Person of Interest - season 1 thread

So is this a serialized show?

That's was intrigued me about the pilot. The episode constantly played with the boundaries of science fiction and science fact. Outside of London, New York City is probably the most densely photographed and video recorded city in the world. Many of those cameras feed a VCR somewhere that regularly tapes over itself. But increasing numbers of those security cameras pass their signal over the net at some point. The paranoid feeling that drives the visual style of the show highlights CCTV cameras that really exist at their locations and weaves them in seamlessly with security cameras installed for the production. The show is set and filmed on location in New York City, and the reality is very evident. He was my favorite part. He's basically Batman without the cape and theatrics. You get the sense from his matter-of-fact confidence and lack of experimentation that in his prime, he was probably one of, if not the best at what he does in the world. He's still VERY good, but there's an emptiness that Caviezel brings to him that gives him depth. I also liked that Finch is very smart, knows it, but is also smart enough to know that there are people out there who combined are collectively smarter than him and that the odds of them dying is nasty ways will increase steadily the further along this path they travel. He also thinks of himself as smarter than Reese, but defers to Reese's skill and experience while never condescending to him. He hired the best at what he needs doing, and has enough respect to let the man do the job he was hired for. While you're absolutely right that the machine is a plot device in which the hows and whys don't matter, I loved it because it addressed the biggest problem I always had with 1984 dystopias: if you've got people watching everybody, that means you need nearly as many people sitting in booths doing the watching as there are people to watch. The manpower requirements would inevitably become larger than the population under surveillance. This show provides an IT solution, with thousands of servers connected to God knows how much processing power aggregating all of that footage and processing it so only the most important stuff makes it to the men in the security booth watching the cameras.

I'm sure the great debate when formulating the concept of the show was how much to limit the output from the machine; you want enough to leap out of the gate with each new mystery person, but enough ambiguity that solving it provides a compelling challenge of the 42-minute variety. It's a hybrid. Each episode will have a new SSN of a person that needs to be saved or stopped. The mystery of the machine and who Reese was and what happened to Finch will unfold over the course of the series.

hmmm.. unrealistic and formulaic. I had such high hopes for Abrams and Emmerson... I I do think they casted perfectly with Emmerson, however.

Curious what will happen when the agent's own SIN comes up on the "machine"... but I'm not likely to stick around that long.

I liked it well enough to come back next week.

The pilot gets rerun tonight at 8 PM.

Isn't that the opposite of what serialized is?

I really enjoyed the premiere, though at times it felt a bit rushed, as though some of the exposition was meant to be spread out over a 2-hour episode.  At any rate, I agree complete with Adam's comment about Reese: I immediately thought "this guy is basically Nolan's Batman, without the cape and cowl."  The show was a little more gritty and dark than the usual network TV fair, and the gunplay and action scenes were quite good (though not on the level of "Human Target," which is, for me, the high-water mark for TV action scenes).

 

One thing I particularly enjoyed was the score: it was a good use of orchestral music.

 

The show did well in the ratings, too.

 

Nolan seems excited that he has a vehicle where, unlike film, he has an increased controlling role and the ability to, as he says "write a massive story and take characters on a really long journey."  So that's a pretty big indication that the show will be heavily-serialized.

I didn't think it was amazing or anything, but I was pleasantly surprised by this after reading a bunch of horrible reviews of it.

I only really ended up watching because of who's involved, Jonathan Nolan, JJ Abrams, and Michael Emerson, and thought it was a pretty enjoyable episode when it had finished.

I'll keep watching for now.

IF it becomes heavily serialized, then I'll lose interest in it. Seems a show like this will work best with new cases to investigate each week.

See, I'm the exact opposite.  If it's not serialized, I have no interest.  I can't get into the procedural "case of the week" shows.  I can handle it if the weekly cases are just a backdrop to a bigger story arc (kind of like 'The Shield' was), but otherwise, I won't be able to stay interested.

I'm guessing they take a page from The X-Files and Fringe and it will usually be monster/case of the week episodes and some mythology episodes during sweeps.

Ditto. I don't want to HAVE to watch it every week to know what's going on. I want a show where I can miss an episode here and there and not feel, well...lost.

Man, if it's a show where I can actually miss an episode and not skip a beat I want no part of it!

I like the show but I can see how it won't get better than it was after episode 1 which I don't like. Still way too early to tell so I will keep watching.

I liked it. As for the SSN thing it doesn't bother me. Sure it couldn't happen but neither could Hyper-Drives or Warp drives. We bought into that crap with zest. I go with the flow providing what comes after is entertaining.

 

Johnny Carson often said if you can get the audience to buy the premise they'll buy the punchline. Think about how many times has a gorilla actually walked into a bar and, yada yada yada. 

I tried to like it, but couldn't get into it. I loved Jim Caveziel at the start in his bearded, scruffy get up. Huge on-screen presence. But cleaned up, his mysterious gravitas was lost and felt like a poor-man's Christian Bale, trying to channel Bruce Wayne.

 

The sci-fi concept feels too futuristic to be set present day. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. (And I kept waiting for the pre-cogs to send out a red ball....)

 

And the first half an hour was toto much clunky narration by the protagonists explaining the actions of third party characters I don't care about. That is: too much talking and not enough doing.

 

 

 

I'll give it another episode or two to see if it gels, but it didn't work to me.

Edited by DaveF - 9/25/11 at 6:53pm

By the way I've seen mention that there were a few Lost references in the pilot. Has anyone compiled them?

I liked episode two even better than episode one. It really gave a nice feel for how the series will be structured. There's a nice balance between the episodic A plot that's resolved in the hour, while continuing to thread the back story on one hand and the homicide detective's investigation into the Man in the Suit on the other.

I also liked the SSN of the week. Here's a girl who watched her family get brutally murdered at age 13, got dumped onto the streets by a hitman who promised to finish the job if anyone found her, and managed to survive completely under the radar for two years. She wasn't a wild or rebellious kid who got swept up. She was a good, well-adjusted kid thrown into a completely unfathomable situation. And when you meet her, you believe she could do it. Like seemingly every character on this show, she's hard from what she's experienced. But unlike the usual trope of SVU kids, she's not an addict or a prostitute. She's 100 percent present and not the least bit defensive, just scared to death. And at the end she's loyal to Reese and Finch in a way that leaves no doubt about her ever cracking. One tough cookie, and the actress who played her walked that line well. I'd like to see her character recur as an informant for the guys who uses her street contacts, but I'm happy she got the happy ending.

The conceit that Finch works a mid-level cubicle job at his own company also tickled me. Somehow, it seems exactly like what someone in his position would do.

I also like how Reese is painting a fuller picture of himself to the homicide detective without ever meeting face to face. The bait and switch with the meeting served two simultaneous purposes: it ensured that Theresa would be safely taken into custody in case any of the mob boss's henchmen wanted to pull a revenge killing. And it let the detective know that his intentions were altruistic, even though he's leaving a trail of bloodshed and carnage across the city.

The 2007 scene between Finch and his partner was also interesting, explaining why the government didn't just turn the irrelevant list over to the local authorities nationwide: if anybody knew about the Machine, the public demand would shut it down. It is, after all, blatantly unconstitutional. At the same time, we got a glimpse into how powerful it can be when it hasn't been stripped down to a social security number.

I agree. It was a very strong episode, and I really enjoyed it. I think this one's a keeper, one of the few new shows that I'm staying with.

I also agree. It was quite a strong episode. I believe the bust was of Finch's partner who it said died in 2010. I guess we'll see some flashbacks leading up to his death at some point.

I liked our seeing the very end of another case before going into the case of the week. It is nice to know Finch and Reese are busy even when we aren't watching them

Agreed about the bust. I'm sure we'll eventually see his death and I am wondering if that event injures Finch since pre-2010 Finch is not limping. I enjoyed the second episode quite a bit and would agree with the above posts. One other note: I liked Reese's adjustment at the end of the episode - If the chest doesn't work, the legs will.

- Walter.

I appreciated the laundromat scene which showed that Reese is not a full on Terminator. Physically the hitter got the best of him, that is until he drew his gun. Even then the vest showed professionalism.

While 2002 Finch was definitely not limping, 2007 Finch was. So whatever happened to him happened in the time between the two flashbacks. Good observation about Reese; I didn't pick up on the fact that the leg shot was a reaction to the vest. Makes the character stronger And even the 15 year old girl nicked him when she surprised him with the box cutter. It helps sell the reality a bit more and ups the stakes, knowing that he's very, very good but not infallible.

Well, you know, box cutters can be pretty surprising at times.

Guess I need to pay more attention. Thanks for the correction.

Good points by everyone regarding Reese not being invulnerable.

- Walter.

I really liked this episode . Great observation on Reese going for the legs because of the vest, glad they never tell you why and makes the viewer come up with the answer.

It just happens with no commentary. Either you remembered what happened the first time and have an "ah hah" moment knowing Reese adapted or you just go with it. They are rewarding careful observers.