Person of Interest “In Extremis” 

      Bad things come to people around me – Detective Fusco

Ever since the beginning of Season 2, Officer Simmons (Robert John Burke) from H.R. has warned Fusco (Kevin Chapman) that it’s only a matter of time before his shady past catches up with him.  Well, last night was that episode where our dear Lionel had to stand and face the music, but fortunately for Fusco (and for all of the fans who love the character) it didn’t turn out how everyone in H.R. had planned.

Just like all Person of Interest episodes, there still is a POI of the week, even if it does take a backseat to a much larger, developing plot.  This is certainly true in this week’s episode.  The chosen POI was not only uninteresting to say the least, but every time the episode switched back to the POI, I found it to be quite annoying.  Regardless, our week’s chosen POI is Dr. Richard Nelson, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the local hospital.  Reese (Jim Caviezel) is assigned to the case, and after meeting Nelson at one of his fundraisers, doesn’t see any immediate threat.  Well, that’s until later in the afternoon when Nelson becomes gravely ill.

Nelson suddenly begins having nosebleeds, is jaundiced, and his hair is falling out.  Further investigation reveals he had been poisoned with Polonium.  Not only that, because he had been poisoned several hours ago, there is now no way to save him.  You have to administer the anecdote within one hour of exposure, and so, there is nothing Reese can do to save his life. For the most part, this was a very boring POI aside from one (very important) part – the Machine had been late in providing Nelson’s number to Finch (Michael Emerson).  This same thing had happened with the past few numbers, and in this particular case, the Machine’s delay had cost the POI his life.

But, as I said, the POI-of-the-week was only a sideshow in the episode, and the main plot was Fusco and his past catching up with him.  For a good deal of the viewers, it may seem like forever since the murders of Stills and Davidson (especially with Stills, who was killed way back in the Pilot, and by Reese, no less!).  Fusco is my favorite character on the show, but there are some folks in HR, especially Simmons and Quinn, who doesn’t care much for Fusco playing both sides and would love to see him go away permanently.

As Fusco is questioned further and it becomes even more likely that he’s going to be arrested, he get some wonderful character development for Detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) as she struggles through whether to help.  I have always seen Carter as a detective that represents honor, integrity and reason.   Murder is wrong – but sometimes, a murder can be justified if it means saving someone else’s life, as Carter saw time and time again with Finch and Reese.  The big question now is even if a murder is not justified, if the killer has found redemption, should he be given a second chance?

I have no doubt that Carter struggled with this dilemma tremendously in last night’s episode, and in the end, she decided that Fusco was redeemable, not just in her eyes but in all of the viewers’ eyes as well.  I swear to God when IAB had dug up Stills’ grave in Oyster Bay, I was fully expecting Fusco to pull a gun on everyone there and then, be shot dead.  Fortunately, due to the efforts of Detective Carter, Finch and of course Bear, the grave was empty. Our beloved Detective Fusco was given a free pass, and let us all hope that he uses it wisely.

All in all, I thought this was a fantastic episode.  Ever since the Pilot when we are introduced to the then-irritating Detective Fusco and his group of HR thugs, we have wondered if Fusco could leave that life behind and whether his closest friends could leave all of that in their rear-view mirror as well.  We finally got our answer last night.  I think Fusco may be on a short leash with Carter for a while, but it appears they are on their way to a wonderful friendship.

However, even more importantly than this, it looks like the day of reckoning has arrived for the Machine.   At the last moment of the episode, the Machine finally shuts down due to the infestation of the virus planted in “Dead Reckoning”.  This means that unless Finch comes up with a quickie solution, they’ll be no more Finch and Reese, no more saving lives, and basically, no more POI.

Person of Interest airs on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.