I’ve had an on-off love affair with Person of Interest since mid-season 1. I’m saying on-off love affair, because even though I don’t stop watching the show my levels of curiosity and attachment waver a lot. Some episodes are edge-of-your-seat brilliant while some border on all right. Frankly I loved the case-of-the-week stories and I am a bit bored with HR. Now it looks like we are done with that storyline of big bad and hoping John will kick Simmons (Robert John Burke)’s ass for good next week.
I was tempted to write a review for 3×09 because it sent sparks flying all over again. It had the right amount of action, emotional scenes, Fusco (Kevin Chapman) coolness, Shaw (Sarah Shahi) sweetness-you know those rare but always entertaining- and I don’t mind Root in lock-up and moderate amounts. Let’s go over tonight’s exciting (and some a bit flawed scenes that had to be written to get the writers to the direction they wanted to go):
Plot for 3×09 : Spoilers Ahead
Continued from the decent but not this kick-ass 3×08, Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Carter (Taraji P. Henson) have Alonzo Quinn (Clarke Peters), aka Head of HR, killer/godfather of Beecher (Carter’s cop ex whom she once suspected of being HR) and they have to take him to FBI. This time HR have a clear picture of Reese, aka man in suit and all the dirty cops (they are a dime a dozen) as well as the bad guys (apart from Elias’ men, who as a courtesy to Reese and Harold told his men not to go after him) want Reese. Some over-eager subway thugs get their asses handed by Reese. Guys, get a clue, if a man wearing a suit doesn’t back away from weapon-carrying and openly threatening (as in verbally) criminals, he’s either nuts or he knows how to out-maneuver a bunch of guys at a time.
Carter and Reese managed to get shelter at the morgue with some help from Fusco, who unfortunately gets snatched by Simmons and his men. Shaw is sent after Fusco, and Harold (Michael Emerson) goes to help out Reese and Carter, who are cornered by several HR men.
Fusco is tortured for the location of a bank that holds evidence against HR, and holds out pretty well until they threaten his son. Even then he gives them wrong information. Fusco was extra likeable and cool this episode.
Reese and Carter share a very personal, emotional, romantic even, moment after they share near-death experiences, and Reese reveals how much Carter means to him. He even kisses her, and well, Carter is happy about that. A date won’t look out of place, or even a less PG kiss for that matter, if they survive at the end of the episode. Of course being the ultimate warrior hero, Reese distracts Carter and gets out of their hiding to get rid of other men so she’ll be safe and free to take Quinn to FBI.
Harold ensures Carter’s safety and also John’s by having him arrested by two decent cops that don’t belong to HR.
Shaw makes a smart call by visiting Fusco’s son and saving him from death by HR crook. She lets Fusco know, and Fusco takes care of the guy who would kill him. Courtesy of his broken fingers. Yes, HR are connected and ruthless, but they aren’t the brightest. Because Fusco used his broken fingers to get out of the cuffs. (He was already in pain due to several broken fingers, so what’s breaking a thumb in addition, really, when your life is at stake?).
Carter makes it to the FBI building safe and sound, and a lot of HR criminals (cop or otherwise) are arrested in addition to Quinn.
Shaw and Fusco enjoy a funny moment in his car, him being thankful to her for saving his son’s life, her being her usual almost robotic self.
Carter gets Reese out, and as they stand in the dark alley out (yes, this is the foreshadowing to the bit that I deemed flawed), and Harold is out of his car, the phone rings in the street. Simmons comes out of nowhere, shoots both Carter and Reese, gets shot in the process but manages to escape.
As it turns out, Carter is mortally wounded and dies in Reese’s arms.
*
The fun, the cool and the seriously? Moments
The fun and the cool:
– Shaw and Fusco were fun. I liked who she chose to save, and how Fusco saved himself – without giving HR what they wanted.
– Quinn getting handed to the FBI, whose halls were full of handcuffed HR cops or allies.
– Harold going to save Carter and Reese, without giving in to Root (Amy Acker)
– Subway thugs threatening Reese, only to cut to the next moment they were kicked out of the wagon unconscious.
– Reese and Carter sharing and showing war wounds. Lethal Weapon 3 flashbacks anyone?
Seriously?
– I think it is a stretch for Simmons to last this long. Seriously. He threatens and kills and screws so many people, it is a wonder one of his psycho men didn’t turn on him or someone got pissed or someone like Elias had him killed just to show him his place. He might be evil and connected, but he is no Joker. And if I were Reese, or Shaw, or Root, I would have shot the guy just to make a point. Sure, he can be replaced. But not taking him down proved to be not so pragmatic after all.
– OK, fine, we need a recurring big bad, the actor is doing a good job, we need a cliffhanger because heavens forbid the characters rest for more than a moment. But knowing Simmons is still out there, why isn’t Carter wearing a vest? Why isn’t anyone else around? Isn’t that the front of a New York police station at night? Why isn’t Shaw around just in case? Forget about Simmons for a second. Isn’t John an ex-CIA man who’s supposed to know better? For me that scene was the equivalent of a Scream movie character opening the door without any questions even though she knew there was a serial killer around. And no they should have taught Simmons could have risked coming. Because he lost pretty much all his power. Desperate times, desperate measures, people. Geez.
A bit rushed, but acceptable
– The kiss scene. I don’t belong to the group that claims there was never anything romantic between Carter and Reese and that came out of nowhere. There have been many scenes that implied, told or showed they really cared for each other and understood each other. They trust each other with their lives, and in their world, it beats so many other emotions.
Superficially speaking, Reese is attractive. So is Carter. With all the stress, adrenaline, action and secret-sharing, them being more than attracted to each other is only logical. The problem is though, the scenes implying all the trust/connection/etc were always much shorter and distributed with distance among the episodes. Blink or move away from the TV and you could miss them. It doesn’t help that even recently, Reese was sleeping with Zoe. Something fun and understandable, but bad timing considering how deep Reese went in this episode.
All in all:
A brilliant episode with some flaws because the writers wanted to part ways with a main character. I liked Carter, and I liked the Carter on team Reese+Harold so much better than the I’m-gonna-arrest-me-the-man-in-suit Carter. I liked her pairing with Shaw and Zoe, her partnering with Fusco and going badass on HR. I also loved her new relationship with Elias.
Carter dying isn’t all that unexpected, not taking into account her main character status. She had waged war on a powerful criminal organization, and her life was at risk all the time. But how she went, who she killed her and how…That was a bit…uncalled for, and pretty much my only complaint about the episode.
That also possibly means bigger roles for Root and Shaw, and I like their current doses. I don’t want Root to have such a big role unless she’s treated by some super shrink Lightman (Tim Roth’s awesome character from Lie to Me) or something first.
Also, it wasn’t cool to kill another woman Reese cared so much about. This is the second time. What’s next? Have him bond further with Shaw and Zoe and kill them too? Give the guy a break.
What I’d love to see Next
Reese going full badass on all the villains. Don’t arrest them, don’t let them get away. Don’t let any other character pull a Simmons, including Simmons.
**
This is all from me regarding The Crossing. What are your thoughts? Please share away in the comments.
Other Person of Interest Posts
Person of Interest starring Jim Caviezel & Michael Emerson
Person of Interest Returned with a Bang: POI 2X11 – 2 Pi R Episode Review
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High Crimes starring Jim Caviezel, Ashley Judd & Morgan Freeman
