Person Of Interest

TV Show

2011


Person of Interest is a new show this fall on CBS. It's a smart, well acted pseudo cop drama that has potential to be a very good show. It stars Jim Caviezel as John Reese, an ex-CIA special operations agent who left the clandestine life after his girlfriend was killed in a "professional incident". Reese was disillusioned with the government's handling of it. The other central character played by Michael Emerson is Finch, a computer genius that had developed a system for the government that was used to detect information leading to acts of terrorism before they happen.

The machine, which is reminiscent of the super computer system in the movie Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf, uses the phone and Internet networks as well as security cameras (public or private) to gather information it then separates into two categories: relevant and irrelevant. Finch, however, discovered that the irrelevant information which the government discarded often led to other acts of violent crime. So before leaving he developed a backdoor that would feed him the the Social Security Number of a "Person of Interest" who presumably is at grave risk. Finch, unable to act on his own, finds and recruits John Reese to investigate and mitigate the situations. Both these men are officially off the grid, in fact, both are known to be dead.

The premise is not at all that far fetched in this day and age as we have all heard of the black helicopter people and a system referred to as Echelon that does precisely what Finches machine can do although presumably far less elegantly. There is some suspension of disbelief when watching the show in that Finch's own investigative network would have zoom, pan, and close-ups in every possible nook and cranny of the big city, but hey, it's TV.

As the show progresses we are fed some of the back story on Reese designed to fill in the blanks of this mystery man. So, then, in that vein we have the serial part of the show that involves the only female character - Detective Carter - a city detective who is hunting for a man she does not know. Detective Carter played by Taraji P. Henson adds a dimension to the show that I find a bit distracting. Having missed the first episode I apparently missed the significance of this plot line. She and her team catches glimpses of Reese - or more accurately deals with his aftermath. I assume the significance of this storyline will be fleshed out as the show progresses.

This brings out the main flaw I see with the show Detective Carter not withstanding, the lack of a leading female character. The plot obviously doesn't allow for an insider, but the dynamic a female lead brings to any TV drama adds a certain delicious tension - which makes you want to tune in next week. This shortcoming may have been dealt with in the episode "The Fix" where we were introduced to Zoey Morgan. Zoey is a fixer, a person with ice water in her veins and skills. She makes problems go away for the rich and powerful for a tidy sum of cash. A Fixer is not an assassin, but rather someone who can extract information or negotiate an under the radar deal to clean up an embarrassing or costly situation.

Zoey becomes a Person of Interest and the focus of Finch's and Reese's attention. In a sense the fixer needs a fixer and she doesn't even know it. The episode is full of nifty plot twists and eventually Reese's intentions become known to Zoey and so they work together to "fix" the situation. We are left in the end with the notion that this not the last we'll see of Zoey. I hope not. They make a nice team and the show needs exactly the dynamic that developed between them.

This show is shaping up to be a top notch drama worth tuning in to every week. Check it out.


4 of 5 stars


CW