Person of Interest Season 2 Finale “God Mode” 

When we talked with Executive Producer Jonathan Nolan last week, he described the finale as “mayhem.  Definitely mayhem”.  Well, he was certainly right about that.  Even after watching the episode twice, with all of the twists and turns, I’m still not sure I grasped everything.  So, be leery of any piss break you took while watching last night – you just may have missed something very important.

One of the big questions we were left with last week is will Root (Amy Acker) find the Machine and gain control.  With Finch (Michael Emerson) still in tow, she certainly makes some headway. From past episodes, we probably will recall that a special facility had been built for the Machine, and after it was completed, the federal government had killed nearly all of the engineers to protect itself.  But, the government missed one of them – a Lawrence Alard.  Root is able to track this man down, but he is gunned down by Hersh (Boris McGiver) and all of his thugs first before she can talk to him.  Root and Finch barely escape the attack themselves, and at that point, Finch caves and reveals the location of the Machine – or, so, we are led to believe.

Finch gives up Hanford, WA, but when they arrive, Root is stunned to see that the Machine is gone.  Not only that, but the 24-hour unfettered access to the Machine has expired.  This is when Root discovers, to her amazement, that Finch had deceived her.  Three years ago, Finch already had set the Machine free.  He added new source code that would recognize his own code, and if the Machine saw that code (like in the virus that had been planted by Decima Technologies), it would then be switched to learning and survival mode.  One of the things the Machine did, and that Finch had hoped it had done, was slowly move itself to another location once it realized it was under attack.  Basically, the Machine had become exactly what Root had envisioned – the only difference is that she’s not in control of it.

We also get to see finally what happened to Nathan Ingram (Brett Cullen) and what part Finch may have had in it.  Ever since the episode “Ghost” in season one, I have been fairly certain that Ingram had been killed by the federal government and that Finch got his limp trying to save him.  That was pretty much on target except for the manner in which Ingram had been killed.  The government wants to get rid of him, but they can’t just right out murder him because Ingram is a public figure.  So, they used a terrorist plot that had been reported by the Machine itself.  As we know, the Machine reports “relevant” numbers, ones involving terrorism, directly to the government.  One number came up involving a suicide bomber.  The bomber is apprehended, but he is let go to carry out his plans.  Ingram is killed in the blast, and no one suspects he was actually murdered.  The scene with Finch looking at Ingram’s name on the “non-relevant” list is heart wrenching.  He didn’t say a word, but we know the horrific regret he must have felt.  The only friend in the world that Finch has was Ingram, and he’s also the only one who knew all of his secrets and didn’t judge him for them.  Now, his best friend is dead simply because “it was for the better good”. That single event changed Finch forever and made him into the Finch that we know and love today – compassionate,  caring, and willing to do just about anything to save each and every one on the “non-relevant” list.

While Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Shaw (Sarah Shahi) had been working to save Finch and the Machine, Carter (Taraji P. Henson) has some serious drama of her own.  We got a ton of character development for Carter last night, and it really puts Carter in a whole new light.  She uncovers a hit on Elias (Enrico Colantoni), and the big question is what should she do?  The old Carter definitely would just let the plot play out – after all, Elias tried to kill both her and her son.  But, the thing that stops her is loyalty.   Elias’ lieutenant had been gunned down, and he bailed out his bodyguards to watch over him, leaving him a sitting duck in prison.

           Detective Carter…. What a funny old world – Elias to Carter

With Carter rescuing Elias, it looks like we are heading for an alliance in season three.  Carter and Fusco will certainly need Elias and his men if they have any hope of bringing HR down for good.

All in all, I thought the finale was excellent.  The acting was fantastic, numerous storylines from season one were wrapped up, and basically, we have almost a clean slate for season three.  We have one new nemesis, a woman who we know only as “Control”, and a couple of new, strong alliances with Shaw and Elias officially joining the good guys.  The only question is now with the Machine set free and able to learn and adapt, just what will it do?  At this point, I think anything is possible…