Person of Interest Review: SNAFU (Season 5 Episode 2)

If there’s one thing to take away from this season of Person of Interest, it’s that family is the most important thing in the world — whether it’s blood or not.

The clear running theme of this episode is how key relationships are to not only understanding the world, but the people in it. At the center of this the Machine and her creator: Finch’s bond with each member of Team Machine guides the moral lessons of the new, rebooted Machine, emphasizing the importance of not only context of a person’s actions, but their intent, as well.

Finch and Root

There was a time that Finch and Root were enemies with literal deadly consequences. Root kidnapped and threatened Finch within an inch of his life and left him with some very real PTSD, but the slow evolution of her character from villain to hero has allowed Root to not only become friends with the man she still idolizes, but to be considered his family, as well.

Is anyone else super emotional about Finch and Root’s relationship? Just me? Carrying on…

Finch and Root work beautifully together. Amy Acker and Michael Emerson seem to know each others’ characters best; they have an easy back and forth that is highlighted nicely in everything from Finch agreeing to run errands for a subway-bound (and pyjama-clad) Root to their shared joy at the Machine coming back online.

The two have the funniest impressions of each other during the Machine’s facial recognition error — though a special shout-out has to go to Jim Caviezel for his solid Fusco persona — and thus their bond as two hackers who both care deeply for the Machine they’ve now jointly helped heal is nothing short of touching.

ROOT: I trust you with my life.

While Finch teaches the Machine about the motives behind Root’s past actions, he also makes major leaps in this episode. He affirms to Root that he would pick her life over the Machine’s, which Root refuses to accept — the Machine takes precedence over her own life, because the Machine, of course, can help find Shaw.

Even though she’s found a home with her team, the Machine, the war, and Shaw come first. Finch, in turn, has grown from believing that the mission comes first to prioritizing his friends.

The clashing and complementary ideologies of the pair will surely make for excellent tension in the coming episodes.

Finch and Reese

The original twosome hammer home how important their relationship is to Finch when Finch begs his own creation to spare Reese’s life.

Reese’s journey is key to understanding why the Machine cannot judge humanity based off of facts and figures — it must factor in emotion, struggle, and intent into the equation.

Reese was once a man who killed at the CIA’s command, but broke free of his orders to question the real purpose of the murders he was committing. He shows his emotions through acts of service to others, which made him the perfect person for Finch to recruit to save the Irrelevants.

With Finch’s help, Reese found a purpose in life that allowed him to grow into the smart, tough, loveable lug we know today.

 FINCH: John has the heaviest heart of all of us, but he’s fighting to be good. He’s not a bad man.

This is one of the biggest things to play into the Machine’s understanding of her own team — if Reese can atone for his time in the CIA by saving lives, and Root can work side by side with someone she once scared, then the Machine can trust her creator when he tells her that what they do matters.

Finch and The Machine

The highlight of this episode is the clear-cut statement that Finch has made a great deal of mistakes. It forces the audience to examine Finch as we’ve know him — our favorite bird man is as complicated as they’ve come, and the fact that he’s willing to accept and learn from his mistakes is a huge move for his character.

Michael Emerson should be given an Emmy for the amount of depth he gives to his performance acting opposite a computer monitor. I’m not joking. We feel every ounce of Finch’s pain as he and the Machine struggle to understand each other.

It’s hard not to feel heartbroken for the AI that could save the world, but is trapped in her own unique hell of living every moment of time at once. No other show has ever made me feel as deeply for a computer as this one has.

The Machine’s saving grace is the Numbers: Finch shows her each of the people she and her team have helped save, and tells her to use them as a timeline. This not only gives the Machine an anchor to measure time against, it gives her an idea of what true, pure goodness looks like: saving the lives of innocent people that the world otherwise would have let die.

FINCH: There are no heroes and villains, only people doing the best they can.

The most important lesson Finch imparts upon the Machine is one he didn’t when she was originally built: that there are no heroes and villains, that the world is not black and white — it’s a fitting commentary for today’s society, where we often jump to conclusions based upon small pieces of information and forget that shades of grey exist in every person.

At the end of a truly excellent episode, it’s the relationships of each member of Team Machine that truly brings the Machine back online. The bond they have all formed keeps them all fighting for each other, as well as their benevolent AI.

This is a lesson Samaritan does not have, and could possibly be its downfall.

As always, the thing that makes the Machine work is the thing Samaritan cannot quantify: love.

STRAY THOUGHTS:

• So, Blackwell seems like someone whose character arc is going to hurt like crazy. His need to do good things after serving time for murder makes him a more emotionally deep operative than we’ve yet seen be recruited for Samaritan, apart from Claire Mahoney (where is she? Is she safe? Has she figured out Greer is evil yet?).
• Grace is once again brought up, anchoring Finch’s arc in this episode. With this much focus on she and Harold’s relationship, I hope she returns one last time to close out their story — hopefully without anyone dying.
• Finch thinks the glitches with the Machine are finally over. Oh, Finch. I get the feeling they are just beginning.
• Fusco is being exposed to the public eye more and more, this time for saving a man who owed a loan shark money. He is right in Samaritan’s face, which can only end well, right?
• Who won best costume: Root in her Girl Scout uniform, or Reese in his bowling shirt?

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.

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