Person Of Interest - Part 3

[Snow Queen]

If my ears don't deceive me, I believe the track at the end there was "Core Codes" from the season 4 soundtrack, which seemed to have gone unused, but was likely a placeholder for "Welcome to the machine" at the end of season 4. I'm glad they managed to work that into the show, one of my favourite pieces from the score.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Yep! That was "Core Code." I was wondering if they'd ever use it.

I liked this episode, but it could've aired earlier. But it also seemed like The Machine is making preparations for the work to continue if anything happens to Team Machine. A forewarning of sorts.

Loved seeing the Mayhem Twins kicking ass again. Loved all the Shaw stuff. And of course Harry's conversations...

The POI Writers Room tweeted that Lisa Joy Nolan came up with the line, ""What is love without being seen?"

So, the previews for next week...

Spoiler

It looked like Finch gasping for air... HOLY CRAP IS THE MACHINE OR SAMARITAN GOING TO ACTIVATE THE FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM?!?!?! It'd be like when one of the early versions of The Machine tried to kill Finch in the episode "Prophets." I just watched that episode the other night in syndication and that's why I thought of it.

5x12 is Greg Plageman's directorial debut. HYYYYYYYPE

 

[Man in the Suit]

Oh wow... Jonah Nolan really did warn people about the events of episode 5x10 two years ago at SDCC.

Skip to 5 minutes in.

[YT]g-UY1Y2Yv70[/YT]

 

[Kaleb]

Thank you,this was the Interview I was referring to

[BLACKOUT]I recall listening to an interview at one of the comic cons with Jonathan and Greg a few yrs ago, and they somewhat hinted that they wanted to give the machine a voice,and @ the time I remember thinking Root might not be around for long ,but she would make an excellent ''voice'' for the Machine so that in a way she can still live on.[/BLACKOUT]

Oh wow... Jonah Nolan really did warn people about the events of episode 5x10 two years ago at SDCC.

Skip to 5 minutes in.

[YT]g-UY1Y2Yv70[/YT]

 

[Kaleb]

5x13 'Return 0' - Score Recording Session
[YT]8dZrqL8_Agk[/YT]

 

[rashad]

Really enjoyed that final reveal about the old numbers. I'd definitely be down for a potential spinoff with those characters!

Agreed. I thought this episode was awesome personally.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I'm at ep11, this mini season is fine but I expected less stand-alone episodes ( if none ) and more focus on The Machine vs Samaritan.

Spoiler

It's cool that The Machine now uses Root voice but I find it a bit distractive, I would have liked more if she had kept her multi-voice speech pattern [YT]pD-QXM7g51k[/YT]

 

[Webfoot Hero]

It's really too bad that they likely won't dig too deep into the meaning of the President's number coming up as an irrelevant instead of a relevant national security matter. Just seems that many arcs this season that could easily be expanded on or drawn out through multiple episodes are getting dropped because the season is so short.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Highlights from the ATX panel with Jonah Nolan & Plageman. SPOILERS if you're not caught up with season 5...

Spoiler

From Reddit:

Majorly from Matt Fowler/Eric Goldman at IGN, & folks who attended the event

"If they'd given us a full order we might have tried to tap dance with another season and we'd have gotten called out on that" - Nolan

Nolan wished they could have brought back Paige Turco & Camryn Manheim back, but the scheduling didn't work out.

"When Elias hit in Season 1 I think people realized that the show would be more than just case-of-the-week." - Plageman

Root died in the car. The ambiguity gave a false sense of hope. "Sometimes superheroes die alone in the dark" - Nolan

"The idea was always to end as an ensemble," - Nolan, talking about how the show started as a two-hander

"The whole thing's gonna turn on a fit bit." Greg Plageman, on the finale

Nolan & Plageman had an end song in mind for the show, but then the POI composer made a piece of music that was perfect.

Plageman could possibly see #PersonOfInterest return in some way, though fans may think differently after the "bloodbath of the finale."

"I think you'll be happy with the finale."-Greg Plageman "Or, really unhappy."-Jonah Nolan

They also screened the penultimate episode...

Matt Fowler ‏@TheMattFowler
Plageman and Nolan just screened #PersonOfInterest Ep 512, which Plageman directed. It's rad. You guys are going to love it. #ATXTVs5

Jo Garfein ‏@jopinionated
The 2nd to last episode of #PersonOfInterest is intense, touching & surprising. I have loved this show from start to finish. @ATXFestival

@MichaelEmerson is amazing in this ep.

 

[Sawyer]

Spoiler

Plageman could possibly see #PersonOfInterest return in some way, though fans may think differently after the "bloodbath of the finale."

 

[Snow Queen]

[BLACKOUT]Blackwell damn better be part of that bloodbath. [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Man in the Suit]

[BLACKOUT]Blackwell damn better be part of that bloodbath. [/BLACKOUT]

Spoiler

If that guy somehow survives... UGH!

Let's not forget that it's all Reese's fault Blackwell killed Root. If only Reese kept watching him paint. I kinda hope there's some big confrontation with Greer/Samaritan and he brings that up just to make things worse. ("My dear Sameen... Did you know Mr. Reese here could have prevented the death of Ms. Groves?") Because that was a MASSIVE screw up on Reese's part.

 

[Snow Queen]

Spoiler

If that guy somehow survives... UGH!

Let's not forget that it's all Reese's fault Blackwell killed Root. If only Reese kept watching him paint. I kinda hope there's some big confrontation with Greer/Samaritan and he brings that up just to make things worse. ("My dear Sameen... Did you know Mr. Reese here could have prevented the death of Ms. Groves?") Because that was a MASSIVE screw up on Reese's part.

Spoiler

At the start of the season, I thought they may be setting him up as a new machine asset for after the show finishes, then he hurt Fusco, and then he killed Root. Forget Samaritan, this guy is the most irredeemable character at this point. Hoping Shaw gets to be the one to put him down.

 

[Golgo-13]

Starting season 2 now!

 

[Snow Queen]

Grabbed from Reddit, the article's been taken down but there's a screenshot floating around from an interview where the showrunners reveal what the intended final song of the series was:

Spoiler

 

[Man in the Suit]

Well, that's interesting. As much as I love that song, ending the series with Ramin Djawadi's score seems right since he's THE music.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

That song doesn't seem as fitting now with how the show is finishing up. It may have made more sense had the show gone on for Nolan/Plageman's originally planned 6th and 7th seasons but with how good Djawadi's score has been throughout the series, it's better they're using him. There's always been a part of me that wished Djawadi had stayed on throughout the Iron Man movies so the scores would have been consistent throughout.

 

[Batmannerism]

Can you believe it ? Only 2 episodes left.

A couple of years ago I posted that I always thought the machine would have another team somewhere - wish I could find the post to toot my own horn !

Anyway, I was looking over Jonathan Nolan's wikipedia page and I noticed that he wrote most of my favorite POI episodes - especially "The Devil's Share" which has to be one of the best in the whole series (and best Fusco episode !)

Usually I don't rewatch pilots but I've seen the POI pilot about a hundred times, it's just so perfect (as was "Ghosts"). Also, Nolan co-wrote and directed "Relevance" which introduces Shaw, another great one.

Personally, I didn't enjoy season 4 as much, and I suspect that Nolan's relative uninvolvement (if that's even a word) may have affected the direction the overall story took.

Nolan's credits for POI are:

"Pilot" (airdate: 22 Sep 2011) – writer
"Ghosts" (airdate: 29 Sep 2011) – co-writer
"Many Happy Returns" (airdate: 3 May 2012) – co-storywriter
"Firewall" (airdate: 17 May 2012) – co-writer
"The Contingency" (airdate: 27 Sep 2012) – co-writer
"Relevance" (airdate: 21 Feb 2013) – co-writer and director
"God Mode" (airdate: 9 May 2013) – co-writer
"The Devil's Share" (airdate: 26 Nov 2013) – co-writer
"return 0"[18] (airdate: 21 Jun 2016) – co-writer


Mind you, I've always thought of POI as a neo-Batman story, if Batman was split into two people (the brains and the brawn). Given that Nolan would have been working on TDKR at the same time, I can see how the Batman vibe flavoured that first season of POI. While I'm not excited about Westworld, I hear Nolan's doing a "Foundation " tv series, and that really is something to get fired up about - bringing some Asimov to a whole new generation.

Anyway, have we got any kind of favourite episode or arc poll ? For me other than the pilot, I have to say that the arc which leads to Carter's death and it's aftermath so "Endgame, the Crossing, the Devil's share, Lethe, Alethia and 4C" was the highpoint of the entire series. Everyone shines in that arc, with Devil's share being the best of the best.

Favourite episodes anyone ?

 

[Snow Queen]

For myself:
1. S5E4 6,741
2. S4E11 If-Then-Else
3. S3E23 Deus Ex Machina
4. S4E13 M.I.A.
5. S3E22 A House Divided
6. S4E22 YHWH
7. S4E21 Asylum
8. S3E21 Beta
9. S3E17 /
10. S5E1 B.S.O.D.
11. S3E20 Death Benefit
12. S3E12 Alethia
13. S3E10 The Devil's Share
14. S5E10 The Day The World Went Away
15. S5E7 QSO
16. S4E5 Prophets
17. S4E12 Control-Alt-Delete
18. S4E10 The Cold War
19. S4E9 The Devil You Know
20. S3E9 The Crossing

I've spent too much time thinking about this. Nothing from seasons 1 or 2 in there not because there aren't ones I love, there are many (Relevance, God Mode, Zero Day, Bad Code, The Contingency, Dead Reckoning, Firewall, No Good Deed, Many Happy Returns and Flesh and Blood would probably be my highlights from the first two seasons), but just because there are a number I love more in the end.

 

[Man in the Suit]

So many... Top 5, for now:

6,741
If-Then-Else
Relevance
Deus Ex Machina
The Devil's Share

Pretty much anything written by Jonah Nolan, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, and Lucas O'Connor. And anything directed by Chris Fisher.

Lucas O'Connor had the biggest leap in script quality on the show. He started as Jonah Nolan's assistant and his first episode was "All In" (the gambling old dude episode) and his second was "Aletheia" (start of the Samaritan story).

Hillary Benefiel also had a huge leap in quality. Her first episode was "Karma" (contender for series worst) and her 2nd/last was "QSO." I wish she could've wrote some more episodes.

 

[Kaleb]

In no particular order

''Witness''
"Relevance"
"God Mode"
"Mors Praematura"
"The Devil's Share"
"Death Benefit"
"Beta"
"Deus Ex Machina"
"Prophets"
"If-Then-Else"
"YHWH"
"6,741"
"The Day the World Went Away"

 

[Charlatan]

So..huge clues to the ending I think with the sense and sensibility references. Can't wait.

my theory to the finale.

Spoiler

the book sense and sensibility is mainly about 2 half sisters. one is practical to a fault the other ruled by love or emotion. one sacrifices happiness for security and doesn't get it . one follows her heart and loses out. you could draw correlations to Root (whimsical,emotional)and Shaw(pragmatic,emotionless) but it's really about the 2 versions of the machine I believe. The moral of the story is that neither sister "wins" because of their imbalance of practicality and emotion. that only a balanced approach to life succeeds. you could also go meta with it and say it represents two political ideologies. Because of this I think the virus doesn't kill either of them but merges the best attributes of both. of course while this evolution is happening all sorts of bad things might happen as they fight to achieve that balance. The name of the virus ICE_9 is also a clue. ICE_9 was a fake. It was not what it was advertised to be.

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I wish it was Shaw that finally put Greer down and not Samaritan...

 

[Charlatan]

I wish it was Shaw that finally put Greer down and not Samaritan...

Greer did it to himself. His sense was without sensibility. Or was it the opposite? He was willing to let a cold,calculating machine rule but did so out of an emotional drive that he really believed ,much like a fanatic. hmmm.. While Finch who has great compassion and love for life in the moment has a very pragmatic approach to the idea of the machine having autonomy. Very gray these ideologies.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Great episode. I could watch Michael Emerson and John Nolan monologue about anything.

Spoiler

I actually didn't mind how Greer went out. It was very in character. But I do hope Shaw gets Blackwell. I really need that to happen.


I would've laughed if Finch's password was PASSWORD. "You really need to use more special characters, Harry."