Person of Interest

Person of Interest

Person of Interest

I’m hooked on Person of Interest.

I’m not the most faithful of television viewers.

There’s been the occasional “Northern Exposure,” and I was a pretty big “X-Files” nerd. There was also “Spenser for Hire” (thus dating me back to the Stone Age, or the 80’s), but it’s been a while since I fell in love with a television show. It was pretty close with “Fringe,” and I still record it, but ever since they visited the alternate universe things haven’t been quite the same, but that’s neither here nor there.

Yeah, bad pun intended.

Having said that, I am developing a pretty big man-crush on CBS’s Person of Interest.

For those of you who are late to the carnival, Person of Interest focuses on Harold Finch and John Reese, two seemingly very different people living very different lives in New York City.

Finch (Michael Emerson) is a reclusive billionaire computer programmer who invented “the Machine.” “The Machine” is not so much a physical thing, but rather a system that lives inside of the system. Think of it as the “Internet in the Internet,” but in this case, the “Machine” watches everything and everyone.

Finch develops “the Machine” for the government to prevent terrorist activity before it occurs, but in its development, Finch learns that in addition to predicting terrorism, the “Machine” also predicts crime and violence.

Plugged into every camera, computer, and system on earth, the “Machine’ has the potential to be mankind’s greatest weapon or its greatest instrument. Finch takes it on himself to help mankind, but has neither the physical tools nor skills to utilize the information “the Machine” provides. Enter Mr. Reese.

Finch discovers Reese (Jim Caviezel) living as a homeless man in New York. An Ex-Green Beret and C.I.A. operative, John Reese, as he calls himself, is a man lost to his country, his friends, and himself. Finch employs Reese to be his “hands” in the field, to act on the information the “Machine” provides and save those who are either in danger or will commit some kind of violence.

Mr. Reese’s special skill set involves the distribution of pain and injury, and while he is an expert at dishing it out, it has caused him to detest himself. When we find him physically in the gutter, he is also there in spirit. As the first season progresses, he learns to trust Mr. Finch, and even think of Finch as a friend, but more than that, Finch offers Reese redemption, something he had long since given up on.

Person of Interest  is the brainchild of JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote The Dark Knight, and you can see that influence. Person of Interest isn’t reality. There is a network of corrupt police officers who go by the name HR. There are two officers who work for Reese because he has either saved them or earned their trust. There are genius computer hackers and covert intelligence operatives as well as the odd mastermind criminal. It asks for a lot of latitude.

While it isn’t reality, it IS realistic.

It is gritty, and dirty, and tough decisions have to be made. Mr. Reese does kill when needed, and sometimes fails. He is that proto-typical anti-hero ripped from the pulps. He wrestles with his conscious and does things according to a code he believes in, and that code is stronger than law. One of my favorite moments in the first season is when Reese apprehends a criminal who would escape the law and would most certainly go right back to ruining innocent lives. His solution is unorthodox and sheer poetry.

As I said, the show requires a certain suspension of disbelief, but that investment is well worth it. It’s a great story full of rich characters and quick moving plot, but the heart of the show is Finch and Reese, and as long as it is, I’ll make time for this show.

Even during football season.

 

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