Person of Interest 3.23: Deus Ex Machina
Greg Plageman and David Slack
Chris Fisher
"Well, this
should be fun!" - Greer
And so it was, even if, in the end, only Greer, and the
audience privileged enough to witness it, could take much pleasure in the proceedings.
Person of Interest has taken an
almost gleeful delight in upsetting the status quo of its characters at each
season's end. This time around, perhaps mindful of how quickly the real world's
status quo has been catching up in the wake of the Snowden revelations, the
team gets thrown a curveball thats flips their world on its axis. It was
possible to anticipate some of the revelations, but, like a magician's
sleight-of-hand, that only distracted from the more important game playing out
elsewhere.
The cracks in Vigilance's show trial show up early, in the
split second following Collier over-ruling objections via shotgun blast. This
is not going to be the well-mannered, media-friendly expose of government
abuses some might have hoped for. Vigilance has always tended towards violent
extremism, and, in this setting, rife with heightened tension, Collier and his
compatriots come off more as urban terrorists than committed patriots.
I have suspected
Vigilance had some sort of seedy underbelly throughout the season, so, at first,
I wasn't sure if that internal bias was coloring my view of Collier's
recruitment and rise. But then the precise language of the computer links that begins
Collier's journey started playing in my head with a clipped British accent. After
that, I could only watch with mounting horror as it escalated towards Decima
goons bursting in to 'take control', and shepherd the captives towards the
desired goal: the major incident Greer needs to get Congress to green-light Samaritan.
Anticipating those events did not diminish their brilliance.
The shifting sands lead to unexpected acts of courage between long-time enemies:
Control willing to die to protect even Harold, Hersh making that sacrifice to try
and stop the carnage. Collier goes down with his hopes in flames. Knowing Reese
will burst onto that rooftop just in time to save Finch doesn't blunt the impact
of having Greer's manipulations cruelly shoved in their faces. In an show with
this many twists and turns, that reassuring beat provides some scant
consolation in the face of near total defeat.
Elsewhere, Root and Shaw's shenanigans at the Samaritan
server farm provide one final hope for a "Hail Mary" victory. Here, the
show brilliantly plays off the expectations built up over three seasons. The
team has grown from two brilliant misfits to a broader-based unit who seem
incapable of failing. And then Root shatters that myth with cold, hard reality.
"This was never about winning, it was just about surviving." Team
Machine is still a tiny cadre, and stands no chance against an untethered colossus
like Samaritan, backed by the full force of Decima and the Government.
The closing montage, backed by Root's explanation of what
she and the Machine had to do, didn't carry the emotional catharsis of the
opening to "The Devil's Share." Then, they were processing their
grief over Carter's loss (and it was a lovely last nod to see her picture strewn
about in the raid on the library.) Now, they have to process the numbing,
chilling prospect of losing their identities, the public ones, at least. Root's
words echo the show's thematic cousin, The
Prisoner, a couple of times. But I found myself recalling a more recent
offering. This is how The Winter Soldier
ends in a world where there is no Captain America to lead the charge against
tyranny. There are only seven ordinary souls, scattered to the winds. Next
fall, we'll discover how clinging to hope, all they have left, makes them
extraordinary again.
- Team Machine is tested more than ever
- Amazing exploration of comtemporary fears
- It'll be a long wait for the fourth season!