Person of Interest: M.I.A.

February 7, 2015 2:11 PM - Season 4, Episode 13

The hunt for Shaw takes Root and Reese to a small town in upstate New York where not everything is as idyllic as it seems; Fusco and a former person of interest team up.
posted by oh yeah! (9 comments total)

It's strange, even though Maddie Corman has been working steadily for decades, I always have a double-take moment when I see her. She is somehow burned into my brain as Eric Stolz' little sister in "Some Kind of Wonderful", and seeing her as a grownup always throws me off.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:37 PM on February 7, 2015

I probably would have been into this episode more had I not heard about the behind-the-scenes reasons why Shaw will now be AWOL. Couldn't exactly get my hopes up there.

But that said, a town full of lab rats? Which is now abandoned? Creeeeeepy.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:34 PM on February 7, 2015

I don't know, the fact that Shaw needs to be off-screen because Shahi is having twins makes me more ok with whatever writerly contrivances are coming. I mean, I'm glad that they didn't just kill her off entirely. (It also kind of amuses me that she was pregnant at the end of "Life" as well - the "Life" writers used a kidnapping subplot, a body double with a bag over her head, and lots of close-ups to hide the belly.)
posted by oh yeah! at 7:22 PM on February 7, 2015

Yeah, I liked the slow-burn of gradually coming to realize how messed up and creepy this little town actually is. Does make you wonder though, how messed up has the country gotten with Samaritan on the loose? How long is it going to take to repair the damage if they ever even find a way to shut it down?

I'll miss Shaw, of course, but yeah, knowing the IRL reason makes it easier to accept. Root though! She better not have stormed off for too long.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:03 PM on February 7, 2015

I enjoyed the episode, but found it hard to believe that Samaritan would take over the town but neglect to have cameras/mics everywhere so it could monitor everything.
posted by DowBits at 10:55 PM on February 8, 2015

I just hope they don't have Samaritan turn Shaw into a Borg drone, because that would be too silly.
posted by homunculus at 5:58 PM on February 9, 2015

Aside from the "Hello Dave, just giving my cousins the tour" = code word for "I'm being coerced, bring in the snipers."

The later half of this season has really gotten me more interested in the series again. (Fusco!) I'm actually ok with lightening it up, "C'mon Mrs. Thompson." Less so the overly long technobabble explanations.

The dialogue has gotten more stilted, but maybe that's verisimilitude for a bunch of people with severe psycho-social problems?
posted by porpoise at 8:36 PM on February 10, 2015

I agree that the slow burn of figuring out Maple wasn't what is seemed was very well done. At its best, this show can do a Hitchcock-esque suspense plot, as they did with that episode in which Reese is on the plane and gradually figures out that the Machine put him on that particular flight for a reason. Bonus: the inflight movie was a Hitchcock picture, North by Northwest.

I never bought into Root's supposed reformation, and it was good writing to show us that she hasn't.

Fusco with that stain on his tie. Heh. He's the most realistic and well-rounded character on the show.
posted by orange swan at 8:08 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

This reviewer walked in with no background to this episode.
In just the first two minutes of this episode, there’s a lot to report. For starters, I have no idea what’s going on. But what is clear is JESUS:

posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:04 PM on January 13, 2018 [3 favorites]