Person of Interest: Reassortment
May 25, 2016 12:45 PM - Season 5, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Reese and Finch become trapped in a hospital that becomes ground zero for a deadly viral outbreak. Also, Samaritan's newest recruit has second thoughts and Shaw continues to struggle with reality.
CBS took the highly unusual, some might say audience-hostile (or at least promotion-unfriendly) step of showing two PoI Season 5 episodes in a row on Tuesday night. In many ways, however, these are of a piece, especially in regard to the storyline of Shaw and, to a lesser extent, the story of an increasingly curious and frustrated Fusco. And is Finch darker than any of the usual gang?
Reviews & Recaps
AV Club, which reviews episodes 6 and 8 together, but not 7.
IGN
Meanwhile, an interview with Michael Emerson, who sounds exasperated with CBS's scheduling and exhausted by the work, but who uses the opportunity talk about not only his future but the future of network TV dramas.
CBS took the highly unusual, some might say audience-hostile (or at least promotion-unfriendly) step of showing two PoI Season 5 episodes in a row on Tuesday night. In many ways, however, these are of a piece, especially in regard to the storyline of Shaw and, to a lesser extent, the story of an increasingly curious and frustrated Fusco. And is Finch darker than any of the usual gang?
Reviews & Recaps
AV Club, which reviews episodes 6 and 8 together, but not 7.
IGN
Meanwhile, an interview with Michael Emerson, who sounds exasperated with CBS's scheduling and exhausted by the work, but who uses the opportunity talk about not only his future but the future of network TV dramas.
I don't like more than one ep a day. I want time to mentally review and revel in how good this show is.
posted by pmurray63 at 2:17 PM on May 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pmurray63 at 2:17 PM on May 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I watched all three episodes in a row last night. That was fun.
Thanks for linking the Emerson interview, I found it pretty interesting.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:31 PM on May 25, 2016
Thanks for linking the Emerson interview, I found it pretty interesting.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:31 PM on May 25, 2016
You're welcome. I especially liked, and maybe should have noted, his noting how hard it will be, once on a new project, to get over the fact that he's no longer sharing scenes with Amy Acker. I can understand!
posted by raysmj at 3:10 PM on May 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by raysmj at 3:10 PM on May 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
TCC: How do you feel about how far the show has come and Finch has come since the beginning?I'm really dreading the final episode, partly because I never like saying goodbye to a show I've come to love, and partly because I've really come to love all the characters in this, and I can't imagine how anyone comes out alive. I started watching this on netflix a few months ago and prettymeh about the first season - I used it as background noise, almost, because it was so formulaic - but it got bigger and deeper and more involved and I got more invested, and now I'm just sad that it's nearly done. Though I'm trying to be happy that they're going out before their time (and therefore before it's gotten to the Really Stupid I Mean Come On stage where viewers quit in rage) and that they're actually getting an ending.
ME: Good. I think it has grown, developed. It’s more nuanced now. I think the relationships – at first the show was a very chilly show. Everyone was very serious, isolated and cryptic with one another. Now it’s evolved into a kind of family. A family of avengers with a kind of respect for one another. It seems there’s, I don’t know, caring going on and a bit of humor between them all, the kind of gallows humor people trade when they’re on a death mission. It’s been good that way. And I think the audience has gotten to see the softer side of the show.
posted by rtha at 9:30 PM on May 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
That's a great interview.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:42 PM on May 25, 2016
posted by mstokes650 at 9:42 PM on May 25, 2016
I was kind of irritated at the idea that people would be getting tested to find out if they needed a vaccine. I realize they needed a way to have the dramatic twist reveal that Samaritan was collecting everyone's genomes or whatever, but, what vaccine do you need to get pre-tested for? I just hate anything that feeds into anti-vax paranoia, so it took me out of the episode a bit.
I loved Shaw's Shawshank Redemption - though I'm confused on when she was meant to have been transferred to Johannesburg. I thought the scientist Samaritan tricked her into murdering was in New York, or if not, she had to have been in the metro area for her room's radio to be picking up Root's secret message from the AM radio transmission? Which makes me worry that we're still in the simulation somehow?
posted by oh yeah! at 8:44 PM on May 26, 2016
I loved Shaw's Shawshank Redemption - though I'm confused on when she was meant to have been transferred to Johannesburg. I thought the scientist Samaritan tricked her into murdering was in New York, or if not, she had to have been in the metro area for her room's radio to be picking up Root's secret message from the AM radio transmission? Which makes me worry that we're still in the simulation somehow?
posted by oh yeah! at 8:44 PM on May 26, 2016
"Which makes me worry that we're still in the simulation somehow?"
It all seemed so implausible that I just couldn't manage to believe that it real, even through to the end. The way they handled that last shot made me wonder if it might actually be real but it mostly rang false to me.
"I thought the scientist Samaritan tricked her into murdering was in New York, or if not, she had to have been in the metro area for her room's radio to be picking up Root's secret message from the AM radio transmission?"
I had the same problem with it. They made it seem like there was significance in that she was in a radio station, but she used an infected fax machine to send a message back through Samaritan's network -- that's what I think we're supposed to understand. The only thing about that which makes sense to me is the actual spark-gap like transmission method -- though not so much for those purposes. I can't find a way to make any of it make sense when I really think about it, so maybe it's best to just go with the flow.
And, anyway, we sort of have to accept that it wasn't a simulation because of that connection between root's and Shaw's storylines. If Shaw's story is true, then we also have the implausibility of Shaw being in the position to hear root's message. On another continent. It doesn't really hold together but, oh well.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:06 PM on May 26, 2016
It all seemed so implausible that I just couldn't manage to believe that it real, even through to the end. The way they handled that last shot made me wonder if it might actually be real but it mostly rang false to me.
"I thought the scientist Samaritan tricked her into murdering was in New York, or if not, she had to have been in the metro area for her room's radio to be picking up Root's secret message from the AM radio transmission?"
I had the same problem with it. They made it seem like there was significance in that she was in a radio station, but she used an infected fax machine to send a message back through Samaritan's network -- that's what I think we're supposed to understand. The only thing about that which makes sense to me is the actual spark-gap like transmission method -- though not so much for those purposes. I can't find a way to make any of it make sense when I really think about it, so maybe it's best to just go with the flow.
And, anyway, we sort of have to accept that it wasn't a simulation because of that connection between root's and Shaw's storylines. If Shaw's story is true, then we also have the implausibility of Shaw being in the position to hear root's message. On another continent. It doesn't really hold together but, oh well.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:06 PM on May 26, 2016
I was glad to see that Samaritan's agent is questioning what's being asked of him, as opposed to all the ordinary Joes that Samaritan seems to manage to just say "kill this dude" and a radio station secretary goes "hokey-dokey, I'll poison my coworker". I mean seriously? Ugh.
posted by Kyol at 4:40 PM on May 27, 2016
posted by Kyol at 4:40 PM on May 27, 2016
In her defence, he was kind of a dick. Imagine having to work with him day after day and getting the chance to finally poison him.... (Theme for 9-to-5 starts playing)
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 1:31 AM on May 28, 2016
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 1:31 AM on May 28, 2016
Really, the Great Filter?
In the Foundation universe, it's noted that humanity never encounters complex alien life, and it's hinted that robots pre-colonized the galaxy, because the three laws really only specify "human." How would The Machine or Samaritan deal with alien life?
Also, I really love how Finch called it The Machine, because it doesn't need a name, because it's the only one.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:17 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
In the Foundation universe, it's noted that humanity never encounters complex alien life, and it's hinted that robots pre-colonized the galaxy, because the three laws really only specify "human." How would The Machine or Samaritan deal with alien life?
Also, I really love how Finch called it The Machine, because it doesn't need a name, because it's the only one.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:17 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:50 PM on May 25, 2016