I May Be A Danger To Myself And Others.

[rionaleonhart]

One sure sign I'm getting really into a show is that I start getting up earlier in the mornings, so I can watch an episode before work. I'm getting really into Person of Interest. I've almost finished the first season; I've just watched episode twenty-one, 'Many Happy Returns'.

I love that Reese delivers every single line in a low, manly growl. It's a lot of fun trying to picture him having a mundane conversation. I don't think he's capable of saying anything in a way that doesn't sound dramatic.

I'm delighted by Reese, pretending to be an unconnected stranger, sitting next to his ex-girlfriend's husband in a bar and having a friendly chat with him. To assess him, or just to torture himself? Either way, it's terrible decision-making and I'm a big fan. (At first I was going 'why does this friendly chat feel so intense? does Reese want to bang this guy?'; I suppose I still can't necessarily rule that out.)

I always love the parts in this show where someone attacks, Reese drives them off, and the person of interest is left going 'wait, what the fuck, I thought this guy was just my driver/my client/some guy, why is he suddenly my bodyguard?'

Reese getting attached to a baby and then absolutely losing his mind trying to protect her is great.

It's nice to see the moments when Reese and Finch show they're coming to care about each other. Finch helping Reese when he's shot, Reese staying with Finch when he's drugged. (And refusing to exploit the opportunity to get information about Finch, even though he's been trying to learn more about Finch all this time.) Finch giving Reese a home for his birthday!

Am I slightly shipping Carter/Fusco? Is that what's happening here?

This show needs to stop shying away from letting Reese murder people in cold blood. It keeps going 'oh, this is John "Murders People In Cold Blood" Reese' and then going 'wait, but what if he actually didn't do the murder?' and, I'll be honest, Reese is a character who makes more sense with a couple of cold-blooded murders under his belt.

It's essentially the opposite of the Mentalist problem. Patrick Jane murdered several people in cold blood (which was fascinating!), but the show treated him like he wasn't a murderer, rather than really taking the time to delve into the consequences. Person of Interest absolutely treats John Reese like a murderer, and he's definitely a killer, but the show is strangely reluctant to have him commit outright murder.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Oh wow, that is fast! You're getting into it!

I haven't started yet, but I want to see Reese murder someone.

[rionaleonhart]

I haven't started yet, but I want to see Reese murder someone.

I love that, despite not having seen any of this show, you still have impeccable taste.

[sideways]

THE BABY EPISODE IS EVERYTHING.

Reese would probably murder more people if he wasn't shackled to Finch, who has Very Strong Feelings about murder. I kind of like how that works for them all, though.

[sholio]

The baby episode is probably my favorite baby episode of anything ever, and I really like that trope in general!

The part where they built her a little baby fortress to keep her out of the guns!

[sideways]

The baby fortress... their extremely married argument over grenade access... Carter's "nooooo" moment of realisation... it was such a flawless ep.

[rionaleonhart]

It's such a delightful episode! And also extremely stressful. My goddaughter is exactly the same age as Leila and has a very similar name, so I was very invested in her safety. (Much like Reese.)

Reese would probably murder more people if he wasn't shackled to Finch, who has Very Strong Feelings about murder.

I like the idea of Reese's new employment preventing him from committing the murders he might be doing otherwise, but I think it'd be stronger if the show didn't keep setting up murders Reese supposedly did in his backstory - his CIA partner and Peter - and then either heavily implying or outright making it clear that he didn't actually kill them. 'Reese's new connections are making him a better person' is a nice concept, but it feels like it's being weakened by a reluctance to make him too dark in his past. Still, there's time!

[sideways]

Ooh, yeah, I getcha. I guess my steeple-fingered thoughts here then are firstly that Reese himself does not seem to draw much of a line between being a killer and a murderer (his country told him it was necessary but he clearly had reservations and still went right ahead, and he carries that as His Choice and His Actions and His Consequences), and secondly that Reese ultimately being a squishy-centred sad man who just wants to protect people is what netted him the job.

But I agree that they probably had room to give him some more heinous crimes if they wanted, and frankly he should have killed Peter LMAO. The good news is there are plenty of others around to challenge him for that title anyway!

[sholio]

Patrick Jane murdered several people in cold blood (which was fascinating!), but the show treated him like he wasn't a murderer, rather than really taking the time to delve into the consequences. Person of Interest absolutely treats John Reese like a murderer, and he's definitely a killer, but the show is strangely reluctant to have him commit outright murder.

I love this; it's such a succinct encapsulation of the problem that a lot of shows have (a lot of shows I love, don't get me wrong) at engaging and/or dealing with their basic moral premises.

[rionaleonhart]

If your protagonist is intended to be a murderer, they should murder people; if they're not, they probably shouldn't! It seems so obvious, but it's surprising how many shows it trips up. Merlin is another; Merlin is so happy to kill people who threaten the kingdom, and the show is so happy to ignore the fact that its loveable protagonist just killed someone. I'm not saying your protagonist can't kill people - in the case of Patrick Jane in particular, I thought it was a great development, both fitting for the character and extremely interesting - but it would be nice if the show at least recognised the weight of it.

[apiphile]

I suppose I still can't necessarily rule that out.

That sounds like a special kind of masochism and one therefore that would be perfect bait for you to write fic

[rionaleonhart]

Don't tempt me!

[apiphile]

"Don't tempt me", what am I FOR if not to sit on people's shoulders and entice them into horrifying but morally neutral behaviour?!

[thawrecka]

Now I want to watch the baby episode again! It's so good. Might be time for me to do a PoI rewatch marathon in general.

[rionaleonhart]

It was delightful! When I'm watching things on my own, I'll sometimes rewind a few seconds to rewatch little moments or interactions I enjoyed, and I did that so much during the baby episode.