One of the shows I wanted to get into but never found the time was “Person of Interest.” Luckily for me one of my coworkers is a very passionate fan and she will be guest blogging for me. Here’s her take on the first episode of season two.
Reese is trying to figure out how to get Finch back after he’s kidnapped by Root.
The season premiere of “Person of Interest” brings us a few more answers about Finch and Reese but leaves us with so many more questions.
It starts with Reese right where we left him in the finale. Finch had been kidnapped and Reese was left to carry on their mission, maybe on his own. Reese is asking the machine, connected by one of the seemingly endless cameras on the street, why it doesn’t know where Finch is and for help finding his partner. A nearby pay phone rings. When Reese picks it up the voice is spewing out a list of names. Aha! For the first time, we learn maybe the machine has a voice!
The cool thing throughout this episode was the live Tweet session, hosted by the show’s creator, Jonathan Nolan, and Executive Producer Greg Plageman. It was both entertaining and informative. They joked that some of the Producers were in the New York walking around and behind Reese in the opening-scene crowd. We would get a lot of information from them through the premiere.
With the aid of computer graphics we see Finch in a cafe with his kidnapper known as Root. The graphics let us know the machine really knows where Finch is being held. We still don’t know Root’s real motives at this point. But through a series of flashbacks we see how Finch trained the machine to not only recognize him, but to think for itself. This is a valuable tidbit of information to store for later.
Meanwhile, the machine leads Reese to Kenneth Leung’s character. Kenneth is being held at gunpoint by members of the Aryan Nation. So, even without Finch, the machine is directing Reese to other persons of interest for him to help. Reese realizes he’s the contingency plan Finch set up, should something ever happen to him. How come stuff always goes down in a dive bar? I don’t know.
Long story short, Leung has embezzled money from the Aryan Nation and they’re going to kill him, until Reese shows up. This brings up one of my favorite things from the show. In every episode, there is a scene where Reese beats up everyone in the room or on the street.
In the live Tweet session, Nolan said part of Jim Caviezel’s contract does involve beating up at least 4 people per episode. So I guess he fulfilled that obligation for the week.
He saves Leung, who doesn’t seem to be that grateful. The police officers, who help Reese and Finch, get involved in Reese’s quest to keep Leung safe, and search for Finch. But it’s HR, or the bad cops, working against them. In the Tweet session, someone asked Nolan if anyone in the police department ever questions Carter and Fusco’s absences from their REAL cases. The response was, not yet. Hmmm.
In one of the best scenes of the episode, Reese comes to rescue Fusco and Leung and finds out the Aryan Nation has a dog it is using to scare everyone. The dog is a Belgian Shepherd Dog, or Malinois, which Reese says is used by Special Forces. He knows this from his Special Ops background. He gives the dog commands in Belgian and bonds with the animal, calming it down.
Side Note: In the Tweet session they said the dog is the same breed that was used by Navy SEALs to take down Osama Bin Laden. The producers also revealed the dog will become a recurring character. Nolan joked about a spinoff of the show called Puppy of Interest.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about Finch. His captor kills a woman in the café and then kills a man in a house we find out is in Texas. Reese sees an article about a missing girl in Texas, which seems to be where Reese and his police officer friends are headed in their quest to find Finch.
There are so many questions from the premiere. Why Texas? Why does Finch’s captor want to “free” the machine? Who are the mysterious guys on the phone throughout this episode? Why did Finch’s captor kill that couple? Are there REALLY that many pay phones in New York City? Creator Nolan says he hates when a cliffhanger is solved in six minutes of the next episode, so it’s clear he’s going to draw this out. What did you think?
The Judge-Mentalist may have to start watching this show.
