Person of Interest Review: B.S.O.D (Season 5 Episode 1)
Person of Interest is back!
Team Machine returns after a year-long hiatus with a bang: Reese, Finch, and Root are on the run from Samaritan’s many operatives, while Fusco deals with the fallout of being caught in the crossfire Samaritan put in place to kill Dominic and Elias.
The season kicks off with a flash forward to a smoking and empty subway, with Root speaking directly to the viewer (or perhaps the Machine herself) about the story of how things came to be the way they are.
This is one of the few times we don’t see the Machine or Samaritan tell us where we are in the timeline of the show: Root is our only indication that we’re in the future, looking back on the buildup to the end Person of Interest’s story with smoke floating in the air.
ROOT: If you can hear this, you’re alone. The only thing left of us is the sound of my voice. I don’t know if any of us made it. Did we win? Did we lose? I don’t know. I’m not even sure I know what victory would mean anymore. But either way, it’s over. So let me tell you who we were. Let me tell you who you are. And how we fought back.
It’s puzzling to see Finch, Reese, and Root split up. The last we saw of them, they were fighting their way out danger with the Machine locked up safe in a briefcase.
Now, we meet each of them separately — Reese is using the precious briefcase as a substitute weapon, Finch is honing his espionage skills to dodge Samaritan operatives, and Root is parked with a huge gun in front of a group of schoolkids (never change, Root, never change).
The split-up of Team Machine is short-term, and the reunion all the more satisfying by their brief separation. Finch, who abhors violence but has learned the necessity of it, saves Reese’s life, while Reese, in turn, saves Root’s when she’s backed into a tight corner by Samaritan.
And all three save the Machine from mortal peril when they use their combined knowledge to bring her back from the brink and decompress her into a baffling amount of old Playstations.
The strength of the bond between these characters is the real highlight of this episode, as well as for the entire series.
At this point, the team is very much a family; they all ride hard for each other and quite literally walk through fire to save one another.
This is, of course, amplified by the impact of Shaw’s apparent disappearance from Team Machine — in the wake of her absence, Finch, Root, and Reese hold tighter to each other than ever, and find their only salvation in the respite the Machine may provide from the bleak future Samaritan is hurtling them towards. Finch even says this to the Machine, commenting that his tendency to push his “employees” away has to end.
FINCH: It’s just you and me now. Though I see to have a unique talent for alienating the people I employ, I am not prepared to lose either of you just yet.
Elsewhere, Fusco comes under fire for the deaths of Elias and Dominic. While Dominic’s death was inevitable, it was endlessly disappointing to hear that the fate of Person of Interest’s almost iconic Big Bad, Elias, is sealed. Enrico Colantoni used every moment of his time as Elias to present an empathetic, engaging villain, and though it makes sense in the grand scheme of Samaritan’s plan to take out the big mob bosses of New York, it’s also sad to see Elias go.
Fusco’s involvement with the Elias-Dominic situation brings him under the investigation of both the FBI and IAB. It looks like trouble for Fusco for a while, but he eventually escapes out from under IAB’s scrutiny by a strategically placed Samaritan operative in the FBI.
Why Samaritan chose to save Fusco remains to be seen, but it can’t be good that the AI has one of its many eyes trained carefully on Fusco’s continued investigation into the truth of Elias and Dominic’s deaths.
ROOT: Just needed a change. Got a new job, fell in love…
Shaw’s presence is keenly felt in the episode, despite her return still being on the horizon. Root makes a strong declaration when she tells her target, Bella, that she fell in love after disappearing off of the hacker-assassin radar to join Team Machine.
It’s clear that she’s speaking of Shaw, and it’s beyond exciting to get even more concrete proof that Root’s feelings for Shaw are strong and real. Root loves Sameen Shaw, and continues to keep her alive in her mind until the day they’re finally reunited once more.
Finch and Reese’s relationship develops, too, though in a different way. Reese’s stubborn belief that they can get back the life they lost after Samaritan’s rise is naive, but also endearing — it’s the kind of Reese-branded optimism that he lost for a while in season 3, but regained through his belief in Finch in season 4.
Now, here in Season 5, we see that Reese’s steadfast faith in Finch and the Machine he created spurs Finch on to push past his fears and fight for the Machine’s life like he never has before.
THE MACHINE: What is death?
We briefly saw the return of Nathan Ingram, Finch’s dearly departed friend, in a flashback to 2006. Nathan tries to talk Finch into not erasing the Machine’s memories in order to keep her from becoming an all-powerful, malevolent AI like Finch fears.
Finch goes through with it anyway, but regrets it immediately — the move to take the Machine’s memories from her every 24 hours is too akin to what happened to his father when he developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Unfortunately, Finch is too late, and the Machine forgets him. The Machine was afraid of not knowing who Finch was — even in her early days, she loved him dearly, and though she forgot who he was, we know from the Machine of present day that her need to protect and work with her creator endures.
Stray thoughts:
- Someone actually using the vending machine that doubles as the secret entrance to the subway was a delightful bit of levity in an otherwise serious episode. When will John Reese not punch someone to solve a problem? We just don’t know.
- Samaritan can apparently access Uber and track all its drivers and riders. I am never taking an Uber again.
- Reese may say he’s not a nerd, but he sure has a lot of knowledge of how to cool down computers. It’s okay, John, we all know you’re secretly a geek.
What did you think of this episode of Person of Interest? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Person of Interest airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS.
Brittany Rae
Brittany is a writer and avid TV blogger hailing the infamous year of 1989. She trained at Vancouver Film School in screenwriting for television and film, and has gone on to become a graphic designer and blogger in her free time. When she’s not watching the Food Network, she’s trying to consume every bit of sci-fi television she can get her hands on (current favorites include The 100, Person of Interest, and Doctor Who). She’s always up for female-led dramas and, of course, a literal interpretation of the phrase “Netflix and chill."