PERSON OF INTEREST ROUNDTABLE: Prophets

Episode 4.05 – Prophets

Wow, this episode was crazy intense! We’re still working it out in our minds, but here are our thoughts so far. We’d like to welcome Fey, who is making a guest appearance on NGTV this week. Don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts on these points or others in the comments!

 1)      Flashbacks to previous failed version of the Machine

Cay: I guess I always assumed that Finch just built the Machine, and then taught it. Never occurred to me that it could have taken Finch 43 tries before it didn’t try to escape or kill him. A less…um…persistent man would have taken the hint. The flashbacks did a wonderful job “foreshadowing” Samaritan as well as giving us more insight into Finch. He had no doubts whatsoever what a potentially dangerous thing he was building, but did it anyway.

Fey: The Samaritan foreshadowing along with the flashbacks was just amazing; so much of Samaritan’s operations have seemed somewhat isolated (Martine in the premiere) or not entirely evil (Claire’s recruitment, the nautilus game, etc). Samaritan is definitely working towards an end goal that goes beyond killing The Machine and her assets. We only got mere glimpses of Arthur’s invention through someone who was somewhat cognitively impaired at that point – what is keeping Samaritan from killing the people that plugged it in?

Karen: LOVED seeing these. Any backstory on the “making of the machine” we see is nerdgasm-inducing for me. They showed the year, then made sure the technology (screenshots, icons, DOS interface, etc.) matched – lives up to my POI expectations. Letting us see how even back at the inception days – the machine was already straining to test boundaries… amazing. Lying about writing it’s own code, tricking Nathan into giving his password for access, attacking itself, and then overheating – even risking “admin” in order to get out? Wow. BTW, it looks like several sources are reporting that the source code shown for the early iteration of the machine was actually the Stuxnet worm. Love the easter eggs.

2)      Reese with the psychiatrist

Cay: I felt like this bit was just too much for an episode that was already jam-packed, so it seemed like it didn’t get the time it deserved, although the very brief scene where Reese admits his hero complex and brings up Carter was touching. It’s not clear whether this storyline will continue with him meeting with her and potentially go into it more, or if this is all we’re going to see. It also struck me as strange that they didn’t bring Captain Moreno in this episode to basically tell Reese he needed to go. They introduced a new boss, gave her a bit of a story, and then haven’t used her since, even when Reese is getting in trouble on the job.

Fey: Definitely wish we’d gotten some more Captain Moreno time, but at the same time I think the episode accomplished a nice “status check” on every character’s motivations and arcs between the end of season one/early season two at this point. Reese’s arc from his therapy session with Caroline Turing to this current one; Finch going from creating an AI he could trust to realizing that The Machine will very likely get one or all of them killed and deciding to mend that relationship; Root’s arc obviously was the biggest focus, but more of that later.

Karen: I was shocked that she had his number from the get-go. He has a really good act, and the fact that she knew it actually *was* an act… great character reader.  She obviously wants to see his issues worked out for his benefit, not just to make him a better officer – but isn’t going to give an inch. Complete hard-ass. Then to see her ‘getting’ right away that the Carter story was true made that connection all the better. Maybe he’ll finally have an outlet apart from violence with which to take out his frustration and anger?

3)      Simon Lee  = Nate Silver?

Cay: The resemblance of the statistics whiz who has never been wrong about an election can’t be a coincidence and I was thinking Nate Silver based just on the previews. This plot of this episode was very well designed – it was very timely with elections just a few weeks away and felt very familiar, yet served as a magnificent example of Samaritan’s power over pretty much everything. Also interesting that as soon as Finch caused him to doubt himself, then he ceased to become a threat. POI has always been good at either pulling the headlines into plot lines, or making plot lines that soon become headlines.

Fey: It was a perfect way to link what the Machines do; people are numbers –  they are numbers to the Machines, they are numbers to pollsters and politicians. John sees the people he shoots now as folders filled with paperwork, Harold begs Root to understand they are just numbers to the Machine, and everyone is just numbers to Samaritan (Perez dead, the hotel clerk dead, etc).  Pollsters are also a nice way to add a human spin to something as inflexible as mathematics and probability, things that the machine was built on.

Karen: Yeah, I see similarities. Of course not politically, as Nate is essentially – at least publicly – somewhat neutral. But in skill and temperament I can definitely see the comparison.

4)      Root

Cay: Finally we learn her cover – different every few days, so she can do what the Machine needs. It really is amazing how far her character has come. The multiple scenes with Finch – the emotion, him finally acknowledging that he considers her a friend, the heart-to-heart while hacking the NSA… Acker nailed it.  I asked her at NY Comic Con what exactly Root’s endgame was because I really wasn’t clear whether she cared about the common good, or just the Machine, but I think this episode made it very clear – her redemption is complete. I’m just glad they didn’t kill her off today.

Fey: What a way to showcase character growth (and yes, I’m incredibly grateful they did not kill her)! From her scenes with Finch (at first she was the biggest threat to him and The Machine, now he calls her a friend and notices her loneliness, etc) to her scenes with/about Shaw (all humans are bad code to if you could give Shaw a message). The Machine has essentially done to Root what Finch did to the Machine; gave its life a purpose, and the first few tries did not end well, but the Machine (and Finch, sometimes by extension, sometimes not) eventually learned how to care and that’s when she began to work. The different every few days and all the mentions to the various personas Root has to be is also a nice callback to all of the different versions the Machine had to be before it could be allowed to live.

Karen: Well, for the first time ever I felt quite a lot of sympathy for her. I’m usually irritated by her smugness, but seeing her vulnerability when Finch calls her on not being able to hear the machine was quite touching. Amy Acker (who I’ve always liked *despite* how I feel about Root) played that scene perfectly. I surprised myself by being happy that she appeared again later after wondering if she might’ve been killed off. Also, I’d like to know where the comment about Shaw might be headed. I don’t think TPTB write throw-away comments, and she made a point of calling out Shaw in particular. I know they have a bond, but that seemed to stand out. I also liked how she and Finch seemed to get closer here as well. They’re two sides of the same coin, and they really should be working more closely – this will help to facilitate that.

5)      *THE* gunfight

Cay: That was seriously badass. They showed the clip of the gunfight at NY Comic Con during the panel and the crowd lost it. Seeing both floors of the hotel simultaneously, both of them shooting at each other, then Root taking a bullet (or two) for Lee… so awesome!

Fey: Definitely. The sequence was shot so perfectly; ever since the NYCC clip, it was obvious the crew was proud of the outcome (and we all knew it looked badass), but in the context of the episode it was truly marvelous; such a perfect combination of decent writing that serves both plot and character arcs (not to mention moves relationships forward), the perfect amount and type of flashback exposition, and the direction was amazing from the gunfight scene to the emotional scenes.

Karen: The fight scenes in POI are always amazing. The one in “Prophets” was a stand-out. Root took her stand, knowing she might not come out the other side, and seeing anti-Reese’s (or Samarinator as hubs calls her) perspective with the trajectories was great. Shooting through the floor, Root’s trash talk, knowing someone probably took one in the knee… TOTAL. WIN.

Favorite Quotes:

Election’s got me in a real democratic mood – Reese

Why should you vote for Governor Murray?
Um…he has lots of hair…he’s been on Rogaine for years… – Shaw

Whose car was that? – Finch
Someone who needs a good mechanic – Root

I have a hobby. Shooting people.  – Reese

The difference between the Machine and Samaritan? It’s you! – Root to Finch

Out of 43 versions, how many do you think didn’t try to escape or kill me? – Finch

You either have a hero complex, or a death wish – police psychiatrist to Reese

Watch Person of Interest on Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS!