If You're Up To It, That Would Be Extremely Helpful.

[rionaleonhart]

'I've seen a lot of bits of Person of Interest out of context while you've been watching it,' Rei commented yesterday, 'and every time it's like a completely different show.'

I'm now up to episode 3.20 of Person of Interest, 'Death Benefit'!

Tem: Who's the character Amy Acker plays? Root? Shaw?
Riona: Who's Amy Acker?
Tem: Oh, she's in a season of Angel you haven't seen yet. She's the one who looks like she'd have a major role in a Joss Whedon show.
Riona: Oh! She's definitely Root.

Come to think of it, Root does feel a bit like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer character who's somehow ended up in the wrong show.

Reese, I know you're more a fan of other-preservation than of self-preservation, but charging an attacker out of an upper-floor window is still pretty extreme!

'Most Likely To...': I am loving how much Reese and Shaw hate being undercover at a school reunion. I enjoy the ludicrous quantity of weapons they both have in their suitcases, too. Kindred spirits. Don't tell them I said that; they'd hate it.

This is the second time the show's set up an 'only one bed' scenario and resolved it instantly with 'I'll sleep on the floor', which is frankly a waste of the scenario.

Reese and Shaw's dynamic is a lot of fun. I love how they tease each other; I love the way their relationship seems to sit at a strange, ill-defined point halfway between fondness and open hostility. They're often either on separate tasks or unable to talk much on account of being in a shootout; I'd like to see more of them working together!

'Death Benefit': 'I think the Machine wants us to kill McCourt.' I whispered 'what the fuck!' aloud. What the fuck! This is a wild, fascinating development and I love it, but I was not braced for it at all.

I also love Finch going 'it was never my intention for people to be killed because of the Machine' and Reese pointing out that the Machine marks terrorists, that he and Shaw personally used to kill those terrorists, and that that still very much counts as 'people being killed'. The Machine may ultimately save more lives than it takes, but the deaths of malicious actors are still deaths.

Occasionally I wonder whether I'm starting to drift away from this show, and then it pulls out a cracking episode and drags me straight back in. I sort of liked the simplicity of the early episodes (possibly because the small early cast meant Reese got loads of screentime, and I love Reese an unreasonable amount), but I'm still having a great time!

Comments

[thawrecka]

Amy Acker played my favourite character on Angel, and Root is definitely one of my favourites on Person of Interest... Just unhinged in a way I find deeply appealing.

[rionaleonhart]

Root's a lot of fun! I'll be interested to see what Acker's character in Angel is like.

[thawrecka]

She plays a couple of characters on Angel, and my favourite shows up at the very end of season 5.

[felis]

Reese, I know you're more a fan of other-preservation than of self-preservation, but charging an attacker out of an upper-floor window is still pretty extreme!

Reese: *apologetic what-else-was-I-supposed-to-do-it-worked shrug*

Hee.

And ah, yes, Reese and Shaw, murder siblings. On the one hand, I loved them, on the other, I thought the writing for them got a bit too silly at times.

'I think the Machine wants us to kill McCourt.' I whispered 'what the fuck!' aloud. What the fuck! This is a wild, fascinating development and I love it, but I was not braced for it at all.

Whereas I thought this was pretty much bullshit quite the leap. Finch has always made such a thing out of only getting the social security number, precisely because he wanted human eyes on the case. It was a huge deal for Reese only a couple of episodes ago! And now they jump to this conclusion, for no real reason and act like it's obvious? Why on earth.

[rionaleonhart]

I did think it was odd that they went 'huh, turns out the people we thought were a threat to this guy weren't a threat to him' and, rather than concluding 'suppose he's the perpetrator or there's a different threat', concluded 'so we're here to KILL HIM'. But I'm a very undiscerning viewer; I'll forgive anything if I enjoy the outcome, and I do love Reese being murderous!

[facethestrange]

"Who's the character Amy Acker plays? Root? Shaw?"
That's my eternal question, lmao, since I've basically only ever heard of this show from Root/Shaw shippers before, and I know both Amy Acker (from Angel and Dollhouse; and btw Illyria on Angel is pretty cool indeed!) and Sarah Shahi (from The L Word), so I always just go "which one is which". xD

"She's the one who looks like she'd have a major role in a Joss Whedon show."
LMFAO, I guess that is a look. xD

[rionaleonhart]

When Shaw first showed up, I went 'wait, she and Root look really similar to me; how do I tell them apart?' And then Tem said that, and I went '...come to think of it, one of them does look noticeably more like a Joss Whedon character.'

[hamsterwoman]

(continuing to revisit your older posts as I make progress through POI)

She's the one who looks like she'd have a major role in a Joss Whedon show.

Oh man, now I kind of can't unsee just how Whedonesque Root is XD I mean, it's not a bad thing, the characters she reminds me as a result of this are characters I like a lot and/or find really interesting, but that's such an apt observation!

I enjoy the ludicrous quantity of weapons they both have in their suitcases, too. Kindred spirits.

That bit of them unzipping their suitcases in unison was so fun! XD (I also enjoy watching them work together, especially when they have time to interact in ways more than just shooting at whoever is trying to shoot the other person. And I like that it's Shaw, (the "girl") who is the barely restrained loose canon with no bedside manner and Reese who is the calm, collected, soothingly (if menacingly) amiable one.

I also love Finch going 'it was never my intention for people to be killed because of the Machine' and Reese pointing out that the Machine marks terrorists, that he and Shaw personally used to kill those terrorists, and that that still very much counts as 'people being killed'

I liked that, too! I think it kind of echoes Senator McCourt's line about how "The simple truth is, the people want to be protected. They just don't want to know how." -- Finch knows the "how" of how the government gets potential threats pointed out to them, but clearly doesn't want to think about the "how" of how it actually deals with those threats.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm really enjoying your comments as you watch!

but that's such an apt observation!

It really is! It hadn't occurred to me, but the moment Tem said it my reaction was 'wow, that's the perfect description and the answer is definitely Root.'

And I like that it's Shaw, (the "girl") who is the barely restrained loose canon with no bedside manner and Reese who is the calm, collected, soothingly (if menacingly) amiable one.

Yes! Neither of them is exactly restrained, but Shaw is definitely less restrained, and it feels like in a lot of shows it would be the other way around.