Fine, We'll Commit Your Felony.

[rionaleonhart]

Up to episode 4.19 of Person of Interest, 'Search and Destroy'! It's just hit me that, if I keep up the pace, I'll probably be finished with this show in about a week. What am I going to do when I can no longer spend all my free time watching John Reese attractively shoot everyone?

'Guilty': I love that Reese barely waits for Finch to be out of the door before asking Zoe if she has plans.

Are they ending the friends-with-benefits arrangement with incredible chemistry to set Reese up with the therapist he has much less chemistry with?? Boo! Booooooo!

Can't believe we never even got to see Reese and Zoe make out.

Communicating with LASER SIGHT MORSE CODE is the most goddamn Reese thing and I love it.

Huh, some pretty good chemistry between Reese and Frankie, the bounty hunter in 'Skip', although it's not on the level of Reese/Zoe (not much is!).

Root as a character sometimes feels a bit unfocused to me and I'm not always sure who she's intended to be or what the show is trying to do with her, but she's getting some really interesting material in this episode! I love that the common thread between all the members of the team (well, except Fusco) is that they would kill or die for Finch.

It's also interesting that the moment Finch switches to calling Root by her chosen name is the moment he realises she's planning to kill someone he cares about.

I love that Finch puts his hand on Root's shoulder before telling her he doesn't want to see her for a while. Without the gesture, it would be brutal. With the gesture, it's clear that he still cares about her, and that he just needs some time, and that he wants her to know that.

Of course Reese expresses his concern for Finch by giving him firearms lessons. 'Point a gun at the problem' is perhaps not Reese's sole problem-solving strategy, but it's not far off.

I'm bewildered that this show has made the same serious tactical error in setting up Reese/Iris twice, first with Zoe and then with Frankie. If you want people to buy into Reese/Iris, you can't repeatedly try to progress the Reese/Iris storyline in an episode in which Reese has far more sexual tension with a different woman! It's not like they didn't realise the Reese/Frankie tension was there; she kissed him to get him in handcuffs!

I mean, yes, I rewound to rewatch the Reese/Iris kiss a couple of times, because I like it when Reese kisses people, but I did so GRUMPILY.

And then Zoe appears in the next episode! And, don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to see her again so soon, but it still feels a deeply weird storytelling decision to keep putting her near significant Iris scenes, meaning the sparks between her and Reese completely drown out anything between Reese and Iris.

I mean, personally I think the mistake was getting Reese and Iris together in the first place, but, if it's going to happen, it could happen without the constant reminder that we're losing out on more fun Reese pairings because of it.

Or maybe the mistake was trying to put Reese in a romantic relationship at all? If Reese/Zoe or Reese/Frankie turned romantic, I might be dubious about that as well. Much like Zoe, I feel Reese is a guy who's much more suited to mutually enjoyable flings or friends-with-benefits arrangements than to long-term romantic relationships. His no-strings situation with Zoe seemed like such a genuinely positive thing for him!

Of course, chemistry is a subjective thing and it's entirely possible that 'but Reese sparks so much better off Zoe and Frankie than he does off Iris!' is solely a problem for me, but it's a problem for me nonetheless.

Comments

[felis]

Of course, chemistry is a subjective thing and it's entirely possible that 'but Reese sparks so much better off Zoe and Frankie than he does off Iris!' is solely a problem for me, but it's a problem for me nonetheless.

Definitely not, I very much agree and I never understood why they went for Reese/Iris in the first place, or where they were going with it. It's forcing a take on Reese's character that just doesn't fit IMO, and not for the first (or last) time. ETA: Oh, and I meant to say that you are probably onto something re: Reese and romantic relationships, at least conventional romantic relationships with people not in his line of work. Then again, the show did something similar with Finch/Grace, which I initially liked for being fucked up, but which got more and more annoying down the line.

When Zoe showed up in "Guilty" - after a long time without her - it was such a breath of fresh air, I was super happy to see her. Then again, "Guilty" is my favourite episode of the season for multiple reasons, Zoe and LASER SIGHT MORSE CODE just two of them. It's a really nice change of pace: Reese uses a gun not to shoot for once but to communicate, Zoe brings a very different skill set than we've had in a long time, the show genuinely cares about the number even though they aren't connected to the big Samaritan Plot of Doom, there's humour and callbacks and familiarity, Fusco and Zoe get to knock sense into Reese and Finch... (ETA: well, except for the Iris thing, but I'm thinking about their general idea of isolating themselves)

"Saying no to Ms. Morgan was never your strong suit, was it?"
"Boys, are we gonna work or what?"

:P

[wolfy_writing]

You're going through this show at an incredible pace!

Everything with Root sounds interesting! I loved her in the episodes I've seen so far.

And yeah, I feel like friends-with-benefits is the healthiest kind of relationship for Reese, and I wouldn't go with anything romantic with him unless it was intended to be a story about how that's going to get fucked up.

[sideways]

Oh my god I'd completely forgotten about Iris, that's how much of a null effect that 'romance' had on me. Some occasionally wild choices in this show.

[necrophilia]

The fact that we're currently watching different shows and cannot effectively engage with each other's recent entries feels like... yeah, a big cosmic misstep.

If only there was a solution!

[corvidology]

I can tell you the fandom agreed with you! A lot of people just disliked how bland Iris was compared to the other characters and then there's the very significant objection to patient/therapist. It's to a degree that when you see requests for POI in exchanges they will often list John/Iris as something they DO NOT WANT!

... I have my own theory about why she's there but I'm not going to spring it on you before you've finished watching the show.

[(Anonymous)]

What am I going to do when I can no longer spend all my free time watching John Reese attractively shoot everyone?

I heartily recommend reading the SA LP of The Zodiac Trial - I genuinely think you'd really like the game overall but as I mentioned, I felt you might find some typos off-putting. But the LPer has been editing out any such typos, therefore problem solved! It's about half-way through but they update every few days. I don't necessarily think the LP started out with the best path - the creator themself admitted that initial path is overlong - but by the time you've read a few routes you get the idea it's going for.

I have been watching Person of Interest as a result of your blogging, though not as intently as you, but I'm so tired at the moment I don't feel able to write a WALL OF WORDS about it and I can't type anything compact, so maybe at some point you will get that from me?

-timydamonkey

[facethestrange]

"I mean, yes, I rewound to rewatch the Reese/Iris kiss a couple of times, because I like it when Reese kisses people, but I did so GRUMPILY."
:D :D I have no horse in this race but 'I like then they kiss people' is extremely relatable and this was such a fun way to phrase this. xD