Sunday, October 2, 2011

Person of Interest - Ghosts


Created by Jonathan Nolan, Person of Interest stars James Caviezel as a man with a unique set of skills who is approached by a computer programmer who has built a system that can predict the identity of people connected to violent crimes. The project was funded by the government to find terrorists but Finch (Michael Emerson) soon learned that it could also predict "non-essential" crimes of other individuals. Together Finch and Reese (Caviezel) set out to save the lives of those the machine discovers are in danger.

The premise of the show is more than a little wonky, and how the mysterious Deus Ex Machina understands these random individuals are in danger is never explained. If you can get over that problem, and that's a big if, the show itself works - at least to a limited degree.

In the second episode the name of girl (Valentina de Angelis) who supposedly died two years ago when her entire family was killed is spit out by the machine. Reese's investigation uncovers an attempt at a land grab by a dirty businessman. With the help of the cop (Kevin Chapman) he's blackmailing Reese tracks down the man responsible and stops the assassin (Berto Colon) from finishing the job started two years before.


We're also given a look into how Finch stays hidden in plain sight and flashbacks into the earlier days of the machine showing us scenes of Finch and his partner (Brett Cullen) and the initial discovery of what the machine can really do. We also see the growing frustration and series of dead ends Detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) comes across in her continuing investigation of who this dangerous man in a suit really is.

The show isn't for everyone but the level of suspense works and the action sequences are well done. The show's mysterious nature of everything involved (from how the machine works to who both Finch and Reese really are) gives it a certain feel as well.

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