{"id":6654,"date":"2017-11-22T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6654"},"modified":"2017-11-13T13:34:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T21:34:26","slug":"mark-watches-person-of-interest-s04e04-brotherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2017\/11\/mark-watches-person-of-interest-s04e04-brotherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Person of Interest’: S04E04 – Brotherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth episode of the fourth season of Person of Interest<\/i>, the team tracks two kids in foster care when they become targets of the Brotherhood gang. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I admit that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to warm up to the Brotherhood arc, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mostly because of the twist ending in this episode. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the single most compelling element of this story, especially since the Brotherhood are very one-note right up to that moment. As I said last week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still suspicious about the usage of an all-black gang within this narrative when pretty much all the other antagonists get nuance and complicated layers. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing redemptive or forgivable in what they do either, given that they literally<\/i> chase down two children for the entirety of this episode so that they can murder them. Like… that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relentlessly evil, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

The Booker kids are more interesting than this, as is Mini and his true identity, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brotherhood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d truly makes its impact. At the heart of this is a set of injustices: the Booker children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother was jailed on a gun charge when something as inconsequential as that is rarely treated with such severity. I AM GUESSING THERE IS PROBABLY ONLY ONE REASON THEIR MOTHER WAS GIVEN SUCH A HARSH PUNISHMENT. And from that act, the kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives unravel. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re put in foster care, but separated into different homes. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of this that Malcolm takes advantage of being in the wrong place at the right time. His intent is to reunite his family, even if that means stealing drug money from the Brotherhood. And from his point of view, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a simple plan: use the money to buy nice clothes and then hire a fancy lawyer to fight his mom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charges. Does he think in the long term? No, of course not, but can you blame him? In his mind, he set all of this motion and now, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to undo it all as quickly as he can.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a rather crushing story once you think about it. Malcom always<\/i> wanted the best for his family, and in attempting to keep them all safe, he made matters worse. You can watch him grapple with that guilt over the course of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brotherhood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d too! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally why he decided to sacrifice himself to Link. It was the easiest way to keep his sister out of harm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way while taking responsibility for what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done. As frightening as that was, I admired him for doing it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bold thing for anyone to do, and Malcolm was just a kid<\/i>! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that he and his sister get a happy ending, though, since I was worried that this might have a bleaker tone than I expected. THIS SEASON GOT DARK, OKAY.<\/p>\n

It might get darker, too, given the two signs of what is to come. The reveal that Mini was Dominic the entire time COMPLETELY took me by surprise. I really feel like I need to watch all of this to fully understand his character because I definitely<\/i> thought he was just one of the Brotherhood soldiers and nothing more. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dominic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s catch-phrase\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat we all die in the end\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat worries me more than everything. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very<\/i> strange philosophy within this context, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m intrigued as to why<\/i> that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be important. How does it manifest for Dominic? Does this mean all his soldiers are always<\/i> expendable? What about himself?<\/p>\n

Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Elias. I am SO incredibly into the fact that Harold has had to form a shaky and odd alliance with him because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obviously<\/i> one of my favorite tropes. But Elias is also one of the first characters in a very<\/i> long time who has asked about the Machine\u00c2\u00a0 in the way that he does. I voiced this question during the video, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll repeat it here: How many people will eventually learn of the Machine? Of Samaritan? Elias knows something<\/i> is wrong with Harold, but Harold can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t risk telling someone else the truth, right? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too dangerous! BUT ELIAS IS VERY CONVINCING. Oh god, will Fusco ever know the truth??? PLEASE.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brotherhood\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":"