
[WARNING: Major spoilers for the latest Person of Interest]
The head of HR, Alonzo Quinn, is sedated at the morgue and out of the way for the moment. Carter and Reese are preparing to meet the corrupt cops head on with not a lot of ammo so they’re forced to improvise with the tools at their disposal.
The two start comparing wounds and scars from combat…and childbirth. “When your time is up, it’s up,” Carter says. Which is exactly what happens at the end of “The Crossing.” But before that, the friends/soldiers/colleagues — whatever you want to call them — share an intimate moment that probably makes Carter/Reese fans ecstatic and heartbroken at the same time.
Carter asks Reese what his closest call was. And he takes out a bullet from his pocket and shows it to her:
Carter: “That’s got somebody’s name on it?”
Reese: “Mine. There was a time I thought I was saying goodbye. I lost someone. Lost myself.”
Carter: “What happened? What stopped you?”
Reese: “I got in a fight with some punks on a subway. Cop detained me. He brought me to you. You changed my mind, Joss. (They kiss) You changed me.”
Reese had put his hand on Carter’s face and then he lightly kissed her. It was nice, intimate and so incredibly sad all at the same time. And it turns out the kiss was an unscripted moment that came courtesy of POI actors James Caviezel and Taraji P. Henson. Isn’t that amazing? Reese and Carter knew that they could very well die by the end of the night. And they reached out to each other and had this very open, vulnerable moment that sealed their bond forever. It was enough to make me want to watch the pilot all over again.
Now I have to say that Twitter spoiled me so I knew while watching this that Joss was going to be the one to die. And even knowing that, it didn’t take away from the drama or the moment, it enhanced it. Carter and Reese had me in tears because I loved the friendship they developed. Thankfully, Joss figured out she needed to trust John and Harold instead of going it alone to the bitter end.
Now I waited until the credits rolled before I hit rewind to watch this scene again. It’s going to be one of my favorite moments of the show of all time. I also loved that if Joss had to die, she died in Reese’s arms. Watching the preview for the next episode, it looks like Reese is as devastated by Carter’s death as much as I am.
I have to admit. One of the major reasons I watch this show is because of Carter and the presence of Taraji P. Henson. It’s hard for me to know she won’t be part of John and Harold’s fight anymore. But Carter did strike a massive blow to HR. She’s awesome like that. And I’m glad her son is with his father (Breakout Kings star Laz Alonzo). But I’m going to miss Carter like crazy. I just am.
Person of Interest airs Tuesdays on CBS at 10/9c.
There’s no way we could just write one article on such a major POI event. Kara Howland writes about the impact of Carter’s death here.
Related posts
6 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Classics
Dennis Heaton Talks The Imperfects
Longtime readers at TV Goodness will know that Motive is one of my ride-or-die series, and as such, I am fiercely loyal to its creator, Dennis Heaton. He followed up that fantastic reverse procedural with Netflix’s The Order and is back on our streaming screens with The Imperfects, which dropped…
Kelly McCormack Talks Favorite Moments in A League of Their Own
[Warning: Mild spoilers for season 1.] Now that you’ve had a chance to watch A League of Their Own, here’s the rest of my chat with Kelly McCormack about her favorite moments of the season. Seeing the iconic Peaches uniforms for the first time wasn’t just a goosebump moment for…
John Griffin and Harold Perrineau Talk From on EPIX Season 1 Finale
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] How are we doing, #FROMily? In case you missed it this morning, the very good news is that that cliffhanger will be followed by a second season, which was gifted this morning ahead of the linear broadcast of the finale. I always legitimately appreciate when we…
Elizabeth Saunders Talks EPIX’s From
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] One of the things that makes EPIX’s From such a fun ride is the abundance of Canadian cast members. Elizabeth Saunders, who plays Donna, is a favorite from her turn on the third season of Mary Kills People [streaming on Global TV in Canada and Roku…
Corteon Moore Talks From “Broken Windows, Open Doors”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight’s episode of From had us all in our feels as we learned through flashbacks about the Sophie’s Choice Boyd had to make to save his son, and back in the present as Boyd said his piece with Ellis before heading into the woods with…
Pegah Ghafoori Talks From “All Good Things…”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode] Tonight on From, Fatima’s anniversary celebration turned into a Colony House of horrors when a misguided Kevin let his monster bae in and she promptly killed him and left the window open for her crew. While the party devolved into terror and sent everyone running,…
Shaun Majumder Talks From “Book 74”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight on EPIX’s From, Father Khatri made a bold move, kidnapping Sara instead of turning her in, and then recognizing her as a vessel for some big messages. That startling realization speaks to him on multiple levels–as a man of faith, a man trapped in…
Avery Konrad Talks About Sara’s Struggle in From “Silhouettes”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Over the course of the season so far on From, we’ve witnessed Sara’s battle against the voices telling her to to do terrible things, and tonight we saw her unravel further, threatening the Matthews and lashing out in a moment of terror with horrifying results….
Hannah Cheramy Talks From “Choosing Day”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight, on EPIX’s From, the Matthews participate in the show’s version of the sorting hat, choosing where to call home–the town or Colony House. At the end of the episode, Julie makes the decision to split from her family and instead settle in with Fatima…
Ricky He Talks From “The Way Things Are Now”
[Warning: Spoilers for episode 102 of EPIX’s From.] Epix’s new series From is two episodes in and it’s already laying the groundwork for a seriously spooky season. Tonight’s episode demonstrated the careful balance of relief and horror that the show hits, with our characters’ worst fears realized, just not when…
What They Said: Three Revealing Conversations from Survivor’s Remorse “Closure”
WARNING: Spoilers for Survivor’s Remorse “Closure” The latest episode of Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse featured conversations that showed characters really digging deep into their thoughts, emotions and motivations.
Two Takes: The Catch “The Knock-Off”
Who can you trust? If this episode of The Catch was any indication, the answer is just about nobody. Betrayal was running rampant as Felicity (Shivani Ghai) arose from the dead to seduce-con Margot, Gretchen (Maria Thayer, Gotham, The Mindy Project) played gold-hearted Alice 2.0 before swindling Ethan, Tessa jumped…
What They Said: Top 3 Quotable Moments from Preacher “El Valero”
Both Quincannon and Jesse refuse to give up on what they each think is rightfully theirs. While Jesse is struggling to face the consequences of his actions, Quincannon has laid his past demons to rest and is hellbent on moving forward and putting Annville on the map again. Despite a…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Supergirl “Worlds Finest”
Oh, Supergirl. That ending was cold. But I can’t hate on you because the latest episode has quickly become one of my favorites.
What They Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Black Sails “XXIII”
The dialogue in “XXIII” is phenomenal. It’s always a fun ride when Black Sails carries its viewers along without giving them the chance to catch their breath. When an episode moves at this unforgiving pace, there is no chance for a breather nor is there a respite from the information…
What Lucifer Said: Favorite quotes from Supernatural “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Supernatural episodes are almost always funny but thanks to the dialogue and a certain man speaking said dialogue, I laughed a lot during “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” You know, when I wasn’t busy fearing for Sam’s life or wondering what in the world was going on with Dean and…
What They Said: The Flash, “Legends Of Today” and Arrow, “Legends Of Yesterday”
Two nights of Arrow + The Flash = what more could we ask for?! I don’t know what it is about blending these shows, but I can’t help but feel that every time they come together, they somehow become greater than the sum of their parts. And that’s saying a lot…
What they Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Graceland “Little Bo Bleep”
Shoot outs. Fake outs. And long-awaited revelations. “Little Bo Bleep” was a jam-packed episode that wrapped up some loose ends and totally frayed others. Â It finally gave us one Sarkissian in jail and pulled back the curtain on Briggs’ master plan, but it also set up Jakes for a world…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Poldark “Part 4”
“What have I told you, I don’t require my wife to crochet and sip tea, but I do require her to remember she’s not a beast of burden.†No, I’m not talking about The Rolling Stones! I have to admit though, just for a second, the lyrics popped into my…
3 Moments of Goodness from Brooklyn Nine-Nine “Johnny and Dora”
The most satisfying part of this season’s finale has to the Jake and Amy kiss. Well, they kiss three times but the last one is the best one — and it means something. The Charles and Rosa dynamic was also great. I love how she’s convinced he doesn’t know anything…
I had a bad feeling last week when Carter’s son was safe with her ex-husband, and they kept emphasizing that it would be Fosco who would die.
Killing her was remarkably stupid because she was the most “real” character, what’s called the gateway character who acts as the audience’s emotional connection.
Not to mention she’s being replaced by a sociopath and a psychopath who definitely aren’t gateway characters. I won’t even go into replacing the only non-white character.
I’ll probably keep watching, but my loyalty won’t be such that I’d choose it over another program.
Yeah, Carter’s death was a huge blow to me. It just is. I am going to have to reassess how I watch POI. I will still watch it. But I loved Carter a lot. Like I said in my article, she’s one of the biggest reasons why I watched the show.
Is the “gateway character” also called a “character surrogate”? In other shows, my “character surrogate” was killed/written off, but I still continued with the show. I guess it all depends on the quality of the show. Some shows are larger than any one character and can survive without them, while some viewers who started watching a show will stop because the character they identified with was the only reason they watched. It’s probably too early to say how things will play out on PoI.
I’m not ready to write this show off yet even though this was a huge loss for me. It is too early to say how things will play out. We’ll see. I want to keep watching. But it’s going to be a bit difficult because Carter to me was such an essential character. She didn’t start out that way. They basically had to shoehorn the character into the action. But at the end there, she was significant. And her death was significant.
A character surrogate isn’t exactly the same thing as a gateway character.
A writer uses a gateway character to introduce all readers to a world or story. Usually, that character is a stranger to the situation who has that world explained to him. Think Skye in AGENTS OF SHIELD. Or Sam at the beginning of SUPERNATURAL as Dean started training him.
Usually, the reader will continue to use the gateway character as their surrogate character, but some readers may also change “their” character to someone who resonates emotionally with them.
I know I may be in the minority here, but I’m more of a Fusco fan than a Carter fan. I also have to admit that I fell for the hype that Fusco was going to die, hook line and sinker. Looking back, it seems pretty obvious that Carter was going to be the one who “fell”. First, they were making such a big deal about Fusco possibly dying, where if he did die, it would have been no shock at all. Second, they have been working pretty hard in pumping Carter’s character up during most of last season and nearly all of this season. And, the more you pump a character up, the harder they fall in the end.
Regardless, I can’t say I’m going to miss Carter much. The only thing I’m really curious about is what Reese is going to do to get revenge. I wonder how many more “Americans” he will send to that prison in Mexico 🙂