Person of Interest: Blunt

March 7, 2015 7:32 AM - Season 4, Episode 16

Reese and Finch must protect a street-smart grifter after her plan to steal cash from a medical marijuana dispensary fails.
posted by oh yeah! (12 comments total)

Am I supposed to be posting the PoI threads now? Didn't realize I'd done the last few.

Not a particularly interesting episode, felt like they were just filling time before the next step in the Samaritan arc.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:40 AM on March 7, 2015

I'm wondering if this girl is going to be the eventual replacement for Shaw. Seemed like they were hinting that way. So far she doesn't interest me nearly as much as Shaw did, though. :\
posted by mstokes650 at 9:10 AM on March 7, 2015

Definitely seems like they were hoping she would be the next Shaw, but I don't think she'll be the keeper. I think if they try to reverse-engineer the success of Root and Shaw as recurring characters, they're doomed to failure, they're just going to end up creating some kind of Frankenstein's Scrappy Doo that nobody likes.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:25 AM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got the same impression, but I liked her. I guess I felt that she wasn't that much like Shaw (I can see why others see similarities, though) because she's a grifter -- and I thought that would be a new sort of addition to the team.

Really, though, the thing about root, Shaw, and Harper is their amoral insouciance and patter. They each get to that result in very different ways, but it's a Thing and, now that I think about it, reveals a weakness of the writing.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:26 PM on March 7, 2015

I didn't hate Harper the grifter, I just... it's that lightning-in-a-bottle thing, where a show creates something successful organically by the confluence of casting/timing/demands of the story, and then seizes on the wrong aspect of it when they try to recreate the lightning. Like, when they added Shaw to the regular cast and fans were happy that Shaw+Carter meant that episodes could likely pass the Bechdel test, and the writers were all "Hey, look at our Bechdel-Test-passing-est episode yet" for #3.3 Ladykillers, and it was Shaw+Carter+Zoe Morgan in their slinkiest outfits together at a club, and fans were like "Writers, I don't think you understand the Bechdel test. Stop helping." Or like how Sleepy Hollow S1 was an unexpected joy, and S2 was a train wreck in comparison.

I think if they are going to bring in another character to fill in for Shaw, they need to start small, focus on writing a good character, or on expanding the role of someone they've already created (some former number they could bring back? Someone in Elias' organization or the Brotherhood?).
posted by oh yeah! at 7:39 AM on March 8, 2015

I also wondered if they were thinking about bringing in Silva, the internal affairs officer, when she appeared in her second episode.
posted by gimli at 8:15 AM on March 8, 2015

I think Silva would be the better choice; tough, capable, competent, but without the...sociopathic tendencies of Shaw/Root. They need to watch the balance on that, because the show can get too black and grim, so I'm thinking someone with the investigative capabilities but more humanity might be what they need now, especially since Root appears to be getting her mean on.
posted by nubs at 11:19 AM on March 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is kind of reminding me of the end of Highlander, the TV show, in which pretty much all the few last season episodes boiled down to trying to find a female immortal character for a spin-off. (Seriously, read those links for major LOLfunsies.)

I would not particularly vote for this girl to be a replacement Shaw, though. Silva seems like the best bet. I didn't particularly give a shit if they saved her ass or what she does in the future. Eh...this wasn't the best episode.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:57 PM on March 8, 2015

Ha! Good call. Doesn't bode well for the series, though.

Highlander: The Raven wasn't terrible, but it wasn't any good either. Wonder if Claudia Christian (Babylon 5's Ivanova) would have done any better than Elizabeth Gracen in the role?
posted by porpoise at 8:46 PM on March 8, 2015

Silva is a good choice. I personally found Harper more interesting, but I agree with others that Silva would round out the team better.

In-universe, though, the problem they face is that Samaritan isn't programmed to ignore any possible newbies. In that way, Harper makes more sense because she's already very adept at slipping into new aliases. Silva couldn't do anything like that and she is tied to her job. (As Fusco is, but he's ignored by Samaritan, isn't he?)
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:53 PM on March 8, 2015

I have watched all of the extras for Highlander: The Raven and they are HILARIOUS. It boils down to "hoo boy, was Elizabeth Gracen on some kind of crazy being fueled by her evil boyfriend at the time, and also the boyfriend really hated the actor playing Nick, and then she started hating the actor playing Nick...."

I think Claudia Christian would have been cool. Hell, Elizabeth Gracen would have been cool had she not been on the crazy train at that point in life.

Back to the actual show being discussed: I think PoI could probably manage if it went back to being a mostly sausagefest though, compared to Highlander pitching all characters off the dock in the way that it did.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:26 PM on March 10, 2015

This is kind of reminding me of the end of Highlander, the TV show, in which pretty much all the few last season episodes boiled down to trying to find a female immortal character for a spin-off. (Seriously, read those links for major LOLfunsies.)

Oh man, you're right. That's it exactly.

It's too bad Joe and Methos didn't get a spin-off. They made a great team, right up there with Scully and Mulder, or Caligula and Incitatus.
posted by homunculus at 2:49 PM on March 27, 2015