What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 3, Episode 12 “Aletheia” (B+)

This show has really been operating at high intensity this season, and it’s incredible just to think about all the players and layers involved in the dynamics of this episode. Finch and Arthur being in the vault with Collier and his men inside the bank and Hersh ready outside to storm the place while Control was torturing Root demonstrated just how much is going on on this show and how well it’s handled. That doesn’t even account for the show’s usual protagonist, Reese, who was busy ranting angrily at Fusco, who was doing a pretty solid job of trying to bring him back from the edge. Root coming to the rescue was pretty awesome, and there’s really nothing I love more than Morse code being put to good effect. Root communicating with the machine because Control slipped up and brought her phone into the room to torment Root was a magnificent way of gaining control in the situation, especially since Control found a truly vicious way to torture the usually unflappable Root. Arthur destroying his machine and then receiving a message from Finch’s was great, and it was good to have him here for a few episodes to help humanize Finch, who also got a few flashbacks to show the progression of his father’s condition and the invention of the machine. As if there weren’t enough players involved in this hour, the woman posing as the bank manager who managed to get close enough to Finch and Arthur met with someone at the very top: Greer, who we haven’t seen in a while who is definitely pulling strings most of these characters didn’t even know existed.