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Person of Interest: ShotSeeker

This episode reverted to an earlier season format. Dull, by the numbers episode with a Shocking Twist™ at the end. That twist, shocking as it may be, is not enough to make up for forty minutes of exposition and running around shooting things. Let’s hope this is that last time we revisit this formula.

Krupa, a scientist trying to help defeat world hunger has mysteriously disappeared and the only one who has noticed is an old acquaintance whose job is listening to loud bangs all day. ShotSeeker was one of the more interesting aspects of the episode to me and, guess what, it’s a real thing. Well, sort of. The real thing is called ShotSpotter and is (hopefully) not being hijacked by an evil super intelligence.

What annoyed me most about the episode was the predictability of it all. Samaritan was behind this surveillance system being hacked? No kidding. Next thing you’ll tell me Yogi Bear has made off with a pic-a-nic basket and Wile E. Coyote is after that Road Runner again. That our team took about half an episode to figure this out was even worse. Root and Finch are supposed to be geniuses why are they so slow on the uptake? To kill time? There are only thirteen episodes this season, we don’t have the time to kill!

As for Samaritan controlling the local food supply, I could almost say, ‘so what?’ It’s controlling everything already. And what is it going to do, starve people who are already starving? Actually, that inspires a thought. What if Samaritan is going to feed starving people? What if, stay with me here, Samaritan isn’t a force for bad at all? Yes, the people who have control over Samaritan are ruthless and horrible, but, as we are reminded every episode, crime rates are largely down. Is Samaritan making things better? It reminds me strongly of the end of season 4 of Angel, where Jasmine is making everyone on earth happy, ending war and poverty, and bringing a general atmosphere of kumbaya to everyone she meets. I mean, she eats people, sure. But on balance, Jasmine in charge of the world is, on paper, a much better option than the chaos of free will. Of course, removing choice from the situation is not an option for our champions, so, Amy Acker in the lead, they defeat her letting the world fall back into insanity and struggle with the morality of that decision. I hope that’s where this is going because defeat the evil AI thing…it’s getting old.

Finally: Elias. Not dead, after all. Sneaky Person of Interest. After sparing him in the season finale, only to kill him in the season premiere, he has been resurrected. Hurray? Look, I love Daddy Mars as much as the next girl but this entire season has a clock on it ticking down to midnight and we just don’t have the time for more Elias drama. We’ve been there, done that, done it again, done it a third time, and then came back for fourths. ENOUGH. If Elias is going to help defeat Samaritan, that’s one thing, but I will not abide another minute of the show spent on mafia power struggles, she says as though she can do anything about it.

The episode’s low rating and less than enthusiastic review are no doubt influenced by its coming after one of the series’ high points. I assumed we were going to get a case of the week story, but I know Person of Interest can do better than this and, with the end of the series in sight, I can’t believe they wasted an entire episode like this.

two and a half out of four Eliases
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sunbunny, person of interest and Bear the Dog fangirl

1 comment:

  1. I'm not sure crime rates are down necessarily. We know homicides are down, but "suicides" and "missing people" are up. We saw that Samaritan can manipulate the data to make it look as if a crime didn't happen. It's just as likely that crime remains the same and Samaritan is just covering it up.

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