Person of Interest returns for its fourth season on 23 September, 2014 at 10PM EST.
Person of Interest is an action/sci-fi crime thriller created by Jonathan Nolan (co-writer of the Dark Knight Trilogy, yep, the brother to that Christopher Nolan) about a reclusive billionaire who enlists a former CIA agent to help prevent crimes before they happen.
New to the show? All your questions answered here!
Wait, this show is in CBS? Can it really be that good?
Yes, in fact it is. In its first season, it dethroned the grand-daddy CSI from it's timeslot of Thursdays at 9PM. CSI held that timeslot for more than ten years. There is pretty much everything for everyone on this show, a case-of-the-week that is always constantly thrilling to watch, and multiple serial arcs that always show up in pretty much every episode, as well as just being expertly well-crafted and thought-provoking.
If that's not enough, larger sites like IGN and The Onion's AV Club started reviewing them by the second season. If those places are reviewing something on CBS, you know it's probably actually worth watching.
But everyone tells me the show is just procedural. It's on CBS, isn't it just another cop show with a twist?
It's not. But Person of Interest does not shy away from its procedural trappings, nor do the creator and showrunner want to abandon the format of the show. That being said, although 90% of the show is procedural in nature (in that there is a case nearly every week), by the later seasons, almost all the 'numbers of the week' invariably tie into the main arc of the season, which is completely serial. So it's a mix of what is considered 'serial' and what people consider 'procedural' formats.
Alright, so how can I catch up?
There are streaming options on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Xbox Video, and Playstation Network.
Wait, I have to watch it all?
Nearly every episode is required reading. Remember how each season has multiple plot arcs? Well, they don't take turns appearing in episodes. They all just show up. Even early on, you get a lot of mythology and character backstory. The cutoff for whether not you think you'll enjoy the show is about 7 episodes into season 1. If the show doesn't hook you then, then it won't hook you. The format hasn't and likely won't change from what you've seen from that point; the show simply just gets better at using it.
But I want to catch up! What do I need to be all caught up quickly?
If you must insist, IGN has a list of episodes that are basically required, required, REQUIRED watching. You can scroll through all the episodes they've listed; they're spoiler-free for newcomers. Although one note I will make is even the episodes they recommended are required, as they are primarily character-focused episodes. Yes, a procedural with amazing characters, believe it.
Some useful links:
Season 1 OT | Season 2 OT | Season 3 OT
POI fan Wiki
The POI Rewatch Tumblr (only up to season 2, but has cool behind the scenes stuff)
Spoilers ahead!
The AIs
The Machine
Created by Harold Finch following the events of 9/11, the Machine is an AI that sifts through data provided by the government surveillance feeds and uses them to analyze and predict acts of premeditated violence, either on a relevant (matters of national security) or irrelevant (minor) scale.
Despite having freed itself, the Machine continues to act in the manner it was programmed by Finch - to protect as many lives as it can.
The Machine continues on, but finds itself under attack by another AI. When those vying for it realize they'll never find it, they try for the next best thing: they go looking for a replacement...
Samaritan
Samaritan is an AI created by Harold Finch's MIT colleague, Arthur Claypool. Unlike the Machine, Samaritan is an open system and can be used to target specific individuals.
Development of Samaritan was shut down after Finch's Machine was put in place by the US government and all other surveillance projects were forced to be destroyed. But Claypool saved a copy of Samaritan on a pair of hard drives. When it became clear to Control that she could not regain control of the Machine, she turned to Claypool, hoping he could uncover the copies for them.
In the scramble to obtain Samaritan, Decima obtains the drives and begins to rebuild it. Samaritan ultimately ends up supplanting the Machine, when Decima forces the government's hand to discontinue the use of Finch's Machine. At the end of the third season, Samaritan gains access to all the government feeds, which Decima uses to hunt down their enemies and sell information on relevant threats back to the US government.
Main Cast
Harold Finch (Michael Emerson)
Designation: ADMIN
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Reviewing records...Projection:
Conclusion:
John Reese (Jim Caviezel)
Designation: ASSET
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Reviewing records...Projection:
Conclusion:
Sameen Shaw (Sarah Shahi)
Designation: ASSET
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Reviewing records...Projection:
Conclusion:
Root (Amy Acker)
Designation: ANALOG INTERFACE
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Reviewing records...Projection:
Conclusion:
Detective Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman)
Designation: ASSET
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Reviewing records...Projection:
Conclusion:
Bear (Graubaers Boker)
Designation: ASSET
Classification: DEVIANT Irrelevant
Projection:THREAT Non-threat
Conclusion:ELIMINATE Disregard
Projection:
Conclusion:
The Hackers
Daniel Casey (Joseph Mazzello), Jason Greenfield (Michael Esper), Daizo (Alex Shimizu)
Designation: ASSETS
Reviewing records...
Other Major Players
John Greer and Decima Technologies (John Nolan)
Designation: THREAT
Reviewing records...
Control and the ISA (Camryn Manheim)
Designation: ASSET
Reviewing records...
Carl Elias (Enrico Colantoni)
Designation: IRRELEVANT
Reviewing records ...
Gone but not forgotten...
Joss Carter (Taraji P. Henson)
Reviewing records...
Hersh (Boris McGiver)
Reviewing records...
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Season three begins by returning to the status quo: the numbers keep coming. The government continues to receive relevant numbers. Shaw joins Finch and Reese, who are still receiving irrelevant numbers. Carter is demoted to officer, but that does not stop her from investigating HR to find out who ordered the killing of Cal Beecher. Elias is in hiding. Root, meanwhile, is locked in a psychiatric ward under the alias 'Robin'. Control has sent Hersh to find Root.
"I think you understand now ... what is lost when your privacy is stripped away: your identity, your job, your family, security ... everything ... and thousands more just like me, people who have chosen action over apathy, to take back what men like you and the government have stolen. This wasn't a game Mr. Kruger, this was a lesson. The first. We were just gonna scare you but ... that wouldn't change anything, would it?"
Collier, to Wayne Kruger
While investigating a case involving an internet entrepreneur, Wayne Kruger, the team stumbles upon Vigilance, a militant organization that dedicates itself to protecting people's privacy from government and private intrusion. Vigilance kills Kruger to make an example out of him.
At one point, Root is forced to escape her confinement at the psych ward when Hersh finally finds her. Root abducts Shaw following her escape, using her to help break out a former Vigilance member in CIA custody, Jason Greenfield. Root sends Jason to Colombia. Following the mission, Root is captured and locked in the library by Finch.
"It's just that, I coulda been just like you, a bottom-feeder who turns on his own kind. For what? Money? Power? I got lucky. I had a partner. She was good for me. For a lotta reasons. She reminded me that I could be good again too. That I could be a good father, good friend ... a good cop. I'm not gonna let you undo all the good she did. Carter saved my life! She saved me from myself! Because she believed in me! And I'm not gonna throw it away on a piece of crap like you. Patrick Simmons, you're under arrest."
Fusco, to Simmons
Carter's investigation into HR comes to a head when she decides to pit HR and the Russian mafia against one another. In the confusion, she attempts to isolate both heads of the organizations - Peter Yogorov and Alonzo Quinn. Knowing she was likely walking into a trap, she contacts Finch and Reese as she heads to the home of a judge to obtain an arrest warrant for Quinn, not knowing if the judge was in Quinn's pocket or not. She walks in on Quinn and Simmons, who are ready to kill her, but Reese quickly intervenes. Carter and Reese escape with Quinn and make their way to the Federal Building in the city to hand him over to the FBI. At the library, Root offers to help Finch by using The Machine to help Reese and Carter, but ultimately he refuses. Cornered by HR in the city morgue, Reese draws their pursuers away while Carter escapes with Quinn and hands him over to the FBI while Reese is taken into police custody during his escape by non-HR cops.
Everyone in HR - except for Simmons - is arrested. Carter is reinstated as detective. Later that night, she goes to see John's release, when Simmons appears. He shoots, wounding Reese and killing Carter.
Two days later, Reese - who is still wounded - and Shaw continue to hunt for Simmons. Reese, however, goes off the grid, and is nowhere to be found. Shaw implores Finch to use Root to help them find Reese before he succumbs to his wounds. Finch, Shaw, Fusco, and Root find Reese at the hotel Quinn is staying at, protected by Federal Marshals. At the same time, the Russian mafia is also attempting to kill Quinn. Root subdues the Russians that also are attempting to hunt down Quinn, while upstairs, Reese disables the Marshals protecting Quinn. He forces Quinn at gunpoint to write down Simmons' exit strategy, and promises he will kill Quinn quickly if he does. Finch arrives just as Reese collapses due to his injuries. Fusco retrieves the note Quinn had left as the Marshals leave with Quinn.
Fusco intercepts Simmons at an airfield, preventing him from leaving the country. They fight, and Fusco overpowers and arrests Simmons. Later, in the hospital, Simmons is visited by Elias, who has him killed.
"My Samaritan. You are destined for great things."
Greer
Reese leaves New York for Colorado, hoping to drown himself in alcohol following Carter's death. Fusco trails and finds Reese, hoping to snap him out of it. Meanwhile, Finch and Shaw receive a new number: Arthur Claypool, a terminally-ill man suffering from memory loss, who also happens to be Finch's old friend from MIT. The government is concerned of what Claypool might say due to his access to government secrets and his disease. Vigilance storm the hospital; they also want Arthur Claypool and the secrets he knows. Finch, Shaw, Arthur and his wife escape the hospital, where it is revealed Arthur had built an AI similar to the Machine: Samaritan. The woman claiming to be his wife reveals herself to be Control, the person in charge of the Northern Lights program. Hersh and other armed men take Finch, Shaw, and Claypool captive. Control wants Samaritan as a contingency now that Finch's Machine is no longer under her control.
Root interrupts Controls interrogation and helps Finch, Shaw and Claypool escape. Root is injured in the escape and taken captive by Hersh and Control. Claypool takes Finch and Shaw to a bank where the backup drives containing Samaritan are being held. Collier and Vigilance - who also want to get their hands on Samaritan - arrive at the bank and take control of it with Hersh and the FBI arriving shortly after. A firefight breaks out between the two groups. When Arthur finds the drives, it all comes back to him; he realizes he had almost finished his work on Samaritan just the day before Finch's Machine was sold to the US Government. Finch convinces Claypool to destroy the drives to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, and Claypool obliges.
Root is tortured by Control, who demands Root give her administrative access to The Machine. However, the Machine helps Root escape and shows Control what they are capable of, and that Control should not worry that the Machine is no longer under her control; the Machine's directive remains the same - to keep people safe. Root leaves New York and reveals to Finch that the drives that Claypool destroyed did not contain Samaritan. Greer and Decima Technologies have taken control of the drives.
In the meanwhile, Root finds Daniel Casey and Daizo and sends them to Colombia with Jason Greenfield. Her team is also collecting hardware in order to combat Samaritan.
"In twenty years' time, life on Earth will come to resemble the myths of the ancient Greeks: a pantheon of super-intelligent beings will watch over us, using human agents to meddle in our affairs."
Greer
Decima continues on its path to bring Samaritan online by obtaining the infrastructure necessary for it. Root returns to New York City to help the team stop Decima, but ultimately they fail to prevent Decima from acquiring what they need. The team learns that Samaritan will become more powerful than Finch's Machine, and that it will be fully under the control of Decima.
Vigilance arrives in Washington, D.C. and obtain documents that prove the existence of "Northern Lights" and leaks the documents to the press. Senator Ross Garrison forces Control to suspend the Northern Lights program, leading the Machine to begin sending relevant threats to Root to handle. The team learns that following the Northern Lights leak, Decima is courting Congressman Roger McCourt in order to allow Decima to replace the Machine with Samaritan. The team apprehends McCourt and are split on whether or not to kill McCourt in order to prevent Samaritan from taking over. But ultimately they spare McCourt when Finch objects.
Samaritan is given a brief window to access the government feeds in New York City. Under the pretense of a beta test to identify potential terrorist threats, Greer uses it to flush Finch out of hiding. Decima kidnaps Finch's former fiancée, Grace Hendricks, and demands he turn himself over for her safety. Finch acquiesces, and is taken to meet Greer. Vigilance moves into action, first by causing a blackout in New York City, then by kidnapping Control and Manuel Rivera, intelligence advisor to the President. They also capture Senator Garrison, Greer and Finch, taking them away to a mock trial at an undisclosed location, broadcasting it to the entire world.
Root and Shaw go to infiltrate a Samaritan facility and install the servers that Root had procured and had modified. Reese and Hersh go to find Finch before Vigilance begins their executions.
Greer's men arrive at the courthouse where the trial is being held. In the confusion, Vigilance members are killed and Collier is taken captive by Greer. Greer reveals that Collier's trial had been broadcast to no one. Greer tells Collier that he was the one that conceived of Vigilance and had personally recruited him into the organization. Collier watches as Greer destroys the courthouse, using Vigilance to blame for the attack and as the excuse to obtain the government feeds for Samaritan. Greer has Collier killed but Reese arrives in the nick of time to save Finch from Decima.
With Samaritan now online, the team is forced to scatter. Greer orders the purge of Vigilance. Finch and Reese are forced to abandon the library. The team now have new, carefully crafted identities. Root reveals that the servers she installed into the Samaritan facility created blind spots for these specific identities. For the seven people who could have a chance to shut down Samaritan, the only way for them to survive in this new world order is to hide is in plain sight - to live normal lives.
Following the purges by Decima, Greer interfaces with Samaritan again.
"Good morning."
"I assure you, it's quite the other way around. The question is, what, my dear Samaritan, are your commands for us?"
