Person of Interest 2.16 Review, “Relevance”
rating: 4
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With last weeks extremely superb Booked Solid, an episode that adeptly balanced the case of the week with some of the seasons more major story lines, I was prepared for a return to normalcy. Back to episodes more like One Percent or Triggerman. I was expecting to go back to the Person of Interest of old, with more standalone episodes that capitalized on action, cheesy humor, and non lethal shots to the leg by our favorite mumbling super agent man John Reese. But then Jonathan Nolan had to go and say Forget that and deliver what is arguably one of the best and unique episodes of Person of Interest. Ever. The appropriately titled Relevance delved into two things I never thought about the show doing, but it was obvious the show would go in this direction at one point or another. First, the episode was seen from the point of view of this weeks POI, making for an inverted sort of experience seeing the episode unfold. Right from the beginning, we knew we were in for something completely different, as the regular intro of the show was interrupted by the machine itself. This brings us to the second fertile territory the show begins to mine, which is the Machine under use of the government. Weve heard it from Finch in the pilot episode before, the fact that the government has the machine and is using it to detect and deter acts of terrorism. We as an audience have just been so caught up with the adventures of Reese and Finch and the endless stream of non relevant numbers in the Big Apple that we didnt even notice that there was another side to the equation. At least I have never wondered what the machine was like when the government used it for their purposes. After this episode however, I want more. This whole episode serves as an extended introduction to deadly government agent Samantha Shaw (Sarah Shahi) as she goes from expertly stopping a terrorist cell in Germany to getting burned in New York when the agency they work for decides to give them their own rendition of a burn notice. In this little side trip with Shaw, we get a glimpse of how the government works with the machine, a system thats not too different from how Reese and Finch operate. The machine names a target, chosen from its complicated algorithm of behavior predictability. The agents on the field are fed the information under the guise that it is obtained by a department called research. The agents are teams of two, one a technology expert and the other an efficient killer. Sound familiar? We also get a proper name for the man in Washington DC seemingly in charge of the situation. For not hes just called Control even though he himself implies that he is not the end of the line. It was very interesting to see things from the perspective of the POI, and we begin to see the show in a whole new light. Reese pops up every now and then, but we never shake the feeling that hes always around the corner, as previous episodes have established. This is even put into better effect when Shaw is in danger, and all the action Reese participates in occurs off screen, leaving behind a trail of disarmed henchmen clutching their legs in pain. It was a wonderful twist on the old formula that POI has been so keen on delivering on. Admittedly, this would have only worked with Shaw, as she provided enough gunshots and casual danger dialogue to make Reese himself blush.