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Person of Interest: Allegiance

“I’m gonna get real politcky on your ass.”

Meh. Another mostly forgettable hour of filler from Person of Interest. Oh well; not every week can be pull out the stops amazing.

Once again we get some problematic, recurring PoI tropes. The would be perpetrator who turns out to be a victim, the really helpful, nice guy turning out to be the bad guy, the super sweet ending, the wow this case in connected to the season arc who would’ve guessed. At this point, I’m convinced the Machine is targeting persons of interest related to Team Machine’s battle against Decima and Samaritan. That’s the only semi-feasible explanation for the constant coincidences. That said, it brings up an interesting issue. Is the Machine prioritizing its own survival (and, it must be argued, the survival of its assets) over the lives of others? Have innocent people died because Finch and co. were too busy working on this? If so, would it be excusable?

It really is remarkable how little I have to say about this episode. So much of it was just mind numbingly predictable. We did get a little more backstory on Shaw. Her mother was an Iranian academic who left the country after the revolution in 1979. Her parents met and had their first date in New York City. What happened to her? We know Shaw’s father died in a car accident when she was a child and that her mother was out of the picture by then. Did she die tragically young too?

Was I the only one who found the Root/Greer scene at the end super boring? Just more posturing. I wish I was sold on Greer as a villain. I don’t think we’ve spent enough time with him. He was creepy enough in his early appearances but lately he’s been relegated to looking dour in an overcoat for a few seconds at a time and it’s just not the stuff truly great villains are made of. His whole ‘information is power’ speech to Root? So bland. I did enjoy when Root mistook another man for him on her search and informed the man she had mistakenly thought he was her uncle. John Nolan, who plays Greer, is PoI EP Jonathan Nolan’s uncle.

Bits and Pieces:

Bear didn’t find the treats until now?

Shaw called Root “that cochlear cuckoo” and Reese “Captain America.”

Finch was “Mr. Kingfisher.” It’s been a while since we had a new bird alias.

How crazy was the Reese jumps through the window stunt? And his little shrug afterwards? Priceless.

Reese and Finch playing firemen was one of the cutest non-Bear moments of the show ever.

Also: Reese’s Indiana Jones moment.


Quotes:

Shaw: “You know, you really should get out more; learn about other cultures.”
Fusco: “What are you talking about? I just ate a falafel!”
Shaw: “Yeah and you got some on your tie.”

Maria: “Foreign Legion? Why would they want to kill me?”
Shaw: “I don’t know. I don’t speak French.”

Fusco: “I hope that guy has health insurance.”

Reese: “I have an idea, but it’s going to require a smokescreen and a big ass truck.”
Smokescreen. I just got that.

Reese: “Stop playing with the horn, Lionel.”

Maria: “I didn’t know you spoke French.”
Savan: “It’s the first thing they teach you in the Foreign Legion.”

Fusco: “Go figure. Turns out immunity doesn’t stop you from bleeding.”

two out of four glasses of champagne
---
sunbunny, Person of Interest and Bear the Dog fangirl

8 comments:

  1. I agree, I didn't care for this episode much. It definitely had a been there done that feel to it. Though I'm pretty sure the cases being linked up aren't coincidences anymore, especially in this case. They probably never were in the first place. It's obvious The Machine's started to develop its own agenda since that virus thing happened. I think they even said something to that effect in this episode.

    I was all satisfied when Shaw was being diligant with the Number in the safe house. But then all of a sudden her brain seemingly turned off. Not to mention the lady somehow figured out how to bust up the locking mechanism with no trouble at all. It was ridiculous, almost as bad as the time that dude somehow escaped being attacked by Bear with little more than a limp.

    Ah well, at least Reese got to tackle a guy out of a window. That was sweet. I also liked Reese and Shaw nonchalantly shrugging as Finch tried to warn them about the danger of the situation. Nothing phases them, it's great.

    I feel like every show nowadays has to have a villain say something along the lines of "information is power". Kinda old hat at this point, heh.

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  2. This was a meh episode. Halfway through, I decided to give myself a pedicure, and I usually reserve pedicuring for shows I'm not all that interested in.

    My favorite part was that, in an episode filled with people pronouncing Iraq/Iran correctly (cf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0jrLazqjn0 ), everyone gave a different twist to the last name "Lapointe." Michael Emerson said it at least two different ways, as though his French pronunciation the first time gave him the opportunity to opt out after that.

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  3. Oh you're watching Person Of Interest, Josie? pretty cool. I'm watching Alias's second season right now and i see your comments for each episode, pretty nifty posts. PoI is sort of similar to Alias in some ways but very different in others. I'm enjoying both shows. Though i wish PoI would stop having filler episodes with very boring plots most of the time.

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  4. "Though i wish PoI would stop having filler episodes with very boring plots most of the time."

    From your keyboard to God's (or the Machine's) ears.

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  5. It's on CBS. It's a small miracle it's not 99% filler. :)

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  6. Too funny, Josie. The pronunciation of "LaPointe" kept bugging me, too. Things like that always sort of nudge you away from the storyline. Not that the storyline was great.

    I got the impression that Finch hiding the treats from Bear was a continuing thing. :)

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  7. While I agree that the episode was a bit dullish, I really liked the Fusco/Shaw interactions. The last scene, especially, I found oddly moving. Fusco can be so sweet and the fact that Shaw kicked him out rather than show him she was moved was a great character beat.

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  8. I have been binge watching POI and haven't commented up to now. (Btw,thanks agents of D.O.U.X. for introducing me yet to another amazing show!)

    I am commenting now for the first time as I've noticed sth that does indeed prove that the number of this week was not random at all! At the end of the previous episode we see the Machine calculating the probability of threat that the development of Samaritan will bring. When pausing I noticed that apart from Reese, Shaw, Fusco, Admin, Control, Hersh and Collier there is also: "Threat to subject: Martinez, Maria 78.24%"

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