Person of Interest: Full 1st Season
November 15, 2024 8:00 AM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
When a homeless alcoholic is attacked on a subway train, he reveals he has a surprising set of skills. Skills that attracted the interest of reclusive billionaire Harold Finch.
Mr Finch (Michael Emerson) presents John Reese (John Caviezel) with a job. Every day, Mr Finch receives a single name of someone who is in danger. However the nature of the threat is unknown. The job is to figure out what the danger is and stop it.
John joins with Finch and uses the contacts he's made in the police department, Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman) and Detective Jocelyn 'Joss' Carter (Taraji P. Henson), to stop the inevitable.
The series was created by Jonathan Nolan; executive producers were Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, and Chris Fisher.
Mr Finch (Michael Emerson) presents John Reese (John Caviezel) with a job. Every day, Mr Finch receives a single name of someone who is in danger. However the nature of the threat is unknown. The job is to figure out what the danger is and stop it.
John joins with Finch and uses the contacts he's made in the police department, Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman) and Detective Jocelyn 'Joss' Carter (Taraji P. Henson), to stop the inevitable.
The series was created by Jonathan Nolan; executive producers were Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, and Chris Fisher.
Yah, it's Jim Caviezel, not John. For a moment there I thought that maybe it was Jim's brother or someone else palatable. Sadly, no.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:55 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:55 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
This is one of the all-time great trick premises.
-What's the show about?
-Oh, it's a procedural. Every week, there will be an investigation and a bad guy to stop or a good guy to save.
-Cool. Who does the investigating?
-Oh, it's all based on this guy with a machine.
-What "machine"?
-Don't worry about it. We'll get into that later.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:44 AM on November 15 [12 favorites]
-What's the show about?
-Oh, it's a procedural. Every week, there will be an investigation and a bad guy to stop or a good guy to save.
-Cool. Who does the investigating?
-Oh, it's all based on this guy with a machine.
-What "machine"?
-Don't worry about it. We'll get into that later.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:44 AM on November 15 [12 favorites]
I liked that for most of the series, the machine was unspecified. At one point, though, it was running on a couple racks of PS3s, though, which was an amusing touch.
posted by Spike Glee at 12:20 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
posted by Spike Glee at 12:20 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
Where is this streaming these days?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:07 PM on November 15
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:07 PM on November 15
Freevee, while that lasts. I keep meaning to watch it but have been holding out for it to move onto one of the services without ads. Is it worth sitting through Freevee's advertising for? I am a Michael Emerson fan.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:25 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:25 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
I love Michael Emerson in this--in every other role he is such a hateable villain it's great seeing him do something different here. The supporting cast in this season and later ones is also so good. (But yes, a shame about Caviezel.)
posted by Pryde at 2:22 PM on November 15 [4 favorites]
posted by Pryde at 2:22 PM on November 15 [4 favorites]
This is one of the few shows I can think of where it actually gets better as it progresses.
I wouldn't say the first season is a slog -- it's not at all -- but it does start out feeling like a pretty standard procedural with a slight sci-fi twist. But the seeds of what this show will become are planted early on so it's not like you can skip it.
I can understand people not wanting to watch this because of Caviezel, but Emerson is extraordinary here and the rest of the cast is good.
I just finished rewatching Alias (talk about a show that does not get better as it progresses, but those first 2.5 seasons were some great TV) so I needed a new nightly rewatch. Thanks for posting this -- it inspired me to watch this again.
posted by edencosmic at 2:44 PM on November 15 [6 favorites]
I wouldn't say the first season is a slog -- it's not at all -- but it does start out feeling like a pretty standard procedural with a slight sci-fi twist. But the seeds of what this show will become are planted early on so it's not like you can skip it.
I can understand people not wanting to watch this because of Caviezel, but Emerson is extraordinary here and the rest of the cast is good.
I just finished rewatching Alias (talk about a show that does not get better as it progresses, but those first 2.5 seasons were some great TV) so I needed a new nightly rewatch. Thanks for posting this -- it inspired me to watch this again.
posted by edencosmic at 2:44 PM on November 15 [6 favorites]
One of my favorite ongoing things about this show is the subtle way Reese modulates the violence of his response based on how he assesses the skills of the people he is up against. Some low-level hood with a gun? He doesn't even duck and cover, just calmly takes his shots. Maybe he grabs one as a human shield while he drops the others cold. Someone a little better? He will bob and weave, maybe. Real professionals and he will find cover, take care, plan his route carefully. It's never commented upon, but it happens.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:23 PM on November 15 [6 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:23 PM on November 15 [6 favorites]
I'm a huge fan of Emerson, which is what brought me to this show and later to Evil. He's just fun to watch.
I'd add the one off cast members are also great. Episode I'm currently watching has Matt Servitto and Dan Hedaya as well as being the first episode with Paige Turco as Zoe Morgan.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:03 PM on November 15 [4 favorites]
I'd add the one off cast members are also great. Episode I'm currently watching has Matt Servitto and Dan Hedaya as well as being the first episode with Paige Turco as Zoe Morgan.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:03 PM on November 15 [4 favorites]
A lot of fun!
posted by billsaysthis at 8:56 PM on November 15
posted by billsaysthis at 8:56 PM on November 15
I have so much to say about this show, but it's off-topic in a first season discussion. Thank you for this prompt for me to watch it again.
posted by mikelieman at 9:12 PM on November 15 [3 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 9:12 PM on November 15 [3 favorites]
I'm hoping to work my way through all of the seasons again mikelieman
posted by miss-lapin at 10:31 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 10:31 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]
Another fun thing about this show is how they hang onto/revisit certain guest star characters, almost like The Shadow building his network.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:04 AM on November 16 [5 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:04 AM on November 16 [5 favorites]
The audio cues in this show are so, so good. And the nice colored squares to highlight people who know about the machine, the ignorant ones, the threats. And the occasional subtle clue with a blink-and-you-miss-it yellow highlight. Both detective play their part to perfection, but Kevin Chapman brings the goods.
The ending of the episode with the doctor, "Cura Te Ipsum" with the closing line, "Help me make a good decision." is the one that got me hooked on the series.
And the last few seconds of "Many Happy Returns"... is so well done.
Am I a bad person because I enjoyed the procedural parts more than the sci-fi thing?
posted by techSupp0rt at 11:38 AM on November 16 [4 favorites]
The ending of the episode with the doctor, "Cura Te Ipsum" with the closing line, "Help me make a good decision." is the one that got me hooked on the series.
And the last few seconds of "Many Happy Returns"... is so well done.
Am I a bad person because I enjoyed the procedural parts more than the sci-fi thing?
posted by techSupp0rt at 11:38 AM on November 16 [4 favorites]
In season one, the sci-fi elements are background texture. When they do eventually bring them to the forefront, they will have a plan and you'll be sold on the characters by then. It'll still work.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:30 PM on November 16 [3 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:30 PM on November 16 [3 favorites]
Yes, the wolf in sheep's clothing aspect of it, selling it to CBS as a different kind of procedural, but then doing something totally different was great. This season gets a bit repetitive, IMO, but it does introduce several characters that will later become important. Which I love in terms of the world building. Looking back you realize that the machine has had a plan the whole damn time, long before the central tension of the series even gets started, and it's frankly a bit unsettling.
There are guides out there that tell you which episodes are essential, and they're not wrong, but there are other episodes even in the first season that have a payoff much later. Not literally all of them, but a surprisingly large chunk of them beyond the smattering that are absolutely necessary to having an idea of what the hell is happening in later seasons.
The other thing that really strikes me about PoI is how it really doesn't look like pretty much any other show of its caliber. With rare exception the cinematography sticks close to the workmanlike aesthetic of the procedural it pretends to be. It is so far from Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul in that department (or even stuff like Tulsa King that tries to be prestige TV but just isn't), yet it manages to live right up there in my memory. Everyone involved was 100% committed to the bit.
posted by wierdo at 3:58 PM on November 16 [8 favorites]
There are guides out there that tell you which episodes are essential, and they're not wrong, but there are other episodes even in the first season that have a payoff much later. Not literally all of them, but a surprisingly large chunk of them beyond the smattering that are absolutely necessary to having an idea of what the hell is happening in later seasons.
The other thing that really strikes me about PoI is how it really doesn't look like pretty much any other show of its caliber. With rare exception the cinematography sticks close to the workmanlike aesthetic of the procedural it pretends to be. It is so far from Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul in that department (or even stuff like Tulsa King that tries to be prestige TV but just isn't), yet it manages to live right up there in my memory. Everyone involved was 100% committed to the bit.
posted by wierdo at 3:58 PM on November 16 [8 favorites]
One of my favorite shows of all time. I just rewatched the first couple of episodes and it holds up. It's got the usual copaganda issues of course (yay universal surveillance!) but I know those issues will be examined in the show.
I maintain that this is the best depiction of a realistic AI I've ever seen, and note that (without giving much away hopefully) there are scenes from an AI's point of view starting with the very first episode.
As for the Caviezel of it all, I'm consoling myself by thinking about how many times during a rewatch I'll get to see him get punched in the face.
posted by mmoncur at 2:17 AM on November 17 [4 favorites]
I maintain that this is the best depiction of a realistic AI I've ever seen, and note that (without giving much away hopefully) there are scenes from an AI's point of view starting with the very first episode.
As for the Caviezel of it all, I'm consoling myself by thinking about how many times during a rewatch I'll get to see him get punched in the face.
posted by mmoncur at 2:17 AM on November 17 [4 favorites]
Just went through episode 7, which is the introduction of Elias (played by the wonderful Enrico Colantoni). This is a great episode not just because of Colatoni but because it again shows the weakness of the system when paired with human bias. That they have no information on whether the person of interest is victim or, in this case, villain means they rely on assumptions and just like in the first episode those assumptions are incorrect. Elias is able to escape because he's able to fool all of the major players so effectively that he's what he appears to be-a mild mannered victim of circumstance. None of them even consider that he could be Elias and even the viewer is set up to consider the cop is Elias. I do like that the episode is structured so the viewer and Reese/Finch/Fusco/Carter all go through the same realization at the same time.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:19 AM on November 17 [6 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 9:19 AM on November 17 [6 favorites]
So I just hit ep 8 with Austin Pendleton. I'm beginning to think I need to do an episode by episode post. Obviously when you have so many episodes per season not every one of them is going to important, but it's so much fun to see all these actors I love pop up for a one off.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:24 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 9:24 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]
In s01e01 I find it absolutely hilarious that hobo-John Reese can give himself somehow ended up with a $200 haircut before passing out (on way too little booze - vis Leaving Las Vegas) in a cheap motel. I don't understand why/ motivation to clean up, though.
This was my first exposure to Michael Emerson and yes!, Evil is amazing. Ending up liking him wherever I see him.
posted by porpoise at 9:55 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]
This was my first exposure to Michael Emerson and yes!, Evil is amazing. Ending up liking him wherever I see him.
posted by porpoise at 9:55 AM on November 17 [1 favorite]
The motivation to change his appearance was that the cops were looking for a scruffy guy connected to multiple homicide that looked like he hadn't so much as trimmed his beard in a year.
Not that it ends up mattering much in the fullness of time.
posted by wierdo at 3:14 PM on November 17 [3 favorites]
Not that it ends up mattering much in the fullness of time.
posted by wierdo at 3:14 PM on November 17 [3 favorites]
I pretty much only watched the Amy Acker episodes until Season 3, and that was enough to give me the gist.
posted by kyrademon at 6:47 AM on November 18 [2 favorites]
posted by kyrademon at 6:47 AM on November 18 [2 favorites]
Freevee, while that lasts.
Turns out that was: until December 1. I did get to the S1 finale before the series disappeared from Freevee; I guess I'll rejoin you in S2 when it pops up on another of the free-with-ads services.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:46 PM on December 1 [1 favorite]
Turns out that was: until December 1. I did get to the S1 finale before the series disappeared from Freevee; I guess I'll rejoin you in S2 when it pops up on another of the free-with-ads services.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:46 PM on December 1 [1 favorite]
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posted by Spike Glee at 8:12 AM on November 15 [11 favorites]