PERSON OF INTEREST: In Memoriam

As the showrunners warned/promised us, Person of Interest went out in a bloody, emotional blaze of glory. I’ve seen many disappointing finales over the years, but this one was definitely not one of those! While fans knew deep down in our hearts that not all of the main characters could survive (this was made clear in season 3 with the death of Detective Carter!), it was still wrenching to watch the last few episodes to find out who would make the final sacrifice.

And sacrifices they were – the three notable deaths when the dust settled were Carl Elias, (Enrico  Colantoni) Root (Amy Acker), and John Reese  (Jim Caviezel). All three died in accordance with their character arcs – protecting Finch and by extension, the Machine. Here Karen, Rueben and I salute the dearly departed.

Cay: This is actually the second memorial post that I’ve written for Elias (check out the first here), seeing as we took him for dead at the end of last season before the shocking revelation halfway through this season that he was still alive. I actually screamed at the TV when I found out he had survived! Elias was always a great character – charming, well-educated, and loyal one minute and downright ruthless the next. Thankfully after tricking Reese when they first met, he has been more or less on the side of Team Machine. It was kind of a disappointment that they killed him so quickly after showing him to be alive, but fitting that he died trying to protect Finch outside the same building where Reese had once protected him.

Rueben: I have to join Cay in saying that I screamed at the TV when it was revealed that Elias was actually alive, not dying – as we thought – last season. It was such a stunning surprise to see him very much alive, but also quite an unexpected shock. Just as shocking was watching him gunned down just as “freedom” for him and Finch was at arm’s length. He may have been a ruthless man, but he always seemed to be very supportive of both Reese and Finch, making him an essential part of Team Machine. It seemed apropos that his last stand was outside the very building where he was first introduced to all of us and the team.

Karen: One of my favorite things about Season 5 was finding out that Elias was alive. I thought his death during the Samaritan “purge” was meaningless after such an amazing character arc. Oh me of little faith… The showrunners definitely agreed! Bringing him back so his death would mean something gave Elias that extra push into epic greatness. He and Finch were like two sides of the same coin. They were both masterminds playing a game of chess in real life – just for different reasons. I loved the many facets of Elias, and how he interacted with Finch and John especially. That he got to appear in the last season was an added bonus.

Cay: This one really hit me hard, but it was the perfect redemptive arc for the character. We first met Root in season 1 as an entirely unsympathetic character – a  hacker-for-hire and contract killer – who tricked Reese, bested Finch and then kidnapped him to get close to the Machine. Now, several years later, she and Finch have formed a deep bond and she takes a bullet intended for him. My favorite part about Root has always been how warm and charming and flirty she can be on one-hand, yet also be a total badass, two-gun toting force of nature on the other. She has also benefited from some of the funniest scenes – all her various covers as she hides from Samaritan as well as her interactions with Finch and Fusco.

Her death was softened by her ascension of sorts to be the voice and personality of The Machine for the final episodes – you know that’s what she would have wanted, and it allows her to live on.

Rueben: I kept hoping against hope that somehow, someway Root would survive that gunshot wound, but I think I cried more for her loss than any of the others when they showed Fusco standing over her draped body at the hospital. Sure, we didn’t like her when she was first introduced because she was so very ruthless, but as time went on, she became a very valuable member of the team. And as Cay said so eloquently she did get some of the best and funniest scenes. I especially liked her being in period costume churning butter. That was just priceless! She gave her life doing exactly what she set out to do: protect the Machine. I also agree with Cay that the grief of her passing was helped by being the voice and then the embodiment of the Machine.

Karen: Okay, I need to stay above-board here. It took me a LOOOOONNG time to warm up to Root. I still had issues with her up until the very end of Season 3. She did some pretty terrible things that hindered Team Machine, even if she thought she was right. However, when she made sure our Team was safe with new identities after they had to scatter, even I had to admit she had become an asset.

THEN… then, I started to really like her. I mean, who wouldn’t? The Machine was giving her a new identity every week, and it’s like she had this life we never really got to see – and it was AMAZING. I’d equate it to the episode of Community when – if you looked closely – you could see a minor background story where Abed helps deliver a baby, soundlessly, completely without drawing attention to itself. Except we noticed Root – a lot. We just never got to see what she did unless it related to our number.

And when it came to our fifth and final season, Shaw came back, and it was like a light was turned on inside Root. I think she truly loved Shaw, and seeing she was alive gave her life meaning as well. However, she also loved The Machine, and protecting it was her life’s true mission. She knew that if The Machine lived, so would many other people down the road – so if she had to die in order for her to live, it wasn’t a difficult choice.

Cay: Unlike Root, Reese has been a hero all along, so while the fact that he took on a suicide mission to protect Finch and the Machine was no surprise, that didn’t make it any less poignant. He was such a critical part of the show from the first few minutes of the pilot, it’s still hard to believe that he died and to imagine what happens in the future to the members of Team Machine who survived. I’m miss his wry, but corny sense of humor (“The Midas touch”, “I don’t speak nerd”) and his excellent knee-capping skills!

Rueben: It only seemed right (as crazy as that sounds) that Reese went out in a blaze of bullets (not to mention that missile, WTH?!) in order to protect Finch and the Machine. Just like his father before him, he was a hero to the last; and that was the best way for him to “go out.” That doesn’t negate the fact that it was hard to see him perish like that especially given how very important he has been to the mission since the very beginning. Cay said it best – he had a great sense of humor and had a very unique way of taking down his adversaries.

Karen: I think this was perhaps the death that was inevitable from the very start. The premiere is all about this man who has an obvious wish to end his life, and the series ends with a man who ends his life after the intervening five years of saving so many others. It was a shock to learn that he’d made a “deal” with The Machine in order to exchange his life for Harold’s, but only in the fact that he’d actually had the foresight to do it. I never doubted this man’s honor in a heartbeat.

From the beginning, even when he was reluctant to take Harold’s gig, he took on the burden of saving lives – because he couldn’t NOT. We learned through flashbacks that it was not only his M.O., it was the reason he felt his life wasn’t worth living in the first place. Because of the girl he couldn’t save. Finch gave him motivation to continue selflessly, not like his previous career, but to help people just because he could. And if it meant he could kick a little ass in the process – even better.

I always loved his flashbacks, and getting to see the connection between his father: the hero, and little John, who grew up to be one as well – that was the cherry on top.

What we learned from the finale is that the writers/showrunners made these deaths count. Nothing was a stunt. They brought Elias back in order to give him a heroic way out. They redeemed Root over the course of four years and made her death count. And John… his was the biggest. His character started at the edge of death, and ended the same way – but the line between the two was so vast that it spanned the width of a universe. He knew that’s how his life would end, and he still went out in a blaze of glory. Now that’s the show we love. We’re gonna miss Person of Interest most of all!