Person of Interest Review: Synecdoche (Season 5 Episode 11)
It’s hard to know how to feel about a Person of Interest post-Root. She came into the show during the first season, and quickly became an integral part of the show’s identity, as well as an eventual beloved member of Team Machine.
The strange thing about her passing is that we as an audience can’t really let her go.
We see Root buried in a nameless grave with Fusco and Reese watching on. We see Shaw grieve in her own way (at first, by rejecting reality entirely, and then using her own unique way of processing emotion via kneecapping), we see other Irrelevants step in to fill the Root-sized void, but we still have one strange thing to hold on to: her voice.
FUSCO: Goodbye, Coco Puffs.
I had fears that hearing Root’s voice through the Machine would feel disrespectful to her character. After all, it is a little traumatizing to hear such a distinctive, familiar voice used in such a different way.
The key to keeping this use of Root from being an unhappy reminder is the conversation the Machine has with Finch: not only does the Machine miss Root, but she loved her. She uses Root’s voice in her honour. There are many love stories on Person of Interest (especially for a show that claims it isn’t about romance), but the relationship between the Machine and Root has always been one of the biggest linchpins to the show’s entire story.
If it were not for Root and her love for the thing she called God, the Machine may never have been allowed to grow and develop into an entity that we feel as deeply for as we do her human counterparts.
The Machine brought all of Team Machine together, and it was Root’s relationship with her that not only allowed the Machine to pick a gender, but a voice for herself, as well.
SHAW: If Samaritan wants to take down the entire world, I’m sure as hell not gonna make it easy for it. That’s what Root would’ve wanted.
While Finch has a heart-to-heart with his creation in a diner, Reese, Shaw, and Fusco discover that another Team Machine exists in Washington, DC. (Potential Team nicknames include T2, The B-Team Machine, and Team Machine 2.0, but I am always taking suggestions.)
It was such a delight to see the return of previous Irrelevants. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the seemingly (and happily) inevitable return of Harper Rose, and I was thrilled to see she came along with Logan Pierce and Joey Durban (played by James Carpinello, Amy Acker’s husband).
Logan, Harper, and Joey make a wonderful new Team Machine. They each bring skillsets similar to Finch, Reese, Root, and Shaw, and it’s not hard to see that the three would have made up an engaging cast of characters in an alternate universe where Person of Interest got the spinoff it deserves.
Things are slowly ramping up towards the end, with two episodes remaining before Person of Interest finally comes to a close. There are so many questions left — is Root really, really dead (even though it really seems she is)? Where is Control? How will Ice-9 defeat Samaritan? And how did the subway end up the way it did in the season opener?
How Root’s death is handled from here on out will be the key to determining the quality of the show’s ending.
STRAY THOUGHTS
- Shaw’s grieving process is perfectly in character for her. She wants to do what Root intended by stopping Samaritan, which is the best way for Shaw to pay tribute to the woman she equated with safety.
- How does Reese still have his badge? How has his captain not fired him by now? I remain baffled that John Riley still has a job.
- The plot of this episode wasn’t much to write home (or a review) about. I’m just curious how Samaritan doesn’t know about Team Machine 2.0. Wouldn’t it care about that?
- Another bird name for Finch! “Osprey” is possibly his most obvious yet. Use your surroundings, I guess!
- What other Irrelevants do you think head up Team Machines across the world? I really hope Zoe Morgan has her own team. She’d be badass at it.
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 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."