Catching Up on Person of Interest 

There just isn’t enough time in the week, month, year for me to keep current on all my favorite TV shows but I’m going to have to make a better effort to keep up with this. I’ve been a fan of Person of Interest since before the pilot (you know the pedigree) and every episode explores this world in an interesting way. I like that we learn just a little bit more every week about John Reese and Harold Finch, even though I think we wouldn’t learn everything we need to know about them if this show went for ten years. Every week we learn about the people Reese and Finch are trying to protect from getting killed or doing the killing. I love that we don’t know  who’s good and bad and sometimes it’s easy to make the wrong assumptions.

I can’t be the only one who thinks Alan Dale makes everything better. He was never on my radar until Lost but now I look forward to seeing him on whatever show he guests on. In “Foe,” Dale plays a “retired” Stasi agent who is tracking down the former members of his team and systemically taking them out. They betrayed him twenty four years ago and now it’s time to make them pay. His method of torture is something we haven’t seen before, but I’m happy Reese is able to withstand it. Not only that, Reese manages to make a connection with Ulrich Kohl. They are alike in many ways – asked to kill for their country because they’re both so good at it. Both Kohl and Reese know there’s no saving themselves, no going back but Reese is trying to make amends for the things he’s done.

What I also loved about this episode is the interplay between Reese and Finch. I don’t yet understand why Finch is so cagey about letting Reese get to know him. I like that Reese keeps doing little things to prove that he’s slowly learning about Finch. Reese knows his first name and he’s not afraid to use it. Reese knows he likes tea instead of coffee and that he takes it with sugar. It’s the little things, but Reese has been trained to notice them. I look forward to Reese – and by extension us – learning more and I can’t wait for more of Finch’s backstory. There’s still so much we don’t know.

In “Get Carter,” we get to spend a lot of time with Taraji P. Henson and I couldn’t be more pleased. We know she’s extremely determined to take Reese off the street because she thinks he’s dangerous. And he is, just not in the way she assumes. But seeing her day to day – everything she deals with – makes me appreciate her that much more. I like that Carter is the type of person who can be relied upon. I like that if she gives you her word, she will do anything and everything in her power to keep it. I like that she sees the world around her for what it is but continues to do the right thing every day. I don’t know how she does it but I’m glad there are people like her in the world.

When her number comes up in the system it’s all Finch and Reese can do to narrow down the list of suspects. She’s a homicide detective and a lot of people are gunning for her. Not only that, but Fusco does some digging of his own and discovers the hit on Carter has gone through the “proper channels” and been approved my brass. So who has her back? Reese, of course, and increasingly Fusco. Maybe having Carter in their lives will make both these guys better men.

Person of Interest airs Thursdays at 9/8c.