A Short Review of Person of Interest: Season 4

The fourth season of our favourite show wrapped up about a month ago. Ergo, this review is a bit belated. On the whole, Season 4 was a disappointment. It was supposed to be The Machine vs Samiritan. Instead, what we got was The Machine playing a defensive game mostly by hiding. Also, there were way too many filler episodes. It seems the writers and producers had a good idea but just didn’t know how to execute it properly. There were a lot of inconsistencies.  So I guess trimming the upcoming fifth season to just thirteen episodes is a welcome development. If it will be the final season is unknown at this point. Here’s a quick rundown of the major problems with Season 4.

(i)        Shaw’s character has been built-up and portrayed as a cold and precise killer. I would call her the grown up version of Hit Girl in KickAss. So I found it odd that she couldn’t successful shoot Martine at the beauty parlour (despite the superior firepower that she was packing).

(ii)       All of a sudden, Root is now an exponent of hand to hand combat. Where did that come from? Meanwhile, Martine who has sometimes been portrayed as a kind of black ops agent couldn’t do better than to engage in a girly fight with Root. The writers even went further to portray Root as an expert of sorts with the ease with which she snapped Martine’s neck. This is all very inconsistent.

(iii)      The Machine’s dialog at the end came across as very awkward and completely out of character. A Machine that had hitherto refused to (or accepted not to) talk with Harold is now calling him father. I’m not sure what to make of that but certainly, I was neither impressed nor amused.

(iv)      The episode with Carter was in my opinion, one of the worst. It served no real purpose. It neither added to nor moved the plot forward in any way. It seems the writers just wanted to cash in on Taraji P. Henson’s fame on Empire.

(v)       Also, I have to wonder why Samaritan didn’t fix the blindspots / deadzones in the city’s surveillance.

(vi)      Fusco has heard a Machine being mentioned twice now. It’s becoming unrealistic that he hasn’t asked what it is. – First in the Season finale of Season 3 during the blackout after he steps out of the anti-riot vehicle. The second time is in If Then Else episode of Season 4.

I shall miss Elias, excellently played by Enrico Collantoni. He was one of the very good characters, much akin to Gus Fring of Breaking Bad. Scarface Anthony also got some well-deserved character development. Even Reese commented that he never knew his name.

And let’s not forget where Season 4 ended: Finch, Root, and (a probably wounded) Reese were literally walking towards and shooting at Samirtan agents. A situation where the trio were both outnumbered and outgunned. I’m wondering how this will be resolved.

The season definitely had some great episodes though. I think many people would agree that the best was If The Else. If Shaw’s character had been killed off here, it would have been a glorious and befitting exit. Dominic got schooled by Elias. Despite his knowledge of strategy and big talk, he fell for a cheap ruse. I shall miss both characters though. I would have preferred their conflict to endure another season or two.  My favourite episodes:

(i)            Episode 1: Panopticon

(ii)          Episode 3: Wingman

(iii)         Episode 4: Brotherhood

(iv)         Episode 6: Pretenders

(v)          Episode 8: Point of Origin

(vi)         Episode 9: The Devil You Know

(vii)        Episode 11: If-Then-Else

(viii)      Episode 12: Control-Alt-Delete

And to Jonathan Nolan, CBS, Varese Sarabande and Ramin Djawadi: PLEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSEEEEEEEE, release the soundtrack (score) already. Both for Seasons 3 and 4. We need something to tide us over till the next season debuts. And whilst on the subject of musical scores, it would be better if the scores/soundtrack compilation for any TV series is released within a month after the end of each Season.

Peace.

Au revoir Detective Carter

Whether life imitates art or art imitates life, one thing is evident: some of us fail to learn from our costly mistakes.

While Finch's genius and intelligence are unquestionable, he has failed to learn from a costly mistake he made earlier. His ego got in the way of sound reasoning and it resulted in the death of his best friend, Nathan Ingram.

One would have thought that he had learnt from that mistake. Alas, his ego prevented him from acknowledging the obvious truth. Had he listened to Root's logical suggestion, Detective Carter would still be with us today.

On the other hand, it's only realistic that one of the main characters would buy the farm at some point. The team has had one too many close shaves to keep getting away. That being said, I'm glad it wasn't Fusco. I love his character. Who would have guessed that Det. Carter would be joining Officer Lasky and Agent Donnelly pretty soon!

Person of Interest: The Machine (from a tech perspective)

This is a tech version of an earlier article. I should start by saying this: if you do not watch Person of Interest, then this article is not for you. It will make little or no sense to you. However, if you are one of the fortunate people that watch this show but are not a techie, then please read on. I theorized that Finch could still control the machine.  My primary concern here is The Machine’s command set/command structure.

Can Finch Still Control the Machine?

I should start by saying this: if you do not watch Person of Interest, the TV series starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, then this article is not for you. It will make little or no sense to you. If however, you are one of the fortunate people watching this show, then by all means keep reading.

The Machine. The omniscient and omnipresent Machine. I have used a capital M for the Machine for two reasons. First, I consider it a major character in the show much like Finch, Reese et al. The second reason it deserves such respect is because of its abilities. Not so much its computational abilities but its conscious abilities. When the Machine becomes common place, then it will be called the machine. Remember back in the day when the internet was called the Internet.