What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 1, Episode 19 “Flesh and Blood” (B+)

Now this was an exciting episode. There are plenty of reasons why this hour worked, but its main success was utilizing all of its assets in one fell swoop. Pairing up Detective Carter and Detective Fusco in a life-or-death situation where he was the only one she could trust was important since the two hadn’t had such a unifying moment up until now, and they’re still far off from discovering that they share mutual friends. Elias’ presence in this episode was accompanied by a fair deal of mob personalities, including his previously-seen father, played by Mark Margolis of “Breaking Bad,” seen here too in a flashback to a time when he spoke more and had fuller hair, Paul Schulze, best known as Chappelle on “24” and also seen on “Nurse Jackie,” and Vincent Curatola, immortalized as another mobster, Johnny Sack, on “The Sopranos.” The abduction of Carter’s son paved the way for Reese to work his magic and come in guns blazing to rescue him and prove his loyalty to Carter, but she did a pretty good job (literally) pulling out the big guns and defending those she had sworn to protect, even if they weren’t eager for her protection. Finch’s sitdown with Simmons was risky, but it turned out to be less of a deal with the devil than parterning with Elias had been, and now HR might feel like they owe Finch and Reese a debt. Another subtle strength of this episode was the scene in which Reese assured Finch that the only role he needed to play was that of the getaway driver.