Person of Interest 3x10, "The Devil's Share"

[arduinna]

Except first, Pros. I got home from Thanksgiving dinner with my family to the news about Lewis Collins' death. :( I still can't quite believe it.

All my sympathy to the Paul Walker fans, too -- good god, what a horrible week.

Spoilers for POI 3x10

Huh. That wasn't at all what I was expecting, and it did a lot to offset the last week's horribleness -- that's still just a sinkhole of UGH, but I can keep watching after this episode. While I think the universal "omg Carter SAVED MY LIFE by the sheer presence of her awesome, noble self, YOU FIEND" is, er, absurd, I do appreciate that all of that massively diluted John's behavior last week. And I also appreciate that they didn't focus on him at all for most of the ep; this wasn't really John's Great Manpain At The Loss Of His One Second True Love, it was very much Okay You Took Out Carter And Now Everyone's Really Pissed.

John's reaction and retconning is especially diluted because Fusco retconned his entire past, too, although now argh he's also retconned and wtf. Carter did not save him/change him/show him a better way. Reese did that. Fusco was a changed man before he and Carter realized they were both already on the same side and started truly working together as partners. Although at least he retconned himself in the midst of his grief, which makes a whole lot more sense.

The one "you killed my friend" speech that really worked for me was Elias's, because I can totally believe that he really liked Carter, and was aware that she really didn't like him. It was a very clear-eyed look at the situation.

I do have to say, I started the episode in a negative enough headspace that I was actually personally offended that they did the opening as an angst vid. Which is stupid, but. Vidding this stuff is for US. Hmf. (I doubt I'd have been offended if I hadn't still been so unhappy about the previous week; I was completely primed to be unhappy with whatever they did this week, and there they went, tromping into my fannish approach to things. If I'd been in my previous default "yay POI you are awesome!" place, I think I would have loved that they did an angst vid.)

But Finch slumped in that chair next to John was lovely, I admit.

And I sort of loved Finch and Fusco having a little "island of sanity" moment when Fusco realized that both of their psycho killers had slipped their leashes, heh.

I'm still not thrilled with the series/TPTB; all of that angst and retribution would have worked just as freaking well, if not better, if Carter had died while bringing HR down, instead of standing in an empty alley mooning at John like an idiot (both of them were idiots, wtf were they thinking). But I can live with it.

I'm a little bzuh at all the flashback therapy/discussion sessions with shadowy unidentified figures -- that was just bizarre. I mean, I know the point isn't who they were talking to but what was being said, but it managed to turn everything weirdly sinister; I was convinced that both Finch's and Fusco's therapists were trying to manipulate them to some unknown end. (I also couldn't figure out what Finch was doing talking to a therapist; I have a very hard time believing he'd seek out anything that was meant to discover truths about him, or that would give anyone any insight into him in any way.) Shaw's medical superior didn't seem manipulative, but why on earth would that discussion have happened like an interrogation? It was a straight-up performance evaluation. Weirdness.

So here's something that confused me last week and continues to confuse me now: when the hell did Carter cut Elias loose, and when did she tell Finch et al about it? She had him completely hidden away; no one knew if he was even alive. And suddenly last week Finch is in communication with him, and Elias is just roaming around, free and with his organization apparently in place again?

They've set this up so he has total control of the city's underworld at this point: the Russians are out, HR is utterly destroyed, all that's left is Elias to rule everything. I'm not sure what Carter was really going for, there, but I have a hard time believing that's really what she wanted.

(Oh, I bet that's the storyline where we'll see her for in flashbacks, now that I think of it. That would be fine, since I was worried flashbacks would mean Joss And John Go On A Secret Date kind of things.)

I'm pretty sure I had more to say about the ep several days ago when I started writing it, but there's been too much Thanksgiving stuff since then, and it's all gone, *poof*.

Looks like we have a few weeks before the next ep. I'm cautiously optimistic that I can stay with the show this season at this point - but I miss being positive that it's going to make me happy no matter what.

Comments

[felis]

While I think the universal "omg Carter SAVED MY LIFE by the sheer presence of her awesome, noble self, YOU FIEND" is, er, absurd,

Heh, and here I thought I was the only one thinking that. She was good for all of them in different ways, and she did have a unique moral standing, but making her into this almost saint-like and completely central figure is kind of annoying, because it's turning previous complexity into one-note beats, and it feels like they have to make her extra awesome to justify people being upset about her death, which is just stupid. They don't seem to trust, or see, what they put on screen the last two seasons.
I'm not quite as skeptical as you re: Fusco's speech, it made more sense than Reese's last week, but again, they took something nuanced and complicated, and turned it into a one-note thing. Reese's role in Fusco's change is completely grey, and I do actually believe that Carter's example had influence on Fusco even in the first season, but, yeah.

Your point about Finch in therapy is a good one, I didn't really think about that, probably because a) I really liked that it started off with these rather quiet and general thoughts about grief, b) ME was distracting me with his awesome 'in-between' Harold - not our Finch, but not the innocent Harold from before, either - and c) I was caught-up in trying to decipher the theme of these flashbacks.

when the hell did Carter cut Elias loose, and when did she tell Finch et al about it?

Two weeks ago, she sent him to deliver a message to the Russians, and afterwards he was in a car, saying he'd lay low for a while. But yeah, not sure what Carter's ultimate game-plan was there. Finch et al finding out doesn't seem that far-fetched, they've been keeping tabs on her all season.

[which]

The Shaw interview did strike me as manipulative. If that was the head of her program giving her a performance review, he had no business making a psychiatric evaluation - especially one he planned to use to throw her out of the program - based on his interpretation of observing her in one high-stress situation. Especially since it's not likely that they had a psychiatric professional supervising interns. All I could think of watching that was that unless Shaw gave up without a fight, there would have been a lawsuit under the ADA, and she would have won.

I'm having a little trouble accepting this episode. I thought there were some really good performances. I still felt as if the Carter who took down HR would never have been in that alley without a vest, and in this episode she was remembered and mourned less as a woman than as a touchstone for everyone else's personal growth.

In a way, I was less disturbed by Reese's response, because after all the "You saved me," he made it really clear in this episode that he may have really wanted to be a better person for Carter (or maybe in Carter's eyes), but with Carter gone he was not just willing but eager to revert.

I'm not flouncing, but I'm really worried about the coming Machine arc, because the end of this one seemed a little hamhanded to me.

Person of Interest

[(Anonymous)]

Carter's death was senseless and unnecessary. The writers and producers were extremely nasty to Taraji P. Henson. This former fan will never watch the show again and hopes sincerely that ratings tank resulting in cancellation. I will never view anything Nolan and Plageman have anything to do with and I strongly resent their thinking Sarah Shahi could replace Henson. The Acker role is simply repulsive. I am so mad I won't even watch anything on CBS. Person of Disinterest has become Epic Fail!