PERSON OF INTEREST ROUNDTABLE: Blunt

Person of Interest episode 4.16: Blunt

Our apologies for not getting anything posted for last week’s Q&A. We were plagued with power outages, emails lost in cyber space, etc. It was almost as if a sentient being was trying to prevent us from posting our roundtable…

On to this episode – there was A LOT going on in this episode. We are introduced to what appears to be a new recurring female character, got a glimpse into Root/The Machine’s latest endeavor and the logistics of owning a medical marijuana dispensary, not to mention the return, in a big way, of Dominic.

Feel free to add your thoughts on these topics or anything about the episode in the comments!

1)      Harper

Karen: It takes a con-man to know a con-man? But how annoying is she? She’s almost TOO good at reading people. She stole all her smug from Root I guess. Then getting in good with the Brotherhood… ugh. That can’t be good. For her, for them, for Team Machine.

Cay: Ha! Yeah, the scene in the diner with Fusco and Reese did kind of remind me of when Root was pretending to be the shrink and had a similar analysis of Reese (which is also pretty much the same analysis of his real shrink, Iris. Her scene discussing her life philosophy with Finch was entertaining – they couldn’t be more different. She had some great lines, but I agree, her character seemed a bit *too* good at what she does, especially for seeming to have no training. It sure seems like we’ll be seeing more of her at some point.

2)      What is Root/The Machine up to?

Karen: Does she want to work on a team? Hmmm. I’m guessing that “team” might lean towards team Samaritan. Is she trying to undermine things from the inside via a subcontractor? Might be a good way to go about it, from an angle. Sammy won’t see it coming if it’s not looking down the side alleys.

Cay: What exactly does Root’s app do? And does it have to do anything, or was it just a way to get her food in the door to get at the main prize – potentially the security algorithm they are working on.  The head of the company looked very familiar – he was the teenage coder who wrote an amazing search algorithm that Finch helped save a few seasons ago. He was one of the few POI whom Finch actually gave a way to contact him, although as far as we know he never did. My gut feeling is that he’s NOT working with Samaritan, but that he has programming that the Machine can use. Cool to see him come back and I am very curious to see where this will go. Also interested to see if the three hackers who are also protected from Samaritan ever show up.

Root was really on the charm offensive, but it was weird to see her be straight charming and not sexy-badass-I’ll-flirt-while-I-think-about-killing-you like we’ve gotten used to seeing. Root does a great job blending into any situation, whether it be as a nanny, a furry, or a two-gun toting badass, but it’s kind of fun to see her back in her element and reminding us of why she’s called Root and how she came to be known to Finch in the first place as pretty much the only person who could outhack him.

3)      Return of the Brotherhood

Karen: Dominic meets another member of Team Machine up close. And one from afar. We also know for sure he’s learned a bit about them – save Finch of course. I mean, who knows about him if he doesn’t want them to? Another one of my big TV nits comes into play in the diner btw. Snipers NEVER use laser pointers. WHY ON EARTH would they alert their target to their presence? It just doesn’t happen. They don’t make a point, they don’t want them to see them. There’s really no way to prove there’s a gunman trained on a person unless you tell them. I don’t know why John would need Fusco anyway, he’s gone up against more armed men than that without blinking.

Cay: Dominic’s new (?) henchwoman is rather intimidating! Dominic’s character just keeps getting more layers. He’s really a criminal genius but he’s also super badass scary. He has that calm fury thing that we’ve also seen from Finch (how frickin’ tall is he? looks like 7′ in some of the scenes and the pictures various cast and crew posted on Twitter).  Loved the meeting in the diner – both unflappable – two professionals at work, trying for a bit of diplomacy before the guns come out. Kind of reminded me a bit of the scene with the Samaritanators in the church.

4)      POI’s little PSA on the dangers/issues with marijuana dispensaries

Karen: I honestly had no idea about the complications behind the money issues that dispensaries deal with relating to intake of monies. When I looked it up, I found this in a Forbes article:

“By providing [a] loan and placing the proceeds in [a] checking account, the institution would be conspiring to distribute marijuana,” writes University of Alabama law professor Julie Andersen Hill in a paper she presented at a conference on marijuana and federalism last week. “By facilitating customers’ credit card payments, the institution would be aiding and abetting the distribution of marijuana. And by knowingly accepting deposits consisting of revenue from the sale of marijuana, the institution may be acting as an accessory after the fact.”

That is not the end of the possible charges. “A financial institution that knowingly processes transactions for marijuana-related businesses commits the crime of money laundering,” Hill notes. Failure to meet the detailed monitoring and reporting requirements of the humorously named Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which requires financial institutions to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, also can be treated as a felony.

In any case, It’s pretty interesting stuff that I never really thought about before.

Cay: POI is always good for weaving real-life current events into their plots and they rarely shy away from politics (such as the Samaritan-view prediction of when NY state would legalize recreational marijuana and what would happen to the crime rate when they did). The issues they talked about here also agreed with what I’ve read about the logistics of dispensaries. Besides being interesting, the dispensary plot worked great as a way to bring Dominic back into the picture as well as to demonstrate the situation that Harper got herself into.

5)      Favorite Scene

Karen: Harold: “…Let’s say chronic back pain, back pain is better. I’ll have Dr. Tillman call it in – it won’t take long.”

Reese: “Finch, How do you know how much about getting Marijuana?”

Harold: “Mr. Reese, do you want me to call this in or not?”

Reese: *smug look*

Cay: That was a great scene! I also thought the strobe light fight in the club was pretty awesome, as was Fusco and Harper’s little weapon pissing contest outside. Guess tazer beats baton, eh?

Other Thoughts: 

Karen: Dominic knows it’s “Riley” because of the kneecapping. LOL

Memorable Quotes: 

As far as I can tell, college has become an overpriced Bacchanalia filled with entitled, oversexed binge drinkers – Finch

What’s your pal Mr. Peabody doin’? – Fusco

My guess…former military with a side of hero complex – Harper

It’s John and his friends…it’s kind of like their thing, they know stuff – Fusco (this probably sums up his understanding of the Machine)

I’m good with technology – Finch

So, that tall drink of darkness failed to dazzle Dominic… – Harper

…I couldn’t tell if the disarray was evidence of a kidnapping or just a dreadful sloven – Finch

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