Person of Interest: Witness

November 17, 2024 9:40 AM - Season 1, Episode 7

The Machine identifies a teacher living in Brighton Beach as the next POI.

In a small store in Brighton Beach, a man is murdered, seen on black-and-white security video, as the accented voice of a man says he wants to "kill him myself." Carter and Fusco arrive to investigate the shooting, and watch the video, which shows they have a witness.

Meanwhile, The Machine has identified an unmarried high school history teacher named Charlie Burton (played by Enrico Colantoni), as Reese and Finch's next POI. He gives Reese a brief description on Burton, which Reese realizes matches the man he is watching. He also realizes the Russians are closing in. Unfortunately, Reese's phone is damaged in the process cutting him off from Finch as well as Carter and Fusco.

With little time, Reese and Burton flee to an apartment block that the Russians won't enter. Once there one of Burton's students eventually help the two escape. He's also able to contact Finch about the Russian mob who tip off Carter. Carter and company manage to round up the Russians to bring them in for questioning. During questionings a member of the Russian mob reveals to Carter (and the audience) what we saw in the opening isn't what it appears to be. Burton isn't a witness, he's the killer. Simultaneously, Burton drops the facade with Reese and identifies himself as Elias.

Elias leaves Reese alive, but with a warning not to pursue him. The episode ends with Elias claiming this is "just the begnning."

posted by miss-lapin (12 comments total)

This is a complicated episode with a lot of working parts to ensure NONE of the characters suspect the identity of Elias until it's time for the reveal. There's a small hint in the form of the Count of Monte Cristo, which Burton's student is reading. Much like the main character of the book, Elias has meticulously set about his plan of revenge and as the he remarks at the end of the episode, this is just the beginning.

One of the fun parts of this episode is its structures so Finch, Reese, Fusco, Carter, and the audience all realize who Burton is at the same time. Of course, it also requires a lot of plot fussiness involving a broken cellphone (no back up?) so there's limited communication.

This also means characters are relying more on their individual biases, which Elias uses to his advantage. And in the end it reveals the frailty of the system in the hands of human beings with limited information as well as Reese's concern that he may yet again be fooling himself that he's helping people.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:47 AM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]

Hope this isn't spoiler-ish, being about a different show that ended in 2018...

I watched every episode of PoI as they aired, but it was way back then, and so I'd forgotten this until miss-lapin's summary (thanks- fun!). And it reminds me that Enrico Colantoni, after establishing himself as such a nice guy on Veronica Mars, has done the "secret villain puppetmaster" really well at least twice -- with the other on the Netflix sci-fi drama "Travelers," with Eric McCormack.

IIRC the middle years of PoI were really well done. Maybe time for a rewatch.
posted by martin q blank at 2:09 PM on November 17, 2024 [5 favorites]

Thanks miss-lapin! I'm catching up to these episodes.

Travelers is Excellent. Unfortunate about the ending though, but it's damned good tv up until then.

Enrico Colantoni is fantastic in everything he does; I have a soft spot for his role in Galaxy Quest.
posted by porpoise at 6:15 PM on November 17, 2024 [3 favorites]

Fans of Colantoni, and particularly his villainous turns, might want to check out Humane.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:33 PM on November 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

The writing has been tight all season - Fusco, the corrupt cop, really integrating with the team.

Oh hai Enver Gjokaj! He looks so much different now, vis Resident Alien.

And now what great misdirection.
posted by porpoise at 6:35 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]

Just caught up to this one on my re-watch. One of my favorite episodes, and not just because I'm a Colantoni fan.

I love how only a few episodes in Harold and John have already realized that playing God means causing bad consequences as well as good ones.

I love Elias as a character and we had some strong support from Enver Gjokaj and "Scarface".
posted by mmoncur at 12:30 AM on November 19, 2024 [2 favorites]

I'm a little confused -- we got a "Full 1st Season" post, then individual episode posts starting with Ep. 7?

Is there a reason Eps. 1-6 were skipped?
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:10 PM on November 19, 2024

I initially did a full season post and then decided to be a post by post breakdown so those posts will be added shortly.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:11 AM on November 20, 2024 [3 favorites]

Episodes 1-6 are now posted. I shall be continuing to post episodes as I watch them.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:57 PM on November 22, 2024 [2 favorites]

One of the fun parts of this episode is its structures so Finch, Reese, Fusco, Carter, and the audience all realize who Burton is at the same time.

So fun. The hide and the reveal totally worked on first-watcher me: "What kind of guy takes money to protect a scumbag like your boss here?" WAIT WHAAAAAT.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:26 PM on November 30, 2024 [3 favorites]

This was the episode that made me a die-hard fan of this show. Until this point I liked it and I was enjoying watching it, but here... with the Elias reveal and everything else, the way the episode is structured, Enrico Colantoni, the sheer elegance of the whole episode, "Sinnerman" playing at the end... DAMN, POI. The show stole my heart on this day.

Thank you, Miss-lapin, for leading this rewatch!! I don't have time to rewatch with you all but I'm looking forward to the discussion, and hopefully I can contribute to it.

Look out, everyone, a Fusco fangirl is about to descend upon these threads :) :)
posted by MiraK at 9:54 AM on December 4, 2024 [3 favorites]

You're welcome!
posted by miss-lapin at 2:26 PM on December 4, 2024