Person of Interest "Ghosts" Review

This will my last post on Person of Interest. I don't mind the series. There's just not enough to write about on a weekly basis, besides a detailed plot summary. Every TV series doesn't need to be written about, especially CBS procedural dramas.

"Ghosts" followed the default procedural beat sheet. The character moments were few and far between (once in the first act; another one in the third act; the final one in the fifth act). Unlike other procedurals, Jonah Nolan's not interested in much character development. The pilot focused on Reese; this episode focused on Finch. In both instances, we learned little about Reese and Finch. Its neo noir style mandates a bit of mystery for the main characters. The majority of the episode focused on the case-of-the-week. Finch and Reese uncovered clues, protected a fifteen year old girl, thwarted a hit man, and punished corporate greed. Reese never learned anything about his employer.

Finch is interesting because he's enigmatic. Michael Emerson has mastered the role of the enigmatic male with an unknown past and suspect motivations. Brett Cullen was introduced as his friend/co-worker in flashbacks. The episode concluded on a shot of the man's likeness with a date of birth and date of death beneath the head. In 2002, Finch continued to master The Machine. Finch referred to the device in the same reverential way the aliens referred to the crane in Toy Story, which elicited a smirk from your humble reviewer. The men went back-and-forth about the device's capabilities as well as its ethical ramifications. The Machine foretells danger to each American yet the government opted to save everyone rather than just someone. Cullen (not the character's name) was uncomfortable with the government's decision to separate people into two groups because Cullen believed everyone's worth saving. Finch defended the government and the machine by telling his friend how many lives The Machine saved by providing the information to stop deadly terrorist attacks.

The flashbacks were interesting because Finch's morality regarding the machine and its purpose came from a friend. Finch stated that he'd lost someone but I didn't expect it'd be a friend's loss that transformed his life. His friend's death must've been catastrophic for Finch to alter his business plan. He's now closely guarded and reluctant to allow anyone into his life. Reese tried to peel the layers back of his employer. Reese was puzzled by Finch's steady employment in an office building because of his unlimited resources, so he assumed (correctly) that Finch owned the company. Reese was too close, though, so Finch walked away from his post and instructed Reese to stop prying. Finch has trust issues. It's clear he hasn't been the same since the death of Cullen's character, and it also useless to speculate further. Simply, some unknown event's responsible for Finch's enigmatic ways.

Finch isn't limited to cryptic codes or short phone calls. The fifteen year old girl at the center of the case-of-the-week needed protection from people who wanted her dead because she was heir to property with high value. Teresa, the girl, hadn't trust a single person since a hit man murdered her entire family. The hit man saved her life because he refused to kill a child, so she's been a target for two years. Finch convinced Teresa to trust him, to put her life into he and Reese's hands. As the new hit man closed in on the two in a hotel, Finch apologized for not allowing her to run when she wanted to. Finch didn't seem like a man willing to apologize but he did, and Teresa decided to stay with him until the end. Luckily, Reese saved the day. Finch and Reese didn't simply save her life, they returned it to her.

I liked the case-of-the-week because of how it used Finch. Reese was just the muscle throughout the episode, going from place to place beating people up, and shooting them in the legs. Finch's actions come from a place of regret and remorse; he's looking for redemption. Teresa would've been a name erased at midnight nine years ago. In 2011, he apologized to her just in case he failed her and she died. That's growth.

Michael Emerson's the more dynamic actor of the two. Indeed, his performance reminds me of Ben Linus so far. The scenes between he and Brent Cullen reminded me of the second and third season of LOST when Ben sent Goodwin to his death for being sexually involved with Juliet. Now, the death of Cullen's character had the opposite effect on an Emerson character. Emerson's underrated in quiet scenes like the one when he apologized to Teresa. He's very effective when asked to convey emotion and sorrow. Person of Interest's worth watching because of Emerson's performance. I won't have much to write about the series weekly, so maybe I'll check in every so often.