5 Reasons “Person of Interest” Kicks Ass

By Diane Kollman on June 14, 2013

“You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered ‘irrelevant.’ They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up… we’ll find you.”

This is the opening narration from CBS’s Person of Interest, an action-packed crime drama featuring Jim Caviezel (Jesus in The Passion of the Christ) as the stoic ex-CIA agent and Michael Emerson (Ben Linus from Lost) as the billionaire computer engineer.

IMDB adequately summarizes the show in one short sentence: “A software genius and an ex-CIA operative work together to prevent violent crimes before they can happen.” But Person of Interest is so much more than that.

The idea for the series was based on a screenplay developed by two huge names in the media industry: Jonathan Nolan and J. J. Abrams. Nolan wrote the short story on which the film Memento was based and also served as a production assistant on the set; more recently, he was a co-writer on The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Terminator Salvation. Abrams created the television show Alias and was co-creator of Lost and Fringe; he also directed Mission: Impossible II, Star Trek, and Super 8. With these two creative powerhouses fathering the show, Person of Interest was guaranteed to be a marvel amid the clusters of generic crime dramas.

The show began in 2011 and has ran for two seasons thus far, with 23 episodes in season one and 22 episodes in season two. This past March, CBS revealed that Person of Interest will be renewed for a third season, which will most likely be airing this fall.

If the intriguing premise and talented cast don’t hook you, there are plenty of other enticing features that will persuade you to watch this brilliant series.

1. The Plot Twists

“The Machine” pops out social security numbers during each episode, identifying individuals who will soon be involved in a crime. The interesting part about this is that you don’t know who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. Every case will keep you guessing throughout the episode to determine the identity and motivation of each suspect, and many times, the ending result will surprise you.

Photo credit: Giovanni Rufino

2. The Character Backstories

Although each episode can be viewed as a standalone story, Person of Interest contains many elements of a serial television show. The mysterious pasts of the two main characters, Finch and John, are revealed through short flashbacks. Sometimes the flashbacks will generate more questions than they answer: How did Finch get his limp? How does the Machine work exactly? Why did John become a CIA agent? What happened to John’s girlfriend?

Detective Fusco and Detective Carter are the other two major players in the show, but not too much is revealed about them in the first season. Most of the criminals are of the archetypal monster-of-the-week variety, but there are a few recurring villains with more three-dimensional personalities. However temporary some characters may be, the dynamic between them and John generates some entertaining dialogue.

3. The Badassery

While the whole concept of the Machine itself is fascinating, there are many other cool gadgets and toys. And by toys I mean submachine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and even a freakin’ Barrett M107 sniper rifle. (By the way, did you know that there is an Internet Movie Firearms Database?)

The show features a lot of your typical shoot outs, but most action scenes are actually good ol’ fashioned fist fighting. John enjoys using his former CIA training to pummel criminals like a boss. And did I mention that he does all of this while in a suit?

 

4. The Gray Morality

The entire premise of the show is an ethical dilemma: is it right to have extensive surveillance on the entire population to prevent crimes at the expense of personal privacy? Of course the audience always roots for the vigilante protagonists, John and Finch–the do-gooders running from the law. Both frequently use questionable methods of protecting or persecuting individuals, with John often using more violent tactics and Finch hacking into personal electronics.

Sometimes there are also characters who don’t seem to deserve to be helped, as they may be criminals themselves in a way or they just have bad personalities. The detectives in the show also have to make a lot of tough decisions about whether or not they should turn John into the authorities and if they are choosing to trust the right people.

5. The Music

While watching Person of Interest, you can expect to hear a variety of interesting song selections. Each episode features at least one vocal track, ranging from popular tunes by Massive Attack or David Bowie to songs by lesser-known artists like Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. But no matter what they play, they keep it cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJdHlra_fHA 

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