in that rut forever unless…
Unless his experience here changed him. That’s a question for another day, though. This was a deeply emotional experience, y’all, and THAT BIG FINALE MADE ME CRY, I HATE ALL OF YOU, I MISS JOSS CARTER SO MUCH. Christ, what an episode.
The video for “Terra Incognita†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now available for pre-order! If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter! DO IT.
