{"id":6608,"date":"2017-10-25T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T15:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6608"},"modified":"2017-10-10T09:21:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T16:21:57","slug":"mark-watches-person-of-interest-s03e08-endgame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2017\/10\/mark-watches-person-of-interest-s03e08-endgame\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Person of Interest’: S03E08 – Endgame"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth episode of the third season of Person of Interest<\/i>, I nearly passed out watching this, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO MUCH. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion for PTSD\/trauma.<\/b><\/p>\n

My god, WHAT AN EPISODE.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been fascinating watching Carter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s growth, even though I still must point out that it took this<\/i> long for us to get a flashback for Paul, Taylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father. Carter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story dominates nearly every frame of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as it should! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and look what happens. We get one of the most complicated and emotionally resonant episodes of the entire show. SO THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPENING MORE PRIOR TO THIS POINT. Especially since this details how far Carter has come from the start of the series! Joss Carter has tried to do what was right while<\/i> going by the book, but the more time she spent working with John and Harold, the more she began to see that following the rules meant that those who were corrupt got away<\/i> with what they were doing.<\/p>\n

So I see Joss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s growth as one where she realizes the system is stacked against her. No matter how hard she tries to go by the book, even the book itself is flawed beyond repair. How do you deal with that? What happens when you believe so deeply in this system despite that practically every experience you have is telling you that this system isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worth saving?<\/p>\n

Person of Interest<\/i> started seeding this plot last season, most specifically with the death of Cal Beecher, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d also argue that once Carter knew HR existed, she resolved right then to take them down. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a long journey to that point, full of heartbreaks and setbacks, but Carter stayed the course. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d makes reference to her final plan: to wipe out HR and arrest Alonzo Quinn once and for all. You can see how much she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned from John and Harold, too! She listens in on Quinn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s phone; she hijacks Yogorov\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truck; she learns how to pit people against one another. Carter manipulates practically every single angle of this situation so that everyone is exactly where she needs them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awe-inspiring. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scary. And while I admit that it does feel rushed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c due mostly to how she gets relatively less screen time than the other characters \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I did<\/i> feel like this was in-character for her. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moral, dedicated, and stubborn<\/i>, and all three of those qualities still appear here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that she finally found a way to get through all of HR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bullshit: by becoming dirtier than they are.<\/p>\n

To an extent. Context matters here, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note that Carter does her best not to kill anyone, to forget about bystanders, to ignore collateral damage. Indeed, her endgame is rather neat, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not until John finally shows up at the end that someone gets shot. But she also does all of this knowing that she has put herself at great risk of death. That dread hangs over every second of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d making this one of the most unbearable episodes yet. Honestly, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I thought they were showing us the flashback with Paul or having Taylor talk to her on the phone. I thought that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we were leading to: Carter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heroic sacrifice that would take down HR in the process.<\/p>\n

Instead, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brilliant parallel unfolding the whole time. What had Joss been telling her ex-partner, Paul, the entire time in all the flashbacks? To ask for help when he needed it<\/i>. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t coping with his PTSD from Afghanistan well at all<\/i>, but he was also refusing to see any sort of therapist for help. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how he came to have a relationship with Joss and Taylor again, and after Joss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call with her son, she realizes that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay to ask for help when she needs it, too. I AM EMOTIONAL, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n

I mean, I am also terrified for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen now that Simmons has put John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s photo out on the wire, but wow, this episode was SO fucking good.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"