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Person of Interest: Skip

“I can’t lose you Harold. Not you and Shaw.”

The week offered us another standard person of interest story. Weekly Shaw replacement shows up, kicks ass, reveals tired backstory, is rescued by Reese. I’m getting really tired of the standalones. It’s been weeks since we got a solid arc-driven episode and I miss them. The only thing that made this episode enjoyable was Root and Finch’s special adventure.

You could tell something weird was going on when Root started baring her soul to Finch. It’s not a very Root thing to do, with anyone but Shaw that is. Combine that with the basic fact that Root only shows up when something is going on with the Machine and/or Samaritan and Beth’s involvement with Samaritan…

Finch had inserted a Trojan horse in Beth’s code that would allow the team the briefest of glimpses into Samaritan. It was a huge gamble that would almost surely result in his death but could afford Team Machine a much needed win. Whatever the prize, Root wasn’t having it. After Shaw’s supposed death, losing Finch would be a bridge too far. It was enough of a threat to drive her back to her roots (hehe) as a hardened killer. Well, not too hardened. The formerly sadistic Root had chosen a method of death for Beth that would be as painless as possible and went to some trouble to keep Finch from finding out about her plan. He’d think Beth had died from a simple heart attack. It would be sad, but he’d be spared the knowledge that she was sacrificed to save him. It would’ve worked flawlessly, if the Machine hadn’t tattled on poor Root.

That Root was willing to kill for Finch says a lot; that she was willing to go against the Machine’s orders says a whole lot more. Root believes that the Machine is god. The Machine says ‘jump,’ she pulls out her trampoline. But letting Finch die? Root is not about to sit back and let that happen. It’s sort of like a backwards, inside out Abraham and Isaac. Sort of.

Of course, Finch eventually finds out and decides to turn the situation into an O. Henry story by attempting suicide. His willingness to die here struck me as being more for Root’s benefit than Beth’s. Sure, Finch is majorly crushing on Beth, but I think the thing that really scared him was Root reverting back into a murderer. He didn’t want her to kill anyone, especially not for his sake. Root’s promise to let Beth live came off as sincere and (surprisingly) ended up being sincere. Of course, in order to keep her alive, Root had to discredit her, potentially ending her career and definitely ending any hope Finch had of a relationship with her. She also destroys Finch’s activation device, preventing him from winning a major victory against Samaritan, but saving his life.

I liked their lukewarm reconciliation too. She tells him point blank that she doesn’t need to be forgiven and he basically acknowledges that he will forgive her…eventually. It wasn’t a hastily bandaged up Hallmark moment, but at the same time Finch’s hand on her shoulder made it clear that this isn’t going to be a permanent rift in the team.

Elsewhere, Iris ‘fired’ Reese as a patient for *mysterious* reasons. Turns out, Iris has spent her sessions with Reese doodling little hearts around his name, who could’ve guessed? I like them together. It’s cute and (so far) happily angst free. True, they threw in the face that Iris could lose her job for dating a former patient, but as Reese isn’t really a cop, I don’t see that happening. And, hey, with Shoot out of commission, there has to be flirting somewhere on the show, right? Speaking of Shoot, they’re currently leading in Zimbio’s annual ‘TV Couples March Madness Challenge,’ a.k.a. the Shipping Championship.

Bits and Pieces

This week in nicknames: Frankie repeatedly calls Reese “Johnny” and refers to Iris as “the ginger.” Harper calls Frankie “Barbie.” The quality in nicknames really takes a fall when Fusco isn’t involved.

I love how Frankie stole Reese’s badge and used it as her own. It’s a classic Reese move.

Harper’s getting texts from the Machine. That’s probably important.

Quotes

Root: “We’ve come a long way since our first field trip together, haven’t we?”
Finch: “You mean when you kidnapped me and killed two people? A bit.”
Root: “Even then I was in awe of you. The man who created god. I never thought.”
Finch: “What?”
Root: “That we’d be friends. Now I can’t imagine what the world would be like without you. What I’d be like.”

Root: “Dangerous and bold. That’s my Harry.”

average of three out of four Trojan horses

sunbunny, person of interest and Bear the Dog fangirl

7 comments:

  1. The Finch/Root stuff was great, and I like Reese going for it with his shrink. But the rest of the episode, I agree that it was blah. It's like the heart went out of the series along with Shaw.

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  2. Finch was always the heart of the show, yes. There's no PoI without Michael Emerson. But Shaw added that indefinable something that made the show for me, and I'm deeply missing it now that she's gone.

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  3. I guess I enjoyed the parts of this story with Frankie better than other folks here did. Of the various "not-Shaws" we've had, she's definitely been my favorite, due in no small part to the actress playing her. Katheryn Winnick is lovely, and a legit badass(seriously, look up her background sometime, her martial arts skills are for real). What I DIDN'T like was seeing Harper again. I don't care that they tried to make it look like she was kinda on Team Machine by revealing that The Machine was helping her, I can't stand her.

    Even though they handled it a little clumsily, I thought the bits with Iris were cute, and I actually thought it was a bit appropriate for her to handle things awkwardly with John. I like them together, and John deserves a little happiness after all he's been through. I'm curious to see where they'll go with it. One thing I REALLY wish they'd get back to is when Iris told John she knew he wasn't a cop. They've sorta breezed right past it. I'd love to see her look at John at some point, with his hero complex etc., and put it all together that he's the infamous "Man In The Suit" that the police were hunting a while back.

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  4. We don't actually know that Root destroyed it. It's possible that she will put it into play again, just not in a way that will lead back to Finch.

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  5. Whatever Shaw brought to the show, I think we can all agree that TPTB were not as well prepared for Shahi's absence as they made it seem in earlier interviews. The team feels fragmented with everyone off doing their own thing. Feeling it more so with Reese, whose personality is really suffering without an equal partner. (So do we really need Root off-screen anymore than she already is, especially since her presence basically guarantees a tightening of the numerous plotlines left for dead at this point? The Brotherhood? Elias? Hands in too many cookie jars.) I have faith in the writers to pull it all together and compensate us for our temporary sufferings in the end--and this ep was a step toward that--but yeez, am I missing Shaw.

    Loved Finch/Root as usual, and Amy played her role brilliantly. Rewatched her scenes and she let nothing on. (Adored "Good day"!)

    I agree with Anon, though; the device may yet be in play, although who knows if Samaritan will still be using her algorithm with it being discredited and all. Also I think Root ruined Beth in order to keep Harold alive. Burning any connections between Samaritan and Prof. Whistler and whatnot. She couldn't care less for the woman. But great comment on what this implies for Root/Machine. And very punny, sunbunny! :)

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  6. I love Katheryn Winnick, so this episode already got a big plus for even including her. Of all the Shaw replacements, I'll take her thank you. I wasn't happy to see Harper back, and i definitely don't like the idea of her being a more permanent fixture on the team. Solid episode though. Nice to see other people show up again, even if it was Harper.

    Never been a fan of Iris, so seeing John reciprocate her feelings was unfortunate for me, though inevitable. It just made it sting that they introduced the awesome of Frankie with a potential hook up, but then have him go right to Iris.

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