Person of Interest
Episode 17: Proteus
Episode 18: All In
By: Carlos Uribe
Person
of Interest is a drama about preventing planned crimes before they
happen.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
Proteus:
Proteus
is an episode that doesn't really quite work. The machine spits out
six numbers after being silent for three days. These numbers belong
to six people who have gone missing. They manage to figure out that
their serial killer likes to take over their identities before moving
on. Why? That's never really explained in the episode but it's
slightly implied that he was looking for the perfect identity. He's
never been satisfied so he keeps on killing. It's also implied that
he's simply sick and he does this because he enjoys it. Our
characters have to try and catch him but the problem is that he could
be anybody. They team up with an FBI agent whose looking into the
case. The show also strands them in an island right in the middle of
a major tropical storm. This allows the series to limit the potential
number of suspects to about eight. The idea behind Proteus is nice
but the execution is a little bit off. This is for three reasons. The
first is that it became too much like every other CBS procedural out
there where the goal is to find and catch the bad guy rather than to
prevent crime. That seems to be against the very nature of Person of
Interest. There might have been a way to do this right but it also
means having to stray far from it's own format in order for it to
properly fit within the show's universe. While the formula was
tweaked a little, it basically remained the same. The murder mystery
therefore felt a bit forced.
The
second issue with the episode is that it's entirely too predictable.
It didn't make us guess who was really the impersonate because it was
obvious from the get-go that it was the FBI agent. This removed a lot
of the tension from the scenes. This is because the tension depended
on the audience wondering who they could trust and who was really the
killer. This didn't happen because the show went with a twist that is
pretty much a cliché by now. Of course the FBI agent we've never met
before and was working on the case alone was going to turn out to be
the killer. In order for this plot to really have worked is to have
done something that hasn't done before. This basically means having
one of the people on the island actually be the real killer while
working to throw off all suspicion from the FBI agent. The only thing
worse than being a typical CBS procedural is to be a predictable
typical CBS procedural.
The
third issue is that it's frankly not very exciting. I like Person of
Interest because it gets my heart rate up and my blood pumping.
That's largely because of the action scenes and the music. This
episode didn't really employ the music in a memorable fashion and the
action was rather limited until the very end. There were points in
the episode where I was actually pretty bored with what was
happening. It doesn't help that the ending was predictable but the
journey to the twist wasn't a very good ride to begin with. Proteus
is a sub-par effort by the Person of Interest team to create a murder
mystery but it fails because it's dull, predictable, and doesn't
separate itself from the formula to really work as an actual premise.
The flat villain also hurt the episode. It is so far one of the
weakest hours of the show and definably the worst one of the season.
All In:
The
person of interest for All In is Lou Mitchell. He's a senior citizen
who is losing a lot of money at the casino. The first suspicion is
that his life is in danger because he owes a huge debt or due to his
previous connections to the mob. These are red herrings to the real
problem that slowly reveals itself. He's been losing money on
purpose. He's actually a pretty good cheat when it comes to cards but
he's been throwing the game against him. Why? He's been blackmailed
by the casino owner to do so. The casino owner has been dealing drugs
and is using these losses to launder his money through. He gives
these seniors his drug money and has them put it into his legal
business. It boosts the profits of his casino and allows him to
ensure that the IRS doesn't catch him. He's cooking the books in a
pretty original way. The episode seems to split in half when Lou is
sent to Chicago at the half-way point as Finch and Reese decide to do
their best to turn this casino owner is. They just need to find a way
to get his real accounting book so that they could prove that he's
been laundering money. They enlist the help of Leon. I'm just going
to add that Leon is quickly becoming one of my favorite recurring
characters on this show. He adds some great comic relief that can
really help to make the typical episodes be more fun. All In would
largely have been a drab if the writers hadn't included Leon into the
plot. He's a character that's best used sparingly but he's been
pretty effective every single time that he's made an appearance so
far.
It
really shouldn't come as a surprise when Lou shows back to the
casino. When they realize that he isn't just going to run away, they
help him cheat his way into huge winnings while Finch takes the
necessary information. They manage to succeed but then the casino
owner catches them. Reese is able to take them out when the show
pretends it's going to kill one of them in a game of Russian
Roulette. The one fault I have with this climax is that Lou basically
gets a superpower that he can do anything with his hand. He's able to
take out all the bullets in the gun while his hands are tied and the
casino owner never really lets go off. There's a difference between
making a character skilled at an act and having them be able to do
anything, anytime. The casino owner goes to jail, Lou (or Finch) gets
to buy the diner where he met his wife, and Leon basically leaves the
episode the same. It's a decent weekly case but nothing to write home
about. At the very least, it was never boring as the mystery of what
constituted the threat was an easy hook into the plot.
The
sub-plot throughout the episode had to do with HR. It's trying to get
back into business and this means framing a good cop to try and get a
mobster to walk. They run into a major obstacle with Carter. She's
able to prove that he was being framed by following where the money
comes from. She's also starting to suspect that the reason Beecher is
under investigation is because he's a member of HR. Her meddling
might cost her life as the head of HR personally kills the good cop
and the Assistant District Attorney in a pretty good cliff-hanger
ending. That ending helped give this episode the narrative momentum
it needed to survive the short break between the next episode-which
is sadly too far away at April 4th. Overall, All In was a
pretty good episode when it came to HR but it was a decent outing
when it came to the weekly case. This created a pretty standard
episode for the show-but at least it wasn't boring.
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